Carol Woodin Botanical Art

Cultivated by Harold Koopowitz, this statuesque terrestrial is from South Africa.

It took quite a while to gather all the studies needed to paint this orchid - first at New York Botanical Garden (its leaves, stems and roots), then at Huntington Botanical Gardens in California, where Brandon Tam helped me with material for the flowers and developing pods. This was painted for Journey of Plants, an exhibition that opened in the Netherlands in September, 2018. It traveled with Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, & Field through 2022, an exhibition themed on crop diversity.

I'm not sure what the cultivar name for this orchid is, it was grown by Bird's Botanicals, located in a cave near Kansas City. Its muted color palette was quite different than many richly colored slipper orchids, and the spike leaned over from the weight of the flowers. You can see the story behind this painting here.

A beautiful native orchid, this is really hard to find in the wild, but when you do find it, it’s awe-inspiring. It favors wet fens and wooded swamps with sunny openings.

Grown by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, this lovely orchid grows in the temperate forests straddling the border of Mexico and Arizona. It is contained in the Vanishing Circles collection of the Museum.

Cultivated by Piping Rock Orchids, this is a really beefy orchid!

A recent (2002) discovery, I traveled to Peru to paint this orchid in Alfredo Manrique's greenhouse in Lima. His beautifully grown plant was used as a model for this painting and another on vellum (in Shirley Sherwood's collection) as well as for the cover painting of Slipper Orchids of the Tropical Americas. Now this orchid can be found in collections in the US, grown from seed, and has found its way into hybrids too.

One of the many Telipogons that make their home in cloud forests of South America, these are delicate flowers that tantalize pollinators with their hairy burgundy centers.

Yes, that is really the plant's scientific name! These flowers only last about a day, so you have to catch it just right.

These two orchids seem to be engaging with one another. It was exciting to try to capture the intense patterning and coloration, and the glossy surfaces.

This plant is considered by some to be the queen of orchids. It is a large and muscular plant.

This is a combination of several plants grown by Lynn and Bob Wellenstein. Not only are the flowers jewel-like, but so are the beautifully tessellated leaves.

Named for famed orchid grower Lynn Wellenstein, who along with her husband Bob, cultivate some of the most amazing slipper orchids that can be found anywhere.

This painting shows how Phragmipediums, when they're happy, will flower sequentially. You can see where previous flowers have fallen off, and where new buds are developing. 

This rare, tall-growing slipper orchid I studied in Ecuador, and it's included in the book Slipper Orchids of the Tropical Americas. In spite of the plant’s height, towering overhead, its flowers are very delicate.

This orchid is an insect mimic that grows in the cloud forests of Ecuador. Breezes move the flowers and stems, mimicking the movements of flies, and attracting them to the flowers, thereby pollinating them.

This plant has it all - beautiful leaves AND flowers. A CITES protected orchid from Vietnam, it is now nearly gone from its wild locations. Watercolor on vellum over panel.

This tiny gem is in a class by itself, it is the only species in the genus Mexipedium. It sends out long runners for new growth. Watercolor on paper, collection Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Seeing this growing on a bank in Ecuador taught me about how it could grow if it was really happy. The flowering stems just kept growing and flowering one after the other.

A friend saw these at a flower market, thought of me, bought them and mailed them to me! (Thanks Cristine!) They’re having a confab!

What a beautiful orchid! This was grown by Lynn and Bob Wellenstein, another of their incredible slipper orchids.

Some consider this the queen of orchids. It can rarely be found in its habitat - cascading over steep mountainsides of Borneo.

Stick a frame on it

I taught a class at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, where they have some incredible bog plant beds, with pitcher plants, orchids, venus fly-traps, sundews, and many other unusual native plants. I was lucky to be able to make good studies of these two gems while I was there!

After searching for this orchid for over 20 years, some kindly friends in the Catskills led me to a secret site where I was able to spend some time making graphite and color studies. Later on, the painting was composed and completed in the studio.

Large yellow lady's slippers are real stunners in a woodland setting. These can be found in secluded forest openings, but they are becoming more uncommon. These were studied at the New York Botanical Garden, and this painting on vellum over panel is included in Botanical Art Worldwide: America's Flora.

