Sandra Morris | Original Botanical Artwork

Original Art

When browsing the shelves of the Auckland Botanic gardens library I came across a beautiful gem of a book featuring the work of Maud Purdy, staff artist for 32 years at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

The brilliance of her colours immediately drew me in – she was my first introduction to using gouache paint on a black surface. I loved the way she composed her page but also she sliced her flowers open, revealing all the inner structure.

Purdy’s use of a black background was unconventional for the times, it would have been 300 years prior to her paintings that Nuremburg painter Barbara Regina Dietzsch was painting her floral subjects on a black background.

Charcoal Subtractive Drawings

After some years of working with mezzotint printmaking, I was looking for a ‘softer’ alternative to working on a black background, and came across the subtractive technique of drawing with charcoal and eraser.
In subtractive drawing, the artist lays the charcoal dust across the surface of the paper and then uses an eraser to pull out the highlights and mid tones. The end result focuses on shapes and shadows emerging from the dark background - not too unlike works made with mezzotint.

I started the Amaryllis series in 2012 as a record of the Amaryllises grown by my mother who passed away soon after. I continue to record these flowers as they emerge each year, in memory of her. Artwork is completed on either 120gsm, 150gsm or 250gsm Hahnemuhle Stella Multi matt paper.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these, please contact me to arrange payment and shipping.