Orchid Art: Painting Paphiopedium Ooii

ORCHID ART

Paintine PnphiopediluVn ooii Botanical artist DaNrnr'W'rr-rremS relates his first encounters with orchids in the wild tIII-E (ILAIItsERING

right). I could hardlv have anticipated that I woulcl see this very rare orchicl just a f-ew months after discussing coelogrnes at the Roval Botanic Garclens, Keu', rvith Ducller. Clawon, an acknowledged expert on the genus.

up the seen-ringlv neverencling steps that u.incl

their way up thc slopes ofAlount Kinabalu in 200-{, I encounterecl the alien-like fbrm of the pitcher plant Nepenthes a illosa lor thc very first tinrc. Growingbesitlr it was aplant of Coelog,ne pdpillosa (below

Neither coulcl I

ha','e fbreseer-r

I rvould have the opporruniw

that

of

photographing this beautiful orchicl in its natural habitat in Bornco.

I became fimiliar with

pre sen'cd

orchid samples at Kew while I w as lllustr ating V a n i /Ia intperitlis, and now I could trulv appreciate the plant fbrms

within the surrounding vegetatlon. The u.av the plants appeared to be enrwinecl ancl growing toge the r gave me a true f-eeling ofwoncler at their beauw. 'Whilc marvclling at their sl-rapes ancl strucrure, I thought that it would be worthwhile to document the plants accurately in as much cletail as possible.'l'he possibiliw of joining an cxpedition to Rorneo in searcl-r of such plants (mv original intention) had just beg;ur.r to be realiscd. Ir-r what has become a kcv f-eature rluring nl artistic carccr. mv hr:t impressions of a plant have a lzrsting

Right: iVepenffes villosa and Coelogyne

papillosa growing

together in Borneo j-i.. i.;'\r'i..

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Paphiopedilum 'Clair de Lune'

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qualiw. Frcqucntlv, mv choice of subject is instinctive and occurs with a certain level of immediacv, bcing hugelv in{luenced bv shape, colour and pattcrn. The combinirtiorr oi

Pttph iopedi lu nt roth-rc h i ldi a n u nt

the Coelog,ne pdpillo-nt ttxl tl-rc 1-ritchcr

oirvhich were paphiopeclilums. Mv

plant Nepcntlxs z,///o.n/l'(cJlttc (,rtc ()i the first works to lcrtrttrt itt rtt\'\r'rir'\. Orchicls of Mount Kinabrtlu. Bornco. Both plants appcaretl tionr thr clcnse undergrou'th nhr.tost cnru ir.tccl in onc another an(l thc clrau ing took on an OrganiC ronrll, )ril i,,rr r( l)rc\rr)tittj\ c

hrst atten-rpt to

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within

the cagecl confines ofthe nurserv, Alim Buin, the Sabah Parks Assistant Research Officer, drew my attention

to numcrous orchicl species, manv see

P rotbscbildianutn

sevelal davs befbre in the blisterir.rg heat while wading up I-racl lree r-r

balance befwccn the paintecl areas

been stripped

ofits valuable orchicl.

Close to aplanr o{ Paphioltedilunt rothschildianntn in tlrc l\lorrrrtain

Garden Nurseries was

of Pd1:hiopedi/un ooii, namerl in

artcl

Plt !,u

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he rr k i na ba I ue ns i s agai

nrt

A host of paphiopedilurns a

visit t() the trlountain

(]arclen Nurseries to see the legenclarv .lune ZOOS

singlc plant

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and the surrouncling'negative' space. Some time later I fbund out,

during an exhibition and following a telephone call fiom David Roberts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, that I hacl become the first person to pinr P,tphiopedi/um ooii.Thc painting is r-row in the Kew collection.

A lasting irnpression C)rchitls of Mount Kinabalu still l-rol
tl-reir fhscinatior-r for me . The

clocur-ne

ntation of these plants led to

nrr. scconcl painting of Paph iopedi hm

in2O06,

ooii

\7ith

thc backgrountl vegctation. Climbing lVlount Kinabalu was the culmination of a trip to the Bornean rainforest in search ofthe most eyccatching plants I have ever seen. 'fhe ciimb itselfu'as a harcl two day walk in some of the most beautiful scenery I have experiencecl. From the Kinabalu Park Headquarters, I spent many davs both befbre and aftcr the climb, exploring the surrouncling area. The whole zone is a huge resource that an artist coulcl onlv dream of.

During

a

tlocumcntltion

thc rrssistlrncc of the 1-rorticulturist -lirnv I-irrnb ancl botanical ath isor belbrc rhr :r\r cnt. .lll( I tltltt.,,itttr guide Yuslie, idcntih'rng tl.rr: plitnts was made easier. \'uslie also hclpcti me to spot the green orchicl

ofthe viewer and create

eye

dcpenclable Alin-r. Llnfortunatcly, rve cliscoverecl that the site had

I)Lrrins thr ;rrccnt oiX'Iount Kinabalu \\'t' p.l:\ccl tl-rrou.eh several distinct topoeraphicrrl bor.rndaries. I was constanth'amazecl at the trees draped rvith magnifi cent epiphvtic orchids of manvvarieties, some ofwhich appearecl like lime-green f-eathers suspended from the tmnks and branchcs. During this slow progress, oicecl-r orchicl rvas unclcrtakcn.

to show the way that the flowering stem meandered upwards, as well as the distinctive markings of each plant. As with all my art works the composition is of utmost importance, using thc stmcture ol the leaves, stems and flowers to draw in the

the Penataran river with the ever-

Other orchids onthe clirnb

..rrrlul :clcctitrn

aimost bleaching the colour from the flowers. lrVith P lou.ti i, I wanted

zrnd an

Coe logt' n e ra di oTQrers.

ink drawing of Further orchid

clrarvings ancl paintings have fbllowed,

includine honour <>f \licl-racl ()oi. r -\lrrlavsian orchirl cnthurilrst. crrrirrcnr gros'cr iln(l o\\'ne r {)lrl thrir ing orclticl nLlr\cn. ]-ittlc rlitl I knou thcn thc signrhcencr thet rbis singlc. r'cn rarc plrrnt t rlrkl holcl tirr me. It harcl onc spikc

rrith thrcc rullv openccl flos-crs

I;une.

a

P,r2lr

iopediltm Clair cle

/,1'wpetalum hybrid, arnd one

oi rrrl orirr orchids, Brassia aerucosa, ilIr-tong a r-rumbe r of othe r works. The experience has led to a deep interest ir-r orchids, and I recently bccirme a rnember of the Bristol and \\'cst oi Lneland Orchid Socien .

irnrl I bcgan to trtkc photographs of

it, alor.rg rr ith P.tpl-,iopedi/unt lotuii. Nh'introchrctir)n to thc cndemic P. ooii and P. loi;'ii, the latter named after Sir I Iueh Lorv, one oithe first peoplc to cxplore -r\Iount Kinabalu, culmir-ratccl in a pair of paintings basecl on mv notes and photographs and completed in the studio on mv return to the United Kingclom. I produced paintings ofboth plants in bloom, revelling in thc

ondcrlirl shapes and Iuntriotts colours. I attemptecl to capturc the effect of light on Paphiol:edilunt ooii.

DA\IEL WILLIAMS l, u Uot.n;J rrtist and designer. Ior more. visi( his website, wtllw.danielwilliams.c0.uk

The author rvoukl likc to thank Phillip Cribb, Philip Seaton, tr'lichael Ooi, r\nthonv Lamb, AIinr Iluin and Richartl Kellen.

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