STORY BEHIND THE ART OF PATRICIA LUPPINO
15th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at
The Horticultural Society of New York
Goldenrain Tree
Koelreuteria paniculata
What is your personal view of the artwork, for instance in terms of media, colors, composition?
Before this piece, I did mainly watercolor paintings, but I think I will do more silverpoint in the future.
Silverpoint is very “da Vinci”. You draw with a silver stylus. First you have to prepare the surface with gesso or gouache or acrylic silverpoint ground. You paint this on, multiple coats, 4 or 5. I used museum board. When you drag the stylus over the surface, it leaves bits of silver. When finished, you can see the shimmer in the light. Silver tarnishes over time – darker, slightly brownish – but it still shimmers. Silverpoint is much cleaner than graphite and doesn’t smear like graphite. There is a downside – you can’t erase.
My artwork in the show is silverpoint and watercolor; I added watercolor because I like the mix of the media.
Why did you choose this subject to portray?
Choosing a subject is such a personal thing. I chose goldenrain tree because of the medium I wanted to use. This particular tree is in front of an apartment building in New York.
I was taking a class in silverpoint in Boston at the ASBA meeting last year. I had never done it before. Silver has this shimmering quality and the goldenrain plant does too – the dried pods shine. You wouldn’t look twice at the tree, it doesn’t really stand out, but the pods in the fall are crinkly, a golden brown color. So I took this subject to Boston for the class, and it turned out that the teacher had brought the same subject! I wasn’t planning on doing something big at the time, I just intended to use the subject as a learning experience. Evidently a successful learning experience!
Did you face any unique challenges as you worked on this piece?
The specimen is really delicate. The pods were on a stand and they would start to fall apart if a wisp of a breeze came through the window.
Also, trying to paint on the prepared silverpoint ground was practically impossible because the watercolor lifts right up. I wasn’t happy with dealing with that. In fact, it worked out by accident. The outside of the capsule is shiny, but the inside of the capsule is kind of dull, so the inside picked up gouache from the wash underneath and looked dull.
What would you hope people would notice or appreciate when viewing this work?
I want them to focus on the stages of the plant.
How does this work relate to your body of work?
I have a strange philosophy. I want to make a social statement. As I grow older, I am disappointed in our culture’s focus on youth and beauty. So I may put weeds, bulbs, pods or a root structure in the foreground of a work, and then put the beautiful, colorful bloom in the background. I want to draw people’s attention to the parts that people don’t usually focus on.
Also, I choose dead or dying subjects because I am so slow and I like to use the specimen itself!
Tell me about your background.
I am an IT professional, in project management.
I have always enjoyed art. In 2005, I saw an ad for a local art class, botanical art. The instructor was Rose Pellicano. I was surprised at how many rules there were; that suited my analytical brain. I got immersed in the details. In my profession as well, the details are very important. So the mix of art and science in botanical art really drew me to it.
Then I signed up for the distance learning course from the Society of Botanical Artists. I enjoyed that, because the opportunity for my work to be critiqued by great artists in that particular area was really helpful. Working full time and trying to complete the projects and the diploma portfolio was hard, but I graduated with distinction. I have continued to study with Rose and also Karen Kluglein.
I have tried a lot of things in my life. I have a childlike desire to be really great at something and getting better is really rewarding! Botanical art is very relaxing and a welcome change from what I do all day.
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