Audience:
1) botany and art students 2) watercolor artists and students 3) upper elementary
to highschool students and their teachers.
Objective: Students will understand that the anatomy of flowers as
depicted in watercolor drawings is used to illustrate written descriptions,
and from the hands of an artist, is an artistic composition as well. Acting
on this understanding, students will produce an accurate and artistic watercolor
drawing of a plant.
Museum Web Sites:
MuseumLink Illinois Prairie Plant Guide: https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/prairie/htmls/eco_fg_all.html
Herbarium Collections Photo Gallery and Database. https://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/botany/collections/herbarium
Materials:
sketch paper, hard pencils, and eraser
tracing paper
painting paper
watercolors and brushes
tissue knife or razor blade to dissect plant material
fresh plant material (picked or purchased); or field trip to a garden, prairie,
meadow, etc.
Motivation: Read
to students this
description of an aster species from a Drake University Web site.
“Flowering heads have
from 8 to 30 (average 12) blue to lavender, or white, ray flowers that surround
a central cluster of dark lavender disc flowers. Involucral bracts are long
and lance-shaped, with green tips. Leaves attach individually. The lower
leaves are broadly heart- or arrowhead-shaped, and have winged petioles.
Upper leaves are narrowly lance-shaped and attach without petioles. Lower
leaves measure up to about 15 x 6 cm, and have conspicuous teeth. Upper
leaves measure up to 4 x 1.5 cm, and have either smooth margins or some
inconspicuous teeth. Stems and leaves are covered with very small hairs.
This species occurs in woodland settings from September through October.
Native to N. A.”
Ask how
well students can visualize the plant from the description. Ask in what ways
an illustration, either photographic or painted, might help readers understand
the text better if they are unfamiliar with the species. Discuss how accurate
a scientific drawing needs to be. How can an artist achieve accuracy when
drawing from live plant materials? Are there tools available, such as ruler,
compass, grids to help artists be accurate?
Procedure:
- Students will choose a plant and draw it with a hard-lead pencil onto
tracing paper. They will measure and plan an arrangement of a plant pose
onto it to fit all the parts while maintaining a pleasing composition. Use
botanical sources for examples. All their erasers and corrections will take
place on this sheet until their drawing is satisfactory in scale, proportion,
shape, and accuracy.
- The second step is to darken with softer lead pencil the lines of the
drawing on the BACK of the tracing paper. This will act as carbon paper
for transfering their drawing to final paper. They will place the tracing
paper over the final paper, use a hard, sharp pencil to draw over the main
lines of the drawing again, transfering a light line onto the lower paper.
- Students may experiment with painting washes, shading, and textures with
small brushes. Use scratch paper of the same weight and texture as the final
painting paper. Consult botanical drawing reference sources for examples
and techniques for creating washes, shading, and textures.
- Painting begins in watercolor with small brushes and light washes. Any
white areas should be unpainted white paper. Build up layers of wash. Let
surface dry before adding textures. A fan or hair-dryer can speed drying.
Notes:
1) If using live plant materials, it will not be possible to show all phases
of the plant simultaneously (bud, bloom, fruit), and it may not be possible
to show roots if the plant has been cut or is in the ground. Adapt your
drawing to show only those parts visible. Pay attention to the number and
types of leaves, petals, the length and girth of stems (internodes), and
colors. Consult leaf type diagrams and anatomy graphics.
2) Preliminary self-assessment:
between the sketch and final drawing phases, students should compare their
drawing of the identified plant to a written description of their plant,
found either online or in a field guide. All the basic parts (leaves, stem,
bloom) should appear. Check for accuracy, scale, and proportion.This written
description can be used as label copy for their display.
Publication:
Mat the finished paintings and display them with labels telling the name of
the artist, name of the plant (common and scientific names), medium, date,
and text description. Have student(s) create a wall panel describing botanical
illustration that serves as an introduction for viewers at the beginning of
the exhibit.
Assessment:
Students should be able to explain the purpose and characteristics of botanical
illustration, how their painting meets this purpose and these characteristics,
and how a botanical illustrator is both a scientist and an artist. This assessment
can be oral or written.
Illinois
State Board of Education Goals and Standards Addressed:
Visual Arts: Goal 25: understand the processes and materials of art
26.B.2d: Visual Arts: Demonstrate knowledge and skills to create works
of visual art using problem solving, observing, designing, sketching and constructing.
26.B.3d: Visual Arts: Demonstrate knowledge and skills to create 2- and
3-dimensional works and time arts (e.g., film, animation, video) that are
realistic, abstract, functional and decorative.
26.B.5: Common for all four arts: Create and perform a complex work
of art using a variety of techniques, technologies and resources and independent
decision making
Science: scientific illustration as a career
12.A.1a: Identify and describe the component parts of living things
(e.g., birds have feathers; people have bones, blood, hair, skin) and their
major functions.
12.A.3c: Compare and contrast how different forms and structures reflect
different functions
12.B.2b: Identify physical features of plants and animals that help
them live in different environments
References:
Blunt, Wilfrid and William Stearn. 1992. The Art of Botanical Illustration:
An Illustrated History. Dover Publications, Inc.
Saunders,
Gill. 1995. Picturing Plants: An Analytical History of Botanical Illustration.
University of California Press.
West, Keith
R. 1996. How to Draw Plants: The Techniques of Botanical Illustration.
Timber Press.
