Painting a Botanical Watercolor

From the artist:

"Each botanical watercolor painting is begun with the selection of the subject.  Ideally, I like to work from the living plant, but often this is not practical nor legal.  For example, the lady slipper orchid is considered an endangered species over much of it's range.  Picking the flower or digging up the plant is illegal, and to me, unethical as most transplanted lady slippers die.  In these cases, I work from field sketches and photos which I have taken.

"After the drawing is complete and transferred to the watercolor paper, the process of painting begins.  To paint the details accurately, I often resort to dry brush techniques with brushes the size of pencil leads.  While tedious, doing a botanical watercolor in this manner results in a rich, vibrant color. Each painting is the result of many hours of work.  Only after the painting is complete and I am pleased with it will I sign and date it.

"Sometimes, as in the painting below, the painting is completed leaving the pencil showing.  This adds a unique antique quality to the work, as many botanical engravings were hand-colored with watercolor after they were printed.

Masdevalia triangularis
watercolor with pencil

"A real challenge comes when painting large plants, such as trees.  Because the size of the paper is limited, the plant can not be done life-size.  Often the shape of the entire plant is essential to its portrayal, so it is lightly painted in as a ghost image, as was done in the painting below."

Burr Oak
watercolor

Botanical watercolors available from the artist are located in the Botanical W/C Gallery.