STORY BEHIND THE ART OF KATHY SCHERMER-GRAMM

19th Annual International

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

Speckled Hound Pie Pumpkin in Decline

Cucurbita maxima

As I get older, death among family and friends becomes ever more present. One way I find solace in this awareness of transience is by documenting the fleeting beauty of the textures and unexpected color variations produced by the ravages of time in my portraits of edibles and North Carolina native plants.

While prepping for a pumpkin workshop, I went in search of various pumpkins to paint. I came across the Speckled Hound Pie Pumpkin, which was new to me, at a farmers’ market. What struck me first about it was the mottled, transparent and muted complementary colors flowing into each other. Along with the scars and the twisted stem, this seemingly simple circular form was riddled with surface complexities. This is the kind of challenge I love to paint. When I finally found time to paint the pumpkin it was past its prime and inevitable decay had already set in: time to paint before it changed too rapidly. 

The painted background is a device I use to age the appearance of the paper. Often I will start a painting with a tinted background similar to that of an old book page to infer the process of aging. I wanted to showcase the act of decay this time as well but enhance, not distract from, the pumpkin’s soft colors. So I pushed the background darker than usual to create an ambiguous realm in which it hovers that competes less for attention.

I chose a limited palette of three main primary colors and two additional supplemental colors to keep them harmonious. I prefer a messy palette where one color runs into the next forming subtle shifts in colors. I am a very slow painter, painting for a couple of hours before pausing to refresh my view of the subject. I find it satisfying to paint each section (in this case a lobe) to completion before moving on. By working this way, I can see if I am on the right path. At this rate, by the time I had finished, the fleshy parts of the pumpkin had started to rot and collapse on the lobes I had previously painted. Knowing the dry stem would hold up, I saved it until last. Working with a shallow depth of field, I knew I would have to keep the stem in the foreground in sharp focus to create the depth between it and the pumpkin flesh. 

My paintings start by laying down multiple layers of alternating transparent color washes. Then, my favorite part of the process is to draw and scribble with a dry brush when I will tend to lose myself in the details and textures. I will then follow by pushing these details back into the surface with more top glazes to bring out the depth of color as needed. Sometimes it will take several back and forth passages to get it to the level I am pleased with. 

The process of studying and depicting a subject as it decays over several months involves the sense of smell and touch, as well as that of seeing. I still have the pumpkin, now dried, hollowed and shriveled, a subject for perhaps another study.

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