Tuesday, October 7, 2014

USING PHOTO REFERENCE IN BOTANICAL ART

by Celia Godkin

Botanical artists usually prefer to work from live specimens, but sometimes this isn’t possible, and we must turn to photographic reference instead. As a children’s book illustrator, I have to rely on extensive reference material from a variety of sources including photographs.

In my most recent book, Skydiver, there’s an oil painting of corn plants on a page that describes the spraying of farm crops with DDT. This was the pesticide that caused severe declines in peregrine falcons, the subject of the book.

The image was based on a couple of reference photos I took at the edge of a field of corn.  Knowing that the image would have to be a low view, looking upward towards an air-borne peregrine, I deliberately angled the camera upwards so that there would be lots of sky in the photos. 

Here are my reference photos: 


And here is a detail of the resulting illustration:


Note that I haven’t slavishly copied the photographs. To do so would mean that all the cast shadow and transparency that confuses the interpretation of form would have been included. Instead, I use the photographic reference as the point of departure, simplifying and eliminating confusing shadows to explain the form without violating the integrity of the plant structure.

Far from being a distortion, I view this departure from photographic realism as an integral part of the “scientific accuracy” component of botanical art. I seek to explain and clarify plant structures in the same way that science attempts to elucidate nature.

I hope this example clarifies one of the important differences between botanical art and floral fine art. Art imitates nature, science seeks to explain it and botanical art hopes to achieve both of these goals.

Book details:
Skydiver: Saving the Fastest Bird in the World by Celia Godkin; Pajama Press, 2014, is the inspiring story of how the peregrine falcon was saved from the brink of disaster. ISBN 978-1-927485-61-3 (bound) $19.95See further information at www.pajamapress.ca

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

OSBA SKETCHING GROUP – 2014



When the weather in Ottawa finally warms up, eager members of OSBA group have been gathering for a few hours each week to socialize with other members, to sketch outdoors in relaxed surrounding and be entertained by the numerous little animals and birds.
 
The outdoor sketching group has had it challenges this year.  Compared to last year where we were able to have our outings, pretty much, every week and going until mid-October.  This year, though, we had been haunted by the rain gods who seem to have been soaking up just about every Wednesday and Thursday all summer.  With that being said, Inga Legere, the Sketching Co-ordinator and part-time weather reporter, did managed to put together a handful of sketching get-togethers. 

We would like to thank volunteer Isabelle Nicol, Backyard Garden Manager, at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden for making us feel right at home in the backyard garden.




We also managed to get a few sketching days in at the Ornamental Gardens at the Experimental Farm.