STORY BEHIND THE ART OF KRISTIN JAKOB

22nd Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at Marin Art & Garden Center

Calypso bulbosa on Mt. Tamalpais

Calypso bulbosa

The principal subject of this painting holds special meaning for me, as it was the most exciting of my childhood wildflower discoveries in the woods atop Mt. Tamalpais, the lower slopes of which have been my lifelong home. I am very fortunate to have been raised in Marin County, California, where the natural habitats and plants they support are remarkably diverse and interesting.

My early penchant for drawing animals was redirected at the age of twelve, when a neighbor who was active in the newly formed California Native Plant Society took me under her wing and introduced me to the state’s flora. At a local wildflower show, I was entranced by a tabletop diorama of a woodland scene composed with myriad floral denizens nestled in forest duff, and most charming of all was the dainty calypso, or fairy slipper orchid. That very afternoon, on a field trip up on Mt. Tamalpais, I was thrilled to find, in the deep Douglas fir woods, many of the displayed plants, but especially delighted to see the calypso for the first time in the wild. I proceeded to make a colored pencil drawing of the orchid, and a few years later, a pen & ink drawing of it to illustrate a newsletter of the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.

Fast forward to 2017, when I finally summon the courage to try my first painting on one of six sheets of vellum I had been hoarding for nearly thirty-five years! This treasured vellum was from the estate of revered artist Rory McEwen, and offered to me (and other botanical illustrators) by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, PA., which had been given the vellum by Rory’s daughter. Once I had determined to paint on the vellum, the subject dearest to me seemed the logical choice, and I could enhance the composition by including elements from the calypso’s home: the Douglas fir and tanbark oak trees under which it grows, and the lichen- and moss-festooned branches that litter the forest floor after winter storms. I first painted the orchids themselves in 2017, and when I learned that the 22nd Exhibition was to be held here in Marin County in 2019, I had the needed incentive to complete the painting this spring.

I was gratified to discover that the vellum was easy for me to work on with the same materials and techniques I ordinarily use on hot-press watercolor paper – pencil rendering (kept rather light), and painting, with very small, short-bristled sable brushes (incl Winsor-Newton series 7 miniature). The challenge was the composition; I used tracing paper to sketch and arrange the various elements – a fresh branchlet, older, lichen-covered branches and cone of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and several leaves and acorns of tanbark oak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus). I sought to suggest the forest floor without too much density, and hope I have successfully evoked the rich woodland environment that Calypso bulbosa inhabits.

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