Why Make Art Green?

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd answer a question I received via the Contact page of my website.

I was asked:
Why is so much of your 'art' website dedicated to nature conservation and being eco-friendly?

Since I am so inspired by nature, I feel that it only makes sense.
It doesn't seem right to paint gorgeous flowers, insects, and scenes from nature but not take an active role in preserving it. I'm not just trying to make a buck or a name for myself at nature's expense. I've never been a fan of people who talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. For me, my art is the talk, so I had better walk the walk if I don't want to be a complete hypocrite. That means I must do what I can to preserve these beautiful things and hope they don't disappear in my lifetime- which, sadly, I've heard that some of them might.

I feel at home and elated in the presence of beautiful plants and they give me such joy. I want to bring them into my home, and surround myself with them, fill my home with the same beauty I see when I'm in a beautiful natural habitat. (Aside of making my home into a conservatory, hanging paintings of tropical flowers is the next best thing.) I want to share that beauty and those feelings with others who feel the same way. You can pick a beautiful flower, but it will only last so long in a vase. You can have a potted plant that will live for many years, but it may not always bloom. But a painting of a flower will always be beautiful :)

Look familiar?

I started a new painting yesterday! ...Sort of.


This is actually the same painting as a drawing that I did a couple of years ago....
But how can that be?



Soon after I finished this drawing, "Hawaiian Ginger," I decided to order enlarged prints of the original drawing. I ordered most prints on paper, and thought I'd try one on canvas. Usually when I enlarge my colored pencil drawings onto fine art paper, they come out looking like pastels- each pencil stroke becomes enlarged and looks like a pastel stroke- a tad bit softer and lighter, too. It usually looks pretty nice.

Not so much with canvas.

I am not sure what went wrong, but the drawing on canvas came out nasty, darker, hard looking... Really awful.
I was so disgusted with the canvas print that I threw it into the back of my art closet. I had no idea what to do with it, but I wasn't going to just throw it away, since that's a waste of money- and prints on canvas and mounted on the stretchers aren't exactly cheap. I thought maybe one day I'd just paint on top of the ugly pigmented canvas and enhance it somehow. But I had my doubts about that. Helping the monstrocity seemed impossible. It sat in there for over a year.

After finishing the palm tree, I was taking a bit of time (eh, a couple days) to figure out what I was going to paint next. I kept thinking about that canvas sitting in the back of the art closet- so yesterday became "one day."

I figured I'd change some things, as there isn't really much sense in me having two original pieces of art that look exactly the same. The most obvious thing to change was the background: A blue sky, instead of the white that it was in the original photo I took (it was overcast that morning).
Then I started working on the leaves.

As I began painting, I had the same brush in hand that got me through all of those palm fronds. It worked great for the sky, but I put one coat of paint on the leaves and it just wasn't happening for me, so I took a break. Today, I picked up my absolute faaaaaavorite brush- the one that got me through Design I in college. Ahhhhh....
I found that the leaves came much more easily. Maybe having a coat of paint already on them helped. Maybe the fact that this brush holds 10x as much paint as the other REALLY helped. I am much happier with the blending, and it seems like the painting is progressing much faster now! Since I changed the sky, I decided to go a different route with the leaves, too- I added more yellow to them and brightened them up. A lot.

In the photo of the new painting, the sky is just about done. The flowers have not been touched at all, and you can probably see that they have a much rougher look. The green leaves all have one coat of paint, some have two, and you can probably tell the difference there, too. The leaf on the far left side, in the middle, really shows the "before" paint, and the leaves around it are all "afters." I still need to perfect some of the blending here and there, but so far, I'm happy with this!

Tis the Season: Giving back to the Rainforest

It seemed like when I was growing up, around 2nd or 3rd grade (1985-ish), us kids started hearing more and more about the rainforest. "Save the Rainforest! The rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate, and it must be saved NOW!" And our teachers taught us a little about recycling here and there, but... that was about it.

So as a kid I thought, "Okay. Recycle and turn of the water while you brush your teeth and you're 'doing your part.' Cool! The rainforest and all the animals will be saved."

But over the years, it seemed like I was still constantly hearing about the rainforest and how one day it would be completely gone. It even got to a point, at least for me as a kid, where I almost got sick of hearing about it. I mean, here I was recycling (when I could, since many public places don't even offer recycling bins alongside their trash) and trying not to waste water and all... and apparently the rainforest wasn't doing any better.

Fast forward about 15 years, to a time when my husband and I took a trip to Hawaii, and I got to experience a tropical rainforest for the very first time.
And then another 4 months after that, and I was on my honeymoon in Puerto Rico, hiking in the El Yunque rainforest.
4 days from there, and I was in St. Lucia, hiking around near the Pitons and exploring various water falls.

After visiting these places and experiencing it for myself, after all those years, it finally clicked. "Wow. So THIS is what they're trying to save and making such a big deal over. I get it now."

It's really easy to to just dismiss things that you hear about but have never personally experienced.


It may sound cliche, but I think all that travelling and hiking around really changed my life.

It definitely changed my art. And right now, my art is a big part of my life.
The giant, over sized leaves on so many tropical rainforest plants almost make you feel like a tiny minuatureized version of yourself walking around in someone's greenhouse. Plants that may look slightly familiar (houseplants you'd find in most stores, a lot of which I already had at home myself) are 10 times larger than what you might be accustomed to seeing.
But that's just the foliage....
Wait till you see the flowers.
The brightest of colors all combined on a form that looks almost alien (if you don't live in the tropics)... simply amazing. Heliconicas of all shapes and sizes.

If you're ever somewhere and within a few hours of a rainforest, and you've never seen one for yourself- you simply must go. (Even if you don't hike, there are usually areas where you can drive and see things, and easy access to a visitor center.)
Be sure to stop in at the visitor center (if one is available). They will have information on that particular rain forest, and sometimes you can see a short film about the area you are visiting. It may seem like a sort of hokey thing to do, but the films that I've seen in the visitor centers tend to be about 20 minutes long and they really are very interesting and educational. You'll learn a lot in a very short period of time.

I felt so inspired upon my return from these tropical places. I wanted to take all the beautiful things I had seen and put them onto canvas. I did with a couple, but I still haven't had the time to paint all the rainforest plants that I'd like to.

So now I've got all these ideas and a few drawings and paintings, and I've sold a few prints. I recently began to think, "here I am with all these ideas and inspiration- But the things I'm painting aren't even things that I created. They were created by Nature."
In a way it felt sort of like cheating, because it's too easy. Nature just puts it out there for all of us to see. So now I really feel like I need to give something back.

I've decided to start by taking a percentage of all my rainforest related prints and paintings and when I sell them, I can donate that. Since right now that wouldn't be anything very substantial... at all.... I'm thinking about other options- and I need to research some charities, too.