Story behind the art of Tammy McEntee

28th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art & Garden Center

A Pair of Pear Pairs

Pyrus communis 'Bartlett'

A while ago, my sister asked me if I would draw a Packham pear for her. Since it was a variety I was unfamiliar with and not readily available, I started researching it. I soon found myself down quite the rabbit hole and frankly, enjoying the never-ending ride. I discovered the Packham is an Australian variety and unfortunately, a trip down under wasn’t in the cards for me. Instead, I completed a piece for her of three Anjou pears. I was happy to have finished and delivered the Anjou pear artwork.

Yet, I felt I wasn’t ready to give up on studying pear varieties. I found the work that Mary Daisy Arnold did between 1908 and 1940 for the United States Department of Agriculture and preserved in its Pomological Watercolor Collection. I was hooked. Maybe, I could do a compilation of pieces involving different varieties of pears. However, I wasn’t going to redo what Mary had done or use a traditional method of composition. I wanted something different. A contemporary take.

My process depends a great deal on feeling. If something doesn’t grab me or “speak to me,” I will have a hard time completing the piece. That feeling includes the medium I use, as well as the subject. I work primarily in colored pencil on paper or film with the occasional graphite thrown in.

Colored pencil, definitely. Paper felt like the proper substrate for the weightiness of the subject. Those choices sorted, I just needed to find the right subject. The fact that it was early fall worked in my favor, as I was able to find four Bartlett pears with their leaves still intact. Perfect. I set about arranging just two of the pears, but it didn’t feel right. Nor did three. I had done three for my sister; she has triplets so that had felt right. I went about arranging the four pears close together. Again, “I wasn’t feeling it.”

I was starting to give up when I separated the four into two sets, ever so slightly apart. The placement felt right but something was still not doing it for me. Too many leaves, since each pear still had them. After much contemplation I slowly began to remove a few of the leaves. It finally felt good to me. You can render perfect specimens but if the composition isn’t grabbing you, most likely the subject matter won’t either.

Another part of that feeling process is relatability by personifying the subjects. Silly, maybe, but it works for me. Quite often while I work, I will tell myself a story about my subjects and why they are positioned the way they are. It helps me to connect. I would like to think that by doing so, I am able to either convey that story to the viewer or have them want to make up their own narrative. What exactly are that pair of pear pairs talking about? Are they lamenting having been removed from their happy place on the tree or having some of their leaves ripped away? Why are we sitting under a lamp being drawn and not being eaten?

I have my own story as to what’s going on. But I think I’ll keep it to myself and let the viewers make up their own.

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Read more about this artist's work: BAWW 2025