Yuan-Yuan (Chrissie) Chen, 林元元

Before moving on to my last piece—a required dry subject—I want to reflect on adjustments I made to my Rose Hip painting in neutral tint after receiving my instructor’s feedback. I began watercolor as a hobby without formal training, taking various online courses during the COVID-19 period. These often involved tracing reference images provided by artists, which helped me recognize values, hues, and shadows during the painting process. However, this approach had drawbacks—such as in this Rose Hip painting, where the instructor had digitally manipulated the reference photo (which I wasn’t initially aware of). As a result, I mistakenly tried to match my painting to the altered image while learning the dry-brush technique. Interestingly, the dry-brush technique in botanical art differs from what I previously learned in standard watercolor painting. Traditionally, it’s used for textures or reflections with a nearly dry brush loaded with pigment. In botanical art, however, the brush is slightly wetter, what I’d call a semi-dry or damp-dry technique—making water control more challenging. It reminds me of pointillism (invented by Georges Seurat), where tiny strokes build up form and depth. A key lesson from NYBG’s botanical art instructors is to “paint what you know, not just what you see.” Botanical art prioritizes accuracy from life rather than reference photos, which can distort true colors and lighting. In my initial painting, I left areas too bright, prompting my instructor’s comments: “Kill the white here—it competes with the highlight,” (purple box) and “Close down the highlight, then adjust the reflected light” (green box). The second image shows my original version, while the first displays my corrected painting after addressing these critiques. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my revision! #botanicalart #watercolorbotanicals #botanicalillustration #floralwatercolor #plantillustration #wildflowerpainting #botanicalwatercolor #watercolorflora

Botanical Watercolor I: Rose Hip in Neutral Tint with Dry-Brush Technique

If you've noticed fewer posts of my art works lately, it's because I’ve been immersed in NYBG’s Botanical Watercolor I course, dedicating most of my time to final project assignments.

18.03.2025 00:10 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

For the 'Internet Tools for Creatives' course that I am taking at NYBG from @alajamie, I learned some techniques of using iPhone 'Photo' and 'Portrait' modes to capture the beauty of lily magnolia flowers from different angeles and perspectives. Have you noticed that the upper middle image looks familiar? It is because you can find on my previous post this watercolor painting I added to my perpetual nature journal recently. Do you like to see these images together or separately? Please leave your comment. Thanks! #naturebeauty #naturephotography #magnolia #magnolialiliflora #lilymagnolia #NYBG #internetmarketingtools #creatives #iphoneportraitmode #iphonephotography #pinkflowers🌸

Lily Magnolia flowers are blooming in Burlingame, CA.

08.03.2025 06:53 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Lily Magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora) Lily Magnolia flowers are blooming so beautifully in my neighborhood, so I am trying to include at least one in my journal before they all fall off. I think that there are a few different species because their colors range from light pink to purple, and their sizes and shapes are also slightly different. Nevertheless, they are all beautiful from the budding stage to full bloom, and even after some of their tepals fall off. Here is an interesting fun fact in case you didn’t know. “The genus name, Magnolia, is in honor of Pierre Magnol, a French botanist from the 17th century. The specific epithet, liliifora, means flower like a lily.” (Source: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/magnolia-liliiflora/) #nature #naturelovers #naturejournaling #naturephotography #perpetualjournal #perpetualnaturejournal #watercolor #watercolorpainting #danielsmithwatercolors #strathmoremixedmedia #wildwonderconference #wildwonder #wildwonderfoundation #laracallgastinger #lgperpetualjournal #botanicalart #botanicalpainting #lgperpetualjournaling #watercolorflower #watercolorfloral #botanicalflowers #magnolia #lilymagnolia #pinkflowers🌸 #magnoliabloom

Lily Magnolia flowers are so beautiful!

