The Grand Opera House once served as host to entertainers such as Buffalo Bill Cody and John Phillip Sousa. Today the 138-year old opera house presents ballets, rock concerts, comedy shows, and musical evenings with the Delaware Symphony. Next month, it will add an exhibition of contemporary botanical art to its long history.
Brenda A. Aiken, botanical illustrator and member of the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators and the American Society of Botanical Artists, will be featured in an exhibition of her watercolor paintings at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware. The exhibition is titled “Late Bloomer” and will be on view in the lobby November 1-30, 2009.
When asked about the title of her exhibit, Brenda replied:
“Late Bloomer” refers to the fact that, although I have been painting and sketching all my life, it is only in the last 2 1/2 years that I have concentrated on botanical illustration and, for that matter, watercolor. I have always feared watercolor and its immediacy. Once I tried it (about 6 years ago), I LOVED it and regretted my lifelong neglect of that medium.
After 4 years of “dabbling” in watercolor, at the suggestion of my husband, I started taking lessons in botanical illustration from an excellent teacher, Joan Frain, and the rest, as they say, “is history”. Botanical illustration proved to be my forte and I am now a botanical illustrator, a “late bloomer” because I am 73 years old and have FINALLY found my niche in life!
You are invited to meet Brenda and view her work at an artist’s reception scheduled for Friday November 6th from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM.
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