In March of each year, Phipps Conservatory initiates their annual Flora project through their Botanical Art and Illustration certificate program. They select a theme and generate a plant list from which participants select a plant to study throughout the year. The end result is a 'plant portrait' that accurately includes plant parts for identification.

 

On the left is my work in progress for their 2017 theme of native garden plants: Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica). Though this composition may appear simple and direct, its been a long development process over a period of three months, from graphite studies to scratchboard drawings, then on to two iterations of a solarplate print, and finally hand-coloring the print. The final image size is 8" x 10" on a sheet of 13" x 17" archival printmaking paper.

 

Click on the image to see my process in developing this piece.