2013 American Society of Botanical Artists Conference

Reception at the Hunt Institute 14th International Exhibition

In September, I attended my first American Society of Botanical Artists conference, which was held in Pittsburgh. It was a remarkable experience, seeing so much beautiful botanical art at the Hunt Institute and meeting many like-minded people.

One of my favorite events was portfolio sharing which was held on the first day.  Artists from all over the country, and even the world, displayed their portfolios on large tables and we could walk around, admire and chat with the artists about their work.  Some of them displayed preliminary drawings along with the final works.  It was stimulating to see such fine work up close, from pen and ink, watercolors, graphite to colored pencil.  The artists were all very generous in talking about their paintings or drawings and answering questions.

I took two day-long workshops.  One was with one of my favorite botanical artists, Heeyoung Kim, who taught her technique with graphite. She shared how she draws in the field on large sheets of tracing paper, studying the plant from various angles.  One advantage of tracing paper is that after darkening the lines that you want to keep you can lightly brush over the paper with the flat side of an eraser to get rid of the unwanted preliminary lines.  Once she transfers her drawing to the watercolor paper, she lays down an initial “wash” of 4H graphite which makes the subsequent layers go down more smoothly.  It was fascinating to watch her work.  She brought in lots of Linden branches so we could make our own drawings. I finished my line drawing but didn’t get very far with trying out her shading technique.  Both time and energy ran out towards the end of the class.

The other day-long workshop was with Elaine Searle, who like Heeyoung Kim, has a very distinctive, unique style.  Elaine’s workshop was on composition–a very neglected topic.  Although it was the first time she had taught specifically on composition, she did a great job.  It was also the first composition workshop offered by ASBA.  Her sense of humor and interactive style of teaching made the workshop really fun.  Interestingly, she does all of her preliminary drawings on tracing paper as well, then she cuts out the elements she wants to keep and rearranges them to make a pleasing composition.

What sort of paper do you use for your preliminary drawings, tracing paper or some kind of drawing paper?  In the past I have used Bristol Vellum because it is so robust and smooth, but now I’ve got to give tracing paper a try.

After the conference, my husband and I spent some time at the Phipps Conservatory, which is filled with plants from around the world.  It was a treat to see several sinuous glass sculptures by Chihuly nestled into the foliage or hanging aloft.  His sculptures are quite organic in form so fit perfectly in the setting of the conservatory.

Chihuly glass sculptures at Phipps Conservatory