ArtPlantae Today

Botanical Art at the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute

July 11, 2012 by Tania Marien

Here is the latest at Classes Near You > England :

Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute
www.hlsi.net
Cultural arts center and library in London founded in 1839. In addition to their courses in botanical drawing and painting, the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute offers courses in art, art history, ancient and modern languages, music appreciation and the history of London.

Botanical Drawing & Painting with Sandra Wall Armitage

Sandra Wall Armitage

View Details/Register

Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, Learning Opportunities |

You Can See a Plant, Then You Can REALLY See It

July 9, 2012 by Tania Marien

Our conversation with Heeyoung Kim continues…

Question #4: I read the painting of Silene regia, the Royal Catchfly
(Image 6), took two years to create. What challenges did you encounter with this project?

Heeyoung: The biggest challenge was the weather and location. This beautiful red plant was in full bloom in August. The temperature at that time went up to 100 degrees in the prairie. The hot and humid prairie was heaven for the bugs and insects. They literally tried to eat me up alive. When we have hot and humid weather in Chicago land, usually sudden showers follow. You can imagine what happened to me with my big sketch pad. Another challenge was the plant itself. It had a very complicated structure with multiple flower stalks branched out at several nodes. And it’s hairy and sticky. That is how it got its common name; the sticky hair catches flies. When I tried to start drawing, the composition didn’t come to me. After several days’ trial, I still could not get it started. So I changed my strategy. Forget the composition! Study parts first, and then work with the whole image! For many days afterwards, I did detailed drawings of petals, flowers, and leaves to make myself familiar with the plant structure and shape. Finally when I felt I got to know the plant, I could compose the image on paper with confidence. It took 2 weeks to get the composition I liked. At the end of the year, I proudly showed my finished painting to my mentor. He gave me wonderful compliments, but very cautiously advised me to see some other photos, as he believed the red on the painting was not intense enough. I could not believe that, because I worked first-hand with the plant right in the habitat for so long and so hard. Without having my signature on that painting, I put it in my flat file and waited one year to see the color again with my bare eyes. The following spring, I made regular visits to check the whole life cycle of the plant. What I found out in the second year was very simple. My observation in the first year started too late. I missed the very early bud which had more orange and the brightest red in freshly bloomed flowers. That was the biggest lesson I keep in mind ever since. I feel like I learned everything about botanical drawing and watercolor, and the way I should approach my subjects, in this one project.

Read more of this conversation

NOTE: Heeyoung’s painting of the Royal Catchfly is the signature image for the upcoming meeting of the American Society of Botanical Artists. This year, botanical artists from all over the world will travel to Illinois to attend this annual meeting.

Posted in botanical art, drawing |

Study Botanical Illustration at the City College of Glascow

July 9, 2012 by Tania Marien

The City College of Glascow announces botanical illustration classes for Fall and early Spring 2013. Here’s the latest at Classes Near You > Scotland:

Botanical Drawing & Painting

Botanical Drawing – Thursdays, 10 weeks, beginning September 6, 2012; 6-9 PM. Beginning artists will learn how to draw and paint flowers, fruit and vegetables. Cost: £96. For more information, contact Clare Crines. View course schedule to register.
Botanical Drawing – Thursdays, 10 weeks, beginning November 29, 2012; 6-9 PM. Beginning artists will learn how to draw and paint flowers, fruit and vegetables. Cost: £96. For more information, contact Clare Crines. View course schedule to register.
Botanical Drawing – Thursdays, 10 weeks, beginning March 7, 2013; 6-9 PM. Beginning artists will learn how to draw and paint flowers, fruit and vegetables. Cost: £96. For more information, contact Clare Crines. View course schedule to register.

Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, Learning Opportunities |

Nature Artists in the Classroom

July 6, 2012 by Tania Marien

Nature Art
Science Art
Scientific Illustration
Natural Science Illustration

What do you call art that gets people thinking about nature and the environment?

Today I am going to use the label “natural history art” because it is nature that professor, Ashley Campbell, emphasizes in Avenues to Inspiration: Integrating the Life and Work of Nature Artists Into Middle School Science.

In her article, Campbell (2011) suggests several ways teachers can use art as a learning tool to connect with students whose reaction to the word “science” is less-than-positive.

Campbell (2011) suggests introducing students to the work of nature artists such as Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and John James Audubon (1785-1851). She provides suggestions about how teachers can use the work of nature artists to teach students about biological processes, local plants and animals, and occupations in the fields of life science, physical science and art.

