STORY BEHIND THE ART OF WENDY HOLLENDER

20th Annual International

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

Himalayan Pine Dancer

Pinus wallichiana

I was walking by this tree one day and couldn’t help but notice that the needles and flowers seemed to look like dancers. I thought it would be fun to try and draw one grouping as if it was a dancer maybe a hula dancer. I decided to enlarge the subject to create a dramatic composition that may at first appear as the dancer rather than the bundle of needles on the tree. In the end I did decide to add in a life size cone with a group of needles just for context.

This was a truly challenging subject to draw and paint. There were so many overlaps that it was hard to work on this for very long. I would paint in a few needles and take a break. I tried not to rush the painting but I will admit that there were days I found it hard to work on because it was making my dizzy. I would often lose my place and forget what needle I was working on. Eventually I got to all of them emphasizing the overlapping elements to give depth.

This is the first time I have tried to take a botanical subject and make it look a bit like something else. I do wonder if people will see what I saw in this subject.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 19th Annual International