I studied this plant many years ago in New Hampshire, but have more recently seen it in the Catskills and in Maine. Flowers can vary greatly in color from nearly white to pink to a more lavender/pink. They're delightfully fragrant.

This moccasin flower was the first orchid I ever saw in the field. These never cease to thrill, they can be quite tall and can occur in large groupings, ranging from pure white to the darker pink you see here. These little flower close-ups seem to be conversing with one another.

This is another bog orchid that is quite difficult to find. These were in Bergen Swamp, near Rochester, NY, a 2,000 acre preserve with many native orchids and a variety of wetland habitats.

This truly is the queen of the meadow, it is a big lush size and is a real stunner to encounter in the wild. I found this subject in Tompkins County in upstate New York.

This leaves-akimbo kohlrabi was grown at the Biocultural Conservation Farm at Oak Spring Garden Foundation in VA, and now resides in their library's collection. Watercolor on Pergamena vellum stretched over a panel.

This corn was given to me by Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano at Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden. It’s a beefy corn, and the kernels were nearly black orbicular gems. The husks ranged from pale cream to deep rose to green, providing lots of fun color mixing! (A watercolor on Pergamena vellum stretched over a panel, it is held in the Shirley Sherwood Collection.)

In spite of a very dry year and a largely unsuccessful corn crop, I did manage to produce some of this miniature blue variety. This is a watercolor on vellum stretched over a panel, held in a private collection.

I grew this in my garden, and even though the climate isn’t perfect for this dent corn, it did produce about a half dozen good ears! Held in a private collection.

Pulled up from my garden, these are painted in watercolor on Kelmscott vellum. Held in a private collection.

After seeing some photos of this corn over the last few years, I finally tracked down some seed and have been growing it that last few years. Our Hudson Valley season isn’t quite long enough, but I did manage to get some ripe ears toward the beginning of October. Each ear is different and all are painting-worthy! This was for the exhibition Journey of Plants in the Netherlands. Held in a private collection.

With potatoes, most of the action happens underground. I grew these over the winter in a big pot so I could paint the developing potatoes and their roots. What a surprise when they were revealed! Part of my ‘Unearthed’ series. Originally shown in the Journey of Plants exhibition in Eelde, Netherlands. A step-by-step is included in our Botanical Art Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide, published by Timber Press. Private collection.

This is a miniature pomegranate that is found growing in several locations at Filoli in Woodside, California. I like to call it Pom-Tiny.

This painting was made for the exhibition Journey of Plants in the Netherlands. These hops are cultivated in the Hudson Valley by Arrowood Farms.

watercolor on vellum

With fruit trees, at a certain stage there are so many fruits it’s hard to believe. So many plums are hanging onto the branches they look like bunches of grapes. But don’t wait too long - within a few short weeks they dwindle, then are gone - either they’re picked, critters get them, or they fall. This lone plum, very ripe, was left hanging on the branch, late in the season.

This volunteer became visible after the roses died back. It’s punched with a belt punch and laced onto the backing with linen thread. Watercolor on vellum.

This subject was found in Lima, Peru, and it was exciting to see this tiny pink pineapple, with leaves and stem.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden grew these monster artichokes. When the breeze kicked up, they launched their seeds and they floated off.

A student in one of my classes brought me this heirloom tomato to paint, and I’ll admit for a while, I didn’t know whether to like it or not! But after looking at it for about three days, it began to remind me of glassworks, hence the painting’s name.

Paw paw is a fruit whose time has come. A native tree of North America’s eastern states, it’s the northernmost member of a tropical tree family that includes the soursop. The fruits are delicious, but because they’re very delicate they fell out of our ship-from-coast-to-coast-and-beyond food system. Now with food being grown closer to home, these can be found in farmer’s markets and other local food sellers and restaurants.

In the summer up and down the Hudson Valley, farms are where it happens! When in the field, I find myself pickin’ and grinnin’.

The Hudson Valley is filled with orchards, and those orchards are replete with apples in September through November. This is one of my favorite apples for eating and baking.

watercolor on vellum over panel

watercolor on vellum over panel

One of our most beautiful trees, these fruits can be hard to get at because the trees are so tall. Whatever you do, don’t eat the fruit before it is over-ripe! You won’t forget it.

You can find these variegated lemon trees in the New York Botanical Garden’s conservatory. Underneath the skin of those striped fruits, are pink lemons.

