Eigo de Essay
Botanical Art I always liked reading and painting as a kid. Since I learned how to read, I've kept reading, which is still bliss in my daily life. However, I stopped painting after I graduated from university as my work, as well as my private matters, kept me busy. About eight years ago, I cut down on my working hours and resumed painting. After painting by myself for a while, I realized I needed someone to guide me to enhance my painting skills and started looking for an art class. I was a member of the art club at university and did some landscapes and still-lifes. The landscape was okay, but being outdoors, I was often bothered by rain, wind, sunshine, and people who looked at my paintings from behind. The still-life was not bad, but painting the background was often tiresome. Indoor painting without background? Taking up botanical art solved the two problems. I found a botanical art class and became a member. Botanical art started sometime in the 15th or 16th century when Europeans were discovering the New World. Painters accompanied explorers to record plants in the age when cameras were not yet invented. Thus, scientific accuracy is the most required element in botanical art. Given a flower, I asked my teacher if I had to draw all the tiny stamens around the pistil. She simply told me to draw everything that's there. In her hands were a magnifier and an extremely sharp pencil. My teacher's works are all precise, elegant, and yet amazingly bold. I'm doing the best I can to paint plants the way they are, skipping some details that are impossible for me to depict. Putting three-dimensional things onto a sheet of paper is challenging, but a lot of fun. Not painting the background is one of the rules in botanical art, but it doesn't really shorten the time you put in. I often spend two or three months on one painting. I had some of my paintings framed and hanged them up in my apartment. Looking at my works, I can tell that there is a lot to be improved. Seven years of attending the art class haven't brought me to the level I had hoped. I should have started earlier. Hokusai, the great ukiyo-e painter known for his Mt. Fuji series, said at the age of 88, "If only Heaven will give me just another ten years...Just five more years, then I could become a real painter," and died. I think I still have enough years. (Who am I comparing myself with?)
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