STORY BEHIND THE ART OF JEAN EMMONS

19th Annual International

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

Hibiscus ‘Hugs & Kisses’

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

I grow this plant because of the odd color combinations in its flowers. It is exciting to see lavender, cerulean, yellow ochre and rose all in one bloom. What is also unusual is the way the flowers change color slightly, minute by minute. They morph into even stranger combinations as the flowers age and the day goes on. By the second day, a flower is a ghost of its former self. Beautiful in a different way.

I don’t know why this cultivar is named ‘Hugs & Kisses’ but I’m sure there is a story there... I’m hoping to get a cultivar called ‘Thunder Egg’ from the same hybridizer.

This year I’ve been dwelling on the Renaissance painting concept of Sfumato or “evaporating into smoke.” Sometimes I feel my botanical art is too hard edged and overly described. Everything becomes too busy and too flat. It needs some mystery. Sfumato calls for difficult to perceive transitions between colors and values. I’ve been trying to achieve this with very thin veils of drybrush lightly layered and layered…

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Read more about this artist’s work: 18th Annual International