STORY BEHIND THE ART OF ROSE MARIE JAMES
15th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at
The Horticultural Society of New York
Two Grasses: Sugar Cane/Lemon Grass
Saccharum cv., Cymbopogon cv.
What is your personal view of the artwork, for instance in terms of media, colors, composition?
I like the contrast in size and I like that both are edible. I use watercolor – I like it, I like the feeling. I find it is faster than graphite and colored pencil and the color goes down faster. The control is right up my alley.
Why did you choose this subject to portray?
This was one of my certificate project pieces from the New York Botanical Garden Program. We had to choose a theme and it is hard to do something different for this project. I wanted to push the envelope, so I chose bouquets. There were three or four bouquet which I already knew I wanted to do. But I was looking for something else as well. I happened to be going through Whole Foods and saw the sugar cane; the color and texture absolutely fascinated me. So I thought - what can I do with these? I picked through the pile for the most beautiful ones, looking for surface interest and I bought a whole bunch. When I went home, I looked up grasses on the computer, and up popped lemon grass. I liked that it was also food, but very different from the sugar cane. I liked the simplicity of the lemon grass blades, so fluid and dance like and I thought that that would be a very nice contrast to the rigid, stiff look of the sugar cane. I tied them together with a twist tie from the supermarket.
The other bouquets were oriental bittersweet tied with raffia; traditional flowers, orchids and gerbera, flowers of different sizes, tied with wired French ribbon; and giant white calla lilies, which had an oriental feeling, tied with Kabuki tie, which is a wide tie, narrower in front, which ties with a knot. All the paintings were sized big, to be the actual size; this one is 22” x 30”. Of the 4 bouquets I did, this one is my favorite.
Did you face any unique challenges as you worked on this piece?
Oh yes, working that size is really difficult. My studio is too small for this size work. So I laid out the work on the island in the kitchen. There were trays of paint along all the perimeters. I covered the paper with tissue paper in which I cut out a window for the area on which I was working. I had 6 sheets of tissue paper with windows and would shift them around. I had two Ott lights. I mixed paint in little jars – I needed a lot of paint – so there were lots of pots surrounding me. I walked around the island and painted different areas in different directions, standing and leaning over, resting an elbow on a piece of foam core, concerned that my elbow not leave a dent in the paper. And I put away everything at night, so that we could eat, and then back out it came in the morning.
What would you hope people would notice or appreciate when viewing this work?
Certainly the color of the sugar cane and textures, all intertwining little fibres. The sugar cane has fine dried leaves and they wither and twist around each other. I hope they will look closely enough to see that. Also I want them to have some atmospheric perspective, a sense of dimension. And I want them to notice the contrast between large and small.
Tell me about your background.
I have been an artist since age 5! I obtained a Masters in Art Education. I taught for many years at the junior high and high school levels. Then I was a graphic designer for 15 years in New York City until 9/11. After that I went to the NYBG Certificate Program. I was asked to teach prior to even getting the certificate; I teach drawing, watercolor and colored pencil.
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