The Lilac is one of the most fragrant spring scents in Minnesota and comes at the time of realisation that Winter has truly been put to rest. I chose to paint this because of the challenge of the many flowers that form in beautiful clusters on the panicles. I relied heavily on my drawing to place and compose an arrangement to show a close examination of the structure and beauty of the flowers. Painting with watercolour on heavy Strathmore paper, I start with the underlying colour washes and progress to a “dry brush” technique for the detail and shading.
Walking through the Northern woods near Lake Superior during the autumn I came upon this wonderful gathering of lichens and textured bark of a Balsam tree that had a caught leaves from a neighboring tree. On a nice textured paper, I painted with pastels, laying in the dark areas and working toward the lights. The background proved distracting with detail so I blurred it with smudges of color and darkness to bring the attention to the foreground. I then did some line detailing with pen and ink to texture and highlight the bark and lichen.
Walking along the Western shores of Ireland I happened upon a gate leading to farm moorland and was struck by the rugged simplicity of the workmanship. It was nearing dusk and the colours were brilliant and the gate seemed to be inviting me through to a magical and wonderful land. I decided to do the painting with pastels and found it was a great medium to work the colors in the sky and background. I found I could build the rich contrast of the evening shadows and the silhouette of the gate.
I came upon a downed Balsam tree in the Northern forested regions of Minnesota and found different forms of lichen covering the branches. The twisting and interweaving of the forms looked to be a challenge and I chose graphite for its clean tonal separations to bring out the depth and form. I like a Strathmore Bristol Smooth 500 weight paper that will the take abuse of an eraser and still stay clean and white. The recent 2007 New York Horticultural Society/American Society of Botanical Artists Annual Exhibition included this piece. They mentioned in their press release: “This exhibition could predict a trend toward the more naturalistic rendering of plant life, a more integrative view of the botanical world”. These objects are around us and often go unnoticed; when examined and rendered as art show the natural beauty hidden in plain view.
Course dates
Saturday 5 July -
Saturday 12 July 2008
Bruce Wilson received his BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design after which he worked in Post Production as a Telecine Colorist and as Director of Photography for independent feature film development at The Sundance Institute and at Moonstone International of Great Britain.
As an artist, his botanical work has been included in international shows, last year receiving “Best of Show” at the American Society of Botanical Art and Horticultural Society of New York’s Ninth Annual International Juried Exhibition.
He does freelance artwork and illustrations for magazine publications and a variety of clients, and this year has illustrated two published books.
Working in watercolour, graphite, pastels, and pen and ink, he has studied Japanese painting for ten years and also paints sumi-e and the Nihonga style (modern Japanese).
Bruce teaches art at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and taught botanical watercolor at the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland.
