Story behind the art of Faye Van Wert

29th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators

Concubine's Feather

Paeonia x suffruticosa 'Concubine's Feather'

My painting, Paeonia x suffruticosa ‘Concubine’s Feather’ is a tree peony from the beautiful garden of my friend Doris Sheils. She is a master gardener who has a visually stunning collection of herbaceous, tree, and intersectional peony species. When I visited her backyard wonderland in mid-May, she gifted me with a bouquet of these incredibly fragile and exquisite tissue paper-like blooms.

Quickly I photographed the collection, amazed at their outsized splash of color and delicate array of overlapping petals. I was intrigued by the crepe-like patterning along the petals’ edges. It was as if a child had used nursery-sized scissors to arrange deeply cut and curving petals, some reminiscent of angels’ wings that fluttered into place on this massive bloom. Measuring a full ten inches in diameter, this flower was painted full-sized on the paper.

My challenge was to use my watercolor paints to create a deep magenta well of velvety pistils, surrounded by lanky, undisciplined yellow stamens that waggled around the center. By contrast, the white guard petals needed to jump off the page. The sunlit parts were surrounded by fully-shaded petals that gave the flower its depth and mimicked its actual need for morning sun and afternoon shade.

Concubine’s Feather is an heirloom Chinese cultivar, revered as a cultural symbol for over 2,000 years. Its name and appearance were used to symbolize the beauty of imperial concubines. The blooms are especially prized in poetry and art, in which the delicate petals resemble soft bird plumage. “Peony mania” began in the 1800s as these cultivars were introduced to Europe and America. Today these perennials are widely grown even in environments that dip to -20 degrees Fahrenheit and can grow 4-7 feet tall.

I was especially charmed by the surprise emergence of the somewhat confused petal in the center, which seemed not to be able to make up its mind where it was going. It added a touch of whimsy to the painting. I hope my viewers become virtual bumble bees and explore the depths in and out of the many layers of the textured petals.

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