STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CARRIE DICONSTANZO

Weird, Wild, & Wonderful

Second New York Botanical Garden Triennial Exhibition

2014 - 2016

Buddha’s Hand

Citrus medica

Selecting a subject for the Weird, Wild, and Wonderful exhibit proved to be challenging. My comfort zone lies within painting more common subjects. I read Dick Rauh’s article “Weird and Wild” in The Botanical Artist and found his suggestions very helpful. As well, I searched local nurseries, gardens, and farmers’ markets, as my first consideration was to find a plant that was easily accessible.

It was a wonderful surprise to come upon Buddha’s Hand at my local produce store! After one look at this odd fruit, I knew that it was indeed fitting for this exhibition. I loved the bumpy, irregular texture and the vivid yellows and greens also caught my eye. But, most especially, the odd shape of this citrus would be a joy to paint. The “fingers” of the fruit would make for a lovely composition full of movement. These elements combined to create a great subject for Weird, Wild, and Wonderful. 

I had considered other subjects for this exhibition as well. I thought the Romanesco Broccoli was very weird, but I could not find it locally. I considered some very large lemons from Italy, but I decided that they weren’t weird enough. Other considerations included the Tiger Fern, Nephrolepsis exaltata, which has leaves that are marbled and streaked like a tiger and Gray Pine, Pinus sabiniana, which I painted with the cone turning from green to brown.

The composition of a painting is vitally important for me. I cannot start the painting process until the composition feels right. For this painting, I tried several different ways of placing the Buddha’s Hand on the page with tracing paper. A single view of the fruit on the page did not work well. It felt solitary and uninteresting. I eventually settled on this composition, with two views of the subject, which I felt worked well on the page with the negative space. I used gouache on paper, my favorite medium and surface.

I wanted the color to pop, so I paid special attention to those transitions of color, working to keep them clean, not muddy. Before starting a painting, I test how the colors work together on another piece of watercolor paper. In this case, the greens were applied first. I used very little paint on the brush where the green fades. After the green was completely dry, the yellow was added in other areas, including over the green, as a glaze. This added to the overall brightness. I used Turners Design Gouache Permanent Yellow, which is very bright. In general, I use a very dry brush technique, which is a slow process, but allows me more control of the paint.

Next Story

Back to List

Read more about this artist's work:  16th Annual International