STORY BEHIND THE ART OF FIONA STRICKLAND
18th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at The Horticultural Society of New York
Rhododendron
Rhododendron ‘Horizon Monarch’
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, is one of my favourite gardens to visit at any time of year, but particularly because it has an extensive collection of Rhododendron. In fact it has been a major centre for Rhododendron studies since the nineteenth century and our climate in Scotland provides favourable growing conditions. I have always found a visit there and to the Rhododendrons so inspiring and the thought that I might attempt a painting of this subject had always been a possibility.
I found this specific specimen in a nursery quite by chance, by surprise almost, the way I always prefer to discover a plant - when it speaks to me visually and I am compelled to ‘do it’. On this occasion it was two flower buds just emerging from the bud scales.
The rhododendron buds placed centrally are the focus of the painting, which has quite an interesting diagonal composition formed from the placement of the dark green leaves which run from top left to bottom right of the image, broken almost in the centre with the two emerging vertical flower buds and a foreshortened leaf curving forward in the direction of the spectator. The painting primarily deals with colour and form but utilises the contrasts between complementary colour, smooth and rough texture, and soft and hard shapes to enhance the realism within the painting.
I was fascinated by the thought of using the technique of negative painting to paint the ‘white’ hairs on the bud scales (painting the background between the hairs leaving the white paper to describe the hairs). I had painted hairs on other paintings but had used body paint for this and wanted to improve my range of application techniques and experiment with a new approach. The challenge in this instance was to communicate this surface to the viewer whilst conveying the form convincingly, taking account of the changing underlying colour of the bud scales, and the effect of the light on them and on the very fine hairs.
My aim is for the viewer to take away some element of my chance discovery, to be surprised by it and encouraged to take a closer look, to experience some of the emotional reaction I had to the subject initially and to be intrigued by the knowledge it provides.
(Editor’s note:
I made a request of Fiona Strickland McNeill and Robert McNeill, wife and husband, both of whom have artworks represented in this exhibition. Because of this unusual and wonderful circumstance for ASBA, I asked them to write about their artistic lives together. Here is what they said:)
We met forty one years ago when we both studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art and we've worked together ever since. We traveled through Italy and France together on a travelling scholarship prior to a year of post graduate study in a studio overlooking the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, before becoming teachers of art and design. After we finished a day’s teaching we would paint together in the evenings and at weekends, when our studio would be any available space, even the kitchen floor, usually when our daughter had gone to bed.
Finding a studio to share with other artists when we had our second daughter was a bonus even although it meant travelling to get to it. Carrying young children as well as painting equipment, was at times very hard, and the studio was hardly luxurious, damp patches on the wall and a poor heating system. Whilst our output at this time was restricted we worked hard at being creative.
When we moved into our current home we gave up that studio in favor of painting in our garage, very cold in winter and with no daylight, but close to home and with space to work when the children were in bed. Fortunately for us Robert’s father knew a bit about building and we had an architect friend draw up plans for a garage conversion. Robert’s father and a few of his friends carried out the work of transforming the garage into a studio, making it an integral part of the house which we've been sharing now for fifteen years.
We like to study and discuss botanical art, visit exhibitions of botanical art and are constantly involved through teaching and developing students’ work, so we are totally immersed in it, working everyday if possible.
We tend not to try to influence each other's work as botanical artists and prefer each other to do their own thing, deliberately not engaging in making any kind of remark to each other about our work as it can easily lead to influencing in one way or another. Having both been educationalists, we are very aware of the impact that positive or negative criticism can have upon an individual's progress, so we tend to be rather careful about saying anything to each other in this regard.
Subject choices tend to be made with some discussion, but not always, and any conversation regarding subjects usually relates to the logistics of where to acquire a certain subject and not so much about how to paint it. Although we have both developed our own methods of application we would both agree that it's the subject that dictates the application required. Many of our thoughts and processes are similar although our interests and results we see as being very different.
Sometimes if a deadline is tight we do like to work in the studio alone and we respect that, rather than upsetting the usually tranquil surroundings. But as our work output increases the space is gradually becoming smaller, and if we are ever fortunate enough then more studio or storage space would be ideal.
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Read more about this artist's work: 15th Annual International