STORY BEHIND THE ART OF Betsy Rogers-Knox

25th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Wave Hill

Autumn Forest Floor

Arisaema atrorubens, Polygonatum biflorum, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Quercus rubra, Actaea pachypoda

Curiosity regarding the often overlooked botany on the forest floor led me to a particularly interesting bit of habitat in a wooded area about a mile from my home in the Litchfield Hills of northwest Connecticut. The plants in this piece reside beneath an old Northern Red Oak, Quercus rubra, but not just any old oak. This tree, named the “Auncient Oak” (the old English spelling is used in the name), is estimated to be around 350 years old and is said to be one of the oldest trees in the state. The base and weathered hollow depict only a portion of the enormous girth which measures almost 22 feet around! The Bethlehem Land Trust, in Bethlehem, Connecticut, owns the small property that it resides on and members have taken care of it to help preserve it.

While an imposing old oak or other stately woodland trees may have you gazing up in awe, an equally impressive experience presents itself when you instead choose to look down at a forest floor, carpeted with amazingly diverse and colorful wild plant life. This autumn display of plants includes the Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, with its red-orange berry clusters; a browning Solomon Seal, Polygonatum biflorum; Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, in its brilliant fall foliage colors; and peeking out in the upper right of the painting, the aptly named Doll’s Eye, Actaea pachypoda.

The abundance of acorns spread around the forest floor is the result of what’s called masting. Every so often the oak tree produces a bumper crop of acorns which prevents large populations of acorn eaters from consuming every available acorn, thus allowing some to germinate and reproduce. Although the Auncient Oak is too old to produce acorns in large quantities, the younger, nearby trees have contributed to the pile!

When I composed this complicated habitat, my objectives were to show the old tree's amazing hollow, the abundance of acorns and finally the autumn plants that are found in that habitat. I spent hours on the composition and transferring all the drawings to the watercolor paper. First, I partially painted the flowering plants as they appeared through the seasons, and then during the winter I painted in the trunk and acorns. I used glazes to push elements back to help the foreground pop out. A challenging project indeed!!

Sadly, in summer 2022, a heavy wind and rain storm brought the tree down.

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Read more about this artist's work: 24th Annual