Abstract Sunset

Abstract Sunset
Copyright 2015 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas

"Abstraction is real, probably more real than nature."

-Josef Albers

Flowers in a Wine Glass

Flowers in a Wine Glass
Copyright 2015 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas

"The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure."

-D.H. Lawrence

The History of Flower Painting 101

"Red D'Anjou Pears and Flowers"
Oil on Canvas 11" x 14"
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"Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers on its leaves a mystic language bears."
-Percival

 

David Kandel, German Herbal, Illustration of a Lime Tree, 1546

  As I prepare for the upcoming class "Painting Botanics", I have been totally geeking out on the history of botanical flower painting!
  

 

 We will begin our first day of class by examining early renaissance herbals and DISSECTING SHAMROCKS THE DAY AFTER SAINT PATRICK'S DAY.  (Sacrilegious I know!)

 

Jan van Huysum, Dutch 1724

 Starting in the Dutch Golden Age reaching into the Victorian era the people of Europe were crazed with floral symbolism.  Lovers would gift each others flowers (and paintings of flowers) using this secretive symbolic language.  Oh la la! 

Flowers were not just decorative ornaments in these paintings but told the story of life, death and the moral code of the age.  We will be creating still-life paintings inspired by their methods and madness!

 

Amazing woman explorer, Maria Sibylla Merian "Life Cycle of the Butterfly" 1705

 

 As Europeans pushed for exploration of new territories during the "Age of Discovery" scientists documented their finding with artistic paintings. In this class we will be closely observing floral "specimens" until we can capture their graceful beauty.

And this is only the beginning of the story! 

Then there is Impressionism and Symbolism and O'Keefe's bold Modernism....

Odilon Redon, Ophelia, French Symbolism 1910

Join us!  Sign up now for
"Painting Botanics"
starting March 18th at the Indianapolis Art Center.

 

 

New!!! Alchemy of Art Podcast

Inspired by the completion of my book "The Alchemy of Art: Stories for the Classroom"  I have started a podcast to share the collection of folktales and true stories!

Each episode includes stories, questions from listeners, book recommendations and inspiration to keep you going.  It will also be a place where I can answer the philosophical and practical questions I get asked about why and how we create art.

Please feel free to contact me with questions you would like discussed on the podcast! 

Listen on iTunes

Or Podbean...

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The Crepe Myrtle Tree

The Crepe Myrtle Tree
Copyright 2015 Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
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To me crepe myrtle trees are summer.  They are the south.  There is nothing quite like taking a walk on a 100 degree hot afternoon and rounding the bend to come upon a tree like this one.

It is on days like today when the Indiana landscape around me is covered in snow that I have to admit... I wish I was home.

 "The ache for home lives in all of us, 

the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."

-Maya Angelou

This painting depicts the Ann Street Methodist Church adjacent to the Old Burying Ground Cemetery in Beaufort, North Carolina.