Story behind the art of Svetlana Lanse

27th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators

Queen of Night

Tulipa 'Queen of Night'

Black tulips are mysterious. They are a dream of darkness, an elusive fantasy that didn't yield to the skill of even the most experienced tulip breeders until the end of the nineteenth century, when the first black cultivars were developed. It wasn't until 1944 that ‘queen of night’ was released, the cultivar I decided to paint for the 27th Annual International.

Some say that black tulips aren't really black, but dark purple. Technically, they might be right. But there's something more to it for me. Somehow this color pushes the traditional watercolor technique to its limits. In my search for a deeper contrast in these tulips, I turned to experimenting with layering transparent oil paints.

Oil painting is often associated with thick, textured brushstrokes on canvas, but during my miniature painting training at the Academy of Folk Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia, we painted on wooden panels using very fine brushes and thin layers of paint. We often copied classical Dutch still life paintings that required a very high level of detail. With this in mind, I always wanted to apply this medium to botanical art.

Botanical artists tend to be perfectionists and are rarely 100 percent satisfied with their artwork. However, I think the unusual technique I chose for this unusual flower was well-suited to capturing its velvety, iridescent petals.

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Read more about this artist's work: 24th Annual