"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home" (Twyla Tharp)

Field Study Composition ...




The artwork is finally in the UK with my tutor and I wanted to show the final composition of all the field work and individual studies.  The SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course has become such a familiar routine now and it's reassuring to think there will be feedback on the way we approach a botanical artwork as complex as this.

Very rough composition ideas

Once back in the studio it's time to make some sense of it all.  There are so many components to the final artwork - five plants including flowers or fruit plus one to include undergrowth  ... as well as a dissection of one of the plants.  I had a fair idea of which five I would choose from the ten full studies done - and it came down to size as well as my personal favourites.  One of my original choices was a fabulous Hakea petiolaris but in reality would have taken most of the page on its own.   I scribbled a very rough plan and tried to portray my mental image of what the page would look like.

Top section

By this point it was too difficult to decide on a final composition until the painting started to take shape with colours and flow ... so I began the top two - starting with the top left Eucalyptus leucoxylon - once I had the basic drawing and washes done I moved on to the Corymbia calophylla as I was anxious to see the fit.

Starting lower area

Then on to the lower left part of the page I began the Banksia sessilis.... as you can see I had already deviated from the original plan due to how it was developing

Taking shape 


Followed by the Acacia aphylla, bottom right - no room for the snapshot in the centre 

Beginning the habitat study in graphite

 There wasn't a lot of space left and I still had to do the plant with habitat... thankfully the Oxalis glabra is quite dainty!  After doing the initial stages I threw caution to the wind and started drawing freehand with the graphite understory ... but then again it is erasable!  I wanted to fill the space and chose leaves, stones, gumnuts etc to bring the composition together



 I  had to think about the dissection and decided (mostly due to excess white spaces) to do two dissections showing longitudinal section of the inflorescence on each one.  The top dissection  is done at actual size, and the Banksia sessilis was made slightly larger, hence the x 1.25 written next to it.  When doing a dissection it is important to show the size portrayed for accuracy of identification.

I also played with the grasses a little to pull it all together, as there was a little too much white paper in the middle of the composition.

Assignment 10 - Working in the Field

As many of the SBA students would say, this assignment is exhaustive and I was happy to let it go.   I spent a day writing a summary page,  collating the long list of species sighted in the habitat, plus gathering the many pages of sketchbook studies to include in the envelope.
Botanical art is such a precise genre, although I am sensing it is important not to be too mechanical about filling the criteria ... and despite all my grumbles I really did enjoy working in the field and hope to do a lot more once the course is completed next year.

All images © Vicki Lee Johnston


First impressions ...


Parrot Bush

I love  botanical art in any format and love to absorb books showing depictions of all plant matter,  scientific illustrations that tell a story about the plant and the biographies of those that bring this work to our attention.  However choosing botanical art as my genre was more about painting the plants I love to see - the richly coloured, voluptuous, elegant, exotic subjects I wanted to decorate my walls. 


If you had told me I would have depicted the Parrot Bush - Banksia sessilis  in one of my artworks I would have asked why on earth?  This plant grows in profusion in the hills where I live, is extremely invasive and worst of all ... has hideously sharp leaves which leave anyone who goes near it scratched up and bleeding ...  I actually disliked this plant intensely. 


Field studies sketch pages 

However for the field studies assignment there was little flowering - but there was the Parrot Bush emerging  everywhere around me  ... and reluctantly I gave in, because the choices were few and there was a plentiful supply of this bush.  I spent a lot of time sketching and carefully investigating the leaves, stems, seed pods, inflorescence and growth habit to provide an accurate portrayal.  Needless to say ...   "ouch" was repeated constantly while trying to inspect more closely and no doubt there are spots of my blood on the sketchbook pages!

First washes going on

 However in time I have grown to admire this plant - it is so hardy, surviving in difficult conditions and is a key source of food for honeyeaters, cockatoos and parrots.


Adding the gnarly  branch


Once I started painting the Parrot Bush I enjoyed it immensely - away from the sharp spiky leaves and referring to my notes and colour studies I started to see it with new eyes.


Banksia sessilis - Parrot Bush with dissection

At the other end of the appreciation scale is a little flower that really appeals to me ... Oxalis glabra - Finger-leaf Oxalis.



I think it's such a sweet little flower ... when you grow up on a farm in a harsh environment,  Oxalis is one of the species which seems to exist in the most difficult conditions .. a touch of colour when there is little else.  Although many think of them as weeds and our local rangers tend to spray them to reduce outcrops, I was very happy to include them in my artwork as a common sight in my habitat.




Another requirement of the field studies artwork is to show at least one subject in situ in the habitat showing the growth site, including leaf litter, stones, gravel and nuts.  I decided graphite would be the best choice to depict these less lively subjects.


Oxalis glabra - Finger-leaf Oxalis

I have posted quite a bit about this assignment but it is relative to the amount of background research, study and sketch requirements to complete this style of botanical work.    I would love to try this again in Spring ... the Australian native wildflowers are beautiful and so unique ...

 

Bits and pieces ...


The winning plant with the most colour went to the Eucalyptus leucoxylon or Red-flowering Yellow Gum  ... like a ballerina with a fancy pink tutu - it stood out on the track and said pick me!!  So I did ...

