Story behind the art of John Pastoriza-Piñol

26th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Sugar Pine Pinecone

Pinus lambertiana

Pinus lambertiana (sugar pine) is one of the world's largest pine trees and is native to the west coast continental United States: Oregon to Southern California and Nevada. It is also found in Baja California, Mexico. This species has the longest female cones (averaging 12 inches and ranging up to 22 inches long) of any conifer although they are surprisingly lightweight. The highly prized cones are popular with collectors of natural history. Only a handful of mature fruiting trees grow in Australia, where I am based. 

Because I work within the precise fine art discipline of naturalism, I am often presented with unique treasures, and I am encouraged to use them as subject matter for future paintings. This spectacular specimen was gifted to me and was collected from a tree growing somewhere outside Canberra, Australia’s Capital Territory. I began this artwork some six years ago, but it remained unfinished. 

For many artists, the global pandemic was an opportunity to be productive whilst in a forced lockdown situation. Personally, this slowing down was a way to pivot and take stock of works which I may have commenced but not yet finished.

My practice is very much part of the “slow art” movement, where paintings may take many years to complete. I predominantly work with transparent watercolors, and I apply paint through the process of addition rather than subtraction, which means every layer of paint is deliberate. Some works, including this piece, may have more than 40 -50 layers of paint by the time they are complete. The important element of any work is to conserve the white of the paper as the ultimate highlight; consequently, if you lose your highlights, the painting is lost.

I start all my works using a “polychromatic” tonal study, where 3 colors (blue, yellow, and red) map out the work for where future layers will be added. This gives the ability to capture that color bias before adding subsequent layers and finally detail. (Refer to my chapter in Botanical Art Techniques, Carol Woodin and Robin Jess, eds., Timber Press, 2020). I start with wet-wet application before moving to wet-dry, combing, and finally drybrush.

I never use brown pigments for “brown” or “dry” plant subjects. Rather, I employ color theory and use primary colors to create a wonderful warm palette of golds, ochres, bronzes, etc. Each segment of the cone is its own painting, and my main challenge was to create an overall cohesive and realistic cone by combining the individual scales. Light can saturate, and it was important for me to show that, there is “light in dark” and “dark in light” - which means you can still see detail in the darkest recesses of the fruiting cone.

Though this work focuses on a meticulous rendering technique, compositionally, the acrobatic display of the cone, seed and needles was intentional and helps balance the work. The contemporary reading accentuates the tension between the beauty and perfection of the cone depicted and its symbolism, that nature is imbued with a sense of mathematics and divine design. 

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