STORY BEHIND THE ART OF KELLY LEAHY RADDING

17th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at The Horticultural Society of New York

Camellia

Camellia japonica ‘Lady Vansittart’

I chose to paint the camellias at Middleton Place Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina for my exhibit in the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s Botanical Images Scotia show in Edinburgh, Scotland in June of 2013. I spent time in the Middleton Place gardens sketching, photographing and taking color notes of their extensive camellia gardens. I also did a lot of just looking and absorbing the beauty of the shrubs and their flowers. This particular variety caught my eye not only for the beautiful patterning on the flowers but their shape made me think of long dresses as they danced at the end of the branches. I was further enchanted when I found out the name of the variety was ‘Lady Vansittart’. From then on, I pictured the ‘Lady’ dancing at a fancy southern ball!

The camellia is a plant of contrasts – and Lady Vansittart is no exception. She has sharply pointed and serrated leaves, yet she has a delicate, ethereal flower. The leaves are a strong green and the flowers are shades of white highlighted by ‘spotting’ of reds and pinks. The leaves are shiny, contrasting highlights and shadows, and the flower consists of subtle color shifts.

I work predominantly in watercolor on vellum but match the type of vellum to the subject. I would only consider Kelmscott calfskin vellum for the camellias – I needed a surface that would make the greens shimmer, the white shadow colors dance and the red accents on the flowers glow. Kelmscott vellum is challenging to work on: I find it to be a little more persnickety than other types – for me, it takes more layers that are more transparent than vellums without a coating. Therefore it takes me a lot longer to complete paintings on this vellum.

This piece is one of six paintings done for my exhibit at the BISCOT show. I am a Connecticut Yankee who has fallen in love with a ‘southern belle’. I know that I will continue to explore the beautiful world of camellias in my work.

I would hope that viewers will see the same qualities that attracted me to this variety – the delicate, dancing flowers contrasting the deep green and sharpness of the leaves.

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Read more about this artist's work: Weird, Wild & Wonderful