Cup and Saucer Plant Project: Cobaea scandens Study Page

As with many larger painting projects this Cobaea scandens is being painted over a two year growing period. I first grew it from seed, in March 2020 and now into the second year, so hope to finish before the end of 2021. C. scandens is a plant that's remarkably easy to grow from seed, it germinates quickly and grows rapidly and flowers for a long time, from August and into late December, although this year it's only recently flowered.  This is the story of my progress with the painting to date with the study page and initial composition....it's a fairly lengthy process from start to finish with such a complex plant.

Details from the study page

The A2 study page completed 2020. I was able to take many large cuttings from the plant

Cobaea scandens, is a member of the Phlox family Polemoniaceae, commonly known as the Cup and Saucer Vine, Canterbury Bells or Mexican Ivy, originally from South America it does well in many locations around the globe.  The Latin 'scandens' means climber, Charles Darwin studied a number of climbers and his observations were published in 1875 in ' The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants'  which had been made available by the Gutenberg project. Darwin made special note of the vigour of C. scandens, which he said revolved more rapidly and vigorously than any other tendril bearer he had seen, with the exception of one species of passiflora. He wrote: 

The long, straight, tapering main stem of the tendril of the Cobaea bears alternate branches; and each branch is several times divided, with the finer branches as thin as very thin bristles and extremely flexible, so that they are blown about by a breath of air; yet they are strong and highly elastic. The extremity of each branch is a little flattened, and terminates in a minute double (though sometimes single) hook, formed of a hard, translucent, woody substance, and as sharp as the finest needle. On a tendril which was eleven inches long I counted ninety-four of these beautifully constructed little hooks. They readily catch soft wood, or gloves, or the skin of the naked hand. With the exception of these hardened hooks, and of the basal part of the central stem, every part of every branchlet is highly sensitive on all sides to a slight touch, and bends in a few minutes towards the touched side. By lightly rubbing several sub-branches on opposite sides, the whole tendril rapidly assumed an extraordinarily crooked shape. These movements from contact do not interfere with the ordinary revolving movement. The branches, after becoming greatly curved from being touched, straighten themselves at a quicker rate than in almost any other tendril seen by me, namely, in between half an hour and an hour.

 

The long twisting tendrils described by Darwin, you can see how they branch with their small hooks...grabbing anything and everything in their path

Keeping sections of plant in florist tubes to keep them fresh
 

The compound leaves with tendril

 My observations start as always with research and a study page, I used a large sheet of A2 Stonehenge Aqua HP 300 gsm paper. The first interesting point to note is the change in the flower colour, which are pale green to creamy white upon opening and gradually turn to a rich purple, as colour spreads from a small spot. I thought there must be some purpose for this and after a little research learned that the pale flower has a fairly unpleasant odour, which attracts bats, many bat pollinated flowers are white so that makes sense, thereafter the scent becomes sweeter as the colour changes and bees are attracted. I made some studies on colour paper as I am still trying to decide on the final substrate for this work,  Initially I thought of Kelmscott vellum but may opt for the dark veiny vellum.

Studies of the newly opened flowers on coloured paper, pale subjects always look good on a colour background 

Study on dark veiny vellum 

Study on deer skin 

I made measured studies of all parts with colour notes, mature leaves, new leaves, stems, tendrils, flowers in various stages from bud phase to post pollination, dissection, suit and finally seed. This took a while as I had to wait for each stage to develop. Below you can see the development of the flower colour, note also the sequential opening of anthers, the male phase begins shortly after the flower opens, within 24 hours and then releases pollen sequentially, this maximises the time for cross pollination, once the pollen is released, the female style grows and the stigma becomes receptive, this reduces the risk of self pollination. Cross pollination is always favourable to plants because it increases genetic diversity, although I'm not sure if Cobaea is self compatible.

Each part is carefully measured and documented and a dissection is made, the beauty of growing your own plants is that there is plenty of plant material. 

Dissection of the flower, I also painted the individual male and female parts

Once the study page was complete I started on the composition, making very rough drawings and having large sections of the plant suspended on my easel. The aim is to show the various stages of the plant and its growth habit, its difficult with a plant like this as there are many stages, the bud, flower stages, fruit development and seed pod, plus dissection, also leaves, leaflets, tendrils, stems. Much overlapping is required but repetition should be avoided as far as possible and hopefully the final painting should aim to be aesthetically pleasing. It's a lot to think about but I believe that this study page process makes it easier and more accurate. 

Rough compositional sketches underway

The study has given me a good understanding of the plant, the next stage of the process is to think about overall light and shade and the tonal values. This is particularly important in complex plants when many parts overlap, separation between parts becomes important, and, if all parts are equal in saturation things can become confused. A common strategy is to make further away parts paler and closer parts more saturated and stronger, this is known as aerial or atmospheric perspective, a strategy traditionally used in  landscape painting, where further away parts in the landscape are paler and more blue due to the effect of atmospheric light. In a painting this approach creates the illusion of depth or recession and is also useful in creating the separation between overlapping parts- so that parts are clear. The same strategy can be used in botanical painting to but it should be subtle. 

Also, the tonal values between parts needs to be carefully observed, i.e. which parts are lighter and which are darker. Finally, light direction should be clear and consistent, cast shadows within the subject can also be used to create separation.

