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.

 

All in a Garden Green

The Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR) proudly presents a showcase of the work of its members, "All in a Garden Green" at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Va.

Green Spring Gardens (31 acres) is a public park operated by Fairfax County Park Authority. It includes a historic 18th-century plantation house, "Green Spring", which is the heart of a national historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The park has a wooded stream valley with ponds, a naturalistic native plant garden, more than 20 thematic demonstration gardens, a greenhouse, a plant shop, two gift shops, the historic house, and a horticultural reference library.  The gardens and educational programs focus on practical landscaping techniques that are appropriate for the Washington metro area.  Admission to the park is free.
 
About our theme:

In 1828, English writer Frances Trollope (1779–1863) began a four-year journey around the then United States. Her travels took her up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, across the Allegheny Mountains, and along the east coast from Washington DC to Niagara Falls. In her book “Domestic Manners of the Americans” (1832), she frequently noted the plants she encountered. From the Spanish moss and palmettos of New Orleans, to the mountain laurels of Pennsylvania, to the redbuds, dogwoods, and azaleas around Washington DC, she found this country’s flora a constant delight. Dazzled by the number of plants new to her that she couldn’t name, her advice to her countrymen was “let no one visit America without having first studied botany.”

Given that she spent many weeks at houses near Green Spring, this venue is an ideal spot to display pictures of the kinds of plants that Frances Trollope might have encountered on her American adventure.

A small group of us hung the show this past Monday--thank you to the Exhibitions Committee and volunteers for working with us to present this beautiful show! We look forward to the opening reception next Sunday Sept. 8, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM; please come by if you get a chance. If you can't see it in person, the next best thing is the on-line exhibition of All in a Garden Green on the BASNCR website.

Shale Violet and New Works

Shale Violet (Viola sororia), watercolor, 11" x 15".

Here is the finished piece, finally -- Shale Violet, photographed under better light.

Below is my next work in progress, the native flame azalea (Azalea calendulacea), still a ways from finished, but coming along. This is the first piece on which I've used the palette of Winsor yellow deep, scarlet lake, and Winsor blue (green shade). The deep yellow seems just about the right color for the flowers, but I'm struggling to get the green shades accurately within the possible range for this palette.

Flame azalea painting in progress

The purples that can be mixed from the Winsor blue/scarlet lake combination can also be difficult--too gray or brown if the balance isn't just right, though beautiful when one can get them just so. You can see a bit of the purple washes in the underpainting of the flowers at this stage. I'm putting in those thin, long red pistils with colored pencil; later on perhaps I'll apply touches of scarlet lake straight from the tube to punch them up. It's always exciting to the working on a new piece!