The wizened gnome in this image was added after the paintings were submitted and published in The Old Farmer’s Almanac Calendar in 2010. The calendar art called for a woodland setting showcasing Maidenhair Ferns and some of the plants in the species’ environment.
Since 2004, I’ve been creating the botanical art for Yankee’s OFA Garden Calendar and up until 2016 (?) all of that art was “analog”, ie. oil paint on gessoed paper, and so I’ve got a pile of paintings of plants and garden scenes. That’s nearly 150 paintings, if you include covers. It occurred to me that I could add creatures, gnomes, bugs, etc. to the art and make them more fun. But should I?
The original Maidenhair image published for the 2015 calendar is nice but perhaps a little bare?
I wrestled for a while with the idea of changing a painting that had been published. Of course, I’ve got all the art archived in its original state, but changing a painting by adding a seriously obvious element to it is a big deal, right? A very permanent state. However, I couldn’t help but feel that some of the images were a little…empty. I mean, the proper plant was featured and they’re some of the most interesting and beautiful plants to me, but they don’t have as much “story” to them as a creaturely being with eyes and intelligence does.
As I began the transformation of the above image, I sketched the gnome on a separate piece of vellum so I could see my painting below it. When I was satisfied with the design and proportions, I transferred it right on the finished art in pencil. No going back now, I used a fine tip permanent marker to outline the main areas of the character so I could see it better. Then came a layer of white alkyd paint (more permanence!) to separate the figure from the background. Then the final layers—carefully matching the palette— to make it seem like part of the original painting.
The exercise began with a thought: what will my people do with my art after I die? Perhaps it’ll be less tempting for them to chuck it in a landfill if there’s some kind of story or personality within the work. There are currently 6 modified OFA garden paintings with gnomes added. See my Paintings page for the ones that are available.
Should I make more and keep going?