Category Archive

By Julie Schneider Ljubenkov (posted by D. Shaw)

A note to BAGSC members from the BAGSC Executive Board: Julie has the same email address, phone number and post office address as is listed in the roster. BAGSC is contributing a gift certificate to Target so that Julie and her husband can get things they need. If anyone would like to add to the gift certificate fund, please send checks made out to “The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California” or “BAGSC” to Deborah Shaw, Treasurer. Please put a reference on the check to Julie and/or the fire. We will also be taking up a collection of art supplies for Julie at the January 19th BAGSC meeting. If you have any extra supplies please bring them to the meeting. Our thoughts and support are with Julie, her family and all of the victims of the fires as they work to put their lives back together.

Some of Julie’s artwork can be viewed on the BAGSC web site, at: http://www.bagsc.org/ljubenkov.html. This BAGSC gallery page has additional links to view Julie’s work on other sites as well.

On the night of October 23 we were asleep. Upon retiring we had felt fairly safe: all the big fires in San Diego County were at least 15 miles away and the wind was not blowing in our direction — plus the wind had died down and it was a beautiful, clear autumn afternoon. We did get a few things ready to evacuate earlier that day, since we thought it would be typical that some nut would try to start a fire here and it would be wise to be ready. We’ve been evacuated twice before in the last 13 years. It is a very tiring experience — like moving — so we didn’t do a complete job getting stuff ready to go because we were very tired. At 3:50 a.m. my husband woke up and opened the window, smelled smoke and saw an orange glow in the eastern sky. The winds had picked up and again were howling. We knew this meant we were probably going to lose our home and that we needed to get out quick. We called our next door neighbors and they had just woken up too.

We threw clothes and prescription drugs in waiting suitcases and made a total of three trips to each of our cars with the stuff we had waiting by the door — mostly stuff to keep us working. My husband is a marine biologist; he grabbed his microscope and some of his most important literature for identifying animals. For me, this was a couple of sketch books; some computer disks; some stuff for teaching which had been packed up already for next week’s classes; some botanical and landscape prints I had packed for an upcoming engagement; plus, our pre-packed fire suitcase with all our important papers and some photographs.

Those trips to the car took ten minutes. Within that time the flames surrounded the house on three sides. There was a large fire funnel tornado on the hill above the house which advanced towards us. Luckily our driveway was only burning on one side, and as we backed into the flames we knew the house would be gone. We filed down the dirt road behind other fleeing neighbors. There were no fire fighters in sight and no evacuation calls.

Our friends, the Marx’s (Wes Marx is author of Frail Ocean) had called us previously wondering how we were fairing with the winds and the fires. At 4:15 a.m. on the way out, unable to reach my husband on his cell phone and wondering if he had actually got out behind me, I pulled over to the side of the road and called them. They let us stay in their downstairs apartment for three weeks and took care of us for the first week, as we were zombie basket cases for a few days. They shopped for us, picked up our prescription drugs, and took us to the relief centers to get us started on the recovery process.

With the help of the insurance company, we are currently renting a small place while our manufactured home gets rebuilt. We hope to be back to our property in May 2008.

People have asked us what we need. Here is our current list. We don’t want anyone to feel compelled to get us anything, but maybe if you have two of something, or you would like to get us something on the list that would be wonderful. We know our insurance will not cover replacing the contents of our home, and we don’t qualify for FEMA or SBA, so we appreciate anything anyone wants to give us.

Here’s our current list:

• Mattress pad, California King
• Pillow liners, king size
• Stepping stool for indoors
• Wire brush (for cleaning up charred and burnt stuff)
• Bottle brush, large and small sizes
• Kitchen serving trays/or for eating (2 to 4)
• Basting kitchen tool
• Bread maker
• Clothes line with wooden clothes pins
• Indoor clothes drier/rack (wooden or metal)
• Letter opener (2)
• Colored folders with pockets for class outlines (10)
• Copy holder for computer typing
• Book ends
• Head sets and microphone for landline phones
• Blank cassette tapes
• Electric pencil sharpener
• River walker shoes, women’s size 7
• Warm down coat – women’s medium size 12
• Warm down coat – men’s XL or XXL
• Women’s cotton socks, dark colors
• Fax machine
• Topo map program of California on CD for a PC computer
• Pictures from magazines or calendars of flowers, landscapes, and animals (for my classes – we use these as image libraries)

I also miss all my 60’s and 70’s rock and roll music:
Elton John, The Beatles, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, ELO, Supertramp. Right now I can listen to both cassette tapes or CD’s.

