STORY BEHIND THE ART OF OLGA CHUYKOVA

20th Annual International

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

King Protea Flower 

Protea cynaroides

The Botanical Gardens in Berlin are one of the biggest in Europe. They consist of several separate buildings and glass-houses, such as the Cactus Pavilion and the Exotic Flowers Pavilion. It's in these gardens that I first saw the Protea flower for the first time. Its unusual shape and rich deep coloring, in combination with surprisingly complex petal texturing, amazed me.

My biggest challenge in this work was depicting the thickness of the leaves and petals. To create velvet-like texture with watercolor was quite difficult, being achieved through the use of many layers while simultaneously trying to retain the watercolor feel.

'King Protea Flower' is the third work of my series on exotic flowers, in which I portray plants uncommon to Europe, sharing their unusual beauty.

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