Perpetual Nature Journal – Week of Feb 26-Mar 4, Watercolor Painting
Lily Magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora)

04.03.2025 12:27 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Lenten-Rose (Helleborus orientalis) I have fallen in love with the Lenten-Rose flowers since I spotted them last year in one of my favorite gardens in my neighborhood. Once again, I saw the flowers blooming along the outside edge of the garden. Then, I sneaked into the inside garden to take photos of a common hazel plant and suddenly noticed there were several shrubs of Lenten-Rose flowers growing below the hazel plant. I thought they looked very nice when they were kind of tangled together. The flowers inside the garden were even more beautiful, so I tried hard to squat down so that I could take photos of the flowers’ faces. It was too hard to choose which flowers I liked because they were all smiling at me. One of these days, I should plant some in my garden! Although I painted the Lenten-Rose flowers before, I learned or refreshed a few facts. 1. All parts of the Lenten-Rose are poisonous. (Wikipedia) 2. What appear to be the colored petals are really sepals. “Five petal-like sepals (a modified calyx) surround a ring of small, yellowish-green, tubular, nectaries in an open, bell shape. The nectaries are actually the petals modified to hold nectar. Inside the ring of petals there are numerous stamens and several pistils. After the flower is pollinated the petals and stamens fall off but the sepals do not drop, remaining on the plant for 1-2 months or more (probably contributing to seed development).” (Source: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/lenten-rose-helleborus-xhybridus/) P.S. I just realized that the scanner didn’t capture the true colors of the sepals. I painted with Daniel Smith’s Carbazole Violet and Quinacridone Red, but the sepals look more pink than purple.

#nature #naturelovers #naturejournaling #naturephotography #perpetualjournal #perpetualnaturejournal #watercolor #watercolorpainting #danielsmithwatercolors #strathmoremixedmedia #wildwonderconference #wildwonder #wildwonderfoundation #laracallgastinger #lgperpetualjournal #botanicalart #botanicalpainting #lgperpetualjournaling #lentenrose #helleborus #botanicalflowers

Lenten-Rose flowers in full bloom

Perpetual Nature Journal – Week of Feb 12-18, Watercolor Painting

24.02.2025 21:19 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

This is very cute!👍

23.02.2025 21:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

The idea of painting rose hips came to me when I saw an ASBA artist’s botanical painting of rose hips in her garden. Although I have been wanting to collect rose hips in my garden since I started doing natural journaling, I keep forgetting every year until I almost ran out of time this year. Then, I thought it would be interesting to dissect the rose hips so that I could paint both the rose hips as well as the inside contents. So, I collected as many rose hips as possible from the rose bushes that are still alive in my garden. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember which rose hips belong to which rose bushes since the flowers were all gone. However, it was so fun to see the inside of a small rose hip that contained two recognizable seeds and possible one or two small ones that were quite young. All the seeds were surrounded with some creamy yellow tissues. So, I was wondering how many seeds each rose hip typically has and if all rose hips contain the same number of seeds. Therefore, I started to research rose hips to find out more information. Can you believe that rose hips are false fruit or pseudo fruit? This was what I learned when I read Lizzie Harper’s Feb 2025 blog. “The red fleshy part of a rosehip is actually just a shell, a hypanthium. Inside the skin of the hypanthium is fleshy tissue, and areas crammed with seeds. Each of these seeds is, in fact, not a seed but a fruit, called an achene Lots of single fruits or achenes. Inside each of these, lies a seed.” “The rosehip is a perfectly designed seed-pod.” At first, I was skeptical, but this was confirmed by Dick Rauh in his Dec 2020’s presentation video that was kindly shared with us by the BAGSC chapter in Southern California. There are also several research articles that stated the same findings. Isn’t this fascinating?

#nature #naturelovers #naturejournaling #naturephotography #perpetualjournal #perpetualnaturejournal #watercolor #watercolorpainting #wildwonderconference #wildwonder #wildwonderfoundation #laracallgastinger #lgperpetualjournaling #rosehip #fruit #seed

Are Rose Hips false fruits?

Can you believe that rose hips are false fruit or pseudo fruit? What is inside a rose hip?

