Join us at the Emerald Tablet for an exhibition of Della Heywood’s Botanica Magica paintings. Conceived in ink, pastel and watercolor, these beautiful works on paper are inspired by the mysteries and eccentricities of natural plant forms; flowing, twisting, tangling, concealing, erupting with color, creating shadows and shelter in their depths. They are nature imagined by an artist who has lived close to the earth for decades, seeding, gardening, harvesting plants of all varieties, and learning their secrets.

Often Della uses water to help facilitate the flow of paint or ink, causing delicate gradations which can then be accentuated by intense color in the form of pure pigment sticks. Some works can appear Asian influenced, but this is because the artist has approached the creation of each piece much like a Sumi-e ink painting. In this manner of painting, the artist brings herself into a meditative state, focusing her being on each new sheet of paper and with brush in hand, at the moment of awareness, makes the first stroke with a brush loaded with water. The next stroke is made with a brush loaded with black ink, which meets the water stroke in places, flowing softly into it and carrying the ink into fantastic forms and soft gradations of gray. Once this ink painting has dried, Della imagines into it, seeking out the forms she wishes to accentuate and reveal. The process can take a several hours or several months, depending on the complexity of the piece.

Don’t miss this unusual exhibition, on view through the month of May 2012.
Visit http://dellaheywood.com to see more images.