7) Because botanical art is so representational, how far can you stretch a composition in botanical art?
Bruce Lyndon Cunningham: When any artist draws a face of a person, the face needs to look like that person in life. Same with botanical species.
Carol E. Hamilton: The key is research. Once you have thoroughly researched the structure, growth patterns and life cycle of the subject, you can confidently compose a piece without concern that you might be misrepresenting the plant.
Wendy Hollender: Composition allows for infinite layouts even with representational art. The plants are realistic, but the background can vary from none, to a tint, to a landscape, to a suggestion of a landscape.
Kathy J. Imel: When doing a pastel of a plant, I like to expand the image to many times life size and also often zoom in on a particular section of the plant so that the image covers the entire paper (no white space). I think it causes you to think about and see the plant in a different way while still being botanically accurate.
Michael Maskarinec: Good design will make or break a painting. Most artists have a natural ability to place/compose a painting. I believe that a good composition can be challenging and create the drama that attracts the average person to our work. For me this falls under the category of how we edit our process.
Susan Rubin: For me, botanical art has tremendous potential as a contemporary art genre, and composition is often where we can diverge from classical tradition, if we are so inclined. Remembering that botanical illustration a more structured depiction of a plant, I view botanical art as the playground. It is an exciting challenge to retain the scientifically accurate portrayal of the material while pushing the composition to make a more modern statement. More adventurous compositions may not always be favored by RHS or ASBA juries or staunch traditionalists, but there is always room for a fresh point of view in the larger world of art.