Citrus limon ‘Eureka’ 20-3/4 x 15-3/4

I found this nice clump of brilliant blue hepatica early in the spring at the Ramshorn-Livingston Nature Sanctuary. They had pushed their way out of a pile of decaying leaves and created a splash of color hard to miss in the April afternoon.

There’s so much going on underground with this native Asarum canadense. Flowers are pollinated early in the spring by flies, and they hide right on the ground, under the umbrella of leaves. (Sold)

My brother and husband found this little gem on a hike. It was a very unusual microlandscape of fungus, moss, and lichens.

Studied at Cooper Lake in the Catskills, watercolor on Kelmscott vellum. This painting traveled to the Netherlands for inclusion in an exhibition at the Museum de Zwarte Tulp in Lisse, ‘Plants of the Pilgrims’, examining the early exchange of plants between North America and Europe. (Sold)

This brilliantly colored oak was a challenge to capture - as it dried up the leaves kept curling more and more. I had to pick a time and stick with it.

Monotropa uniflora, studied at Eagle Hill in Maine, watercolor on vellum over panel (Sold)

Every year when these pop out of the ground, that white sheath comes up first, and it is so unusual. Finally this year I was able to catch it at the exact right time. Part of my ‘Unearthed’ series.

watercolor on vellum over panel (sold)

This native tree has some of the most interesting flowers you’ll ever see. It’s the northernmost member of a family of tropical trees that includes cherimoya and soursop.

Arguably the most delicious wild mushrooms, its a very exciting thing to find chanterelles. Painted near Cuba NY, watercolor on vellum. (Sold)

Shown here are ripening fruits on a pawpaw tree. The fruit is coming back into favor, one of our most delicious native fruits.

You have to be fast to get these delicious nuts before any one of the critters that wait until they are ripe to spirit them away. (Sold)

Commissioned by Isaac Sutton, this is a dogwood from his front yard. It is a cultivar of Cornus florida. (Sold)

Lilium philadelphicum, found near Eagle Hill in Maine, near Schoodic Bay. These flowers are so brilliant they seem to be florescent spots in green meadows. (Sold)

watercolor on vellum (Sold)

Painted at Eagle Hill in Maine, watercolor on vellum over panel. (Sold)

Painted at Hollengold Farm in Accord, NY, watercolor on vellum over panel. (Sold)

A ground shot studied near Peekamoose Road in the Catskills. (Sold)

The North Carolina Botanical Garden has a fabulous bog plant display, and I taught a class there last summer. I was able to make studies of these striking specimens while there and completed the painting at home later on.

I’ve long wanted to paint this tulip, and pulled it up to see the roots. It was so poignant, out of the soil, leaves no longer holding up. Part of my ‘Unearthed’ series. (Sold)

That first breath of spring! (Shirley Sherwood Collection)

Another painting in my unearthed series, I grew these in my garden from seeds from Farmacie Isolde. They are such an unusual color! (Sold)

These incredibly velvety anemones are grown by a family who has been growing anemones for over a hundred years, and its fourth and fifth generations are now cultivating these in their Hudson Valley greenhouses. (Sold)

I found this over at Battenfeld’s last winter, when the longing for color is at its peak. The bright yellow tipped and striped with red brought to mind heirloom tulips. (Sold)

This one sunflower was found in a field of what looked like millions. Sunflowers are very tough and bristly plants but the yellow petals are translucent and sparkle in the sunlight. They start out facing upward, but as they age, the flowers turn around and nod downward. Maybe it’s to protect the seeds, or to let the seeds drop out when ripe. (Sold)

I found this cathedral vine growing over the gate at Quito Botanical Garden in Ecuador. Some day I hope to do a larger painting of this showing some of its fruit. (Sold)

Part of my ‘Unearthed’ series, this little crocus species is from my garden, but native to the Balkans and Turkey. (Sold)

This very interesting and vigorous plant was growing at Chelsea Physic Garden, where I made studies for this painting. It is a watercolor on vellum over panel. According to Nell Jones, Head Gardener, it is Phormium tenax. (In the Shirley Sherwood Collection)

I studied this peony in the rain at the beautiful Inisfree Garden in the Hudson Valley near Millbrook. (Sold)

Studied at the New York Botanical Garden, this is my painting in Out of the Woods, at NYBG until April 22, and traveling with that exhibition through the end of 2019. It has been painted on a piece of Rory McEwen's vellum. My story behind this painting can be found here: http://asba-art.org/article/out-woods-backstory-carol-woodin

Watercolor on vellum

I love having species tulips in my garden, and they do well since they sometimes seed in. This is a watercolor on vellum over panel.

