STORY BEHIND THE ART OF BETSY ROGERS-KNOX

16th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Horticultural Society of New York

Magnolia

Magnolia soulangiana

Betsy Rogers-Knox teaches art classes at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Gardens in Bethlehem CT, near where she lives. This is part of Connecticut Landmarks; the home dates from 1754 and has been restored to that time, while one of the last owners, Caroline Ferriday, restored the beautiful gardens. The magnolia which she chose as her subject for the painting in this exhibition is in a grove of magnolia trees in the Bellamy-Ferriday gardens, and dates to the first half of the 20th century. 

Late in the summer of 2011, this magnolia grew spectacular seed pods, different than what she had seen before. They were huge, full of bright red-orange seeds and they wound around the branches. 

She was offered three of them and she painted them as a triptych. 

The colors of the magnolia tree through its life cycle are contrasting, with lovely, delicate, soft pink flowers in the spring and then these grotesquely shaped and weird pods with bright seeds. 

Betsy often paints the whole life cycle of a plant, as she did in a series at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society exhibition. But in this case, the pods were such attention getters and the shapes so different that they really drew her in and she wanted to capitalize on this one stage. She felt that the subject didn’t need a special composition. The pods continued to change as soon as they were cut, becoming more and more deformed until the big seeds popped out, so she had to start working immediately and continue daily to get all the information for her painting. 

She hopes that people will look at this artwork and marvel at the wonder of nature, “Whoa – that tree really created these things?”

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Read more about this artist's work: 15th Annual