STORY BEHIND THE ART OF AKIKO ENOKIDO

24th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Chinese witch hazel

Hamamelis mollis

Hamamelis mollis, is a witch hazel native to China. In early spring, the golden fluttering flowers of Chinese witch hazel bloom with a strong fragrance before the new leaves come out, while holding large, brown, dead leaves from the previous year. I love the contrast of the flower's vivid golden yellow color and the smoky, purplish, silver colors of the dead leaves. The flowers are the brightest among the genus witch hazel. Chinese witch hazel has long petals, and the base of its flower is red. To show this flower in detail, I painted twice the size of the actual plant for the first time. Yellow is a very difficult color to paint. I had a hard time adding highlights and shadows. I used various yellow watercolors such as winsor yellow, new gamboge, hansa yellow, bismuth yellow, transparent yellow, etc. I drew the yellow petals with the color of the tube as much as possible without mixing those colors and losing the vividness of yellow. It was a quite exciting time to draw beautiful leaves that glow in gold with the winter sunshine. It also looks silvery due to the hair on the back side of the surface. It was a beautiful sight, looking up at the yellow flowers blooming on the branches against the blue sky in early spring.

Iwane-shibori Camellia

Camellia japonica 'Iwane-shibori'

Iwane-shibori is one of most popular camellias in Japan and a perfect example of Japanese taste, with its elegant single or semi double camellia flower forms. Recorded in 1859, this flower has been painted by many painters and decorators, and I definitely wanted to be one of them.

This Iwane-shibori, which can be seen in neighborhood parks, does not bloom big flowers every year. Luckily, this year, I was able to find a well-shaped Iwane-shibori. It has a good color balance of red and white.

I have been painting camellias on vellum every winter because the camellia leaves that are shiny like leather could be beautifully expressed by transparent watercolor layered on vellum. For this camellia, I could express the petals three dimensionally using Chinese white watercolor paint.

When applying color on vellum, it is important to apply thin layers several times. Thick coating may cause the drawing surface to crack and peel off. This technique requires caution, but drawing white flowers on vellum is more rewarding to me than drawing on paper. The texture of the vellum surface helps to show the weight and presence of camellias. I know there is also a famous camellia nursery in California, and you should be able to see many gorgeous camellias there.

I hope you enjoy the simple beauty of a traditional Japanese camellia like this Iwane-shibori.

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Read more about this artist's work: Abundant Future