Eucalyptus macrocarpa watercolour artwork ...

Mottlecah WIP  -   © Vicki Lee Johnston

Time to update the blog with a painting completed for an exhibition - thanks to the challenging year we had in 2020, many botanical art exhibitions have gone online, which is still a lovely way to explore and buy art -  especially for those at great distance from the usual venues.  

I know from my own experience, living so far from the art exhibitions makes it very expensive to participate with hefty shipping costs.  I welcome this new way of sharing art and enabling many more to come in contact with art in all forms.

My choice as a botanical subject for  'The Art of Botancal Illustration' was Eucalyptus macrocarpa - mottlecah.  It came about as I pass this unique small tree almost every day on my walks.   It is a wonderful subject, especially being endemic to Western Australia and I have strong memories of being fascinated with the life cycle in my childhood in the country.   It usually looks a bit scraggly and leggy but when the tree produces pods and burst into flower it is a showstopper.  

Layering the leaves and developing flowers and buds
© Vicki Lee Johnston

 It is quite a tricky colour to capture, a kind of grey blue greenish hue ... different in all lights but I decided to show the transitions of colour to highlight how interesting the leaves are as the light hits them.  The flowers are very fiddly and this is the first time I have used masking fluid in a painting, took a few practice efforts and now I may just be a convert!  It certainly widens the field of subject choice for the future.

 

The seed pods are powdery silver grey, clutched tightly to the stem of the shrub.  Once the flower is spent it becomes such an interesting subject to observe and illustrate, woody and architectural, full of nooks and crannies and so much character!

Ageing seed pod coming to life 
© Vicki Lee Johnston

 

Building the depth © Vicki Lee Johnston

Scanned the large artwork and digitally sent to Friends of Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
"The Art of Botanical Illustration"

Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

The Friends of the RBGM is a wonderful organisation and there are many varied activities, support for botanical art and illustration and a wonderful synergy with the natural world.  Sincere thanks to the organisers of this beautiful exhibition, my fellow botanical artists and hoping there will be many more opportunities for art to be viewed around the world in an online platform.

 

Thank you for joining me again on my blog, it is a visual journal for my art progression and started back at the beginning almost ten years ago.  I hope you find the time to create - it's food for the soul!

Rose Mallee ...

Rose Mallee - © Vicki Lee Johnston

It has been ages since I posted a blog update but sometimes I think we need to allow the process to find its own flow ... it should never be forced unless it's a commission or exhibition deadline but in terms of communicating in a social way sometimes less is more while you get your bearings.

The great thing about the creative process is being able to find a community that supports and encourages without constant expectation.  I belong to a few art societies which are very welcoming and always communicate upcoming projects, exhibitions, publications and invite participation wherever possible, despite where you are located.  One such project was run by the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) to celebrate their recent silver anniversary.  

As I am a Member of the ASBA, I was invited to contribute to their publication by painting a subject within the theme of 'silver' whether it be silver leaves, silver in the name of the plant, etc.  I wasn't going to participate due to a very busy calendar and overseas travel at the time, but on one of my road trips I came across the Eucalyptus rhodantha, Rose Mallee, which happened to be in flower on the roadside.

It is a beautiful small tree, if somewhat scraggly and messy at times - however once it comes into bud and flowers - wow, it's a showstopper.  It's endemic to my region and seemed a perfect subject to choose to paint considering the glaucous silver blue leaves and powdery grey buds .... just right for the job description at hand - and especially meaningful being an artwork portraying a West Australian native plant published in an international publication.

WIP - first layers of paint going on ...

I realised once again I had put myself under the pump time wise, as was due to travel within days so I decided just get it done, I loved the subject and once all the colour studies were done, I really hurried the layers of silver grey/blue on the leaves and started building up the shadows to create depth and form.

The powdery greyish silver was a joy to paint, keeping in mind less is more and only painting the shadows and a very subtle silver grey hue.  I then added the raspberry red of the flower, trying to show the light and shade to highlight the details and finally the minute details of the stamen.  The photos are very poor due to me working late into the night.  I had three days from start to finish to complete the painting, which is probably a good thing to avoid overworking.