Red-flowering Yellow Gum
Sketchbook workings

Eucalyptus leucoxylon with longitudinal section of inflorescence


Acacia aphylla in situ

The Acacia aphylla - Leafless Rock Wattle - is an endangered species and I was lucky enough to find a plant growing in my habitat .... while it looks something of a bare naked lady I find it graceful and elegant and a nice change from painting leaves ... the colour is quite remarkable.



Acacia aphylla - Leafless Rock Wattle

 The assignment is now well on its way to London and hopefully the tutor will enjoy these strange plants indigenous to my home state.  I certainly have a new appreciation for them and for field study work.  Hope to be doing a lot more of these studies ....

Nuts ...



Working in the Field ...



Well I must be ... crazy that is.   There is a point when you ask yourself why you're doing something and with the latest assignment this thought crossed my mind a couple of times.   Lots of time has been spent on location in the middle of winter studying and sketching plants in situ for the latest field studies assignment.  That would be enough to make it a significant project ... let alone the final artwork consisting of five different botanical studies.

Corymbia calophylla - Marri

One of my subjects is Corymbia calophylla - commonly known as the Marri.
It is distinctive for its very large buds and fruit, known as gum nuts or  "honky nuts" in Western Australia.

The humble 'honky nut'

From the Urban Dictionary :  "A term used in Western Australia as an alternative to "gumnut". Describes the woody nut or seed pod of the gum tree, specifically the gumnuts of the marri tree  Useful for throwing at enemies or friends and family."

 
The old nuts ready to drop 

They may look harmless enough, but these things are dangerous.  I have nearly 'come a cropper'  (slipped and fallen) many times while walking ...  they are all over the ground near where the trees are, as they drop off the branches and are often assisted by the black cockatoos nibbling away at the stems and nuts and dropping them from a lofty height ... 


I even used to give my children pocket money to collect them by the bucket load on our property ... to save me the grief of doing an injury while I was out in the garden.    A local physiotherapist once said a lot of their work comes as a result of honky nut injuries!  However as there were so few flowering plants on the track I had to make my peace with this quintessentially West Australian subject and accept them as an alternative botanical subject.


The first washes on the nuts ... 

In the end I really enjoyed painting them.    They are an easier choice because they don't move,  or open and close like a flower and there was an endless supply of subjects to study.  


My nuts.

So now I have a soft spot for them ... just as well, they are the local emblem here.  We even have bronze sculptures as water features in prominent areas of our district!  Often to be seen overflowing with bubbles after locals add soap to the water,  makes me smile every time I see them.




Field studies ....


My walking track ....

Assignment 10 - Working in the Field ... hmmm so it's the middle of winter here in Australia - we are still cleaning up after storms and unusually strong winds ... with trees and branches down everywhere.  Now it's time for me to head 'into the field' to find something interesting and beautiful to portray on an artwork ... not one subject, but five!  Add to that a significant amount of field studies of various plants including botanical information, colour studies, habitat observation ... and it looks like an assignment to test the most dedicated botanical artist.  


 

Loaded up with my backpack full of pencils, sketchbooks, palettes, water jars and a very good attitude heading out into the freezing cold, wet, windy terrain ... I crouch down to take notes only to be met by a blue tongue lizard, or 'bobtail' as we call them.  Harmless - but enough to give you a fright when you almost step on him ...  and he was not impressed.



The habitat I have chosen is my local walking track ... lots of trees and shrubs and usually laden with wildflowers and beautiful flowering plants ...  however it is the middle of winter now - not so much on offer and left intact after the storms.







Lots of sharp, spiky, fluffy, prickly plants, predominantly green and gold - no wonder they are our country's colours ... but not looking so good for a very colourful composition.



Australian native plants are so unique ... my eyes just don't like the amount of work they will command to illustrate them accurately.



More nuts, balls, fluffy flowers, spiky leaves ...



The wildlife might be more colourful and less challenging to paint ....


After spending quite some time on the track I managed to narrow some choices down -  here's a flowering plant with some good colour!  The first of my sketch pages - Eucalyptus leucoxylon  ... showing growth habit, colour studies and botanical details ready to take back to the studio and try and recreate it on my artwork.  It helped to carry a white card and place behind a branch to see the colours more accurately.


I have completed about seven pages of sketchbook studies of different plants - it is a preliminary and very rough sketch page,  because it is quite difficult to do the studies in the field ... which I guess is the whole point of getting us to do it, so we reflect on studying botanical subjects in situ and understand what is required to complete a botanical artwork in this way.  I also have a number of photographic references to ensure I have captured as much information as possible.  I have since gone back to gather even more information on the shrub to ensure accuracy ... the more we do this work the better we get at knowing what we need to document.

Using sketch book studies to refer to ...

Now I am finally back in the warmth of the studio with pages and pages of sketchbook studies, ready to try and translate it to the final artwork.  Trying to compose a page of five different botanical subjects as accurately as possible from sketches made in the field is quite a feat - fitting them on the page in a pleasing way is the next step.  I have done many compositional plans and I'm still not sure how it will work out.  Time is short and I have to start somewhere so here goes!