It is from the history of scientific illustration and the history of pollination that I develop
my art. As an artist I feel it is important to know who came before me in order to create an accurate representation of nature. Knowledge
of the research and methods help determine morphology and the pollination process.
| Research of pollination in early 1990’s was hidden in botanical library collections. I developed a database of plants and their pollinators including authors of research papers. This list is constantly changing as new research is printed. I honor
this research by translating findings into illustration.
Story boards are an old method of gathering information. Over time my system
contains key elements that I wish to know: plant and pollinator distribution world wide, historical illustrations and systematic classification of name(s). Once the research is gathered I visit the subjects to record distinguishing features found through research.
Back at the studio I begin a series of sketches to lay out the composition. This process may be extensive as in the case of the bat pollinator of
Kigelia
africana. |
#AS114B Kigelia Africana Story Board |
After exhaustive research no live or preserved Micropteropus pusillus
were available to me. Therefore I had to take a scientific line drawing, scientific measurements and draw the skeleton to scale. Then, calculate the position I wanted, the loss of visual sight on each bone
to add muscle and skin.
I create my composition with line to determine color distribution and value placement. From this
line template I can transfer the image to any paper or surface to produce a graphite, color pencil or watercolor.
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