STORY BEHIND THE ART OF SUSAN MINTUN

24th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Apple Blossom Orchid

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom 'Hihmanu'

The plant depicted was purchased from an orchid grower in southeastern Pennsylvania. I had gone to the greenhouse with the intention of finding an orchid that would inspire me, then doing a watercolor painting on vellum. This specimen of x Jackfowliera Appleblossom ‘Hihmanu’ was exactly what I wanted: elegant, graceful, cream-colored flowers with delicate hues of pink and yellow, and linear accents of deep rose on the labellum. The flower form and colors were captivating, and I happily brought it home. At that time, did I look very carefully at the rest of the plant? Not much.

When it was purchased, the orchid had one open flower and three buds. I did a few thumbnails of the flower, but I was dissatisfied with the result. No matter what the angle of view, some interesting aspect of the plant form was obscured. Perhaps the solution would be to portray it multiple times from various angles, so nothing had to be left out? In this case, a page of disembodied flowers didn’t satisfy either. I put it aside and went on to other projects.

A few weeks later all the flowers had opened, and I found that the orchid had solved the problem for me—clever plant! With the open flowers arrayed around the stem I could see front, back, and side views all nicely arranged, and finally I noticed that the flowers in relationship to the foliage formed a complete and elegant composition. So, still with the plan of doing a painting, I started a value study in graphite.

The longer I worked on the drawing, the more interested I became in portraying the beauty of the details without the distraction of the flower colors. What began as a preliminary study became the finished artwork. I looked forward to working on it every day and exploring all the parts that I had initially disregarded in favor of the charismatic flowers. The drawing took about two weeks to complete. As is often true of orchids, the plant indulged me by remaining fresh and immobile until I was done.

I am certain other botanical artists have experienced this sort of change in direction while working on a piece. In this case working through the creative process and putting aside my preconceived ideas resulted in something entirely different from what I had originally envisioned—a lesson to me to be open to taking a different path.

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Read more about this artist's work: Abundant Future