by Akiko Enokido
Akiko Enokido and Vicky Obenshain with Akiko's Camellia Japonica.
I sent my work of Camellia Japonica to the Horticultural Society of New York last March. I had just finished painting it so I could only submit one piece.
I was very honored and excited when I found out that my piece made it to the 12th Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition 2009.
The opening reception was September 16. I flew in to New York in the morning of 16th and flew back on the 17th. I wish I could stay longer, but I had not visited New York since I moved to California five years ago, so I was very excited. This was the first time for me to see this Exhibition.
"Camellia Japonica", watercolor by Akiko Enokido, © 2009
The subjects of the paintings were so wide-ranging. The 41 paintings included grasses, leaves, fresh or dry fruit, mushrooms, and bolls. There were not many flowers entered in the exhibit, maybe less than half. Some artists were using vellum. I thought those were technically remarkable.
Juror Dick Rauh discusses the paintings at the exhibition.
All of the paintings were high quality and workmanship was precise. HSNY provided magnifying glasses, so we could see the details. I understand composition was an important factor for the judges. I felt I have to work on how I express the characteristic, volume and texture of the subjects.
I was able to talk with a couple artists. Ingrid Finnan from New York, uses oil paint on watercolor paper. She applies gesso on front and back of paper four times then use transparent oil paint. She uses this method to express the deep color of leaves.
"Lords and Ladies", watercolor by Margaret Best, © 2009
Margaret Best had two paintings in the show, “Rocky Mountain Maple” and “Lords and Ladies”.
Milly Acharya won a couple of awards in this show. She painted Wisteria this time. The flowers of Wisteria are very fragile and short-lived. She said she painted directly on the watercolor paper for 18 hours non-stop.
I really enjoyed the exhibition. Artists shared their pain and pleasure that they went through during the course of painting their subjects.
List of Awards are as follows. You can also find them in the catalog: Best in Show / Lynne Railsback “Purple Fountain Grass”; ASBA Best Painting / Linda Petchnick “Orchid”; NY Central Award / Anne Mcelwain “Mayapple”; Tales Award / Karen Kluglein “Stock” Ursus Award / Geoge Olson “Dock and Compass Plant”; Honorable mention / Deirdre Bean “Figs”, Mary A. O’Malley “Monterey Pine Cone”, Milly Acharya “Wisteria”
The ASBA and the Horticultural Society of New York sent out a press release about the show. To download and read it, click here: asba_2009_press_release.
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