I find the best way of dealing with this is to make a painted tonal study using black paint, this helps me to make sense of all of the potential issues with overlaps, tonal values and lighting. It's also useful in cross checking whether or not the composition is working or not and is also a last chance to make alterations. 

Beginning the tonal study 

In the next post I will share the tonal study, transfer to the substrate and development of the final painting. 

Dandelion Sketches

I have decided to write the occasional post about some of the plants featured in my sketchbooks. It seems a shame to present a painting without all of the 'other stuff' or back stories, such as the description, history, process of painting or whatever, it's one of the many reasons why keeping a sketchbook is so appealing to me. Of course a finished painting is a stand -alone piece and takes a lot of time, but the process of learning about a plant in a sketchbook study is much more than the visual sum of its parts, and recording in a broader context interests me more and more as I get older. Most of these studies will probably never make it to finished paintings due to time constraints but all contribute to my understanding of both plants and painting. The first plant to feature is the humble dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, or the Common Dandelion.

Above: Sketchbook pages of Taraxacum officinale, painted from my garden, April 2021. This sketchbook is a project that I've been working on since early this year - with fellow artist Debbie Crawford, we paint a plant of our choice each week, mine are from the locality where I live - in Staffordshire and Debbie's are from her garden in New Jersey. It's certainly helped with motivation and focus during the lockdowns, I even made the sketchbook myself! Here the Dandelion is illustrated  from above,  because that's often how we come across it. Also, notes and colour swatches are shown, which I record for reference,  they also tie everything together visually. Note that the painting is unfinished and sketchy - the aim is to record rather than produce finished works. This was my second entry for the dandelion in the book. 

Initial Observation and Thoughts: Dandelion Friend or Foe

As a child I recall my grandmother complaining about stubborn dandelion 'weeds' in the lawn, path and elsewhere. We were forbidden to take these flowers indoors, I think because of association with it as a diuretic, hence its other common name 'Piss-in-the-Beds', in fact there was a pretty negative association with dandelions but most children still loved to blow the seeds of the dandelion clock.... helping to spread them even more. The poor dandelions had a lot of bad press at one time, mostly because of human obsession with neat lawns. Today the dandelion has a lot more respect for providing pollinators with food, most of us have fond memories of dandelions but in some circles feelings are still mixed. 

My grandson preparing to blow the seeds of the dandelion 'clock',  a fond memory for many of us.

I've never illustrated a dandelion before and only knew a limited amount from my plant biology days but that was more to do with allelopathy, a process whereby plants release chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants - it's something that dandelions do well, which is why they take over in the garden and elsewhere. This can be a real problem in agriculture because the chemicals released from the roots can  inhibit the germination in grasses.  On the flip side those long dandelion tap roots can access soil nutrients for some shorter rooted plants, so can help other species. In some countries, T. officinale was introduced as a crop but became an invasive species, research has shown that it may inhibit the the germination of native wildflowers through interspecific pollen transfer, when pollen is lost to other species or when the stigma of flowers becomes clogged with the alien dandelion pollen, but we have to consider how or who enabled them to arrive in these places. 

Bombus ruderarius on Taraxacum officinale copyright Wikimedia Commons  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bombus_ruderarius_-_Taraxacum_officinale_-_Keila.jpg

Despite these negatives, dandelions are an important early food source for pollinators most notably the bumblebees and T. officinale provides both pollen and nectar food sources. Nectar is a rich carbohydrate but pollen is needed by bumblebees at some stages of life - the female bumblebee needs the pollen protein to raise her young. That said, dandelion pollen is not the most nutritious compared to other pollen sources, in fact some research even suggests that bees become trained to the dandelion pollen and neglect other more important food sources, such as pollen from fruit trees. A field or garden full of dandelions are visually appealing to bees and they are very easy easy to alight with their flat topped landing sites. Although the study is interesting it's likely that generalist bees feed on different pollen at different times of day, because plants have varying optimum times for releasing pollen and bees benefit from a variety of pollen. For pollinators though, it does seem like the dandelions are the fast food of the bee world! whatever you think about dandelions, there can be little doubt that a lawn full of dandelions is better than manicured grass lawn. 

Whilst all this is fascinating it doesn't really help so much with my illustration, but it's interesting how a plant is valued, some people love them for the pollinators, whilst others praise the herbal benefits, lots of people hate them because they can dominate and destroy grasslands and gardens. ....There is always so much to consider with every plant and maybe we need to think beyond plants as human resources - the story isn't ever clear cut. In the end I suppose it's all about balance, my garden is pretty full of dandelions, I like them and so do the insects, I definitely see them as a friend and not a foe.

 I wanted to know as much as possible and begin by looking around the field of dandelions next to the house, the first thing that strikes me is the sheer number and then variability, in size, colour and leaf shape. My garden is an extension of the field, so no shortage of plant material with this one, also I had the luxury of using one that had decided to grown in an old plant pot, dandelions are good at that, they pop up just about everywhere.

A garden full of dandelions makes a great study subject, the more accessible plant material is - the better. Common plants are just as interesting as rare ones and much easier to study. 

The luxury of a plant with roots  

 This year there seems to be many more or maybe I was just paying attention because of the painting. Drawing and painting definitely enhances the powers of observation. 

