Botanical Drawings in Progress

These large drawings on canary paper will be layered and assembled into a 9 x 10' drawing for the exhibit "A Collection of Silence" at French and Michigan Gallery in San Antonio, TX this fall.  A similar piece will be exhibited at "The Tank" in Houston, TX in November.  A paper room with four walls will be constructed for the exhibit at the Hattiesburg Arts Council in April of 2016. 

Other drawings and paintings in the series will be on claybord and watercolor paper.  The balance of works in black and white and color and different opacities will be a significant part of these exhibitions. 

Beginning the Paintings of Camellias

The first section of an oil painting on paper in progress using the photos of the gleaned camellias as reference. The finished painting will be 26 x 30". 

The Southern US and Asia

Above is a detail of an oil painting on paper  of a camellia grouping. This is one of the paintings that will be on exhibit at French and Michigan Gallery in the fall. 

Camellias orginated in Asia and were seen in England around 1739 and taken to America in 1797. They have flourished in the Southern United States.  Jungle Gardens in Avery Island, LA is home to a camellia preserve which approximately 450 varieties of camellias. 

As I research the plants that are so closely associated with Louisiana and the South, I am finding that there is a very direct connection with Asia.  The camellia, azalea, gardenia and some magnolias were introduced from Asia. The species of magnolia and iris native to the US have cousins in Asia whose connection predates the continental divide. Most of the documentation of species or introduction of these plants to the southern colonies comes from the late 1600's or early 1700's. 

There is something quite interesting about the Asian influence on the aesthetic of gardens in the Southern US.  During colonial times while the Asian design was influencing gardens it was also influencing textiles and home interiors.  I find this intersection of cultures and cross pollunation of ideas and aesthetics fascinating.

VSCO and Camellias

I am playing with some filters on VSCO.  I will use these images both as references for paintings and a few as finished artworks.  The VSCO filters are very sophisticated allowing subtle changes to an image with slightly different exposure, contrast and color balance giving the photographer choices that would reflect changes in exposure, lighting, film, paper and processing in traditional photography.  I use their filters most often to create a b/w photograph that is slightly cool or slightly warm but am toying with the idea of printing one or both of these versions in color. 

The photo of the camellias above was taken on a white background and was slightly blue because it was taken in evening light with an LED sunlight balance fill light to reduce shadows.  It was a very simple set up outside of my studio door in West Monroe, LA.  The top image here is very close to the original photo. 

The camellias here were gleaned from a bush in the Garden District of Monroe, LA that produced these beautiful multilayered pale pink camellias.  All of the camellias that I photographed had already fallen to the ground.  After two weeks of collecting and photographing the camellias, I left a nice bed of camellia mulch around the azalea that I planted outside of my studio.  

Countdown for Exhibit at French and Michigan Gallery

The countdown has begun for completing new work and working with Celeste Wackenhut at French and Michigan Gallery to create a book for my solo exhibition that opens September 12, 2015 in San Antonio, TX. 

This exhibition focuses on the botanical aspects of the Louisiana Portrait Project.  It is about not only flora in Louisiana, both native plants and plants that were introduced early in the history of the areas colonization, but also about the spaces that they occupy and the connection that land and nature has to the culture of Louisiana.

The exhibition will include an audio installation with sounds from gardens, preserves, parks, fields, bayous and even in areas under freeways.  I recorded these sounds at all times of the day and night.  Sometimes taking drives at night trying to find the silence of nature, places where I hoped to record natural sounds without car, boat, airplane or even HVAC motors. That simple sounds are harder and harder to find.  

I was also looking for places where I could find true dark, no illuminated skies from city lights.  That kind of dark is also difficult to find.  

More later about the plants that I am drawing and painting.  

The exhibition is tenatively titled "A Collection of Silence" and will be on view at French and Michigan Gallery from September 12 to October 31, 2015.