2023 is a busy year

Teaching

It seems the world is geared back up again! Carol has taught live workshops in painting orchids at the New York Botanical Garden and at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. In August, she’ll be teaching Farm Fresh Painting at Denver Botanic Gardens, getting our subjects from their Chatfield Farms and painting in watercolor on vellum. In October, she will be co-teaching a week-long course in South Africa, at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, in conjunction with the Grootbos Florilegium. She’ll be teaching a one-day workshop at the ASBA annual conference in Mobile, Alabama in mid-October.

Artist in Residence

In May, Carol spent three weeks in residence at Oak Spring Garden Foundation, in Upperville, VA, along with Jean Emmons and two artists from Australia, Beverly Allen and John Pastoriza-Pinol. There were so many great subjects, narrowing it down was the most difficult part. The library provided many opportunities to look at masterpieces from the distant and not-so distant past. Opportunities to join artists and others over fabulous meals by Jason and Alex were memorable, as were talks by visiting scholars and other residents. Meadows rang with birdsong and the farm was busy and filled with inspiration. Oak Spring staff everywhere were helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. Each of us found our favorite plants, and some of my studies are shown below. I plan to paint the kohlrabi for my submission to the Oak Spring library.

Carol Woodin chosen as an Artist-in-Residence at the Catskill Center in July.

The Catskill Center has selected artists for residencies at its Catskill Mountains cabin, located in a clove where Asher Durand and Thomas Cole found inspiration. Thomas Cole described the location to poet Willian Cullen Bryant as a ‘delicate morsel’. The Residency program is designed as a retreat for artists working in a variety of disciplines, and is nestled among steep ravines, waterfalls, and rocky cliffs. Carol’s project will be devoted to lichens, mosses, and fungi.

Journey of Plants opens soon in Eelde, Netherlands

At long last, all 10 of my paintings have been shipped to the Netherlands for the exhibition Journey of Plants, opening at the Museum De Buitenplaats on September 16, and traveling after its close there in January. Stellar artist figures Anita Walsmit Sachs (an organizer of the exhibition), Beverly Allen (Australia), Helen Allen (UK), Mieko Ishikawa (Japan), Jee Yeon Koo (Korea), and Vicki Thomas (South Africa) have each created 10 works for the exhibition, which examines how plants become very familiar to us and seem to be our own, even though they have come from somewhere else. And a part of the story is about the plants that don't travel all so well. My 3 focus paintings are: Glass Gem corn, purple potatoes, and vanilla orchid. The other 7 are hops, sunflower, banksia, 2 paintings of North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba),  three-birds orchid, and purple fringed orchid. I'll report from the show once it's open! Thank you to Patty Wageman, Museum Director, and all the staff at Museum De Buitenplaats!

I studied this sunflower last summer at Arrowood Farms in Accord, NY. The field was filled with what seemed like a million sunflowers, but I had to choose just one!

Some of the sunflowers at Arrowood Farms last year! Thank you Let, Blake, and Jake for the great subjects!

The first shipment of 8 paintings being readied for shipping to the Netherlands.

Down Under II at Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew

A couple of new exhibitions will open soon at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew, devoted to Australian and New Zealand plants. One will include selections from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney's Florilegium. The second will feature artworks from Shirley Sherwood's collection, illustrating plants from New Zealand and Australia. This second show, called "Down Under II" will include my painting of Phormium tenax, which I  studied at Chelsea Physic Garden several years ago. This was a huge and vigorous specimen, and with its bronze-y seed pods was a real knockout.  The two exhibitions run from March 31 to September 16. See more info on Kew's website here.

Phormium tenax, New Zealand Flax, watercolor on vellum over panel, ©Carol Woodin

Work begins for the 2018 exhibition in the Netherlands "Journey of Plants"

 Painting for Journey of Plants - Museum De Buitenplaats, Netherlands

Each artist in the exhibition has selected 10 plants as their contribution toward the exhibition. These should illustrate how plants have traveled around the world, and some may be things that are special to you right where you live. I've chosen:

• Sunflower - Helianthus annuus
• Blueberries - Vaccinium corymbosum
• Potatoes - Solanum tuberosum
• Corn - Zea mays
• Vanilla - Vanilla planifolia
• Hops - Humulus lupulus
• Three-birds Orchid - Triphora trianthophora
• Twisted Trillium - Trillium stamineum
• Paw Paw - Asimina triloba
• Ram's Head Lady's Slipper - Cypripedium arietinum

This is the start of my Vanilla orchid painting on a piece of Rory McEwen's vellum. It was studied at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA with the help of Brandon Tam. Artists included are Beverly Allen, Australia; Helen Allen, UK; Mieko Ishikawa, Japan; Jee-Yeon Koo, Korea; Vicky Thomas, South Africa, Anita Walsmit-Sachs, Netherlands, and myself, representing the Americas.