Story behind the art of Sharon Duplantis

 

29th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Illustrators

 

Toil of the Seedmakers

Monarda punctata

 

I’m a little obsessed with Monarda punctata, sometimes called spotted bee balm, or spotted horsemint. I first encountered it in 2021 on a roadside where I sat waiting for a tow truck to take my broken-down car to a mechanic. I’d never seen such an interesting wildflower - so eye-catching, with its multiple tiers of fluffy yellow flowers dotted with red, each tier accented with pink and green bracts. When I got home, I found out that it is a fairly common plant, native to the central and southern United States. I sourced some plants from a native plant dealer and have been growing them in my garden for a few years now.  

 

Each year I eagerly await the new sprouts and make many sketches and photos.  I’ve painted the plant at least five times - first the new leaves and stems, then the flowers and pollinators (see 26th Annual-Duplantis - American Society of Botanical Artists ). But the stage I love most is the end of the season when it dries up and goes to seed. The petals drop, exposing the lovely star shaped calyx tubes. Colors become more intense before finally turning brown, and the leaves curl into the most beautiful shapes. This painting is of the stage just as the colors begin to deepen and leaves start to curl.   Soon the leaves will shrivel, and the colors will fade, as it pours all its energy into making seeds... seems very unselfish.

 

As I pondered how to portray the plant this time, I wanted a bit of an unconventional composition, something that conveyed the drama of the act of making seeds.  Since the seeds themselves are very tiny, I focused on the calyx tubes where the important work was happening.  They are the most interesting structures, and I wanted to get up close and personal, illustrating how important they are, by blowing the subject up eight times larger than life size, making the final image 16 inches tall by 26 inches wide. In many plants, seeds are produced at the end of their life cycle, their last act focusing on a future they will not see, as they slowly wither. Thus, the title, “Toil of the Seed Makers”. 

 

As I draw, photograph, and paint my botanical subjects, time slows down. The process fosters an intimate relationship with the subject and curiosity about natural processes, their reasons and connections. I hope to convey a bit of this wonderful experience to the viewer.   

 

 

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Read more about this artist's work: 28th Annual