Color: Challenges and Rewards
By Susan Fulton
Dahlias, 2020 Susan Fulton
Looking out my window at the snow covered subdued outdoor palette of winter, it is hard to believe that in a short time spring will arrive with its glorious bulbs, flowering trees, and emerging buds. There is something uplifting and joyous about being outside enjoying the riotous colors of spring. Clear bright color has long attracted observers to art—Titian was known as a “colorist” of great renown and the Impressionists, who used bright colors on a white canvas, continue to draw large crowds of observers. Modern botanical artists are pushing the boundaries of traditional plant portraits by presenting larger and more lush interpretations of plants in a wider variety of mediums. Deciding how to illustrate a plant and what colors to use are some of the biggest challenges facing us as botanical artists. Realistic color applied in a way that mimics a plant is one of the objectives, but how to achieve this in a painting?
I came to botanical art from oil painting and was completely converted by watching Sarah Roche, in my first class, demonstrate layering different colors of yellow and orange to paint a pumpkin. Seeing the resultant luminous, intense, rich color was wonderful! My development as a botanical artist has been a rocky road. Along the way I have tried a lot of different approaches to find the best fit. I have experimented with and still use colored pencils, but decided I love the challenge and effect of using watercolor. It has taken awhile to determine what works and what doesn’t. A tried and true method for some artists, while resulting in a beautiful painting, may be achieved in a manner that feels forced, not “natural”. How to weed out methods that aren’t right is part of the challenge and sometimes the choices dizzying.
My work is definitely on the “artistic” side of botanical illustration. I am attracted to rich deep color and usually choose to illustrate my plants in large oversized paintings. Learning what colors to use and how to exploit the properties of watercolor to get not only beautiful rich, accurate color continues to be a work in progress. However, when I think of starting botanical painting and where I am now, I am amazed at how much I have learned about seeing color, understanding how to get the effect I want, and finally, applying paint. Most of what I know has been gleaned from classes, other artists –the Beyond the Brush sessions are invaluable here, and trial and error.
Taking classes and watching the Beyond the Brush series has illustrated the myriad of choices involved in producing good botanical art. There is always something to learn and adapt from other approaches on the path to building knowledge. I have learned how to pick subjects, sketch, photograph, color match, use aerial perspective, create depth and drama in my work, what colors are available and useful to botanical artists and how to mix and use color to achieve some of these goals. At some point I realized part of the enjoyment of painting for me is the process of deciding which colors to layer—usually starting with a bright underlayment of colors and applying many washes before moving to drybrush, and ultimately, glazing my subjects.
Apple, 2019 Susan Fulton
Painting the Apple (above) was satisfying and fun since I used a lot of wet washes to establish the color. Two more recent paintings Dahlias (above) and Dried Hydrangea (below ) are evidence of my developing style and interest in layering color washes. I know I have a lot to learn. The painting of the Elizabeth Magnolia (below) is an example of a poor result—a failure of painting yellow flowers. Knowing which colors to use, when to layer them and which paints to mix to get the desired results are all skills to be honed and refined. Developing a reservoir of knowledge of that kind takes time and underscores the benefit of sharing experiences and expertise.
Elizabeth Magnolia, 2019 Susan Fulton
Unfinished Dried Hydrangea, 2021 Susan Fulton