STORY BEHIND THE ART OF BETSY ROGERS-KNOX
Weird, Wild, & Wonderful
Second New York Botanical Garden Triennial Exhibition
2014 - 2016
Living stones
Lithops species
I went online to look for an unusual subject for the Weird, Wild and Wonderful show and found living stones. They are comical, adorable little gems – I was drawn to them. They are weird because if you were walking around in a desert, you would mistake them for a stone. And they are delightful when they bloom – that’s the wonderful part.
I contacted the Living Stones Nursery in Tucson in late 2011 and they were very kind. The nursery sent me a tiny package of five or six different species, each plant the size of the tip of one’s thumb. I wasn’t optimistic. I wanted to watch the plant in all cycles, as I usually do with my subjects, but it can take living stones four to five years before they bloom and I had a deadline! So this was quite unlike me, kind of an experiment. As well, since they are a desert plant and require hot sun and no humidity, and I live in New England, it was quite a challenge to keep them alive. But our south-facing bay window proved to be the perfect spot for them. I planted them in a big rectangular pot that was 2’ x 1’ x 2” high and put them in the window, with nice, bright, hot sun. Nothing happened for months.........Then all of a sudden - it was March or April - they were changing and starting to open. Now I was hopeful.
I had the composition in my head. I wanted to create a desert floor, a feeling of looking out over the desert into the distance. I painted them in order of a visual walk across the desert floor. I started in the upper right corner with the speckled red plant with last year’s flower. I watched it grow through that summer. Leaves, which actually look like toes, were popping out. There is a canyon or division between the two leaves and out of that canyon emerged a new leaf. And then another swelling and out popped the stem of a flower bud. At that point, I had to go on a trip. My daughter stayed at the house and I told her to call me if the buds blossomed. Soon after, I received a panicked call from her and a photo on the phone – there was the flower! I also panicked, that I wouldn’t get home in time. But I did - it turns out that the flowers, which are white and yellow and daisy-like, last several weeks. They are interesting to watch because they close each night and open the next morning.
The composition evolved as I went along. I knew that I wanted the front of the painting to be the highlight, with the biggest blooms. I wanted the eye to meander around and end up at the grand finale. I love a painting that tells a story, by guiding the viewer through the painting by way of either color or detail. That’s why I love plants – you can do that. I used the composition to bring out the oddity of the plant.
I considered other subjects too. One was the Pitcher plant. I also considered the dragon arum or stink lily, Dracunculus vulgaris. This is a very tall plant with a big spike which one day opens up and the sheath falls apart; the tall dark spike smells horrible, but only for a day. The foliage, with three foot long leaves, is beautiful and the bulb is interesting. Another consideration was magnolia seed pods – but I was lucky that that painting was accepted prior to the WWW show into the 2013 ASBA show at the Horticultural Society of New York!
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Read more about this artist's work: 16th Annual International