Story behind the art of Sora Han
27th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators
Hosta
Hosta longipes
Seoul's city center is lined with flower beds and street trees. They beautify the city and also help relieve the stress of the bustling urban environment, so people appreciate them very much. However, sometimes, someone might carelessly discard cigarette butts or trash among the flowers and trees.
The winter before last, I noticed cigarette butts piling up one by one in a flower bed along a path I walked. It seemed someone considered the flower bed, devoid of flowers, as an ashtray, which saddened me. Then, one day when the weather warmed up, I noticed a tender shoot emerging, something I hadn't seen before.
Curious about what kind of shoot it was, I started taking photos of its growth process as I passed by. The shoot flourished, and soon the flower bed was filled with leaves. Flower stems sprouted and elegant purple flowers bloomed. Around that time, no one was discarding cigarette butts in the flower bed anymore, because they had realized who the true owner of the flower bed was.
I was overwhelmed with emotion. Nature always quietly asserts its presence to humans, as if saying, "this is my place." I couldn't help but marvel at its noble vitality. I was amazed by the hostas that sprouted and bloomed so abundantly in a flower bed that had been neglected and used as a trash can throughout the winter. I wanted to express this plant in my artwork.
I drew lush leaves covering about the bottom third of the paper, depicting the crowded hostas. To convey the plants’ majesty, I included several upright flower stems. The thriving leaves were all slightly different shades of green, so I tried to capture those subtle variations. To express the glossy texture of the leaves, I focused on blending. I layered colors with colored pencils, blending each layer to create the smooth surface texture of the leaves. To avoid making the composition look too stiff with the upright flower stems, I included wilted flowers, fallen petals, and insect-eaten leaves to represent the growth process of the plants.
Hostas are commonly found in Korea in garden flower beds or mountain valleys. Their young leaves can be eaten as vegetables or grown for ornamental purposes. While I do have a strong desire to draw endangered species, I am more inclined to focus on the plants that are so common they often go unnoticed. These are the plants that are present in our daily lives, yet we pass by them without a second thought. Through my drawings, I want to capture and share with others the beauty and wonder of the plants we often ignore. I want to highlight those that disappear with the changing seasons, almost without notice.
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Read more about this artist's work: 26th Annual