Probably the most difficult part for many artists could often be the technology associated with exhibiting, publishing and showing artworks.  Being able to photograph, scan, convert files, edit, then ensure you have met the technical criteria for a publication, as it could end up less than complimentary to your work if the colours and light are off.  Fortunately all deadlines were met and the artwork was sent digitally to the society and able to be entered into this beautiful book celebrating their members, their art and the society as an international and inclusive organisation.

It was a few months before the book was published and it took quite a bit longer to reach Western Australia.  It was published in limited numbers, so somewhat of a collectors piece and I am very grateful for my edition.

Excuse the poor quality photo, not easy taking a pic from a glossy book ... but you get the gist! 

For further information here is the website for the American Society of Botanical Artists:

https://www.asba-art.org/

I have a number of artworks in the members gallery - which reminds me, I need to update that too!  Never ending tech alongside art and creation ... guess it keeps both sides of the brain in tune!

https://www.asba-art.org/member-gallery/vicki-lee-johnston

Rose Mallee - © Vicki Lee Johnston 

All artwork and images © Vicki Lee Johnston 2020

Forest Floor ...

'Forest Floor' © Vicki Lee Johnston

The painting 'Forest Floor' came about after a call to artists to advise of an awards exhibition being held at a local gallery.  I always try to be involved where possible, even if the exhibit is not strictly botanical.

I had just over a week to compose, draw and paint the artwork and these creative ideas don't happen instantly.  I did what I always do when my mind isn't able to co-operate and went for a long walk in the hills nearby.  One thing I always notice in summer are the leaves on the ground, while they may be terribly messy and hard work to keep under control, I always seem to get lost in their beauty even though they are well beyond their best.

On this occasion I gathered a handful of half dead and dying leaves, a couple of gum nuts and took them inside where I laid them out in a pleasing mandala style pattern.  It was easier to see how a drawing might come to fruition and how the colours and formation interplayed with the design.  Our suburb in the hills of Perth is known as 'a home in the forest' for the beautiful green belt and natural environment, so the name became obvious to me as everyone living here would see this as such a familiar sight at their feet on the ground, and I had been playful with the outcome.

Decision made, I drew the leaves and gum nuts and set about painting them in the most lifelike way, trying to show the highlights and deep shadows to assist the piece in looking more three dimensional.

This was a kind of stop-start painting, which is unusual for me.  Usually I become somewhat obsessed with my artwork and slave over it for hours on end to the detriment of both my enjoyment and the artwork.  I simply didn't have the time what with renovations, Christmas, New Year etc., and was only able to paint for an hour here and there.  I found this process much more enjoyable and allowed me to step away and see it with new eyes more often. 

The leaves were very earthy colours with a few still quite green ... all having fallen from the trees on our property, my poor husband spends hours raking them up and looked quite bemused when he saw me bringing them inside.  

I enjoyed painting the gum nuts immensely but really took my time building up the washes and leaving the highlights and shadows to unfold slowly so I didn't overpaint them.

They really needed to look rounded and solid to enhance the overall idea.

Looking sideways at the painting often helps me 'see' whether the painting starts to leap off the page.

Finally stepping away from the painting,  I placed it upright and visited it at different times of the day!  I like to look at a painting from all angles to see if it appears realistic enough, before settling on the finishing touches, unfortunately time was tight but thankfully the details weren't too complicated and I finished in the nick of time.

I chose a box frame this time, with a nice amount of depth and shadow to the overall effect, choosing a very neutral frame and mat to allow the leaves and gum nuts to take centre stage.

What an absolute joy to be informed that my painting had been announced Winner of the two dimensional category at the Annual Art Awards - I hadn't been able to attend the big launch party and while I was sad I couldn't be there this was a beautiful keepsake to all my work.

I think it is very important for botanical artists to spread their wings and become involved in exhibitions from all genres, allowing yourself to be more creative and share the beauty of the natural world through observation and detail, this was a wonderful endorsement of this art form.  I finally managed to visit the gallery and enjoy the whole exhibition, there are so many beautiful works of art in all mediums and styles and I feel very honoured to have been shown among them.

The exhibition is open all this weekend - at the beautiful Zig Zag Gallery in Kalamunda, 

Western Australia.

