STORY BEHIND THE ART OF PATRICIA LUPPINO
21st Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hill
Spanish Lavender
Lavandula stoechas
In 2015 I began planning a series of works for an RHS exhibition. My original theme was Aromatherapy Herbals. Lavender, one of my favorite calming scents, provided my starting point. Without really researching which particular species of lavender plants were actually used in aromatherapy applications, I dove right in and selected an attractive potted version I found in Trader Joe’s - Lavandula dentata (French Lavender). I chose it because of its gray-green soft serrated leaves. Pleased with that result, and now rethinking my aromatherapy theme, I thought I would instead move on to another type of lavender.
Sipping a cold drink outside a coffee shop one afternoon, I spotted a large planter with what appeared to be lavender, but I had never seen this type before. I was attracted to the pineapple shaped flower heads and the unusual rabbit-ear bracts. Consulting my smartphone, I learned this was Lavandula stoechas (Spanish Lavender). Although Spanish Lavender is thought to be what the ancient Greeks and Romans used to scent their bath water, it doesn’t have current aromatherapy application. I really wanted to paint this showy plant, and so officially abandoned my aromatherapy theme.
For this portrait, I focus on the intricate little flower head magnified x 3. I loved painting the translucent rabbit-ear bracts and the velvety deep-blue flowers. I used watercolor for the flower head. Repeating the technique I used for the French Lavender, I completed the background in colored pencil and show the plant at its actual size. To make the background plant recede and seem almost like a watermark, I used a very light touch first with a light gray pencil then adding small touches of color on top.
I struggled most with the arrangement of the background stems. After I completed the foreground, I scanned it. Then I sketched the background stems individually and scanned those. Then I used Photoshop to change the placement of the background stems until the composition looked pleasing to me.
Lavender remains my favorite aromatherapy scent, and although my exhibition theme did not survive, there are still so many species of lavender to paint. English lavender next?
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Read more about this artist’s work: 20th Annual International