Our very efficient and proactive Membership Chair, Joann Leonard sent out her annual email reminder notice for membership dues in early December. (Thank you Joann!)

You should be receiving your quarterly December 2007 issue of the ASBA newsletter soon, which announces a membership dues increase for 2008 of $20.00 for the national portion of the dues, approved at their annual Board meeting in Pittsburgh this past September.

At the BAGSC meeting in October, it was voted to keep our local chapter portion of the dues the same (please see your October BAGSC minutes).

What does this increase mean to you as a member of the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California? It means that the cost of a dual ASBA/BAGSC membership will be $85 in 2008 ($60 ASBA + $25 BAGSC). Please send a check for $85 to Membership Chairperson, Joann Leonard at her address in the BAGSC roster, in order to continue your participation in two exciting international organizations. (The exceptions are those new members who joined the Guild in November and so have already paid their dues for the coming year.)

International members will pay $100 in 2008 ($75 ASBA + $25 BAGSC).

To the record number of BAGSC members who have responded promptly and early this year (thank you all!), please send your additional $20.00 to Joann. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have not yet had an opportunity to visit our website, www.bagsc.org please do so. As a member of the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California you are entitled to your own gallery page where you can exhibit up to three images of your artwork on the website. Guidelines for submission can be found on the website. Just click the link “For Members Only.”

Thank you. We wish the best to you and yours during this season, and look forward to an exciting 2008.

Botanical Paintings from the garden of HRH The Prince of Wales

An exhibition at the Gallery of the New York School of Interior Design
January 23 – April 12, 2008

The Gallery of the New York School of Interior Design will exhibit 75 watercolors of plants, fruits and vegetables growing in the garden at Highgrove, the Gloucestershire residence of HRH The Prince of Wales. The works on view have been painted by some 55 international artists and depict a selection of botanical varieties from the 15 acres of Highgrove’s garden. The show, organized according to botanical classification, marks the first public display of the watercolors, which are owned by A. G. Carrick Limited and loaned with the kind permission of HRH The Prince of Wales.

Named after the Latin word for a collection of pictures of garden flowers, the Highgrove Florilegium unites two of the Prince’s passions – horticulture and painting – and is produced by some of today’s leading botanical artists. The works in the Florilegium revitalize the art of botanical drawing and painting, which can be traced back to the ancient Greeks but became especially popular during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

HRH The Prince of Wales purchased Highgrove in 1980 and has been working to transform its grounds to reflect his gardening interests, and adhere to strict organic principles. Managed without the use of any artificial materials, chemical fertilizers or generically modified organisms, the garden at Highgrove is considered one of the finest gardens of our time.

Alecto Publications Limited of London has been commissioned to produce a two volume facsimile in a limited edition of 175 copies, the first volume of which will be available in 2008. The Prince’s Charities Foundation will receive a royalty on the sale of the books to support its activities.

The New York School of Interior Design is most grateful to HRH The Prince of Wales for giving permission for the watercolors to travel to New York so that they can be enjoyed by the American public.

The School also wishes to thank Condé Nast’s House & Garden for its support of the exhibition and the related public programs that will focus on horticultural and sustainable topics.

Public programs scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition include:

• Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 6pm
David Howard, Head Gardener for HRH The Prince of Wales, on the Garden at Highgrove.

• Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 6pm
Martin Lane Fox, architect and internationally acclaimed garden and landscape designer, on Garden Structure.

• Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 6pm
Patrick Bowe on Gardens of the Roman World, one of the eight books he has authored or co-authored on garden history.

• Wednesday, April 9, 2008, at 6pm
Professor David Cadman, urban land economist, writer, senior fellow and former chairman of the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, on Beauty as the Informing Principle of Sustainability.

• In addition, the Friends of Horticulture at Wave Hill will hold three lectures at the School on January 30th with Patricia Jonas, curator of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Collection; February 27th with Alexander Redford on the Jardin de Metis in Quebec; and March 19th with garden designer Pepe Maynard.

The Gallery of New York School of Interior Design
170 East 70th Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), NY
Gallery Hours: Mon – Sat, 10 am – 5 pm, Closed Sundays & Holidays
Access: Free admission, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible
Public Info: 212.472.1500 www.nysid.edu

Founded in 1916, New York School of Interior Design is New York’s only private, not-for-profit college devoted entirely to interior design education.

BAGSC member Irene Horiuchi was accepted into the Watercolor West XXXIX Annual Juried Exhibition with her painting Silent Watch. The exhibition is in Riverside, through January 26.

