STORY BEHIND THE ART OF TOMOKO OGAWA

15th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at

The Horticultural Society of New York

Hellebore

Helleborus thibetanus

 Why did you choose this subject to portray? 

Wishing to achieve a coveted RHS Gold Medal, I needed to choose a plant group that was spread over several months' flowering and has a variety of species. Finally I chose Helleborus, especially their original species because they have a variety of leaves (colour, size, vein, shape, etc...).

Helleborus thibetanus was found in China in 1869. It is a very delicate species, separated from its closest relatives in western Eurasia by 5000km.

Did you face any unique challenges as you worked on this piece? 

I tried to grow thibetanus in a pot 2 winters in the past but it failed. It is a virtually unknown species in cultivation in Japan because it flowers under a very limited environment. Finally I got my material from a nursery garden far from Tokyo where I live.

My priority is to work from fresh live material and normally I would do everything indoors at home (of course, there are sometimes exceptions). As a result, I was in winter, sitting in front of my easel with a good north facing light, the heating off, the window open and wearing outdoor clothing and fingerless gloves to keep my materials flowering in their normal mode of growth.

What would you hope people would notice or appreciate when viewing this work?

I always try to combine exact scientific observation with pleasing composition. The composition shows all the relevant parts (life-size or enlarged as dissections to scale). It is my aim to produce a portrait that provides enough information for the subject to be identified by a botanist, but at the same time, seems as if they were about come out of the paper. I did this well.

Anything Else!

Thank you for reading my story.

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