Story behind the art of Bobbi Angell
Botanical Art Worldwide 2025-A More Abundant Future:
Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field
American Society of Botanical Artists at the Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
Fava Beans
Vicia faba
I did this copper etching of fava beans, Vicia faba, after growing them, sketching them, and then eating lots of them, which were delicious.
It is always wonderful to grow vegetables and flowers in my garden. I do plant illustrations for John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, and the company commissioned me to draw fava beans a few years ago. I was glad to get seeds from them, which I planted in the spring. I drew the beans for the company and then made a copper etching print.
I pulled up a tiny amount of the germinated seeds for the first sketch. Soon after the flowers grew, and then as the beans developed, I did sketches of the plants and set up the design for a print. I arranged the drawings on a copper etching and printed them in my studio, with a limited edition of 30 prints.
Several years ago, with my co-author Jim Costa, I worked on a book, Darwin and the Art of Botany. I looked through all Charles Darwin’s plant books and decided to select 45 plants to research. I was impressed that Charles Darwin worked on fava beans, along with his son, Francis Darwin, for the book, The Power of Movement in Plants. Our book has a chapter about Darwin’s study of fava beans, along with an introduction written by Jim Costa. I selected paintings at Oak Spring Garden Foundation to include in our Darwin book, choosing paintings that artists worked on during the Golden Age of Botanical Art. I selected a watercolor of fava beans that Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin painted around 1750, which is quite lovely. The fava bean is one of the oldest cultivated plants, probably native to Africa and Middle East, grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and then in other parts of Europe.
I do many illustrations for botanists, usually drawing from pressed herbarium specimens. I also do other illustrations for books and articles. However, the best thing I like doing is drawing live plants, including native plants and flowers in my garden, and printing them on my copper etchings.
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Read more about this artist's work: 20th Annual