Flower Power: Regional artists succumb to lure of botanicals

Donna Edmonds of Parker, Armstrong County, loves to get her hands dirty, both with soil and paint.

After retiring from Westinghouse Electric Corp. in May 2000, where she worked as a human resources manager, Edmonds took a few years off to see her children through high school and off to college. Then, in the summer of 2005 she decided to take her first art class, "Drawing 1," a requirement of the Botanical Art and Illustration Certificate Program at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

"I've been drawing and painting botanical subjects ever since," she says in her studio at the Gentleman's farm she shares with her husband. The farm has a wonderful and inspiring view of the Allegheny River and includes both fields and woodlands with endless opportunity to capture native Pennsylvania plant life.

For years an avid gardener, Edmonds says, "I don't think I know anyone who is involved in botanical art who was not first a gardener. For me, a fascination with plants, years of gardening, and a life-long love of watercolor as an art form came together at a point in my life when I had both the time and the motivation to experiment with painting."

Currently, Edmonds is working on a botanical piece that will include a bit of the plant's natural habitat and multiple species in a single composition.

"This is a somewhat nontraditional approach since botanical art/illustration tends to focus on an individual subject in relative isolation," she says.

Before Edmonds begins any project, she tries to understand as much about her intended subject as possible. "I find that working from a live specimen is essential for me to achieve a degree of realism, but it is also helpful to study photographs of the plant from multiple angles and perspectives."

This is especially true since a live specimen, such as a cut flower, may not survive long enough to complete a painting. Thus, photography is a necessary companion.

"Being intimately familiar with the plant characteristics aids my effort to render the plant accurately, so it is also helpful to have an extra specimen to examine and dissect," she says.

Edmonds works primarily in graphite and watercolor.

"Typically, I spend a considerable amount of time producing one or more detailed drawings of my subject," she says. "During the drawing process, I work out technical issues of perspective, light and shadow, and composition. It is only then that I am ready to work in color."

Though she works with a very limited palette of primary colors -- two yellows, two blues and two reds -- Edmonds botanical works are striking.

"With this palette I can create a full range of colors to accurately portray my plant subject," she says. "I generally mix my colors on the watercolor paper by applying thin glazes of primary colors on top of each other to produce the hue that I'm aiming for."

Watercolors are transparent so each color reflects off the paper up through the multiple glazes. It can be a time-consuming process, particularly when the colors of the plant subject are bold.

This method produces clear, crisp, transparent results which are very appealing when applied to botanical subjects. Her works were included in an exhibit earlier this year at Phipps Conservatory in conjunction with the Phipps Orchid Show.

Though she has only been engaged in botanical art for a little more than four years she says, "I'm just beginning to recognize the value of having access to my plant subjects in their native habitat and at every stage of their life cycle. Each season presents a new array of stunning and fascinating plants."

Research and observation important

Like Edmonds, botanical artist and art instructor Carol Saunders agrees that continual research and close observation are important in the execution of any botanical work.

"I study the work of both historical, and modern botanical artists," Saunders says. "Through the lenses of both my magnifying glass and my microscope, I am able to observe, first hand, the minute detail of my art objects."

For the past three years, Saunders has been studying Viola papilionada , the common blue violet, as it emerges each spring, adding more sketches, color studies and written notes to her store of information.

"Please believe me when I say that this 'common' plant is very complicated," she says with a chuckle.

Saunders has been teaching botanical illustration classes at Phipps Conservatory for seven years and has lead workshops at the Botanical International Meeting, which is held in Pittsburgh every three years.

"I sell original and giclee prints through a local gallery," says the retired graphic artist, who spent 30 years working as a professional calligrapher and designer of record jackets, company logos, advertisements, greeting and wedding cards, cartoons and murals. "Roses are my passion. But, so are wildflowers. It seems to me that I fall in love with every plant that I paint."

Saunders, who along with her husband raised a family of five sons, lives on five wooded acres in Pine in the North Hills. "We are retired now, and I have the exquisite opportunity to paint botanicals every day, and fully incorporate all that I learned in graphic arts with a new twist."

Not graphic art, but the law was the former passion of flower painter Jo Ann Leardi Portnoy. Before moving to Pittsburgh in 1986, Portnoy was the executive director of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association and lived in New Jersey.

These days she can be found at her easel at her home in Ross, painting flowers or fruit, or at one of the local art festivals throughout this region as well as eastern Ohio.

"I absolutely love what I am doing now," she says. "It is very satisfying and fulfilling to have a job that I enjoy doing and that brings such happiness to people. It is always wonderful when customers come back many years later and tell me they still love their piece."

Portnoy has been participating in art festivals for the past 19 years, where she sells botanical works that are a bit more expressive and a lot less rigid than the single format studies most botanical artists adhere to.

"When I moved to Pittsburgh and started painting again, my husband suggested that I try to get into the Shadyside Art Festival," she recalls. "I was a bit skeptical, since I had never sold my work before, but I thought I would give it a try. At my first Shadyside festival in 1990, and much to my surprise, I sold 24 pieces. So that began my art festival career.

"I do have a number of loyal customers, some of which have been purchasing my work for almost 20 years. These customers not only buy for themselves, but purchase paintings as gifts for friends, weddings, bridal showers, birthdays and holidays."

Portnoy also has been teaching art classes at Phipps for the past 16 years, as well as at the University of Pittsburgh in their noncredit adult program (now defunct).

"I have always taught and exhibited floral watercolors," she says. "However, in the past few years I have also included paintings of fruit, which have sold remarkably well."

Whether for passion, profit or both, these three botanical artists, and their respective works, prove that flowers and plant life have an enduring allure that is as fascinating to look at as it is to study and paint.

So, you think you may have more than just a green thumb and would like to try your hand at creating your own botanical art• Here's a list of a few good places to start.

• Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The current collections include approximately 29,000 books; 30,000 portraits; 30,000 watercolors, drawings and prints; and 2,000 autograph letters and manuscripts. Every three years, the Hunt stages the "International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration," which attracts talented botanical artists from around the world. The 13th International is slated for fall 2010. Details: 412-268-2434 or www.huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu .

• Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens offers botanical art classes in both a certificate and non-certificate format. Students enrolled in the certificate program learn how to draw botanical subjects with scientific accuracy, artistry and mastery of technical methods. Participants may work towards the certificate or enroll in individual courses; however, many classes require prerequisites that build on skills learned in previous courses. The faculty in the certificate program is made up of professionals in the field of botanical art and illustration who are well versed in the subjects they teach. Details: 412-622-3914 or www.phipps.conservatory.org .

• Allegheny Highlands Botanical Art Society is a regional chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists ( www.amsocbotartists.org ). The group was organized to provide an educational and social forum for members to improve their artistic skills and increase their botanical knowledge. Details on the Allegheny Highlands group: contact Betty Walsh at bwalsh15206@yahoo.com .