Blue Gentian: the Finished Painting

Blue Gentian (Gentiana scabra) watercolor, 13.5" x 14.5"

Here at last is the finished painting of the Blue Gentian. This is my entry for Brookside Garden's Botanica 2014 exhibition, which will be on view from June 28-Aug. 8, 2014.

Botanical Observations

Fertilized orchid flower.

In the attempt to better understand the botany of orchids, I decided to hand-pollinate a couple of the orchids I have blooming around the house and observe what happens. I took one of my small painting brushes and detached the two tiny pollen sacs (pollinia) from the anther of one flower and deposited these on the stigma of another (the pollen sacs in the flower above were left intact). The pollen sacs seemed to have a sticky substance that gladly stuck to the stigma. I did this proceedure on two of the flowers of this unnamed species (the mystery hybrid purchased at a Florida roadside stand).

Compare fertilized orchid flower (on left) with unfertilized flower (on right).

About four days later I looked and there were some noticeable differences between the flowers that had been fertilized and the others: the column had subtly changed color and appeared slightly swollen. The next morning I took these photos in bright light to look more closely--voila!

Comparing the fertilized flower on the left with the unfertilized on on the right, the most remarkable change was that the tiny appendages on either side of the column that forms a little bonnet over the anther had moved down to clasp each other and enclose the column. The fake "bee" formation on the labellum that lures and guides the pollinator had withered and lost all coloration, signalling to the prospective bee that the flower was now closed for business.

In fact, the color of the entire labellum had changed to a dark red and the petals and sepals were starting to become papery and thin, another indication the flower would wane soon. I wish I had a microscope-type camera that would allow me to photograph even more closely, perhaps look at a dissected flower to see what is going on inside, but that is beyond my budget at the moment.

Pencil sketch of the two orchid  flowers.

For now, I will content myself observing how the seed pod develops (hopefully one will develop) and recording the process in sketches. And perhaps I'll pollinate some of my other orchids later on, to observe how different species behave. It's so fascinating--no wonder there are so many natural and man-made orchid hybrids!

Blue Gentian: from Sketch to Painting

Blue Gentian - pencil sketch.

In the last couple of weeks I've been working on turning my completed sketch of the Blue Gentian (Gentiana scabra) into a full-color watercolor painting. The first part of the process was to trace the outlines of the pencil sketch with ink onto tracing paper, then transfer the line work onto watercolor paper. This is usually done on a light table, but since I don't have one, putting my paper against the window of my studio allows me to get the same effect. I learned this nifty trick from one of my teachers at Brookside Gardens' School of Botanical Art and Illustration.

Tracing the drawing on to the paper.

When I'm doing the tracing, I don't actually tape the paper to the window. The tracing is taped to the back of the paper and I move the paper all around to get the best angle for drawing the lines. And, if you look at the watermark, my Fabriano paper here is reversed (I set up the photo for demo purposes only). In practice, I am careful about which side of the paper I'm going to paint on--the reverse side is usually a bit rougher and won't take the water and pigment as well as the surface that is intended for painting.

In the Process.

This is my painting in progress. Because I had worked out the lights and shadows in my study and have a pretty good idea of what I plan to do, I've been working on small portions of the painting at a time, while the area is still damp. Generally, one is better advised to lay washes on the painting throughout before going on to the details, but in this type of  really precise botanical painting, I am experimenting with working in tightly controlled areas. Eventually I may find one method is more useful than the other, who knows?

Snowy Day

Herb shoveling our driveway.

Measuring the accumulation.

The recent snowstorm was reason to celebrate the day staying at home. We got about 16" to17" of the powdery stuff in Front Royal. Thankfully, this week the temperatures have risen and the snow has almost all melted. Yesterday I saw a few tiny green shoots poking up where I planted the species crocus last fall. Can spring be far behind?

Blue Gentian Sketch

Blue Gentian (Gentiana scabra)

I bought a plant of Blue Gentian (Gentiana scabra) at last year's Arborfest held at the Virginia State Arboretum. It blooms in October, when few other plants are in bloom, but it was the stunning color that convinced me to splurge on it. One lady from the master gardener program there advised me to keep it in its pot rather than risk losing it by planting it in my rocky inhospitable soil.

I took her advice, and re-potted the gentian into a larger pot which I then buried to the rim by the front steps. All summer long I kept it well-watered and this fall it rewarded me with this lovely display. The photo was taken around the second week of October. Many of the flowers set seeds, and I allowed them to drop naturally to see if they will sprout next spring. I'm curious to see if the seedlings will manage to survive on their own with just a little help, or if I will have to collect new seeds this coming fall in order to propagate the plant.

