STORY BEHIND THE ART OF KEIKO NIBU TARVER
24th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center
Spring Horse Chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum
Several years ago, I was attracted to the autumn leaves of a horse chestnut, a tree I had never seen until I moved from Japan to Philadelphia in 2008. In fall, the big, beautiful leaves are dominated by three colors: green, brown, and yellow ocher—which comprise my favorite group of three colors. These leaves have dignity even when they are on the ground. I enjoyed painting one leaf, and fortunately, that painting was accepted for the 2015 ASBA Annual International in New York.
After the artist talks at the exhibition, Monika DeVries Gohlke, an artist I greatly admire, sent me a very kind email. In part she said, “I loved your representation of the horse chestnut, a tree very close to my heart. I grew up in devastated Berlin after the War; there were very few trees left standing after the bombings and burnings, but, miraculously, a horse chestnut had survived in the back yard and surprised me every spring with its luscious white flowers, a rare sight indeed amongst the ruins. I’m glad you painted it so lovingly.”
Her words stayed with me, and I thought about how that strong horse chestnut tree must have encouraged her to survive in that difficult time. In addition, I was motivated to paint not only for myself, but also for someone for whom my painting brings back memories. My next theme came to mind easily: painting the “luscious” white flowers of horse chestnut, as Monika had described.
The following spring, horse chestnut trees showed off many white panicles pointing to the sky, and then the ground under the trees was covered with beautiful white carpets of flowers. The first time I looked closely at a flower, I was surprised by its small size and numerous stamens. The four tiny petals are not totally white but are partially colored with yellow, orange, or red. The flower has seven stamens. The complexities crushed my plan to paint a spring branch. It was beyond my ability.
Every spring I observed and sketched flowers. If you see more, you can learn more. I learned that horse chestnut trees have two kinds of flowers: staminate, with a rudimental pistil; and perfect, with a long pistil that produces a fruit after pollination. Staminate flower petals usually have some red color, while perfect flowers typically have some yellow color. The yellow color attracts bees for pollination. Bees cannot see red; hummingbirds are drawn to the red flowers. As I learned more about horse chestnut flowers, I wanted to paint a spring branch to show these interesting things. Then I began studies in watercolor.
The most difficult part was to express white flowers on white paper. I avoided drawing flower outlines. I used warm grays and cool grays to paint shadows on the petals. The colors of red, orange, and yellow on the petals helped to depict the structures of the flower parts. I am not sure I was able to express the flowers ‘lusciously,’ but I hope Monika will respond to my painting again.
Next Story
Back to List
Read more about this artist's work: 23rd Annual