STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CATHERINE WATTERS

15th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at

The Horticultural Society of New York

Currants and Gooseberries

Ribes rubrum, Ribes nigrum, ribes grossularia

What is your personal view of the artwork, for instance in terms of media, colors, composition?

I enjoy painting on vellum. This helped to show the translucence and luminous quality of the red currants and gooseberries.

 Why did you choose this subject to portray? Why this combination?

I chose the composition because I wanted to illustrate all three Ribes together. I had painted the red currants before. In this painting, I wanted to put all 3 together because they grow in the lovely kitchen garden of Château d'Outrelaise, a chateau in Normandy, France, where I have been teaching for the past 2 years. 

The chateau dates from the 17th and 18th century and it has a wonderful kitchen garden, which is not just ornamental. The garden is old, and the owners had to restore it because it had fallen into disrepair. It has lots of fruit trees – apples, pears, quince and cherries, lots of vegetables - cabbage, artichoke, tomatoes and lettuces, berries like currants and gooseberries, and many flowers - a big rose garden, clematis, hydrangea, sweet peas, big poppies and more. One of the owners is a chef – he makes all the meals. This is a hotel but it is also somebody's home – my students and I stay in their home and we have our meals with them, family style. They are not putting on a show for clients - this is the way it is. The chef makes great currant jams, pies and liqueurs like cassis, which comes from gooseberries. 

So I did this painting because I love the garden and the owners – I did it in honor of them.

 What would you hope people would notice or appreciate when viewing this work?

Hopefully people will notice the tiny details I try to capture, and they will be pulled in by the three types of berries. 

How does this work relate to your body of work?

I enjoy painting fruit, so the Ribes are just one more subject in my body of work.

Give me some background about your interest in France.

My parents are French and I grew up there, mainly in Paris. We then moved to the US, but I go to France once or twice a year. I am most drawn to the Normandy region because of the incredible gardens. I used to lead garden tours there. On one of them, I met a French botanical artist and teacher who is friendly with the owners of two Normandy chateaus, the Château d’Outrelaise and the Château de Brecy near Bayeux. She wanted to start a florilegium of the garden at the Château de Brecy, but didn’t know how. So I have helped her to start it and my students and I are contributing to it. This is a growing project – it can go on for years. I had always hoped to have a project in France and this one just happened.

And from the contact with this woman, I started to teach groups at the Château d’Outrelaise, which is nearby. My students are from the US, France and Switzerland.

There has been a recent revival of interest in botanical art in France. Early this year, a young Frenchwoman started the Société Française d’Illustration Botanique. Things are happening there.

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