Using Secondary Reference Material 

After deciding to paint the dandelion and carrying out some additional observations of the habitat, I undertake some further reading. Firstly understanding the plant name can reveal a lot with both common and Latin names. The origin of the common name, 'Dandelion' is a corruption of the French name,  'Dent-de-Lion' which you will see in older books,  it means 'lions tooth' and refers to those toothed leaves.  The Genus name Taraxacum is derived from the Greek 'taraxos' which means 'disorder' and 'akos' which means remedy. The specific epithet (second part of the Latin name) 'officinale' is derived from Latin 'officina' meaning 'pharmacy', referring to plant use in medicine, today the dandelion continues to be used in many remedies, as diuretic (remember the 'Piss-in-the-beds). All parts are edible and you can put them in salads although they are rather bitter, make wine or feed to the guinea pigs, which is what I do. 

Carrying out research can seem like a lot of extra work when you just want to paint but it doesn't actually take long, I tend to read in the evenings and digest the info before painting, preferring to paint in the early morning daylight, then dipping back into research when I want to know more. This really helps me to understand the plant, especially if I decide to make a final painting. The most important research initially is the plant description, a quick look at Wikipedia can actually give an overview but content can be variable, depending on how well researched it is, there is usually so much more to learn from other resources, that said, some Wikipedia entries are pretty good and that's the case with the dandelion. If you're not sure how to find other information, good descriptions can be found in any good flora book and there is much available online. For British species Stace's New Flora of the British Isles, is the standard but it is quite an expensive book and to be honest its a bit dry and complicated, so if you don't know much botany it's going to be a tough one - you can pick up previous editions for very little if you intend to go into depth but will need to cross check for updated information.  A beautiful and brilliant book that's much more accessible is William Keble Martins The Concise British Flora in Colour (1965), which took over 60 years to complete,  that isn't so surprising because it has 1486 illustrated species, I love the way this book is constructed with some lovely dissections too. I picked up a copy for just a few pounds but a first edition will cost, my botany tutor at University always referred to Keble Martin's book, but the descriptions are pretty limited for many plants and you may need to look for more in-depth descriptions. Illustrator Marjorie Blamey and Kew author Christopher Grey-Wilson's, The Illustrated Flora of Britain and Northern Europe, is a great book with 2,400 species listed, I've had this book since it came out in 1989 and still use it today, you can pick it up for around £20 upwards.  Same issues with out of date info but its usually not that difficult to find access up-to-date cross references. 

From Keble Martin's Concise British Flora in Colour (1965)

From Marjorie Blamey and Christopher Grey-Wilson's Illustrated Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. pp 436-437 (1989) 

For cross checking there are some brilliant online resources, too many to name here, but the Botanical Society of the British Isles is excellent and up-to-date resource.  Here's their entry on T. officinale.  Also World Flora online is a global resource for plant names. 

Then there are some very old books, such as George Bentham's Handbook of British Flora (1859), which was illustrated by Walter Fitch, I'm pretty fond of the old floras most have a lot of incorrect information because plants have been reclassified as new discoveries are made, however old floras and editions are interesting from an historical perspective, Bentham's book was met with mixed reception, he described it as for 'Beginners and Amateurs' but failed to use particularly accessible language, he also wrote a book on Australian Flora, called Flora Australiesis (1863) as part of Kew's series of colonial floras. There are many floras for different parts of the world, if you do a little research you can find them from booksellers like Abe Books. 

If you want to learn about plants, the plant family is an important starting point, as a botanical artist, we should always know what family a plant it belongs to and be able to give some of the key features. It's hard though because there are so many but remember that you don't have to learn all!  - I work on a 'learn as you go' or 'need to know' basis and build knowledge over time. I'm not trying to be a botanist but need to know about what it is and how it fits together. Botanists have identified 452 flowering plant families across the world. In 1883 just 197 families were recognised and in 2016, the most resent assessment, 416 families, so this is an ongoing process of recording and clarifying/ reclassifying and also the reason why those old floras might be less useful. In total there are in the region of 300 thousand flowering species, that's a lot of plants! not to mention the non flowering (www.stateoftheworldsplants). Cultivars is a whole different area but still learning feature of plant families is just as relevant.

From Bentham's Handbook of the British Flora (1859), Illustrated by Walter Fitch. It's always useful to look at how botanical illustrators recorded plants in these plates -  illustrators had such limited size and shapes to fit the plant into. They had to bear in mind the small size of the publication too, so clarity in this style of illustration is key. It requires extremely skilful composition to get all parts of different shaped plants into the same template. Sometimes people say how do I work within the confines of the sketchbook but my sketchbook offers considerable freedom and I can use a single page or double page spread in any orientation. 

Benthams book met with some controversy, 'For the use of amateurs and beginners'  

In the sketchbook I begin by noting the date of the entry first, then the correct Latin name (genus and specific epithet) and the plant family. Taraxacum officinale is an easy one to identify, we all know it and it's a member of one of  the largest plant families, Asteraceae, (formerly Compositae, i.e. having composite flowerhead comprising many small flowers). There are more than 1,900 genera and 32, 000 species in Asteraceae - aster, daisies, sunflowers are all members. 

