STORY BEHIND THE ART OF MELISSA TOBERER
21st Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hill
Hollyhock
Alcea rosea
Last summer I decided to grow Hollyhocks in anticipation of a project I would be working on. The assignment was to illustrate an inflorescence with many flowers, and the towering, flower-filled Hollyhock instantly came to mind. I was looking forward to illustrating the seed pods, as they have a very fuzzy texture which is particularly fun to illustrate in graphite.
I planted several varieties and sadly all of them, except one, became infested with weevils and actually looked quite bad. However, the remaining one was gorgeous, with pristine blooms and the particular growth pattern was balanced with nice movement in the pattern of flowers, all of which would contribute to a successful composition on paper. Knowing this would be my specimen, and armed with tweezers, I hand picked weevils off the plant several times a day and was able to keep them from destroying the Hollyhock.
Because Hollyhocks can grow five to seven feet tall, I had two main compositional choices. I could either draw a cluster of flowers in the center of the stem and have the stem appear to extend off the edge of the paper, or I could illustrate the flowers closer to the top of the stem and show the entire end without the extension off the page. I chose the latter, and being that hollyhocks bloom from the base upwards, waited patiently for the flowers to reach the top.
I completed this work in graphite, a medium I’ve used on several other of my botanical illustrations. The main cluster of flowers appear centered on the stem, with a downward diagonal movement. This movement pulls the eye down and then to the left where the single, unopened flower anchors the image. I debated as to whether to include this unopened flower, but feel it is a very important element in the final composition for two main reasons: It anchors the drawing while keeping the composition from feeling top-heavy, and serves to add balance to the slightly left- curving bend in the upper stem. In addition, it was also my favorite of the bunch to draw!
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Read more about this artist’s work: 18th Annual International