A branch of Pyracanthus coccinea rendered in high realism. The work was begun during the late 1980s when I was developing a portfolio and honing my painting and observation skills. At the time, I was living in a city neighborhood (while attending art school) and a there was a huge, glorious specimen of this shrub growing two doors up the street from me. I asked for a cutting and took it home, where I began a quick drawing right on the board and took a few polaroids. I completed most of the leaves and berries and then stashed it in my archives for later…

This painting is probably the first serious botanical piece I’d ever undertaken. I remember learning a lot about how the light reflected on the leaves wasn’t as I’d remembered / imagined. Instead, the leaves had more spots mottled with greys and orange and there was more warm reflected color on the underside from the red berries. On the glossier top side of the leaves, the sky influenced the blue and purple highlights.

Years later, sometime around 2000, I dug up the painting again and realized I hadn’t quite finished it… I added the little ladybug beetle then; I think it adds movement and scale to the image.

(Unfortunately, I only have this inadequate snapshot taken just prior to it being sold.)