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Dear Friends:
It is a very interesting thing to hear students ask whether certain techniques are cheating. This always incites a long discussion about the misunderstandings that revolve around this concept of cheating. Here is a short list of these concerns:
- Using white is cheating or bad!.....FALSE. What is not readily acceptable in botanical art is the use of white to replace highlights. In a documented search of antique botanicals, I have come across wonderful paintings that mix white with their color to produce soft tints of color. White is also used to help with scumbling. A technique helpful in portraying tree branches for example.
- Drawing plant portraits as composites of parts and forming compositions from this rearrangement is cheating! ���... FALSE. Let�s take for example Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) who is known to have completed many of his plant portraits by using the reference materials from eight plants of the same species or more. This means that he would have had to compose the portrait from his understanding of the subject and not only from what was in front of him (especially if the subject had been pressed flat!).
- Drawing from photographs is cheating!....Well not exactly FALSE and not exactly TRUE. To start with, if we are using photographs they should be our own. Here at the Academy we do not trace our photographs. We draw from life and then compile macro photos on study boards for reference. We teach students to photograph their subjects from 360�, as well as overhead and underneath in order to capture all the necessary key element information. So when the plant dies we have a record to help us continue our painting. Recently, I heard reference to tracing from photographs (in the interest of time) when inking illustrations for scientific journals. Since photographs often obscure the important morphology of a plant, be careful you are able to see what you are tracing correctly, and again, be sure the photo is yours, or licensed to use. And just as important, be sure you are inking the species you claim to be illustrating!
- Copying another�s artwork, manipulating it slightly, signing your name to someone else�s art, tracing photographs by another artist is cheating��TRUE. What can we say here, except simply, �Don�t do it.�
- Creating another painting of one recently sold, in the same or different medium is cheating the buyer?....FALSE, but consider this..
As commented by Robert Genn, �Evolved collectors know that artists refine from one painting to the next and frequently redevelop work from an exemplary one. Further, there's the tradition of the watercolour sketch and the final oil. Resurrection is part of our game, but it can be a tricky wicket.�
There are several things to consider when you are repeating works. I am listing both my thoughts and Robert Genn�s in an attempt to clarify this matter.
- A Bill of Sale should accompany your artwork. This document should clearly state that the original artwork will or will not be reproduced either as an original in another medium, or as a reproduction. Buyers should know what they are getting. If you want the �Artist to retain all rights�, then you are technically in the right to reproduce. However, since good will is your name, it is always a good idea to clarify this point with the buyer. ombc
- �Artists often notice a slippage of quality or loss of focus when they repeat. Repeated works should be of a different size, preferably larger.� Rg
- �When going from smaller to larger, do the same with your tools.� Rg
- When repeating works, consider including in the version in the artist title, i.e. �Garden Rose #2.� ombc
- Since botanical art research is often extensive and the recordings include numerous key element studies (dissections etc.), consider including in the repeated version aspects that are not in the first version, thereby altering the composition and reinventing the work. ombc
- Part of Pen & Ink study at the Academy is learning to ink for purposes other than scientific illustration and publication. So we always ask the "What�s it for?" question. This helps us to think out of the botanical box and use our researched plant material for numerous other illustrations � that are new and possibly improved. ombc
For more �pearls of wisdom� you may want to subscribe to Twice Weekly by Robert Genn or at least check out his terrific website http://www.painterskeys.com/
Well I hope the above clarifies these issues and in fact has given rise to new ideas for creating and recreating art. Summer is approaching us and with it many new subjects to study, draw and paint. May your gardens and artwork keep you busy as a bee.
