Saturday 12 March 2016

Inky Leaves has been busy

Botanical painting of an artichoke
'181120141339' - finished. 
Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)
I  always like to finish the paintings many weeks after the major painting stint of getting most of it down.
When I finish I don't look at photographs or the specimen.
I instead just look at the painting as a whole and work out what needs correcting by eye.


I am just going to leave you with the pictures and captions today... They say that every picture tells a story and I am going to expand on this - a collection of pictures tells the story that has been this past fortnight! Alas it is Saturday, the day I choose to take off and it is sunny outside, so I will be venturing out for a walk now that I have completed the house work. Hopefully I will find some more leaves!

Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)
'181120141339' - close up 
Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)

'181120141339' - close up
Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)


Catalpa bignonioides
'300720150946' - still being worked on. Another few layers went on this week...
Indian Bean Tree Leaf (Catalpa bignonioides)


Gunnera Leaf
'150620151536' - still being worked on. Another few layers went on this week...
This one is very difficult to do as I don't have the specimen in front of me, my sketches aren't to scratch and neither are the photographs. This is slowly becoming a large imaginary leaf!
Giant Rhubarb Leaf (Gunnera manicata)


Botanical illustration of a Grape Vine Leaf
'041120151206' - Had a bit more done on her this fortnight too. This one is really dark and so it's taking a lot of time as I don't want to cake it in one layer of thick watercolour but rather apply the layers slowly to create some depth.
This leaf is in my pressed collection.
Grape Vine Leaf (Vitis vinifera)

Botanical artist at work
I was also working on '041120151203' last week.
This one is a killer because I am not a huge fan of the paper texture.
This is from one of my pressed leaves that I collected a couple of months ago
Poplar tree (Populus nigra)

Botanical artist at work
'041120151203'
Poplar tree (Populus nigra)

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jess

    Great shots - I now get a complete image of your 'giant leaves' and the scale you have undertaken. These can stand alone in the art world but take 'Botanical Illustration' to another level. What shame there are so few pure Botany degrees these days.
    Well Done

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