March Natural Treasures Challenge: Houseplants

The March Natural Treasures Challenge was houseplants. Celeste Dion contributed a watercolour painting of a Jade plant, Mary Atkins contributed an Anthurium in coloured pencil and Janice Kelly contributed a begonia completed in watercolour and coloured pencil.

Jade plant in watercolour by Celeste Dion

Celeste Dion writes: Here is a small painting I did of one of my houseplants for the challenge. It is a Jade plant (Crassula) variety. It is done in watercolour."

Anthurium in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Mary commented "This is an Anthurium. It was a subject that I chose back in November 2019 in Jan Salmon's coloured pencil course. This plant is still alive and fortunately thrives on neglect. I am much more mindful of outdoor plants. This was done on Legion Stonehenge 140 lb hot press paper."

Begoinia in watercolour and coloured pencils by Janice Kelly

Janice Kelly: "Here’s my March OSBA Challenge of the Begonia houseplant completed
in watercolour and coloured pencils. Hope all OSBA members and families and friends are staying safe and well.”

Natural Treasures -- January and February

Chinese Lanterns Physalis alkekengi in watercolour and coloured pencil by Lauren Foster-MacLeod

We are continuing our Natural Treasures Challenge in 2020. Lauren Foster-MacLeod painted something from her stash -- a Chinese Lantern Physalis alkekengi in watercolour and coloured pencil in her Moleskin sketchbook. Mary Atkins submitted two coloured pencil paintings, one for the January theme of "Something from your Stash" and another for "The Naked Tree". Janice Kelly submitted a coloured pencil drawing of a mushroom. The theme for March will be Houseplants so looking foward to seeing green again!

Iris Germanica Seed Pod in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Silver Maple Branch in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Mushrooms in coloured pencil by Janice Kelly

Happy Holidays! Natural Treasures Challenge Theme of "Festive"

The Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists (OSBA) extends holiday greetings to our friends near and far. To celebrate this season, the December Natural Treasures theme was Festive and three members shared their work. All pieces have been completed in coloured pencil.

Thanks goes to OSBA members who participated in this year's Natural Treasures Challenge. We received a lot of positive feedback so will be continuing this project in 2020. The January theme will be "Something from your Stash". Many of our members collect dried plant material and can rumage through their stash to find something interesting to draw or paint. January entries will be posted throughout the month on both this blog and our Facebook page.

Holly in coloured pencil by Marina Ferrarin

Poinsettia in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Holly in colourd pencil by Theresa Bolton

November Natural Treasures Challenge: Stayin' Alive

As we enter late autumn in Ottawa, we challenged our members to find subjects that were "stayin' alive". Considering the mid-month snow flurries, this required a bit of plant hunting. The December theme is "Festive".

Lambs Ear in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Begonia root in watercolour pencil and graphite by Gillian MacDonald

Pumpkin in watercolour by Esra Ozgun

October Natural Treasures Challenge: Harvest

This month we have six entries for our Natural Treasures Challenge theme of Harvest. All entries are in coloured pencil with several pieces completed on a dark background. The November theme will be Stayin' Alive and will give participants the challenge of finding a subject that has survived the chilly temperatures and the odd snow flurry.

Swiss Chard in coloured pencil by Lynn Moore

Tomatoes in coloured pencil by Lynn Moore

Gourd in coloured pencil by Mary Atkins

Honeycrisp Apple in coloured pencil by Carla Burns

Butternut Squash in coloured pencil by Janice Kelly

Yellow Pear in coloured pencil by Kathryn MacDonald

From the Ground Up Exhibition -- Opening Reception

We had a very successful opening reception for the From the Ground Up Exhibition which will be closing on Tuesday, October 22, 2019. We thank our contributing artists and volunteers.

OSBA Members Kathryn MacDonald and Kathryn Wright

OSBA Members Kris Rothschild and Lyne Moore

Visitors and OSBA Members Viewing Artwork

OSBA Member Nancy Savage

Visitors and OSBA Members Viewing Artwork

Natural Treasures Challenge "Changes"

The theme for our September Natural Treasures Challenge was "Changes". Two of our members, Mary Atkins and Inga Legere, submitted colourful leaves.  Next month we'll be featuring artwork from our October theme of "Harvest".

Amelanchier canadensis, from left to right,  Watercolour, Graphite and Coloured Pencil by Inga Legere

Silver Maple in Coloured Pencil by Mary Atkins