This series has been preempted by real life. Since my last post, an incredible amount of mental and emotional energy has been dedicated to product research, category development, public appearances, venue management, curriculum development, book reviews, streamlining operations, and other directorial tasks. While these activities have been disruptive to the Real Life series, they contribute [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Real Life’
Real Life: Preempted
Posted in Education, Real Life Series, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged Botanical illustration, Botanical art, nature journal, Real Life, Dorstenia, cactus & succulents, Dorstenia lavrani on April 1, 2008 | No Comments »
Real Life: Just Go “Blah!”
Posted in Education, Real Life Series, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged Botanical art, Botanical illustration, cactus & succulents, Dorstenia, nature journal, Real Life on February 20, 2008 | No Comments »
Regardless of how intriguing one’s drawing subject might be, there is always a bit of anxiety when it comes time to depicting a subject on paper. There is no easy way around this. Fortunately, anxiety is replaced quickly by curiosity upon really seeing one’s subject for the first time. There is only one way that [...]
Real Life: Learning More About Dorstenia
Posted in Education, Real Life Series, Sketching & Journaling, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged Botanical illustration, Botanical art, Plants, sketchbook, nature journal, artistic process, Real Life, garden journal, Dorstenia, Moraceae on January 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Earlier I mentioned a few resources you could use to research your plant specimen. Today I will draw on these resources and others to learn more about the Dorstenia plant I selected for my current project. I always start with the big picture and then get more specific, so I will begin with learning more [...]
Real Life: Learning More About Your Subject
Posted in ArtPlantae Books, Education, Real Life Series, Sketching & Journaling, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged Botanical illustration, Botanical art, Plants, sketchbook, nature journal, Botanical art books, artistic process, Real Life, garden journal, Dorstenia, Moracea on January 8, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Collecting plant material is one of my favorite past times. Like most gardeners, I buy seeds, bulbs, corms, rhizomes and plants that are not zoned for where I live just to see if they will grow. USDA and Sunset zoning charts mean nothing to me. They only help me steer clear of plants requiring 500 [...]
Real Life: Choosing a Specimen
Posted in Real Life Series, Sketching & Journaling, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged artistic process, Botanical art, Botanical illustration, Dorstenia, garden journal, Moraceae, nature journal, Plants, Real Life, sketchbook on December 25, 2007 | No Comments »
I am drawn to botanical illustration for the information I can learn from the carefully crafted stories that botanical illustrators tell through their drawings. I appreciate when an illustrator teaches me something new and directs my attention towards something I have never noticed. Because I like looking for new information in an illustration, the plants [...]
Botanical Illustration in Real Life
Posted in Education, Real Life Series, Sketching & Journaling, Special Articles & Interviews, tagged artistic process, Botanical art, Botanical illustration, garden journal, nature journal, Plants, Real Life, sketchbook on December 11, 2007 | No Comments »
Very few people can claim to be a fully-employed botanical artist or illustrator. For most of us, capturing plants on paper remains an extracurricular activity. And of all the extracurricular activities in our lives, botanical illustration usually happens only if we remember to think about it.
This new blog series is for the “extracurricular artist.” If [...]