STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CAROL WOODIN

21st Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hill

Wave Hill Idesia

Idesia polycarpa

My first experience seeing Idesia was during the early autumn, and while I thought it was a beautiful tree, its beauty is most evident in the winter. On a February day when all else is snowy white and muted neutrals, these trees are loaded with brilliant orange or red berries. When the sun shines on them they are a sight to see. This is compounded by the golden stems, creating quite a cumulative effect. 

When thinking about what I might enter for consideration into our first exhibition with Wave Hill, my thoughts immediately turned to its collection of Idesias, dedicated in honor of Francis H. Cabot, Jr., founding chairman of Wave Hill’s Friends of Horticulture Committee. There are so many beautiful plants at Wave Hill that I have wanted to paint, but this grove of Idesias is such a part of the experience at Wave Hill throughout the winter, that I decided on this. Louis Bauer, Wave Hill’s Director of Horticulture, enthusiastically provided me with a few cuttings from the trees and home I went with my berry-laden treasures.

Depicting a cluster of berries is not a simple task, I learned. You need enough of the berries to really feel the fullness of the clusters, but not so many that they seem clumpy. Also, each has to function properly within the structure of branch, twig, and stems, so each individual berry can’t be installed willy-nilly. The berries themselves are not super-shiny, and as the season advances they begin to desiccate and take on a pebbly surface texture. So they have to look round but not too glossy. 

Having painted it in watercolor on Kelmscott vellum in deep winter, I’d like to give it a try a little earlier in the season, with its berries formed and some of its large, dried up leaves still pendant on the branches.

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Read more about this artist’s work: America's Flora