Yep. I painted this with a toothpick.
I’ve just added a brand NEW botanical inspired watercolour painting tutorial to my online painting classes. The artwork is based on a Coolamon tree, a rare, subtropical rainforest tree endemic to my area. But there’s a bit of a back story to how this artwork came about. So I thought I’d give you a little botany education along with my usual online painting classes.
Here’s the backstory:
I was out walking along a headland trail near my home last year and spotted an unusual tree with pink, fluffy flowers sprouting all the way up the trunk. It was if someone had wrapped the trunk in a bright pink shagpile carpet.
After 3 days of googling botanical terms like “cauliflory” (where flower and fruit form on the main stems or woody trunks rather than from new growth and shoots) and “panicles” (multi-branched flowers) to narrow down my search, I eventually worked out the tree was…..drumroll…..a Coolamon (Syzygium Moorei), a rare subtropical rainforest tree, endemic to my local area!
A Coolamon tree photographed by Jimmy Turner
But the challenge was, how do I paint these tightly packed, pink fluffy flowers! I left that challenge sitting in my head for some time and I never did much more about it.
Until….
A few months back I was approached by an Australian landscape architecture company to run a private watercolour class to celebrate their 50th year in business. They had 300 staff coming to my local area for the celebration and I knew the Coolamon tree would be a perfect subject. Rare, endemic and a threatened species, use by First Nation people and with a good chance of being in flower when the architects visited. Perfect! But how could I simplify this complex tree into a quick watercolour artwork suitable for a large class of beginners?
The answer came in the form of a humble toothpick!
The toothpick (or any sharp, pointy object) is what takes this artwork from “challenging” to “easy”. And I am thrilled with the results.
I filmed this artwork as a watercolour tutorial and I’ve just uploaded it to the Artory Academy in the “beginner” section (not a member? Find out more about my Artory Academy here)
As always, happy painting!
Anne x