I document the fragility of nature. When the fascinating specimen I have drawn has long frozen to the ground, or flown across distant fields, my drawing of it remains…fresh and vibrant for continued study and enjoyment. I paint highly detailed renderings of plants, flowers and natural science subjects, drawn to scale, colors mixed and matched to the exacting standards of the strict art form.
I begin by staring. I carefully study the specimen to become familiar with it, turning it slowly to capture its best angle and its most typical features. Before putting pencil to paper, I make note of the time of day and then prepare for a long-term relationship with the fascinating specimen at hand. I draw slowly. Paint cautiously. My preferred mediums are gouache, acrylic and wax-based colored pencil ..…. mediums ideally suited for the slow layering of transparent color over color. Many artists contemplate if a piece is ever finished? For me it is easy. A piece is done when it looks exactly like the specimen.
My entry into this odd niche was whilw field-sketching insects and flowers in a dry, dusty neighborhood nature center. Staff naturalists asked if I would document some of its collection. I agreed and they trained me to do so with the exacting standards required for research. At the time, I was a surface design major at UCLA. I graduated college and spent the next 20 years as a textile designer specializing in complex floral botanical patterns. The attention to detail demanded from those weekends at the nature study center, made my floral design work in the fashion industry some of the most successful.
I now find myself, lecturing, selling, exhibiting, and teaching workshops in all aspects of the art form. How could I have known then, that the summers of my youth, spent volunteering at a dusty little neighborhood nature park, would prepare me for my true passion and life’s work? Botanical Art and Natural Science Illustration.
Cynthia Padilla, is sought out nationally for research projects, book reviews, lectures and as a travel leader on sketching tours.
I begin by staring. I carefully study the specimen to become familiar with it, turning it slowly to capture its best angle and its most typical features. Before putting pencil to paper, I make note of the time of day and then prepare for a long-term relationship with the fascinating specimen at hand. I draw slowly. Paint cautiously. My preferred mediums are gouache, acrylic and wax-based colored pencil ..…. mediums ideally suited for the slow layering of transparent color over color. Many artists contemplate if a piece is ever finished? For me it is easy. A piece is done when it looks exactly like the specimen.
My entry into this odd niche was whilw field-sketching insects and flowers in a dry, dusty neighborhood nature center. Staff naturalists asked if I would document some of its collection. I agreed and they trained me to do so with the exacting standards required for research. At the time, I was a surface design major at UCLA. I graduated college and spent the next 20 years as a textile designer specializing in complex floral botanical patterns. The attention to detail demanded from those weekends at the nature study center, made my floral design work in the fashion industry some of the most successful.
I now find myself, lecturing, selling, exhibiting, and teaching workshops in all aspects of the art form. How could I have known then, that the summers of my youth, spent volunteering at a dusty little neighborhood nature park, would prepare me for my true passion and life’s work? Botanical Art and Natural Science Illustration.
Cynthia Padilla, is sought out nationally for research projects, book reviews, lectures and as a travel leader on sketching tours.
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