 |
| Rosa Bianca Eggplant - © 2011 by Linda Warner Constantino |
The color and shape of this little eggplant compelled me to paint it for a botanical illustration project. I am used to painting landscapes outside–en plein air but, painting vegetables was a bit different. I sat outside and sketched it to get a feel for it, but it was so hot and I seem to have an infestation of relentless, biting ants in my garden that forced me inside. The heat here in South Carolina can be particularly brutal in the summer. I took some photos and this is really the first time I have worked from a photo for a botanical illustration, though I did pick the actual eggplant in order to paint it from life.
Speaking of outdoor plant painting adventures. I recently read about a botanical artist named Margaret Mee who was British and moved to Brazil and bravely went up the Amazon to paint as many species as she could. Some had never been seen and some were in danger of disappearing. She sensed the fragility of the rain forest and was driven to document as many plants as she could. She apparently had some adventures and unexpected encounters on her excursions back in the 1950s. From what I have read she sounds like she was quite a character and definitely a woman before her time. I am sure she had far more than ants with which to contend.There is a book containing her diaries and sketches called
Margaret Mee's Amazon: Diaries of an Artist Explorer.
