Wildflowers are the inspiration for my latest passion in art. As I am hiking the beautiful mountains and along the many lakes and streams in this area, I watch for wildflowers, often very tiny but elegant when viewed closely. Close-up photos of the flowers are taken to my studio and studied in Photoshop. The various filters and adjustment layers available in Photoshop make it possible to view the flowers in many different ways. I can spend hours with a single photo, looking for an exciting design to make into a painting or drawing, or to take directly to a print.
For a print, the choice of paper is critical. There are many extraordinary papers available now for making archival inkjet prints. I choose a paper from my collection and make my own print. Sometimes I even draw or paint directly on the print to make the finished piece. The textured papers make exciting prints, so I usually leave some of the paper exposed. Here are some examples.
Hahnemuehle
“William Turner”
Hahnemuehle
“Torchon”
Canson
“Aquarelle Rag”
Awagami
“Premio Unryu”
Textures of Some Fine Art Print Papers
The final stage of the design is in the choice of matting and framing. I love to find an elegant double, triple, or quadruple mat selection that works with the print and the paper choice to make a visually exciting art piece, and then choose a moulding for the frame that completes the design. Frequently I hand-color a mat to get a perfect match with the colors in the piece. I also haunt antique stores to find interesting old frames that I can cut down and reassemble if needed. I cut my own mats and moulding and assemble the final piece, ready for hanging.
Here are some of my favorite wildflower-inspired designs.
Wildflowers: Viper’s Bugloss
Giclee print on “Torchon” paper,
12″x18″ oval print,
24″x30″ framed
An early frost had hit this Viper’s Bugloss (pronounced Bew-gloss) up in Shenandoah National Park, but the flowers were still lovely. The print is on the extraordinary “Torchon” paper from the legendary German papermaker, Hahnemuehle. I found this old barnwood frame in an antique shop.
Spotted Touch-Me-Not Design #1
Giclee print on Canson “Printmaking Rag” paper, 5″x5″ unframed, 12″x12″ framed
This is the first of three designs based on my photo of this tiny but beautiful wildflower. It is also known as the “spotted jewelweed”. The paper is one of many fine art papers from the famous French papermaker, Canson.
Spotted Touch-Me-Not Design #2
Giclee print on Japanese bamboo paper, 5″x5″ unframed, 12″x12″ framed.
This is the second design based on the same photo of a beautiful “spotted touch-me-not” that I found on one of the trails at U.Va.’s Boars Head complex. The paper comes from Awagami, a Japanese maker of extraordinary papers.
Spotted Touch-Me-Not Design #3
Giclee print on Japanese Unryu paper, 5″x8″ unframed, 12″x15″ framed
This design of the “spotted touch-me-not” uses flower colors close to the real flower but with an abstracted background. The paper is the beautiful “premio unryu” paper from the Awagami paperworks. Random mulberry fibers are prominent in the paper and integrate with the organic flower image beautifully.
Butter-and-Eggs Design #1
Giclee print on “Torchon” paper, 8″x10″ oval print, 18″x22″ framed
This beautiful butter-and-eggs was at the Calf Mountain overlook in Shenandoah NP. The print is another on the extraordinary “Torchon” paper from the legendary German papermaker, Hahnemuehle. The frame came from my collection of long ago finds.
Butter-and-Eggs
Design #2
Giclee print on Canson “Edition Etching Rag” paper, 4″x8″ unframed, 10″x14″ framed
The “butter-and-eggs” is a tiny wildflower, often barely visible above the grass. This entire stalk of flowers is less than six inches tall. The paper here is another beautiful paper from the Canson paperworks in France.
Giclee print on Canson “Aquarelle” paper, 4″x7″ unframed, 12″x15″ framed
Butter-and-Eggs Design #3
Another design using the delightful Butter-and-Eggs wildflower as inspiration. The Canson Aquarelle paper has a delightful rough texture that is well-known to watercolor painters worldwide.
