STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CLAIRE LEROUX-DAUBLAIN
22nd Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at Marin Art & Garden Center
Alchemilla mollis II
Alchemilla mollis
I choose my subjects for drawing according to the interest or the originality of their shape, of their volume, but above all of the light which can spring from their structure.
Alchemilla mollis is a very common perennial plant that I grow on my Parisian balcony. It is found in the wild almost everywhere in France and is widely used in the flower beds of parks and gardens. The anise-green color of its flowers is more interesting than their shape. Sometimes it disappears but does not forget to reseed itself in a nearby pot.
Its palmate leaves are very interesting to me because they are finely serrated and covered with a light down that holds raindrops. Suddenly this modest little plant turns into a princess for a few hours.
After a rain shower, I took pictures of Alchemilla leaves on my balcony. I printed the picture I liked the most as a basis for my drawing. I started sketching the outline and the main features of my leaf with a graphite pencil. Then, I "just had to" draw the structure and all the details and values, using an extra-fine black ballpoint pen. This drawing asked me for 6 weeks of work.
I would like people to be seized by the light that springs from this little leaf and to understand how it is subtle.
This drawing is very much in line with the ballpoint pen work that I started 4 years ago. In 2015, I wanted to reproduce a picture I took in Australia and draw a detail of eroded limestone cliff ("taffoni"). I used for this a very fine tubular felt pen. The result of this exercise seemed interesting to me. So, I started drawing a larger and much more spectacular "taffoni", with the same felt pen. Despite its fineness, it seemed to me to lack subtlety. I then tried an extra-thin Japanese ballpoint pen that was in one of my pencil pots for a long time and that I had almost never used (I am easily tempted by tools I do not really need…). Love at first sight was immediate! This retractable pen has since become my exclusive tool for botanical drawings. Its hexagonal shaped barrel is made of wood, which makes its use very sensual. The longevity of its cartridge is exceptional.
The pressure that I exert on my pen and the inclination that I give it allow me to respect the details of my model and to give quite varied values. For about a year, I'm using a magnifying glass to draw, which gives an even more precise result. There is obviously a lot of patience and rigor in my work, as for all botanical artists, I guess. Sometimes I feel like a contemplative nun although there is no religious meaning in my work. Sometimes I choose to draw a black background to highlight some subjects. To do this my gesture is small, regular and circular. I do not press too much on my pen so as not to spoil my paper. I keep coming back to the same area until the background becomes almost opaque. I love doing that background when I feel tired drawing details of my main drawing.
I like the idea of drawing a "lowly" plant with a "lowly" ballpoint pen. I like discovering and highlighting the complexity of a structure that nature offers us and that is not necessarily visible at first glance.
In order not to isolate myself too much from the world that surrounds me, I listen to the radio a lot. I alternate between classical music to which I give my preference, international and French news as well as cultural and political debates.
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