The Genus Taraxacum,  from Blamey and Grey-Wilson (1989) is described as follows:  perennial herbs, with milky latex, rosettes of basal leaves sprouting from a tap root. Leaves lobed or unlobed. Flowerheads yellow or white, solitary, borne on hollow scapes, flat topped when open, florets all rayed, the inner shorter than the outer; flower bracts in two rows, the outer shorter and often recurved. Fruit a large and conspicuous 'clock. A large and extremely complicated genus; some 200 micro species are recognised in Britain alone. 

There are hundreds of species in the Taraxacum genus, so it's important to add the species. 

Taraxacum officinale description: This is an extract for the specific epithet information from Blamey and Grey-Wilson (1989) Very variable, low to medium plant, 5-40cm, often  robust, leaves lobed to unlobed, coarse, never spotted, with broad winged, lobed stalks. Flowerheads mid-yellow, 25-50mm, often convex above, the rays usually with a brown or grey violet strip beneath, borne on stout scapes; flower bracts usually dark blueish-green, the outer recurved, not horned...

If you consult several resources you can find much more information. The plant has 1-10 stems which can be green or tinted red/purple. Basal leaves are 5-45 cm longhand 1-10 cm wide, oblanceolate, oblong or obovate, have narrowing petioles that can be winged or unwigned, lobed to deeply lobed with sharp or dull teeth. Florets number 40 to over 100.... and so on. 

Viewing Works on the Same Subject

I already mentioned that the botanical illustrations in the old floras are useful but as an artist I also want to look at work on the same subject by other artists. A Google search of the 'species name and illustrations' will yield a good range of images but also the website plantillustrations.org  is a fantastic resource. Type in the species/specific epithet or vernacular name into the box to view old illustrations. Here's a little screenshot of what comes up. There are only so many ways of arranging the elements on the page and it's always useful to see what went before - to decide what works and doesn't work, and occasionally what hasn't been done before. The idea here isn't to replicate but to look at approaches, much can be learned.

Screenshot from illustrations.org

Making Initial Studies: My Primary Research and Colour Studies 

I begin with measured drawings of all of the individual parts and work out the colours as I develop the pages, cross checking at all stages with the secondary research already consulted. Usually beginning with the flower in a prominent position on the page. I don't have a specific system but generally go with natural order of parts (higher and lower on the plant) or where they best fit on the page. At an early stage I decided that this plant deserved more than one page, so would follow up with the full plant and maybe the seed-head, with a view from above of the whole plant - this puts the individual parts into context. It's a fairly organic process which I don't want to constrain it by having too many 'rules, there are no rules in a sketchbook but it makes sense to complete flowers first because they will change and die first. Illustrating the plant parts in a study like this gives me a good feel for the plant, and I can I then move on to the next parts of the study. Want to include as many phases and stages as possible but need to avoid repetition. 

Initial sketches and colours chosen, these can be changed or adjusted as the work progresses. The whole process is to experiment and to include the different parts and stages.

The good thing about dandelions is that you can have all stages at hand and lots of plant material. I start with some views of the main flower, there is no front facing view here but I had decided to make a second study from above. 

The leaves are highly variable, with the extent of the toothed margin. The tap root on this one is relatively young compared to some that I've seen. 

The full two page spread with colour swatches, I use a primary palette and number the colours with notes re the mixes for reference, this is useful for painting of the plant at a later date. My palette is on my website but use whichever brand and colours you prefer, sometimes I use a few other colours, simply because I've accumulated so many over the years and don't want to be wasteful but I find can paint everything with this range of colours from Winsor & Newton Artist quality range. There are many ways of getting to the same place with watercolour - having the exact same colours is not that important. Also, consider the substrate, don't copy someone else's colours, there are many variations in plants which can also vary depending  on the light. The paper also affects the colour, I think it's vital to understand and work out your own colours, although many basic hues will be the same, the variations within them can be different.  the aim should be to create a typical specimen but with dandelions there is much variability.

Moving on to the Next Study

As an artist, we have the freedom to represent the plant as we see fit, as a botanical artist we want to represent the plant with scientific accuracy, so the two need to be balanced. Judgements are taken and a sketchbook is a great way of experimenting with approaches. In the second study it seemed a natural progression to go for the whole plant approach from above, because of the rosette arrangement when viewed from above, i.e. more than the sum of parts approach, this is a key feature of the plant so is important.  I felt pretty familiar after my first studies and sketched out the plant directly, it's drawn life size. Smaller parts, such as the seed is scaled up in size and the scale is written. 

A rough sketch of the view from above was made, in probably less than an hour, it's so much easier to do this after the initial observations and studies, which build familiarity with how it fits together. If I hadn't done the previous work, this drawing would have been so much more confusing and time consuming, so all the work pays off and reduces and areas of doubt.

Experimenting with approach, adding parts here and there to see what works best can be invaluable if a final painting is going to be completed.  

I stop short of finishing because there's really no need to, I figure at this point I understand both the subject and approach. There are many things I learned, including what not to do.

