STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CARRIE MEGAN 

18th Annual International

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

Witch Alder and Blue Wild Indigo

Fothergilla gardenii, Baptisia australis

For the past several years, in late fall, I’ve made a point to visit my friend Robin’s garden in search of interesting looking specimens to paint or draw. Her garden is packed with amazing plants and trees and she knows the name and origin of every one of them. When I came across the Witch Alder I was struck by how the leaves had dried and curled in on themselves revealing glimpses of vibrant pinks and reds on the inside, in contrast to the pale peach color of the outside. On that same visit I brought home a branch of dried Blue Wild Indigo - its warm dark colors beckoned me. I didn’t realize at the time what a great foil it would be to the Witch Alder. 

Once I got my bounty home, I saw the lovely contrast the two specimens would make together and I set about moving the branches around on my picture plane to establish a pleasing composition. I wanted to create a relationship between the two and thought it would be interesting to have the Blue Wild Indigo crop at the top right corner of the picture plane, as if it were reaching down and interacting with the Witch Alder. In contrast, the Witch Alder fades off in the lower left hand corner. Working on vellum with a fairly dry brush, I slowly built up layers of dilute washes until I captured the essence of each specimen. It took many layers of transparent washes before I achieved the rich warm gray tones of the Blue Wild Indigo and the deep violets in the shadow areas of the Witch Alder leaves, giving the dimension and depth that the viewer sees. The greatest challenge I have found doing botanical work in transparent watercolors, especially on vellum, is not only the incredible patience it takes to build up layers of washes, knowing that each succeeding layer is affected by the layer beneath it, but also understanding how to achieve the desired color using this process. 

This painting is one of a series of four watercolors on vellum of dried specimens culled from Robin Wilkerson’s garden in the fall. The other three paintings are Siberian Iris, Poppies, and Butterfly Weed. 

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Read more about this artist's work: 17th Annual International