STORY BEHIND THE ART OF WENDY HOLLENDER

19th Annual International

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

Pink Trumpet Vine 

Tecomanthe sp. 

I was at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kauai, Hawaii, and saw this spectacular flower growing high up in a large tree. It is actually a vine that is just using the tree as a place to grow and climb. It was stunning but hard to see as it was up so high in a large tall Monkey Pod tree. The garden staff gave me a tall pruning clipper to use and helped me cut some down to draw. I figured since I wanted a closer look perhaps others would enjoy seeing this plant up close in my painting.

My composition of large pink trumpet shaped flowers in a winding vine-like layout hopefully conveys the unusual quality and vibrancy of the color of this plant. I wanted to create a layout that conveyed the lyrical quality that a winding vine often has as it twists and turns to latch on to a host plant. Setting up the specimen to draw was challenging. I needed a series of clips on a plexiglass stand to get an interesting composition with the flowers growing correctly. This was actually a clear wine rack that I was able to stand up and use clips to grip the plant in place. I went back to the plant several times to collect new blossoms and leaves to add into the composition. I used a combination of watercolor and colored pencil. I like to draw the plant structure first with colored pencils and then I added watercolor to get the vibrant pink colors. Of course, then I layered many layers of additional watercolor and color pencils to complete the painting as I added details of leaves, buds and twisting vines.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 17th Annual International