THE GENRE OF BOTANICAL ART demands absolute control: accuracy in drawing, fealty to the characteristics of the species, command of the artist's tool. There is much satisfaction in achieving those technical ends.

 

Yet each medium  – watercolor, gouache, casein, soluble artist crayon – has its own characteristics and tendencies, its own dance with physics. Its own beautiful chaos.

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Tiny particles of pigment swim through water,

propelled by electrical charges and other physical forces; speeding and slowing, swirling and clumping as they interact with the energy of the brush; settling onto the paper, the tiny bits of pigment leave traces that hint at the speed and direction of evaporating water molecules.

 

There is no way to obtain those traces by exerting control. Creating these echos of nature is a matter of sharing the lead with your partner.