About the Artist

Initially trained in abstraction and color, Emmons came to botanical art through a love of gardening and a career in horticultural book and magazine illustration. Plants afford her the perfect subject matter for studying light on form. Their reflective and iridescent qualities are always a challenge.

“I work from life when I can. Preferably, a plant I’ve grown for a long time. My technique is based on medieval manuscript illumination on vellum. Though a rigorous watercolor method, it’s an excellent way to suggest light moving through layers of plant tissue. I enjoy using multiple layers of underpainting in unusual colors. The challenge for me is to pull it all back together after I’ve created chaos. So many layers of translucent washes and drybrush are needed. Many of these layers end up covered up. Yet, I feel the layers lend a richness to my paintings that I hope people can sense, even if they can’t always see it.

“The best qualifications to become a botanical artist are to learn to be good at drawing and good at gardening. Good paintings happen when an artist can grow a plant and observe it over many seasons, becoming familiar it, its life cycle, its pollinators.

“Botanical painting is time consuming and technically difficult. The paintings can take years, as plants come in and out of bloom. I spend many hours staring at a plant from about 2 inches away. Yet, I find watching changing light on a changing plant so restorative.  Where I used to use 5 or 6 layers of paint, now I use 40 or 50. The work is obsessional. It’s hard to get to a point where I can say, I’m done!”

Emmons has won many awards including two Gold Medals and a “Best Painting in Show” from the Royal Horticultural Society, London. Also, the prestigious Diane Bouchier Founders Award for Excellence in Botanical Art given by the American Society of Botanical Artists.

She has exhibited at the Smithsonian; the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; the Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library; the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation; the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; the New York Botanical Garden; Wave Hill, the United States Botanic Garden and the Horticultural Society of New York.

Recent awards include the Jurors’ Award at the 20th Botanical Art Exhibition at Filoli and “Best in Show” at the American Society of Botanical Artists 21st International Exhibition, Wave Hill.

Her work is included in numerous collections including the Shirley Sherwood Collection, Kew; the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library; the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation; and the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection.

When not painting, Emmons spends her days gardening and walking the trails of Vashon Island, Washington State.  She volunteers at Vashon Island Pet Protectors.

If you’d like additional information, please email me at info@jeanemmons.com.