Story behind the art of Myra Sourkes
26th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center
Heavenly Blue Morning Glories
Ipomoea tricolor 'Heavenly Blue'
Morning glories are annual vines and, as the name suggests, the flowers bloom early in the day. Each flower lasts no more than several hours; then the flower wilts and dies by the end of the day.
I like colors, especially intense colors. Blue is my favorite color, so it’s not hard to see why I chose the Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glory plant both for my garden and for a painting subject! I also like the graceful spirals of the buds, the elegant trumpet shape of the flowers, and the intertwining of the stems.
Before starting this watercolor painting, I thought I knew blues well. I was wrong. The correct shade of blue for these morning glories was elusive. At first, I thought that cobalt blue would be a good match for the flowers, but then I observed that sometimes the color was sky blue or sapphire blue or almost turquoise, and sometimes I could see underlying purple, magenta and pink. I felt frustrated until I realized that the color evolves over the day as the flower opens and then wilts. I learned this is because of anthocyanins, a group of pigments found in the fluid-filled vacuoles of many flowers, fruits and vegetables that are red, purple and blue. The word anthocyanin comes from the Greek words anthos (flower) and kyanos (blue). The color of a plant depends primarily on the acidity level of these pigments: in acidic solutions the pigments are reddish purple, while in alkaline solutions, they are blue. In blue morning glories, the pH of the flower tissue changes from acid to alkaline as the flowers bloom over several hours; thus, the buds have an acidic environment and are in the purple range, but as the flowers open, the pH becomes alkaline, and the flowers turn medium or light blue. I also observed that the color could be affected by the weather - sunny or cloudy, cool or sultry. I finally decided that I would portray the flowers as they appeared at midday, and I chose a blue that seemed representative of that time of day.
I draw and paint very slowly, so I couldn’t keep up with the flowers, which changed so quickly that it almost felt like a time lapse phenomenon. I used photos as references, in addition to studying the live plants, but even so, the painting took me a really long time, in fact, three seasons. I completed the painting more than a decade ago, and I hung it on our dining room wall, facing where I sit at dinner. But as time went by, I didn’t enjoy looking at it anymore, although I didn’t know why. A few years ago, I realized that I had learned so much more about botanical art over the interval that I could see things in the painting I could now refine. So, I unframed it and reworked it. I intensified that problematic blue and tried to make it more complex. I got closer to the bronze color of some of the stems. I corrected some of the shading. I increased the amount of detail that I was now able to portray. This entire process was a valuable learning experience for me.
My house sits on a corner, and the front garden is surrounded by an old, weathered picket fence. It is the perfect location for twisting vines. I have planted several varieties of clematis along the fence, and each year I add in Heavenly Blue morning glories. I have always enjoyed the show on the fence, but never more than during the pandemic years. My neighbors and I, like everyone else, were marooned at home. Almost the only outing anyone dared to make was to go for walks. I would look out my front windows and frequently I would see people smiling as they stopped at the fence to look, to take photos, or to point out the flowers to their babies in strollers. I would think to myself that might be their only smile for the day, and I was happy that my garden might have contributed in a small way to their wellbeing and endurance during that terrifying time.
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Read more about this artist’s work: 21st Annual