Flora and Fauna

During the month of June, artists in the Open Sketchbook mentoring program explored new and novel ways of approaching the subject of flowers while working with our Everything's Related: Flora and Fauna theme. We took our inspiration from a variety of sources including expressive Wild Style graffiti painting, working with our fingerprints, creating hybrid forms by merging flowers with other objects, and creating unconventional bouquets from flower photos and painted images by Mondrian, O'Keeffe, Twombly and others. 

The works below represent these floral explorations and the various processes artist's used to express non-traditional perspectives while at the same time maintaining the enduring beauty and power of nature's glory. All of these works were created in sketchbooks using a wide range of materials including watercolor, ink, gouache, mixed-media and drawing media.

Virginia Carstarphen:

Katharine Hathaway:

Jan Wishinsky:

Sue Teller:

Susan Gamerman:

Mary Ridley:

Kaye Buchman: