Botanical Illustration

Someone mentioned in passing that whereas most people in the US think that Scarlett Runner Beans are toxic, most people in Europe do not.  Remarks like that make me have to think a bit and then off I go to the search engines looking for an answer.  Recently Wikipedia's article on this plant was accompanied by a breathtakingly beautiful botanical illustration of the leaves, flowers, and seed of this plant, but today when I went back to take another look it was gone! 

The same print is reproduced on an English site, however:

A Wonderful Drawing

So you can see it if you like.  When forced to make a career choice between botany and a humanities field as a young college student, it is a sad fact but true that I thought I would not have the drawing skills to keep a decent field log as a plant scientist, and who knew then that digital cameras were on the verge of being invented.  Now one of the reasons I am ecstatic about being able to grow plants quickly indoors using air gardening techniques, is that every day will bring a new opportunity to get excited about drawing and sketching plants.

Of course, it is also great that there are no bugs on them.  But wait!  Most of the really wonderful old paintings of flowers include insects. As one thing always leads to another when one does an internet search, a hunt for old master floral paintings with insects brought me to this interesting article:

The Premier Insect Painter of China

None of the universities I have attended ever offered a class in botanical illustration to my knowledge, but I am awe-stricken by the program available through Denver Botanical Gardens.  When I was a starving student, I drove past this facility on my way to the airport after visiting a friend who lives in Colorado Springs.  Although the garden was about to close and I could not have afforded the modest entrance fee anyway, the fates shined on me that day as I was able to gain admittance for a few minutes all the same.  Heavenly! 

That brief experience will stay alive in my heart and mind forever, but seeing what the artists over there are doing now brings all the freshness of it back: 

Botanical Illustration at the Denver Botanical Gardens

Comments

[coach purses]

There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.

[coach purses]

The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception,not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom,and without the blind spots caused by fear.