It's such a beautiful flower, I'm in the process of creating a botanical painting from my photos, for this year's entry to Brookside Garden's Botanica exhibition. I need to hurry, as the deadline is coming up very soon. Here is a pencil sketch of my study of one sprig.

Gentiana scabra pencil sketch.

Orchids in the Bath

Orchids bloom around the tub.

Our bath has two windows around the tub: the large window faces west and gets direct sunlight in the afternoon, the other window faces north and provides diffuse light at day. My orchids love this moist, warm environment and bloom frequently. In fact, I've taken to rotating most of my orchids every so often into this bath to encourage blooms.

These flowering spikes started forming in the fall and right now, as you can see, there are three different varieties blooming. The most recent blossom to open is the white Phalaenopsis on the left, which has taken three years to re-bloom.

It's really neat to lie in the tub and look out the window at the snow-covered ground while being surrounded by these beauties!

Orchid Hunting in Winter

It seems odd to be out looking for orchids at this time of the year, but yesterday was a nice winter day -- sunny with no wind, temperatures in the fifties -- a perfect day to get out to pursue my botanical interests after being cooped up indoors. Herb joined me on the hike.

After my find of the Puttyroot or Adam-and-Eve orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) growing on Wildcat Mountain last spring I learned that this orchid puts out its single leaf in the fall. The leaf persists through the winter to die back in early spring. I had been wanting to see these leaves for myself, and with no underbrush to obscure them, this seemed like a great time to look for them.

We left the house around eleven thirty and started climbing up the mountain around noon. A younger family moving at a faster pace soon overtook us on the trail and we let them pass. We took the left fork at the top and proceeded toward the area where I remembered seeing the orchids. Herb was lagging behind and called out to me as we were walking by one of the old stone walls. He had spotted something he thought might be what we were looking for and sure enough, here were two orchid leaves. One had an intact dried seed pod.

I had not seen any orchids in this part of the preserve last spring, and was surprised to see just how close to the trail they grew. The leaf is very distinctive with its pleated white veins.

Aplectrum leaf 

Another few leaves cropped up a bit farther along. Apparently there are quite a few more plants of this species here than I had been able to pick out last spring. When we finally reached the spot where I had sketched before, the place was rife with them!

There was more green on the ground than I had expected to see: Christmas ferns (covered with ice in the shadier places) and a club moss called ground cedar (Lycopodium digitatum).

With our objective accomplished, we looped around the trail and back down the mountain in the warm afternoon sun. Next spring we'll look for more native orchids: Wister's coralroot and lily-leaved twayblade are known to be found here, and who knows, perhaps there could be others?

Sketching in Big Cypress

White Heron in Big Cypress, 14" x 10" watercolor.

During my recent trip to Miami, my friend Raquel and I took a jaunt to Big Cypress. We wanted to paint a bit on location, something neither of us had had much time to do recently. The swamp surrounding the Gallery at Big Cypress is such a lovely spot--the ancient cypresses shade and provide shelter for so many birds and other wildlife.

As we approached the swamp a great white heron posed at the base of one of the cypresses. He lingered long enough for us to take a few photos before flying off. We entered the gallery to check out Clyde Butcher's latest work and I couldn't resist buying a calendar and a couple of cards with his fabulous photos of ghost orchid flowers. This rare orchid has two long appendages on the lip (labellum) that resemble legs, and the frontal view makes the flower look like a whimsical little creature dancing. I hope someday I may get to see and sketch this fascinating orchid in the wild.

We took a leisurely  walk out the gallery's back door into the surrounding swamp and marveled at the cypress knees--there were several groupings that looked like sculptures. We saw this one that, to me, evoked something of Rodin's Burghers of Calais.

 After our walk we set up our gear overlooking the water and ate our lunch while contemplating what we were going to paint. I felt a bit rusty, not having done any plein air work in almost a year. I decided to include the great white heron from the morning in my sketch, but I had to do this from memory. As you can see, when comparing my sketch to the photograph below, memory makes for a poor comparison with the real thing. In fact, my whole sketch lacks the wonderful luminosity of the scene. I'll have to try this painting again, to see if I can achieve the effect from photos.

 Raquel's unfinished painting looked much better than mine--the cypress roots she chose to focus on had a similar anthropomorphic quality to the photo of the cypress knees. I can't wait to see her finished painting!