She also offers suggestions about how teachers can create a “Science & Art” (Campbell, 2011) component in their classrooms and how they can keep this component fresh and engaging from September to June through the use of themes and interactive activities.

To learn more about Ashley Campbell’s ideas, visit your local college library to get a copy of her article.

Literature Cited
Campbell, Ashley. 2011. Avenues to inspiration. Science Scope. 35(2): 24-30

Teachers, Here’s Another Idea!
Participate in conversations with artists and educators right here on this website. Since 2007, ArtPlantae Today has been where artists, naturalists and educators have learned from people who use art to bring attention to plants and to important issues in botany education. We learn from a different featured guest each month. Would you like to join us?

Bring ArtPlantae into your classroom!

Share this unique learning opportunity with other teachers!

Before you go, however, meet this month’s featured guest Heeyoung Kim. Heeyoung is a botanical artist, teacher and advocate for America’s prairies. Today she tells us how she creates art with a message.

Posted in teaching & learning, Teaching & Learning |

Seeing Prairie Plants As They Are

July 4, 2012 by Tania Marien

Featured guest, Heeyoung Kim, shares how she collects field data:

After you locate a plant in the field, how do you approach recording the plant’s information? Do you begin with a written description of its identifying characteristics or do you prefer to think visually and create a sketch first?

Heeyoung:

When I am introduced to a new plant either with help from my “plant scout” or through a book, I can usually see it from its blooming season. I do start sketching parts of the plant, but I prefer working with the whole composition after I see its full life cycle in the next year.

Both written and graphic records are essential for a proper description, I believe. I usually start measuring botanically distinctive features of the plant with the metric system first. I then draw them from different angles and in various stages with color notes or sample coloring with colored pencil or watercolor. I know we are used to inch and feet in America, but in most other countries they use the metric system and they require you to write scales in centimeters and millimeters when you do scientific illustration and write a plant legend. For color notes, sometimes I just write down the paint tube names I will probably use to paint the plant. I find this works very well for me, as I can directly envision the painting process while I am looking at the plant.

I record all of my notes on one large paper, which I always have with me whenever I go out for sketch.

Join this conversation already in progress

Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews |

Scientific Illustration for Natural History

July 4, 2012 by Tania Marien

Here is a fantastic learning opportunity at The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies in Mount Carroll, IL.

Scientific Illustration for Natural History
August 13-15, 2012

Four-day course taught by scientific illustrators, Peggy MacNamara and Dan Brinkmeier. Open to participants with all levels of drawing skills or art. Choose to concentrate on simple visualization techniques leading to the development of exhibit elements, educational materials and educational activities or choose to concentrate on illustrations used in publications or electronic media. Participants have the option to work on a group project to experience working in a manner similiar to the way a museum exhibit team would function to produce a diorama, mural, or exhibit.

There is so much more to read about this course. View other key aspects in the course description.

Cost: Tuition and Materials Fee, $735
Includes housing, breakfast, lunch and snacks.
Registration Information

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities, scientific illustration, Special Announcements |

Plants Portrayed in Beeswax & Resin at Arnold Arboretum

July 2, 2012 by Tania Marien

Artist Susan Hardy Brown brings a fresh perspective to the important work performed in herbaria throughout the world. Using materials gathered from her work as a curatorial assistant at the Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum, Brown captures plants and their diversity in paintings created using beeswax and resin — a technique called encaustic painting.

An exhibition of Brown’s work, Ex Herbario:
Recent Works by Susan Hardy Brown, will be on view in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall at the Arnold Arboretum from July 14 – September 16, 2012.

Brown will discuss her work during Artist Talk: Susan Hardy Brown, a free lecture to be held on Thursday, September 13, 2012 from 7:00 – 8:30 PM. To attend this event, please register here.

The public will have another opportunity to meet Susan Hardy Brown during a special reception scheduled for Saturday, September 15 from 1-3 PM.

Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum is a 265-acre living collection of trees, shrubs and woody vines. It is the oldest public arboretum in North America and is free and open to the public everyday. The Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall is in continuous use for classes and other events. Please check the current visiting hours of the Hunnewell Building and call (617) 384-5209 to confirm the exhibition will be available for viewing.

Related
Learn more about encaustic art. Visit International Encaustic Artists online.