STORY BEHIND THE ART OF LINDA MEDVED LUFKIN

19th Annual International

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

 Purple Popcorn

Zea mays

On my south facing balcony I have a large container vegetable garden where I grow heirloom tomatoes, pole beans, peppers, lettuces, kale, beets, basil and a variety of other greens and vegetables. Every year I try to branch out and choose something I’ve never grown before and one of the plants that I selected last spring was a variety of popcorn called ‘Two Inch Strawberry’. The description said that it was good for popping and gorgeous for fall decoration. I’ve never grown corn of any kind before and I didn’t think much would happen in a contained bed so I just let it do its thing all summer, not giving it much attention. As it happened, two out of the six delicate sprouts survived and grew 6’ tall. At harvest time I noticed one small ear poking out of its leaves. It looked like it was starting to dry already so I cut it carefully off the stalk and I was struck right away by its character. The dark purple, tiny, strawberry shaped kernels were sitting in rows along the cob, and the cob was nestled in layers of twisted and mottled delicate husks that seemed to both hold it in protection, like a hand, and also split open to reveal to me a peek within. Out of the top of the cob came a mass of deep auburn tassels like a crazy bad hair day but they also had a surprising variety of color and added another layer of texture. 

I brought it up to my studio to photograph, and where I could sit with it a while; almost right away I could see how it would look in a painting. Up until then I had only painted my botanical art subjects at actual size and I knew that I really needed to go bigger. I decided that 2x its scale was perfect, as the shape and silhouette would have great impact and also allow me to explore all the delicate textures and colors that I was seeing in the husks. The painting started out as a pleasure, but I began to struggle with the layering and structure of the ends of the husks. I did not start out with a tonal drawing so I needed to really look behind and around areas to understand how to make sense of each twist and turn. The more I looked the more I saw and I began to really build the color and dimension of the husks. I think this painting has pushed me the most and it’s where I learned the most about watercolor, revealing the bad habits that I still had, like thinking that I’ll figure out an area when I get to it and that I could correct my mistakes as I went; this is fine in oil and acrylic but not in watercolor. For the cob I brought in some gouache to work over the misplacement of kernels and I enjoy the way the opacity of the cob contrasts with the transparency in the husks giving it solidity. The crazy dried tassels brought back the memory of painting script in my years as a decorative painter and I had a lot of fun with them and love the movement that they give. 

I’m looking forward to finding out what else I will plant to paint.

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