Grown by Filoli in Woodside, CA, this rose was not only massive but very fragrant.

More Battenfeld's Anemones, the life cycle of an anemone flower.

I'd never seen a Banksia in life until seeing this one at Berkeley Botanical Garden in California. You can read the story behind this painting here: http://asba-art.org/article/www-stories-carol-woodin

Dogwoods are some of our loveliest native trees, from buds to blossoms to autumn leaves.

Studies were made in Ecuador of this newly described species.

on Kelmscott vellum.

My work on vellum is usually stretched over prepared board, then shadow-boxed and recessed. The closed-corner frames are built by custom frame builders, and I build the shadow boxes and mounts into the frame.

If you are an orchid hunter, along the way you get many maps describing how to locate them in remote locations. This map stands out as one of the best!

I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few days at Alfredo Manrique's greenhouse in Lima, Peru, studying this plant. Many other artists made their way to Alfredo's greenhouse and he generously shared his beautifully grown plants with us. 

These studies were made at J & L Orchids in Connecticut. The Dracula orchids only open for a day, so you have to be quick to get all the information you need.

Gluing the back of the gessoed panel to stick down the vellum edge.

This panel was just completed, vellum has been stretched over it and it is drying. This vellum panel was used for my painting of yellow lady's slipper (in the Orchids Gallery).

These studies of the many faces of Paphiopedilum venustum were made from another plant cultivated by Lynn and Bob Wellenstein. This study was used to complete the large painting of the subject you see in the Orchids Gallery.

Photo courtesy Chan Chew Lun, Natural History Publications, Borneo. 

These were done on site at Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia, when I was a botanical artist in residence there.

Some of the plant studies done at Oak Spring Garden Foundation during my residency there. Two peonies on the left, and a purple kohlrabi on the right.

This is one of two paintings created for the Grootbos Florilegium project in South Africa. It is a native orchid, and included with it are three restio species, a yellow parasite wrapped around the restios on the left, and another plant growing nearby.

In spite of a year of covid restrictions, Carol was lucky enough to participate in the Grootbos Florilegium project in late 2021. Part of an international group of artists who were invited to South Africa to capture some of its spectacular native flora, she was able to spend time in the field and studio studying the flora alongside their associated pollinators and insects. The project has been well advanced by South African artists who have captured nearly 100 beautiful subjects. A book will be published in 2022 to help raise awareness of this rare and unique flora.

I’m fortunate enough to have had two paintings in the exhibition at Kew, The Shirley Sherwood Collection: Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art (see my blog post). This exhibition was on view through March 15, and my painting of Phragmipedium kovachii was on the window at the gallery (above)! On view March 21 - June 21, 2020, my painting of Nuphar lutea was included in an exhibition 400 Years of the Mayflower - Plants of the Pilgrims, in Lisse, the Netherlands at the Museum de Zwarte Tulp. This is a great topic and I’m looking forward to seeing the exhibition in April.

One of my charges this year is to paint this Nuphar, a native plant that grows in shallows of open water. There was only one way to make studies of this, and that was from a kayak that a friend loaned me. It was a glorious summer day, and one of the most memorable of the summer.

Another exciting project was working with Tanya Marcuse in making a pen and ink key for one of her very large photographs. This photo is part of her project called “Woven”, and the amazing photos she’s made are hanging at the George Eastman House through January: https://www.eastman.org/tanya-marcuse-woven.

This exhibition, held at such a fascinating museum, featured 10 works by each of 7 artists from around the world -Beverly Allen (Australia), Helen Allen (UK), Mieko, Ishikawa (Japan), Jee-yeon Koo (Korea), Vicki Thomas (South Africa), Anita Walsmit Sachs (the Netherlands), and Carol Woodin (US). It was thrilling to participate in the project to explore how plants have moved around the world and become part of our daily lives. Thank you to Director Patty Wageman for her energy and creativity in making it all happen, and to Anita Walsmit Sachs, for serving as guest curator.