One More

The idea of adding a third page in the sketchbook, focusing on the seed stage was there, I wanted to include the famous 'dandelion clocks' and had done in part in the previous pages, but to be honest the will to do more was gone.  I was getting bored with dandelions at this point and don't like to feel that way with the sketchbook because its a quick turnover and need to feel sufficiently motivated.  So moved on with the idea that I could add more at a later date given that they are still throwing out the odd flower rand seed-head into August. In June I was enthused again and added a further study but this time in a different sketchbook, on the black paper in the Stillman & Birn Nova book, this move was for no particular reason other than I felt like it. It needs more work but there is still time. 

The cycle starts again with the many seeds, up to 5000 seeds a year can be produced by one plant (54 - 172 per head) they can be blown by the wind for several hundred meters. The fruit is called cypselae are oblong and narrowing and have sharp edged ribs, the white silky pappi act like a parachute to carry them on the wind.

 

Thats about it for the dandelion, it was good to finally paint it, I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the sketchbook project and that's the case with many of my entries. 

The Crown Flower: Painting Calotropis gigantea for the IDSBA exhibition

Calotropis gigantea, otherwise known as the Crown Flower or Giant Milkweed, is a plant that I've admired ever since first seeing it on Gili Trawangan Island, Indonesia, in 2015 and every year since. It's the most striking of plants in structure, so I didn't have to think for too long about selecting it as a subject when it came to entering the Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists exhibition, scheduled for June 2020 in Jakarta.

Calotropis gigantea finished painting, 51cm x 39cm watercolour on paper

The Plant
For me the first stage for any painting is to carry out research, so here are just a few of the many facts about the Crown flower.
Calotropis gigantea (L.) Dryand, belongs to the Apocynaceae family, which is a pretty diverse and large group of plants with 410 genera and 5, 556 accepted species names. Apocynaceae means 'dog-away' in Greek, which explains why this family is also known as Dogbane, basically it's known to  poisons dogs and other animals. In the case of C. gigantea, this is a pretty toxic plant to be handling and great care is needed, The sap contains white 'milky' substance which really does pour from the stem like milk when cut, if you happen to get this into your eye, it can temporarily or permanently blind and causes severe headaches too. I've also read that the plant is toxic if ingested, but not sure who would be dining on this one! Apparently the centre of the flower is supposed to be edible... I won't be trying it! The sap is allegedly used as an arrow poison, although I think perhaps this relates more to the African Calotropis procera, which is even more deadly and known as the Apple of Sodam,  it has a more rounded fruit and a far worse reputation.
The Genus name, Calotropis, comes from the Greek 'Kalos' meaning 'beautiful' and 'tropes' meaning 'boat' which refers to the structure of the flower.

Large swathes of plants on the north west coast of Bali, near to the quiet black sandy beaches, where just a few fisherman  are the only people to be seen.

Seed pod

Native to temperate and tropical Asia, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, C. gigantea grows as a shrub or small tree, growing to over 4 m tall. I've seen it in many sites in Bali and Lombok and it's common in dry coastal areas where there is full sun but also near lagoons, I saw a beautiful one last year in Candidasa. Flowers are purple to white but some appear to be closer to a magenta colour and they are quite variable in colour depending on location/environment and age, the older flowers lose colour and fade quickly. Flowers are in large umbellate clusters. They have an unusual ' crown like' structure, at the centre is a large star shaped stigma which has 5 points, this is where pollen is found in the form of pollinia. The pollinia become attached to visiting nectar seeking insects, many insects are found in the nectaries but bees, possible carpenter bees are thought to be the specialist pollinators who inadvertently collect the pollinaria and carry it to other plants, which facilitates cross-pollination.
Leaves are elliptic to oblong and are very woolly, the colour is a light grey green. Stems are also woolly. Fruits are large and pointed with many seeds.

Flowers and buds, note the yellow 'star' shaped stigma, the pollinia, which are pollen sacs (just like orchids) which  become attached to insect pollinators and carried to other plants.

Like many poisonous plants, this plant has medicinal uses, it contains calotropin and cardiac glycosides, the latter being similar to digitalis ( the foxglove) has been used in the treatment of heart conditions, however, much of the medicinal uses are reported to be anecdotal folklore type remedies but some studies regarding its efficacy in the treatment of cancers have been carried out, and reported to be effective in the treatment of asthma. There is also some evidence that it has mosquito controlling properties in the Japanese encephalitis carrying mosquitos.
Fibre similar to flax is extracted from the stems and leaves of the plant and seepods produce a wooly material used for stuffing pillows. In Thailand the flowers are used for garlands but this can result in some eye problems for those making the garlands. Theres so much more that could be said about this plant, its beautiful and fascinating but I'll move on.

Garlands made from the flowers are used in religious ceremonies copyright Wikimedia Commons 

Study Pages 
I visited the north west coast of Bali is 2019 and found a the wasteground with hundreds of these very common plants near to the volcanic black beaches. After carefully bagging cuttings and taking hundreds of photographs,  I set to work in the sketchbook. The colours are unusual, the grey green hairy leaves were going to be challenging, there is no shine to work with, once cut the plant fades quickly and the leaves wilt so I did a mixture of sketches and field studies. colours so change one a plant is cut so it's important to colour match with a live or fresh plant.
I used my usual system of colour matching using my trusty old green chart, its a high light value grey green, which means its a light blue, cerulean or cobalt or maybe a mix of the two, to achieve that light opaque quality, I used the Lemon Yellow nickel titinate and opaque which is great for these pale colours as well as glaucous leaves, it needs frequent mixing as it will separate but I liked this quality for this plant, I don't paint particularly wet so I don't have the separation issue on the paper.  I also used some Winsor Lemon in the mix in places. the make a more natural green a small amount of Quinacridone Magenta was added. The flowers were fairly simple, also Quinacridone Magenta and Cobalt in various  ratios, with a small amount of the lemon in places. So a very simple palette.

