New Art Works

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on Purple-Fringed Orchid (Platanthera grandiflora), watercolor, 13"h x 10"w.

With the current heat wave, spending time outdoors hasn't been very appealing. Aestivating in air conditioned comfort has its advantages: I finally get around to doing paintings I'd been meaning to do for ages!

The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) above was painted from photos taken four years ago when I was artist-in-residence at the Red House. I visited an acquaintance in nearby WV who took me to a site where there were a lot of native Purple-fringed orchids. The orchids were in full bloom and attracting scads of butterflies, among them this Great Spangled Fritillary. 

Painting the butterfly was very challenging, and so was the orchid--those fringed edges are so tricky!

 

Mountain Laurel II (Kalmia latifolia), watercolor, 14"h x 11"w.

 

Above is the second painting I've done of Mountain Laurel, inspired by my recent hike to North Mountain. I sold the first painting I did of it when I was artist-in-residence at the Red House a few years ago. Both paintings were done from sprigs of the actual plant. I love the way the branches of this plant grow in such artistic patterns, and the dark leaves set off the pale flowers--definitely one of the loveliest of our native plants. 

 

North Mountain Patch of Ground (Hawkweed sp.?), colored pencil, 12"h x 10"w.

 

This last piece is for the upcoming "A Winter Walk" exhibition that the Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR) is going to present at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA, during the holidays this year. Our show is scheduled from Dec. 18, 2025 through Jan. 24, 2026.

I was intrigued by this tiny, very hairy plant growing on the slopes of North Mountain that I came across during a VNPS hike last year. One of the botanists guiding us tentatively identified it as a hawkweed, perhaps Panicled Hawkweed (Hieracium paniculatum) but I'll need to go back in about a month to see if that is indeed the correct identification, or perhaps it's another species, Beaked Hawkweed (Hieracium gronovii). Both bloom in mid-summer.

I selected colored pencils for this piece in order to use a technique I'd learned about and saw demonstrated at this year's ASBA Spring Symposium--I wanted to try it. Using a metal point to make marks on the paper turned out to be an effective yet simple way to render those long hairs.

I'm busy working on other paintings now, waiting till we get a respite from the weather.