STORY BEHIND THE ART OF JEAN EMMONS

21st Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hill

Double Opium Poppy

Papaver somniferum

I grow these poppies from seed and wait six months for them to bloom. I sow the seeds in the fall and worry that I didn’t sow enough and then sow some more. Since I am not good at thinning the seedlings and since the deer don’t eat them, I always have a lot. The colors range from lavender to white, rich pink, brick, purple-black. Some flowers are singles, some semi or fully double. Petal margins are sometimes entire or sometimes fringed. Splotches sometimes white, sometimes purple or brown. The pollen can be white or gold. The variations are endless. Each one is gorgeous in its own way.

 I worked on this painting for 3 consecutive summers. The flowers last only a day or two. Then, I go out and hunt for a similar flower and continue working. While the poppies are blooming, I drop everything else and work on poppy paintings until the flowers end and the leaves dry up. Then, the paintings that aren’t far enough along go back in the paper drawers until the following June.

 The petals are like satin, reflecting lots of light. The veins remind me of the moiré patterns of watered silk. The transitions between colors are abrupt and difficult to capture. If I move my head even a little all the colors change. In fact, when I look at this dark poppy out in the garden, its petals are so shiny I can see the colors of all the plants growing around it reflected in its petals.

 I could spend the rest of my days painting only poppies and never be done, but be very happy.

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Read more about this artist’s work: America's Flora