STORY BEHIND THE ART OF MONIKA DEVRIES GOHLKE

19th Annual International

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

Angelica

Angelica gigas

For years I’d been intrigued by these tall reddish plants growing like weeds by the wayside at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Taller than my 5’4” self, I’d look up to the umbel-formed inflorescences, the purplish leaf sheaths and the large, long leaves and think what a fun challenge it would be to capture all this complexity in a portrait. These monocarpic biennials bloom late in the summer and self seed prodigiously so I always knew where to find them to draw their bold growing pattern and presence. Because of their size, I allowed the composition to run off the page, attempting to imply that there was a lot more to this plant than I could convey on a mere page.

It was also the time of the cicadas; they kept dropping from the nearby trees in abandoned confusion. One of them had passed away stuck in one of the inflorescences, looking out at me with its sightless, shiny black eyes. I was tempted to include it in my sketch; decided not to, but then included it at the bottom of the page, as having been part of the day’s experience.

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