STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CARRIE DI COSTANZO

19th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists & The Horticultural Society of New York

 Cockscomb II

Celosia argentea

The Cockscomb’s unusual shapes, the rich, deep colors, and the various textures are what attract me most to this plant. The genus name comes from the Greek word keleos, meaning burning, for the colorful flowers. I have planted the flowers my garden, so it is easy to observe and enjoy them every day.

Gouache seemed like the perfect paint to achieve the deep jewel-like colors and texture. Working from light to dark, many layers of semi-opaque and opaque gouache were used in the flower heads to reach a velvety finish. My challenge was not to lose the details with this dark color. So, it was important to maintain some mid tones here.

Moving down the flowers, many seed heads were prevalent throughout. I enjoy the process of painting tiny textural characteristics of the plant, so this was great fun. My hope was to create good form in this area by emphasizing the value of each seed head and how they created some shadows.

The two large flowers in the painting were in this position in the garden as they grew, bending and leaning towards one another, with an immature flower nearby. The composition is based on the position of those two flowers, which created some interesting negative space.

I would like to revisit this subject and create some more paintings to show this flower’s beauty in new ways.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 18th Annual International