Watercolor West XXXIX Annual Juried Exhibition
Riverside Art Museum
December 6, 2007 – January 26, 2008
Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm
http://www.riversideartmuseum.org
951-684-7111

Directions and general information can be found at: http://www.riversideartmuseum.org/about/index.html

Guest Speaker, Linda Doll
The Watercolor Artist in the Digital Age
Saturday, December 8, 2007
3 pm – 5 pm

Exhibition Opening Reception
Saturday, December 8, 2007
5 pm – 7 pm

BAGSC members, Margaret Best and Elaine Searle exhibited at the 12th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration at the Hunt Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. The opening reception of this international exhibit coincided with the 13h Annual Meeting & Conference of the American Society of Botanical Artists (September 27 – 29, 2007). The show is open from 30 September–20 December 2007 and features 111 artworks by 64 artists from 14 countries (Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, the United States, and Wales).

Elaine exhibited two paintings: Echeveria laui, and Astrophytum myriostigma var. nudum. Elaine’s web site can be viewed at: http://www.paintbotanical.com/

Margaret’s watercolor painting of Mespilus germanica (English medlar) can be viewed at her web site: http://www.bestbotanical.com/

Information about the exhibition can be viewed on the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation web site at: http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/Exhibitions/Exhibitions.shtml The catalogue for the show can also be purchased from their web site: http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/Publications/HI-Pubs/Pub-IE-09.shtml

Margaret also had two paintings in the ASBA show at the Horticultural Society of New York, Tenth Annual International Juried Exhibition, Malus baccata (Siberian Crabapple Blossoms) and Malus baccata (Siberian Crabapple Leaves).

Suzanne Kuuskmae

An exhibition at the Creative Arts Center in Manhattan Beach by BAGSC closed Friday, November 16, after a month-long stay. The show got off to a great start at our reception in early October when visitors were treated to the saxophone playing of Ken Gable with refreshments planned by Cristina Baltayian and participating artists. Over 60 paintings were shown by 15 artists. The venue showed our work beautifully in their high ceiling-ed, well-lighted gallery.

During the month of October, free lectures were offered each Saturday. Several were under the auspices of the Botanical Garden, covering gardening with native California plants, container gardening, and water conservation. On October 20, guild members Suzanne Kuuskmae taught a drawing class, and Gloria Whea-Fun Teng taught a Chinese Brush Painting class to over 15 enthusiastic participants.

Clara Josephs 

I spent two delightful and enlightening days at Filoli in July taking Catherine Watters’ class on painting roses.  Catherine is on the Board of Directors of ASBA and a teacher in the new Botanical Art Certificate Program at Filoli.  Her classes sell out fast, so I was glad to get a seat. We began our first day with a tour of the annual exhibit.  BAGSC was well represented, both in number and quality.  Christina, Nancy B., Akiko, Sue, and Gilly had paintings in the show.

Back upstairs in the class, Catherine demonstrated the correct use of dividers to measure our choice of rose specimens.  She circulated constantly throughout the class, making sure every student received their share of attention. By the end of the first day, most students had their composition tea-washed and ready to paint.  I was able to complete my simple subject by the end of the second day and was thrilled with all I had learned.  Catherine uses a limited palette of (Winsor Newton) Alizarin, Crimson, French Ultra, Winsor Violet, Perm Rose, Neutral Tint, Burnt Umber, Hooker’s Green, and Holbein’s Gamboge Nova.  She recommends using those 20 cent plastic round palettes with 10 compartments, keeping each color (greens, reds, yellows) on a separate palette. Color is built slowly, with as many as 10 thin washes.  Shadows are a mixture of French Ultramarine and Neutral Tint applied in almost transparent layers. Some intense points of shadow are accented by graphite delicately applied and the sealed with a wash.  Catherine’s beautiful green “mother mix” is made from a mix of Hooker’s Green, Gamboge Nova, Burnt Umber, and Neutral Tint.  Her acronym for this recipe is “Get Your Botanicals Now (green, yellow, brown, neutral tint).

At the end of our second day we admired the array of beautiful works the class had produced.  I was thrilled with how much was accomplished in only 2 days and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to return to Filoli!

The next day we headed to Alcatraz to see “The Softer Side of the Rock – The Historic Gardens of Alcatraz” exhibit by 18 artists in the Botanical Illustration Program at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens, directed by Mary Harden  http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/news/pr/alcatraz-art.htm.  These 38 paintings, while painted is a somewhat looser style than we are used to, were vibrantly colored and strikingly composed.