STORY BEHIND THE ART OF BARBARA OOZEERALLY

Wildly Exquisite: Florida’s Native Plants

Seedheads of magnolia grandiflora

Magnolia grandiflora

This is one of 150 paintings that I did over a period of nine years for a book my book, Magnolias in Art & Cultivation—in fact this particular seedhead appears on the back cover of the book. At the time I was traveling around England and Europe, visiting public and private gardens, with a long list of species from Jim Gardiner, then president of the International Magnolia Society, who wrote the text. ((Stephen Spongberg contributed botanical descriptions.)

In late 2006, I went to the Arboretum Wespelaar in Belgium. At that time the arboretum belonged to Viscount Philippe de Spoelberch, who created the dendrological collection there. (He lent financial support to the publication of the book at Kew.) The head gardener, Dr. Koen Camelbeke, helped me to time my visits precisely to the flowering peak of the magnolias. At that time the garden was not open to the public, and I had the 20 hectares to myself. It was magic to wander from one magnolia to another and collect data.

I came upon a huge Magnolia grandiflora growing in full sun. The seedheads were unusually big and red. To my knowledge this particular magnolia hardly ever produces seedheads of such a strong color. They looked like flames against the mass of glossy evergreen leaves. I had to paint them! The seedheads were carefully wrapped in layers of tissue and brought back home. The painting shows two versions of this same seedhead: one painted immediately, and the second one a few days later, when the outer layers started to open, showing shiny red seeds and some loss of freshness. In my experience as a botanical artist, there are situations when the subject is screaming to be painted. This painting is the result of such a moment.

Next Story

Back to List

Read more about this artist’s work: Abundant Future