Botanical Cross-sections

Here are some examples of Botanical Cross-section illustrations to get some inspiration for Wednesday's class. 

Please bring a fruit, vegetable, or even a robust flower specimen to class on Wednesday. We will cut it open and make cross-section illustrations, so think about what looks interesting not only from the outside but also from the inside. Some suggestions would be: lemons, oranges, pomegranates, kiwis, bell-peppers, lilies, fennel, etc... Or see the examples below for ideas. 

Specimens are most interesting when you can have as many parts of the plant as possible. Sometimes if you go to a farmer's market or Biomarkt you can find a fruit with a few leaves attached. Or even better, take something from your own garden!

 Here are a few historical examples:

Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770)

William Hooker (1779 – 1832)

Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775 – 1840)

 Examples of Botanical Cross-sections from the Botanical Drawing Workshop:

Botanical Drawing Student Work: Summer 2015 - PART II

While preparing for the upcoming Botanical Drawing Workshop, I realized that I never posted the work from the last class in September 2015. Even though this post is belated, it is truly worth displaying this work. 

Also, we have been offered an exhibition at the Prinzessinnengarten of work from the Botanical Drawing Workshop! More news on that coming soon. 

During the workshop we painted from trees in the Prinzessinnengarten, succulents, medicinal plants, flowering plants, and more... The subjects depend very much on the season and availability. We also made pressings in the style of Herbarium sheets from local Kreuzberg weeds. 

Venice Printmaking: Leaked Prints

I recently spent the month of April in Venice as an artist in residence at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. I explored several mono printing techniques, including collagraph, embossing and watercolor monotype. 

At the end of the residency, I had an exhibition of my work titled "Leaked Prints." See the press release below. 

Here are a couple of short video clips revealing parts of the process I developed in order to create "Leaked Prints."

"Leaked Prints"

The Scuola Gallery is pleased to present prints and works on paper by current artist in residence Mira O’Brien. 

Headlines announcing leaked albums, data, papers, etc… ask us to imagine content as contained liquid vulnerable to leaks, spills and breaches. Such leaks are therefore inevitable, as no system is fully resistant to the insidiousness of a constant trickle or a changing tide. Rigidity is subject to corrosion and solid forms are unstable in this fluid circumstance.

“Leaked Prints” reveals a process that embraces chance within an entropic system. Contrary to the traditional aim of printmaking to produce multiples, these monotypes cannot be duplicated. Traces of linear forms swim through a murky watercolor architecture, whose geometric forms are embossed and degraded through a process that cannot be reversed.

Reception in the Gallery: Friday, April 22, 6pm
Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Venezia
Calle del Cristo 1798, 30121 Venice, Italy