Saturday, February 10, 2024

A Method for Painting Botanical Subjects on Location

 

Link to YouTube Here's a practical method for isolating a living plant so that you can paint an accurate portrait of it on location.

Roadside Weeds, casein, 14 x 18"

Most landscape compositions are designed to lead the viewer deep into the scene. If there’s a foreground, it serves as a framing device or a departure point. By contrast, botanical studies typically focus up close on a flower or a plant that’s taken out of context and put against a white backdrop.


But what if we could merge these two ways of seeing? My goal in this painting is to bring attention to the foreground without losing the story of the wider scene. To achieve that goal I’ll need to develop a way to render a living plant with loving detail while observing it in its natural setting.



1 comment:

  1. Fantastic! What a wonderful approach to painting botanicals in a natural environment. I might try this approach myself next Summer. Thank you!

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