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| Fragrant Pinesap (Montropsis odorata), watercolor on vellum, 10" x 8" |
I finally finished this piece and submitted it to ASBA's juried exhibition "Curious Allies." It's my hope that it will be selected by the jurors, but who knows? The competition is very tough. It's the first pieces I've done on this very expensive medium of botanical vellum, and it was particularly difficult because the vellum is not white, but a warm cream color. In order to bring out some highlights, I used Titanium white watercolor.
This painting is a re-statement of a watercolor I did in 2017 after visiting Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest where I encountered this very rare plant of the Monotropa family. These plants are mycotrophic, that is, they have no cholorophyll, and like fungi, they must rely on other plants to supply the nutrients they need. I've been fascinated by these botanical oddities ever since I came across some ghost pipe flowers on a Fourth of July in Maryland many years ago. I wish I could find more of these species but the majority are found only in the western part of our country.
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| Goldfinch mosaic, 8" x 8" before grouting. |
Just for fun, I did another small mosaic of two goldfinches--I purchased a mosaic starter kit after I took Anne Atkin's workshop at the Red House, thinking this is a wonderful distraction from more serious art! After I finished it, I traveled to Richmond to meet with Anne so that she could teach me how to grout this mosaic and the one I'd done at the workshop, where there was no time for this last finishing step.
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| My two mosaics after grouting. |
Grouting is a messy task and probably best done outdoors, but Anne had prepped me beautifully; I brought two drop cloths (one for the table and one for the floor) and several plastic containers for the water and grout so we could work indoors. Once we were done, we just picked up the plastic drop cloths and grout bucket and tossed it in the trash. The mosaics sure do look different once they've been grouted!
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| Blandy's Wetlands in November, watercolor, 11" x 14" |
The weather was still warm in early November, and some of the Blandy Sketch Group decided to have one last plein aire session. I wasn't able to join them on the particular day, but I went by the afternoon before and painted this watercolor of the wetlands seen from the back forty. It was a bit breezier than I expected, and once the sun started going down it got chilly, but I had enough down that I could finish this one at home the next day.
