Statement
I am a botanical artist with a contemporary point of view. I love plants and I love to draw, so here I am, decades into a life of botanical art. There are 400,000 species of plants on the earth today, every one of them beckoning with a compelling shape, size, color or story.
I am captivated, in this “Green” era, by the ironic disconnect between people and the plants that feed, clothe, shelter, heal and sustain us. In my work, I direct attention back to our relationship with the botanical realm, offering the reminder that we need plants more than they need us.
Having trained in the classical tradition of botanical illustration, I am bound to scientific accuracy and detail. Living in the 21st century, I have modern tools and materials to keep the process new. Because I love to draw, I work primarily in colored pencil, often combined with graphite, pastel, and a variety of grounds and other media. I like to incorporate maps and trompe-l’oeil elements into my drawings, creating clues for the viewer to discover and interpret.
The challenge that keeps me coming back to the garden is simple: Look at an ordinary plant and see something new, then create visual narrative with color or perspective or context.
From tundra to tropics and all the deserts, swamps, prairies and backyards in-between, I will be out there . . . looking for the next plant to draw and the next story to tell.
I am captivated, in this “Green” era, by the ironic disconnect between people and the plants that feed, clothe, shelter, heal and sustain us. In my work, I direct attention back to our relationship with the botanical realm, offering the reminder that we need plants more than they need us.
Having trained in the classical tradition of botanical illustration, I am bound to scientific accuracy and detail. Living in the 21st century, I have modern tools and materials to keep the process new. Because I love to draw, I work primarily in colored pencil, often combined with graphite, pastel, and a variety of grounds and other media. I like to incorporate maps and trompe-l’oeil elements into my drawings, creating clues for the viewer to discover and interpret.
The challenge that keeps me coming back to the garden is simple: Look at an ordinary plant and see something new, then create visual narrative with color or perspective or context.
From tundra to tropics and all the deserts, swamps, prairies and backyards in-between, I will be out there . . . looking for the next plant to draw and the next story to tell.
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Proust
About Me
Paris, 2022
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Growing up in Colorado, I have always been inclined to draw and rearrange everything in my path. My summers in Grand County attuned me to the wealth of high-altitude flora that continues to inspire my work.
Having formalized my study of Art and Art History at Colorado College and the University of Exeter, England, I always preferred drawing. In 1990 I discovered Botanical Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens and never looked back. I received a Certificate of Merit from the program in 1991 and was named Student of the Year. I have mounted numerous solo and group exhibits, and illustrated gardening books, field guides, catalogs, seed packets, product labels and even coloring books. I was an instructor in the School of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens from 1998 until my retirement in 2020. I continue to teach online at Craftsy.com and Wondrium.com, as well as workshops in the U.S. and abroad. In 1919, I published Color Layering for Colored Pencil, a course in my colored pencil techniques. I am affiliated with SPARK Gallery in Denver, Colorado and and Susan Frei Nathan Works on Paper in New Jersey. I exhibit locally, nationally and internationally. My award-winning work is included in books and collections including the State Museum of New York in Albany, NY and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, PA, as well as numerous private collections. |