STORY BEHIND THE ART OF margaret best

25th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Wave Hill

Red Oak

Quercus rubra

Oaks and acorns are among my favorite topics. My first oak painting was of acorns and leaves—Quercus robur—from specimens found in Windsor Great Park off a tree believed to have been planted by William the Conqueror. In the years since then I have completed many oak and acorn paintings from varying sources.

As for this painting, a few years ago we moved to the South Shore of Nova Scotia, and for the first time we have our own oak trees—an abundance of red oaks, Quercus rubra, native to this region. The most mature of the red oaks dominates the view from our living room, competing in height with some mighty conifers. Since reading Finding the mother tree by Suzanne Simard, I have pondered if it is possibly a mother tree supporting and nurturing other trees close by.

Last year that tree produced an unusually large crop of acorns—so many that even the squirrels couldn’t gather them all. I painted a few single acorns as small works to give as gifts to the family who share my love of oaks and acorns. For one of the paintings, however, I drew a single acorn larger and painted it for a teaching-tutorial on dry brushwork. But I liked it so much that I left space to allow for a larger composition later.

The painting sat like that for a few months while I waited for the right acorns or curling red leaves to make it complete. Then one day I found a twig with some of the empty cupules attached. After a few sketches the composition came together, and I was ready to paint again. About two weeks later the final oak study was complete. This is not the way I usually go about making compositions, but for this piece it all just came together fortuitously.

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Read more about this artist's work: Abundant Future