God bless. OM
The All New OM ART Book Store
We keep adding information on Products & Art Supplies
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Book Buys
Caffeine for the Creative Mind:
250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain
By Stefan Mumaw, Wendy Lee Oldfield
IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea
By Sam Harrison
Zing!: Five Steps and 101 Tips for Creativity On Commands
By Sam Harrison
A Technique for Producing Ideas
By James Young
Change the Way You See Everything through Asset-Based Thinking
By Kathryn D. Cramer, Hank Wasiak
It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be: The World's Best Selling Book
By Paul Arden
Academy of Botanical Art
Distance Learning sm
Now Available for Anyone
Interested in Endangered Species,
Bromeliads or Palms
Endangered Species for Botanical Artists
This wonderful course is available to anyone interested in the study of endangered species.
Academy Students earn elective credits for taking this course and completing the enclosed exam. A wealth of information that all will find extremely interesting.
Academy Electives: 15
by John Beckner, Botanist
$150.00 Non Certificate Student ~ $275 Certificate Students
Bromeliads for Botanical Artists
The structure of bromeliad plants and their flowers
with suggestions for ways to illustrate and
better understand these exciting plants.
Academy Electives: 5
by John Beckner, Botanist
$50.00 Non Certificate Student ~ $175 Certificate Students
Palms for the Botanical Artist
This publication is just the tip of an iceberg.
Palms are plants inclined to large dimensions.
They are very numerous and more varied than you first imagine. This text is for the person interested in illustrating them in various ways;
artistic or scientific and as a motif for crafts. But nearly all of it will be useful to plant lovers, tropical nature fans, gardeners and other people.
Academy Electives: 5
by John Beckner, Botanist
$50.00 Non Certificate Student ~ $175 Certificate Students
Click here to learn more about the
Academy and its instructors
ABA Instruction & Course Paks
The Academy of Botanical Art�s flexible program allows for distance learners to tailor a schedule of botanical art training to their needs that includes phone tutored lessons, classes with the Ringling College of Art and Design, the Marie Selby Botanical Garden, and Academy workshops now offered in several locations. Distance learners take advantage of classes offered in their hometown as part of their study program. There is hardly an excuse left not to join the Academy's growing school.
Book Volumes 1-8 = $38.00 each
Book Volumes 9 & 10 = $50.00 each
Plus Shipping and Handling
Accompanying ABA Course Paks
Volumes 1-9 = $19.00 each
Volume 10 = $25.00
Plus Shipping & Handling
Click Here To Order
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Soul Biz
To copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.
Pablo Picasso
~
When all love of I and mine is done,
then the work of the Lord is done.
Kabir
~
The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.
Alan Alda
~
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.
Buckminster Fuller
~
A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude . . .
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Art Classes & Workshops
You can now combine
Distance Learning with Class Time
at any of our locations!!!
Private Classes with O.M.Braida
New Dates @ Studio 20
Time:
All Private Studio Classes
are from 9:30am to 2:30pm
Location:
2068 Sunnyside Lane, Sarasota, FL, 34239.
Just off 41 in the Southgate area two blocks north of Webber and the Mall.
Dates:
9:30am to 2:30pm
May 7, 14, 21, 28
June 4, 18, 25
Tuition:
4 classes/20 hours: $450
Individual class: $125
Refreshments provided, but you may want to bring your own lunch.
Credit Cards Accepted!
Register Here
Or contact olivia@omartdesigns.com
Or Call 941-953-9999 for more information
Academy of Botanical Art sm @
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
To Register, visit www.selby.org
Or Call Marilynn Shelley 941-366-5731 x 239
2009 Academy @ Selby Schedule
Botanical Drawing & Watercolor
Noon to 5pm
Dates:
Three Day Spring Workshop: May 18, 19, 20 w/ Olivia Braida
Botanical Art & Illustration
Certificate Program Classes
Ringling College of Art and Design
Spring 2009 Term
Learn How to Draw & Paint Plants
Beautiful Botanical Art Workshop
Session A:
Monday �Tuesday-Wednesday
June 8, 9, 10
5:30pm to 9:30pm
Session B:
Wednesday-Thursday-Friday
June 10, 11, 12
9:00pm to 1:00pm
To Register, visit www.ringling.edu
Or call, 941-955-8866
Arboretum State Botanical
Garden of Kentucky
and the
Academy of Botanical Art sm
present
Instructors:
Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano
Leslie Ramsey
Once again the Arboretum is proud to offer this special opportunity to join the Academy of Botanical Art in a four day botanical art workshop.
