STORY BEHIND THE ART OF VI STRAIN
22nd Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at Marin Art & Garden Center
Pink Bottle Brush
Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid’
Bottlebrush shrubs are ubiquitous along older California freeways as the profuse red blooms and hardiness of the plant made them ideal for freeway median planting. I’ve always associated the plants in this context and never found them particularly attractive. However, when I visited my neighbor’s outstanding garden, I recognized a large shrub with the general look of a bottlebrush plant. This large shrub had graceful arching branches, with flowers following gravity, pendulum like, at the branches’ ends. The slender leaves were a subtle gray-blue-green, scintillating in the sun and light breeze. The profuse flowers were deep rose as they emerged from the multiple buds around the flower spikes and shades of light rose as the flowers opened. The stamens were profuse with pollen at the tips of the filaments. The petals were tiny and only visible on the flower spike as the buds opened and then were inconspicuous as the flower spikes filled out.
The structure and beautiful colors of this plant drew me in. Also, I love to show a plant’s life cycle in one painting. However, I was uncertain how to portray the delicate detail of the flowers. I decided to just accept the challenge and try. My neighbor was very accommodating and gave me large branches profuse with flowers in all stages. I arranged the branches in my studio to appear as they do on the shrub. I did color studies and developed ideas for portraying the various aspects of the shrub. Eventually, I narrowed the number of branches to just enough to show the shrub in its manifestations from leaf placement on the stems, to emerging buds to mature flower spikes to seed capsules.
My process is to first hand draw composition ideas on tracing paper, develop a final drawing on tracing paper and then outline the drawing with black ink. I place drafting film over the black ink drawing and proceed with colored pencils generally following the composition visible through the film. I first complete painting one side of the film and then turn the film over to color the back. Working both sides of the film deepens the color density and sharpens fine detail and edges. I also use the back of the film to show subtle features. An example on the bottlebrush painting is where the lowest hanging flower stem is behind the flower above it. Adding the stem on the back of the film allowed me to show how it looked behind the flower without trying to superimpose the flower over it on the front side.
When studying this plant I had formerly dismissed, I became inspired to try and show what I had learned about it. I was reminded how close observation can inspire and renew appreciation for the wonders of our plant world!
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