All images © Vicki Lee Johnston

Natural Diversity ...

There  are few really original ideas left these days and particularly when referring to nature, the arts and creative concepts.  'Natural Diversity' was to be the name of the exhibition we held as it is a collaboration between four very diverse artists working in different styles and mediums.  However apparently it was too similar to the name of another exhibition held at the gallery so we had to create a name in a very short period of time which reflected our ambitions.

The result is 'Framing Nature' - the culmination of years of work for the artists involved.

We are all passionate about our subject matter, the natural world - and the title was quite appropriate as it relates so well to how we each see the subject in front of us, how we want to portray it and ultimately, how we present it to the viewing public.  We all frame our subject in our own unique way and our mutual celebration of the natural world is reflected in the works being exhibited.

 

Presentation being so important, prior to framing artworks behind glass it was important for me to have a very good digital copy for printing purposes and online promotion.

 I've spent a lot of time researching the best way to get good reproductions of watercolour botanical artworks and after many test runs, ultimately photography gave the most accurate results.

I have taken some photos for my own files but also had a select few professionally photographed. 

Then comes framing!  So much choice - but I went quite uniform for all my artworks.

 I decided this so that in a group exhibition my artwork has its own trademark style and was easily recognised.  My framing is a little more expensive than hoped but in the end it's like dressing up for the occasion ... time to bet the best foot forward.   That was almost more difficult than choosing the subject for the original artworks!

 Who knew so much goes into an exhibition - from framing, labelling, pricing, bios, artist statements, media releases, photography, catering, sponsors, speakers, delivery, wait staff, etc.  Oh and not to forget the artworks themselves - seems a distant memory since sitting in a quiet studio painting to our heart's content.

It has been a great pleasure working on this exhibition - and as we head towards the finish line with all the hard work behind us, I couldn't be prouder!   Joining together to celebrate our interpretations of the fascinating world of nature  has been a great learning experience.

Vicki Lee Galerie

 

Mixed feelings ...

 

I will admit to missing the continuity of assignment deadlines when we were in the SBA botanical art distance course.   It's been three months since the last artwork was completed and sent away to London for final marks - and both the artworks and I have done a lot of travelling since. The space and time have been very fruitful though and there are a lot more artwork deadlines up ahead - so instead of being daunted by them I will be grateful to have the motivation and appreciate working towards a goal.

The final of the three diploma works to show here is the Mixed Study - a variety of subjects loosely combined to show flowers, stems, leaves gathered together in different perspectives and angles.    I chose plants from my garden - those that were blooming prolifically as I needed to source them easily.  No time for heading out to the garden centre or florist as the final deadline was looming.  I chose a rose, bronze cottonwood, hibiscus and frangipani - it speaks volumes about the kind of summer garden we have and the plants that survive our intense heat. 

                                                 The first stages of the flower heads positioned.
            I had drawn all the elements onto tracing paper and moved them around to find a suitable
         composition so that the colours worked well together and the placement filled the page nicely.

 

Much time was spent doing colour studies to match the individual hues ...

I used oasis foam supported in a pot and played with the flower cuttings to see how they would appear together.  Here is an unfurling cottonwood bud which I cut and then next to it you can see where I placed my work in progress artwork behind it to see how it would fit in the composition.

 And here is the 'real' flower below drawn and painted into the composition ...

 I became glued to this art table for many days and nights -

my desk started to become quite overwhelmed with paint charts, palettes of colour, water containers etc!  Not to mention the plants, flowers, cuttings, and chaos all over the house ...

 

 I always try and turn an image of my artwork into a black and white version to check the contrast and tones in a piece ... I was very happy with this one and actually preferred it to the colour piece...

It's good to step away from the artwork during a break and look at it on a computer screen to zoom in and check for any overlooked elements ...

I also like to walk around the artwork to see if it looks 'real' from all angles - the three dimensionality is what brings a painting to life and if it looks like you could pick it off the page then I'm happy.

 Only a little more to go and the artwork was complete.

 

And voila - joined the other diploma artworks on the long journey from Western Australia to London.
Thanks for joining me on this wonderful journey in botanical art!
I love hearing from you too - your comments are much appreciated x

                                                             All images © Vicki Lee Johnston