Starting by making drawings of the small parts of the flower as well as of larger sections of the plant is useful to get a feel for them, using a hand lens is useful at this stage to examine the unusual structure. The leaves are difficult because of the way that they rotate around the stem, so significant foreshortening is required. This is an important part of the process for me because it helps me to understand the plant and how it fits together, drawing larger sections of the plants give me ideas about the composition at an early stage.
At this point I've already got a clear idea in my head about how I want to portray the plant and make a few thumbnail sketches to think about the arrangement.

I photographed and made measurements of all plant parts and referred to any reference material that I had to confirm points. Some of the leaves are large and I didn't want them to dominate the composition, so selecting a typical but appropriate cutting was important and I also wanted to show the typical upright growth habit but also shows the drooping nature of those stems with the weight of the large flower heads, this type of information about a plant can only be gained by observing the plant in its native habitat.

Colours, measurements and notes on observations regarding growth habit and arrangement etc. were made in a Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook, 8 x 10 inches, which is a good size for most plants. There aren't too many books on the Flora of Bali! but there is a lot written online. 

The greatest challenge about this work was the heat and humidity, it was November and quite late in the year, the first rains had just started. I had to use tracing paper at all times to stop my hands sticking to the paper, but the tracing paper kept sticking to me! next time ill use something less sticky, like mulberry paper.  After 5 days of observation and sketching I had sufficient material to continue back home and planned to complete the painting in the uk. It's never the best option to complete the work at home and away from the plant but its not always practical to complete large works at the site.

I wanted to have three component parts of the plant in the composition and possible the seed pod. I made separate drawings of these parts on drafting paper and in ink and transferred them using a light pad, a MiniSun A2 size is great for transferring, even through this heavier weight Stoonehenge Aqua paper.

The A2 light pad is pretty bright and allows me to transfer through 275lb  Stonehenge Aqua Hot Press paper - as long as the initial drawing is in ink. The separate flower on the right hand side was discarded as unnecessary, it was just left on the tracing because as one point I was considering dissections and a seedpod but decided against it. 

After transferring the drawing using the light pad I used my reference to begin the painting plotting in the star shaped flowers on the main cluster. 

I started off in natural daylight on an easel but because of  the short timeframe to complete this work, I decided to work under lamps on an upright large desktop easel. It was a full sheet of imperial paper so I had to put an additional board underneath as the easel is slightly too short. I use two daylight lamps 5500 K and +90 CRI. I also use a x2.5 magnifier on an adjustable arm to check detail and for clean edges etc.  

Making a Start and Materials 
The paper chosen was Stonehenge Aqua HP, which is a paper that I've used for quite a while, it's fine for smaller works but the surface sizing is really quite soft and as a consequence it's less robust than Saunders Waterford High White, which my normal choice these days but decided to give the heavier weight 275lb Stonehenge Aqua a try. It's incredible smooth and hard to see any mesh on either side. If you keep your work very clean and don't use too much water or if you refrain from pushing the paint around, this is a decent enough paper but it is quite difficult if you should happen to make an error - obviously no one likes to make an error but thats how it goes sometimes. Edges are clean and crisp but make sure you don't use an eraser on it as it ruins the surface, so a light clean tracing is vital. Also, use plenty of spare paper around the edge and the low tack tape with pull off the surface leaving a fluffy mess! which confirmed that sizing is very soft. I'm still not sure how much I love it for larger works. All paints are Winsor and Newton Artist quality pans. The colours previously mentioned were used for everything, so only 4 paints in total. Cobalt Blue, Windsor Lemon, Lemon Yellow NT and Quinacridone Magenta. I didn't use the Cerulean on the final painting.

It's OK to Start Again
Sometimes I find I'm just not in the best frame of mind to paint and feeling slightly stressed with too many distractions is never good, anyhow, there was a back facing leaf that I didn't much like, the only option for me was to start over.  I always do this if somethings not quite right, its often quicker than trying to fix or alter something to distract. It wasn't that I hadn't planned it out well but when the paint starts to go on it becomes obvious. So after 4 days of work I started again, with a more focused approached and tweaked the composition and the offending leaf plus a few other areas.

First version, spot the difference with the one below (this one was scrapped but used for practice)

Leaf position, take 2:  I just couldn't live with the ugly back facing leaf and twisted it slightly in this version, this didn't alter the accuracy and was a small adjustment. I made a few other changes too. I actually have two attempts at pretty much every painting and try not to be overly precious with any work.... if its not going to plan, start over and save yourself the grief of the 'annoying' bits. 