22.02.2025 20:21 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Since mid-January 2025, I have been spending lots of time working on the assignments for the NYBG Watercolor I. Although I have some experience with watercolor painting, botanical watercolor is like a totally different field for me. I knew I had to develop more patience, persistence, and attention to more detail. However, I am trying hard to embrace this different creature that requires me to use smaller brushes and hot press paper, to always start with very light tea wash, and to apply layers after layers of washes for shadows and local colors. In the past, I always enjoyed completing a watercolor painting with wet-on-wet techniques and finishing the painting with very few layers, kind of like the ‘A La Prima’ method whenever I found the opportunity to speed up the process. So, after reviewing the basic color wheel, mixing watercolor, and practicing the flat washes, I finally completed a very challenging and time-consuming botanical painting of three green peppers. #nature #naturelovers #perpetualjournal #perpetualnaturejournal #wildwonderconference #wildwonder #wildwonderfoundation #lgperpetualjournaling #laracallgastinger #lgperpetualjournal #botanicalart #NYBG #botanicalartlovers #botanicalpeppers #greenpeppers #grisailles #botanicalpainting #watercolorpainting

NYBG Botanical Watercolor I – Week 4 Assignment: 8” x 10” watercolor painting, Feb 5, 2025

Three green peppers with three grisailles for the core shadows, that is, 1) botanical gray 2) complementary color – scarlet lake, and 3) split complementary – orange.

16.02.2025 00:03 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Oleander fruit (Nerium oleander) I was always inspired by Lara Gastinger (@laragastinger) whenever she did her IG or Patreon demos of Milkweed seed pods; however, I can’t seem to find them near where I live and have trouble growing them so far. On the other hand, I was so excited to find Oleander seed pods freshly opened this week because they reminded me of the milkweed seed pods. There were so many of them near a side road, so I was able to admire them and took lots of photos. The Oleander seed pod is a long narrow pair of follicles, which split open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds. Unfortunately, Oleander is a poisonous plant, but its bitterness renders it unpalatable to humans and most animals. Prolonged contact with sap may cause skin irritation, eye inflammation and dermatitis. At first, I was going to sketch it with a sepia micron pen. But I already did a sketch of it two years ago. This time, I really want to capture the beautiful yellow and orange colors of the seeds and the creamy-white fluffy, feathery things. So, I decided to paint it in watercolor and mixed Copic Opaque white with a tiny bit of yellow color to highlight the feathery threads. I also found the Michihamono Adjustable Bamboo Paint Brush that Lara was showing in one of her Patreon videos to be a perfect tool for painting the long and thin lines. Maybe one of these days, I will paint the Oleander seed pods in a regular size of painting.

Perpetual Nature Journal – Week of Jan 15-21, Watercolor Painting

Oleander fruit (Nerium oleander)
I was so excited to find Oleander seed pods freshly opened this week because they reminded me of the milkweed seed pods.

24.01.2025 21:34 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

1. Grey-leaved Euryops (Euryops pectinatus) This is a lovely yellow daisy-like composite flower with dense silvery green, hairy leaves and the flower is about 2” in diameter. 2. Amethyst Sea Holly (Eryngium amethystinum) Each flower head is a spherical-cylindrical umbel that is packed with tiny, stemless, violet-blue flowers. #nature #naturelovers #naturejournaling #naturephotography #perpetualjournal #perpetualnaturejournal #watercolor #watercolorpainting #danielsmithwatercolors #strathmoremixedmedia #wildwonderconference #wildwonder #wildwonderfoundation #laracallgastinger #lgperpetualjournal #botanicalart #botanicalpainting #lgperpetualjournaling #watercolorflowers #watercolorfloral #greyleavedeuryops #eryngo #sepia #micronpen #sketching #seahollyflowers #eryngium #flowerdrawing #botanicalart #botanticalsketching

Perpetual Nature Journal – Week of Jan 8-14, Watercolor Painting and Ink Sketching

24.01.2025 04:38 — 👍 12    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0