August 24, 25, 26, 27, 2009
9:00am to 4:00pm
With half hour lunch
Learn how to draw plants. Develop your nature drawing skills and illustrate a classical plant portrait in the French Court Tradition.
Join the second renaissance of botanical art and let your inspiration be tomorrow's masterpiece!
$450 Arboretum Member -- $475 Non Member
$8.00 paper materials fee payable to instructor
Student will please bring:
- three pears
- drawing and watercolor supplies
- two #3 round watercolor brushes
- one #0 round watercolor brush
- one or two mixing brushes
If you only want to draw, bring only drawing supplies.
Purchase art supplies here.
Arboretum Kentucky Drawing Supplies
Arboretum Kentucky Watercolor Supplies
Academy @ Kentucky
with Leslie Ramsey
Botanical Art Workshops
Graphite � Watercolor � Pen & Ink
Beginners to Advanced
With
Leslie Ramsey
Certified Botanical Artist
Certified Academy Instructor
THURSDAYS
to June
Day & Evening Classes
Day: 10am to 1 pm $200 (individual class $75)
Evening: 5:30pm - 8:30pm $200 (individual class $75)
Location
4464 Stuart Hall Boulevard #33102
Lexington, KY 40509
Art supplies and books not included.
For recent Arboretum/Kentucky University
Workshop attendees who completed Drawing I and Watercolor I, pursue the next level book
Drawing II and Watercolor II.
For Books and Course Paks and
Art Supplies visit�
www.botanicalartsupplies.com
To Register, call Leslie Ramsey:
606-434-4280
Events
Visit the Academy booth and let your child draw and color a butterfly!
Trolley Rides � Alligator Alley � K-9 Squad � Fossil Fun Zone - Food � Music - Prizes
Exhibits Museums
South Florida Museum
201 10th Street West
Bradenton, Florida 34205
(941) 746-4131
http://www.southfloridamuseum.org/
John and Mable Ringling Museum
5401 Bay Shore Road,
Sarasota Florida 34243
(941) 359-5700
http://www.ringling.org/
Museum of Fine Arts
255 Beach Drive NE, St.
Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 896-2667
http://www.fine-arts.org/
Salvador Dali Museum
1000 Third Street South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-4901
(727) 823-3767
http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/home.html
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-3890
(412) 268-2434
http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-3970
(202) 783-5000
1-800-222-7270
http://www.nmwa.org/
Smithsonian Institute
10th Street and Constitution Ave., NW in Washington, D.C. 20560
(202) 633-1000
http://www.si.edu/
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10028
(212) 535-7710
http://www.metmuseum.org/
American Museum of Natural History
79th Street @ Central Park West
New York, New York
(212) 769-5100
http://www.amnh.org/
American Museum of Natural History
79th Street @ Central Park West
New York, New York
(212) 769-5100
http://www.amnh.org/
Modern Museum of Art
11 West 53 Street,
New York, NY 10019-5497
(212) 708-9400
http://www.moma.org/
Brooklyn Museum of Art
200 Eastern Pkwy
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(718) 638-5000
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/
High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
(404) 733-HIGH
Receptionist: 404-733-4400
http://www.high.org/
Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois, 60603-6404
(312) 443-3600
http://www.artic.edu/aic/
Bruce Museum One Museum Drive
Greenwich, CT 06830
203-869-0376
http://www.brucemuseum.org/
Harvard University Museum of Natural History
Home of the famous Glass Flower Sculptures
by Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895)
and his son Rudolf (1857-1939)
22 Divinity Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-2365
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/
Locate Other Fine Art Museums
Locate Garden Events
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