The leaves are difficult in this plant, the dull surface doesn't give provide and highlights and they have a 'v' shape or flat profile, this requires some careful use of shadows, especially at the leaf margin, where the leaves curve in places, these small shaded areas only required a more dense / creamy mix of the same colour and were carefully dry brushed on. I't amazing how little is needed sometimes. Cast shadows were Cobalt with a touch of Quinacridone Magenta. Rear leaves were kept paler and more blue bread to give the effect of distance, which is important with a plant where leaves rotate around the stem, this is commonly referred to as aerial perspective, it's no big mystery but simple creates separation between near and far parts using the same effect as those used by landscape painters - if you look to the distance the mountains will be paler and more blue and the foreground is stronger and more saturated - a very simple observation which is most useful in botanical work too.

Burning the midnight oil! still not added the smaller bud branch at this stage because initially I wasn't altogether convinced I needed it, so had left it off the tracing. 

Almost finished, decided to add the smaller bud stem on the right as originally planned,  it did need it as it describes the plant more accurately,  C. gigantea is multi branching plant with many flower heads at different stages of development.

It was hard work and many hours were spent on the intricate parts, I didn't have time for the seedpod and felt it was well balanced as it was, so declared it finished. I sent it off just in time before the deadline  had to send in time for the IDSBA Call for Entries deadline, which was on the 29th February. Fingers crossed that it's accepted.  I do hope to paint this again, it's so interesting and challenging. 


About the Exhibition
The IDSBA exhibition  " Botanical Art for Friendship' is a collaboration between the Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists and the Korean Botanical Artists Cooperative. The exhibition is a great idea by this relatively new Society and will take place in the capital city of Jakarta at the National Gallery of Indonesia, which is a major achievement. I have been so encouraged by both the friendliness and professionalism of the Indonesian Society. Last year I taught a class there, which was a wonderful experience filled with enthusiasm and kindness. Their submission process required background information on the plant and references for information provided, something I think all societies should ask for. I hope to return to Indonesia for the exhibition in June, Coronavirus permitting of course! 

The beach, near to where I found the Crown flowers 

It's really great to be painting more, although I do feel a little 'painted out' just now, having completed previous paintings for the current exhibition (I'll write another blog about that). This was my 9th painting completed this year!... although to be honest most of the planning for this one, which is the hard part, took place at the tail end of last year.  

Now it's time to do other teaching work before starting my next painting, which will be to finish the Sutherlandia frutescens. 

RBGE Florilegium: The Story of Illustrating the Cancer Bush, Sutherlandia

A new decade is definitely a time for self reflection and I've decided that I don't paint nearly enough,  so my aim for this year is to paint more and to paint often. The opportunity of being involved in the Florilegium project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh came up last year and illustrating a plant with a great story makes and ideal start for 2020! The chosen plant for the work is a South African native formally known as Sutherlandia frutescens, aka the Cancer Bush, now reclassified as Lessertia frutescens. Here's a little about the the process of illustrating the plant as well as the story of Sutherlandia and the Sutherlands, from South Africa to Edinburgh and back.

Sketchbook studies in South Africa

The Plant 

Before I get into the story, here's a little information about the plant and its habitat. The Cape Floristic kingdom is home to Lessertia frutescens, Sutherlandia (Family: Fabaceae) it is one of the richest areas for flora in the world.  Still commonly known as Sutherlandia, the plant was recently reclassified as Lessertia frutescens from Sutherlandia frutescens based on its adaptation to bird pollination, which is by sunbirds.  It grows in dry regions throughout the country and is associated with the Fynbos, but grows as far north as Namibia and Botswana and in the Karoo Desert. It's a short shrub, with greyish pinnately compound leaves, which vary considerably in size from 4-10mm. The flowers are orange-red in colour, up to 35mm, in short racemes at the leaf axils. The fruit is a large inflated 'bladder-like' pod, which is paper thin. Flowering time is September - December.  

Large balloon like seed-pods, the plant has long been used  for medicinal purposes  (Photographed in March 2019 at Kirstenbosch)

Sutherlandia has many common names, several relate to its medicinal properties, particularly with cancer treatment, such names include, the Cancer Bush or Kankerbos, the Zulu people used the name Unwele, because it was said  that the plant 'stops people from pulling out their own hair' - thus takes away stress. It has long been respected in medicine by the original inhabitants of the Cape being used for washing wounds, controlling fever, for stomach and eye problems and cancer. Evidence is largely anecdotal, however, there is some research into its action as an immune stimulant for cancer and AIDs patients. This doesn't mean that it's a cure but Sutherlandia can help to stimulate appetite in patients with wasting diseases.  Take a look at the SANBI entry for further information. 

The Florilegium

If you are unsure about what a Florilegium is:

Modern florilegia seek to record visual collections of plants held by a botanic garden or specific place, either in living or historic collections. Artists are invited to illustrate plants from the collection  and usually supplied with a plant list to choose from. The illustrations are usually required to show the important features of the plant. Resulting illustrations are often exhibited and published in books and the botanic gardens hold the illustrations for reference and education purposes. 

The aim of the RBGE Florilegium Society is to create a permanent, visual record of RBGE’s botanical and horticultural work through the acquisition of artistic works featuring the plants that are grown, collected, studied and named by RBGE staff. The Society will also raise RBGE’s profile as an important centre of botanical art in relation to both our educational work and our art collection

Being involved in a florilegium can be a bit of a labour of love but it is a great opportunity for botanical artists. For me being a Botanical illustrator is all about recording and learning about plants as well as sharing with others...it's what I always wanted to do. 

