© boshua Bohumil KOSTOHYRZ

Dipl. Fine Art - Cape Technikon - Cape Town (ZA)
M.A. Art History - Frankfurt University (D)
Member: Cercle Artistique Luxembourg (L) :: Botanical Artist's
Association of South Africa (ZA) :: Filoli Artist Registry (USA)

'Art and the Environment'
Featured May 2018 in London-based blog: Fabulous Fabsters
www.fabulousfabsters.com/sally-arnold-art-environment/

The verdant slopes of the Amathola mountains, Eastern Cape, and vast dry expanses of the Great Karoo were childhood inspirations urging me to draw, model and paint. Above our farm garden-oasis a vast crystalline blue sky sometimes bursting with an indigo, cumulus-headed thunderstorm added spectacular drama. Dusty earth and shimmering skies - what a scene to begin with!

Nature's forms and vibrating colours are my guides. Specifically the powerful sculptural qualities of a blossom or plant. Drawing artistic attention to exquisite symbols of our own, transient, presence on earth bolsters knowledge of nature in the face of increasing human exploitation .



I focus on rare, often endangered flowers living on our planet, magnifying fascinating details of tiny blossoms. Aided by photographs, I portray these on canvas in translucent oil glazes or on paper in watercolour + powdery coloured pencil. I love thick, luxurious, handcrafted paper or fine linen canvas made in the traditional mills  of Europe. Using pure, organic materials, cured by natural drying processes, painted oil surfaces develop a wonderful, supple luminance which resists crackling. Varnishes are satin/matt or dammar/glossy. Preferred art suppliers: Arches, Bockingford, Fabriano, Fontenay, Maimeri Classico,  Scheveningen Old Classic, Schminke and Sennelier. For pencil drawings: Faber Castell and Caran d'Ache

My work is artisanal, using the very best materials, and strives for technical mastery. Current drawings investigate the movement of plants and blossoms, and the hidden language of plants.*

CONTACT for bespoke flower portraits (sizes to order) and LICENSING AGREEMENTS

* 'Art as a tool of memory': A work of art becomes valuable, the more that what we're capturing, and memorializing, is significant. The more significant and fragile it is, the more it grows in our hearts ... Art stores hope .... ~Alain de Botton

' ... flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers .... would become like messengers from another realm ...' ~ Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

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