Painting Plants

Online exhibition showcasing the art of the Botanical Artists Association of Southern Africa. This week we feature artist Jenny Hyde-Johnson who is a master in her field. Her painting features the plant Xerophyta ardendorfii. Be sure to check out other art on our website https://botanicalartsa.co.za/product-category/jenny-hyde-johnson/

This resurrection type plant grows on very rocky hills from Pelindaba near Hartebeestpoort dam to Rustenburg. Due to this very limited range it's a Red Data listed plant. Because it grows in these rocky areas, space to expand is at a premium and so new growth is often on top of the previous year's growth, pushing the plant ever higher above the ground. A profusion of beautiful blooms opens about four days after a good downpour and these attract colonies of honey bees.

Plants are such wonderful things!

This is one of the most interesting ‘bulbs with a plan’ we have in the Cape, it is astounding how plants evolve clever tactics in order to outwit herbivores from devouring them. This bulb is called Babiana flabellifolia. It is part of the Iris family, but today its not about its gorgeous flowers, its all about the leaves, in the picture you will see that the leaves seem eaten by a animal, all the leave points nibbled off, but thats all a illusion, the plants leaves are shaped in that way to make the animals think that the leaves have already been halfway eaten, and so would not bother to have the undesirable left-overs. And so the Babiana is left alone by the hungry herbivores.

A detail from my botanical painting for the Grootbos Florilegium. Bobartia indica

An enlargement of my painting done for the Grootbos Florilegium near Gansbaai in the Western Cape, South Aftica. Leucadendron tinctum

Experimenting. Pansy leaf. Black gouache.

It’s been a while. A quick rose sketch in my sketchbook last night [fabriano sketchbook with micron brush pen]

I have an online course for newbies to botanical art. Have a look at the flyer. Shop at artsavingsclub.co.za if you need materials. They will deliver to you. Contact me if you need more information.

Peperomia caperata. Small house plant with the most stunning leaves. Not quite finished. But nice to show the process.

Diospyros. Indigenous to South Africa. I started painting this little study in November 2020 whilst at the Waterberg in Limpopo province. I spent yesterday finishing it off.

Gill is an inspiration to us all here in South Africa, we are so blessed to have someone of her experience in botanical art in our little corner of the world. If you can, please have a look at this exhibition in real life at Circa Everard Read in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Lovely!

Gillian Condy Tswalu Exhibition Resource for South African botanical art, botanical artists and botanical art exhibitions