First Encounters

The story of my interest in this plant began with a trip to South Africa with my daughter Polly in March 2019. This is where we first encountered  Sutherlandia frutescens, at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. Sadly it was at the end of its flowering period, with only a few flowers remaining. This plant caught our attention for a few reasons, firstly, it's my type of subject, I'm always drawn to plants in the Pea family (Fabaceae), their nitrogen fixing symbiotic relationship with bacteria that makes them so important, plus some plants just fill me with enthusiasm and demand to be painted. Secondly, the name 'Sutherlandia', made us want to find out more. Thirdly, it's medicinal properties. Lastly, it matched my nail varnish! 

Tiny little flowers still hanging on in March, despite the flowering period ending in December 

Display describing Sutherlandia medicinal properties, at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden

The Opportunity: How Things Mysteriously Come Together

I knew I'd come back to this plant at some point, when out of the blue, my good friend and fellow artist, Shevaun Doherty, told me that a plant called Sutherlandia was on the plant list for the RBGE Florilegium and that I had to paint it? I immediately contacted them and claimed it. Both myself and Polly plan to illustrate different aspects of the plant, which is a slightly unusual approach but was approved. 

A Trip to RBGE

In November 2019, we were invited by Jacqui Pestell to visit the Herbarium at RBGE to complete some research. RBGE staff were so helpful and supportive and we spent a couple of days investigating and sketching. Even the current Regis Keeper, Simon Milne, invited us into his office to talk about Sutherlandia and his research. Outside his office is the banner dedicated to James Sutherland (c. 1639 - 1719) the first Regis Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, and of course the reason for the plants inclusion in the Florilegium became apparent, as Sutherlandia frutecens was named after him. 

 James Sutherland at RBGE.  The first professor of Botany at the University of Edinburgh, in 1675, he became Intendent of the Physic Garden, which later became the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, thus he was the first Regis Keeper. Known for his enthusiasm for plants he published the first botanical work in Scotland 'Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis' in 1683. You can see the here the image of Sutherlandia frutecens, which was named after him 

Viewing the large collection of Sutherland frutescens at RBGE herbarium, showing the various locations and name  reclassification over the years.

Specimens from the Eastern Cape 

Cultivated specimens from the garden

S. frutescens had until recently been in the living collection in the RBGE, like many South African plants they will grow in the UK but in recent years the live plant has declined and it's now most likely part of the historic collection. From the Herbarium records it appears that some plants in the collection came to Edinburgh from Kirstenbosch Gardens. The herbarium specimens came from various sites across South Africa and show considerable diversity, particularly in leaf shape and size, which was interesting. Having a 'Type specimen' is important in deciding what is typical for illustration purposes. It was amazing to view samples described by legendary Scottish botanist, Robert Brown (of Brownian motion fame) he also who had a close association with Joseph Banks voyages to Australia....but that's a story for another time. We also spent time in the Library viewing some magnificent books with illustrations of South African flora.

Polly makes notes and sketches

We really enjoyed our time at RBGE, we made notes, measurements and sketches as obviously watercolour isn't allowed in herbariums. Polly, who illustrates pollen and dissections, intends to return to see if they can capture pollen grains using the Scanning Electron Microscope, this is her specialist area of interest. I'll be making a more traditional illustration of the plant and some of the specimens had already given me some inspiration for a composition.

In the RBGE Library

Return to Cape Town

Less than 2 weeks after our visit to RBGE, we were back in Cape Town. This time we knew that Sutherlandia would be in full bloom. The botanical community are always incredibly helpful and it took just a few emails to friends to organise a specimens of the plant for the RBGE project, which was sorted in advance of our arrival. 

Day 2 Arrival at Kirstenbosh Botanic Garden, late November 2019

Kirstenbosch provided a permit to take a sample of Sutherlandia away, which was extremely accommodating. Garden officer Alice Notten took us to view several examples in the garden, it was a scorching hot day but we came away with a beautiful cutting of the plant. Over the next few days I worked quickly to record as much as possible, making detailed drawings and colour studies. As well as drafting a few compositional ideas. 

Specimen from Kirstenbosch, I had to work quickly before leaving South Africa

Sketchbook Study ready for the next step of creating the composition 

Investigation of the reproductive parts 

Taking measurements and collecting as many drawings ans photographs as possible. Here a dissection of the seed-pods

We also visited Karoo Botanic Garden, which I love! they also have several Sutherlandia plants but it's much hotter and drier there, flowering had mostly finished but there were piles of the hugely inflated ghostly looking seedpods on the ground.  We took a road trip many miles into the Karoo desert where we observed the plant in the wild in many locations, we made further studies also took lots of photographic reference.  Suffice to say its a very common plant, so was an easy task....apart from the heat! 

In the wild, its easy to spot in the bright light with its small scarlet flowers and ghostly looking seed-pods

Road trip: growing at the roadside near Worcester 

That's the story to date, all that remains is to put it all together and complete the painting.

If you want to find out more about the RBGE Florilegium or wish to get involved see their Call for Entries

 https://www.rbge.org.uk/science-and-conservation/library-and-archives/library-collections/image-collection/rbge-florilegium/call-for-entries-2020/