Getting nature right
I have just had a short essay published in a botanical artists' newsletter.
The article is a survey of botanical art and the decorative arts over the centuries (Greek all the way to the modern world). But, my point was even bigger: that people have always used nature as a creative source, and that the modern day artists' attempt to get everything from their internal perspective, which they call self-expression, is unprecedented, and in my rather strong conclusion, detrimental to art. The same is true of the decorative arts. Why not use the flowers of the wild as a jump start for our imagination?
Of course, I didn't say any of that when I wrote the piece, because botanical artists do use nature as an inspiration, and they try in fact to get every single detail as perfect as possible.
You can read the article here... (just scroll down a little).
Hopefully, I will also do a few projects with these accomplished illustrators.