Several exciting exhibitions happened in 2018. The first one to open was Down Under II at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew, in which my painting of Phormium tenax was included March 31 - September 16). The second to open is Botanical Art Worldwide: America's Flora, at the United States Botanic Garden. My painting of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens is one of the 46 artworks in that show, which will travel the country after its close at the US Botanic Garden - now at the Missouri Botanical Garden through May, 2019. And the third is the very exciting project, Journey of Plants, to which each artist contributed 10 artworks based on how plants move around the world and become so familiar we lose track of where they've come from. This exhibition took place at the Museum de Buitenplaats in the Netherlands. Special thanks to Anita Walsmit-Sachs for the idea for the show, and for asking me to participate, and Patty Wageman, Director of the Museum. This exhibition was on view from September 16 through January 9, 2019

In 2017 I taught several workshops in watercolor on vellum. The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California organized a 3-day workshop at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA and we painted orchids from their collection.

In May, I taught two workshops on painting roses back-to-back, first at Brookside Gardens, then at the United States Botanic Garden. Each Garden cut roses in the mornings for students to use, and some students took both of the courses so had four full days to work on their roses.

In 2017, my work was included in several exhibitions. First was an exhibition at Fairchild Garden curated by the American Orchid Society, Orchids through the Artists' Eyes. Over the summer,  Susan Frei Nathan Fine Works on Paper mounted an exhibition at Pamela Lerner Gallery, called An Interior Garden.

Currently on view are two ASBA exhibitions, the 20th Annual International at the New York Design Center (on through December 21) and Out of the Woods, the Third New York Botanical Garden Triennial featuring artworks from 40 artists from around the world. Out of the Woods celebrates trees from public gardens, is on view through April 22, 2018, and will travel through late 2019. My painting is of a yellow magnolia, which I studied at the New York Botanical Garden.

In 2017, Slipper Orchids of the Tropical Americas was at long last published. Authored by Phillip Cribb and Christopher Purver, most color plates are mine, alongside pen and ink drawings mainly done by Judy Stone and Paul Harwood. My first plate for this book was probably done around 1993, and during the ensuing years, many dramatic discoveries were made in the genera included in the book. I traveled to Ecuador and Peru several times to document some of these orchids, and worked with many growers in the US, mainly Lynn and Bob Wellenstein, but also Lou Hegedus, Jerry Fischer, Glen Decker, Barb Tischerman, Tom and Margie Kohler, and Joe Kunisch. The fantastic Phragmipedium featured on the cover was grown by Alfredo Manrique, who was very kind in assisting artists who came to his greenhouse in Lima, Peru, to document this dramatic discovery. The book is a joint publication by Natural History Publications, Borneo, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Orchid Digest Corporation. To obtain your very own copy of this limited edition: https://www.castlepress.net/orchids

In 2016, my teaching schedule was very busy! From one corner of the country to the other, artists want to learn about painting on vellum. In Maine at Eagle Hill, I taught a week-long workshop. This is a great opportunity to go out into the field in the forests and along the seashores of Maine. Then we put in lots of studio hours working on native plants. The course coincided with an exhibition in which six of my paintings were included: Diaries of the Wild at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. The US Botanic Garden held a class in painting orchids on vellum in May, and we were able to use some of the fantastic orchids in their collection as subjects. 

Exhibitions highlights in 2016 included the show pictured, Outside In-Contemporary Natural History Works at Arader Galleries in San Francisco, CA. The show included works from me, Francesca Anderson, Monika deVries Gohlke, Jean Emmons, Ingrid Finnan, Asuka Hishiki, and Catherine Watters.

In the summer, Diaries of the Wild was on view in Boothbay, ME at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, and my work was also included in ASBA's 19th Annual International at the New York Design Center, 200 Lex.

In early June, three botanical artists (me, Francesca Anderson, Monika deVries Gohlke) were featured at the Met Cloisters' Garden Days. We talked about and demonstrated our very different techniques and outlooks in our work, from my watercolors on vellum, to Monika's etchings, and Francesca's pen and ink drawings. The Met Cloisters is an amazing museum with an incredible collection of early manuscripts, many of them on vellum.