STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CAROL WOODIN

24th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art & Garden Center

Unearthed - Wild Ginger

Asarum canadense

This painting of a native Asarum canadense is from my series of ‘Unearthed’ paintings, which draw attention to the roots of plants. We are all ‘unearthing’ ourselves, separating ourselves from the plants and the earth itself, and leaving ourselves uprooted. We spend more and more time staring at electronic devices, which hold our attention and fritter away precious time with inaction rather than engagement with our surroundings. During COVID, although we have spent more time away from friends and family, there has been no clearer evidence of how we are connected with every other plant and animal on the planet. The pandemic has brought our precariousness into sharp focus, so it really jump-started this ‘unearthed’ series.

Over the last year and a half, being mostly at home, I’ve been painting things from my own garden, and had long wanted to paint this wild ginger. This common name arose because of the gingery taste and scent of the rhizome, although it is not related to the ginger that we use for a spice, and is more closely related to aristolochia. The unusual flowers are hidden underneath the velvety, heart-shaped leaves, lying right on top of the soil. I dug up a small piece of the plant to see what was underground, and was surprised when I saw the stout, golden/green rhizomes along with a dense network of long roots. I cropped the painting in close, to bring the attention to the flowers and roots, and left one root attached to the edge of the painting, like an umbilical cord, the last thing hanging on.

The painting is a watercolor on dark vellum, stretched over a panel. It took months to paint, partly because of many competitors for my time, but also because of the extra glassy surface of this particular vellum, which needed even more care than usual in laying down many layers of drybrush watercolor. An oak leaf and a little soil detritus are included to remind the viewer of the plant’s former home.

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Read more about this artist's work: Wildly Exquisite