One of the core motives here at Little Sphaeroid Press is to actively engage artists in the production of professional new illustrations for our books. That's why we've commissioned new works from three South African botanical artists to illustrate Steve Hammer's new book on The Titanopsis Group.
We have long admired the tradition of botanical watercolor as a means of communicating the salient details of a plant—roots, flowers, leaves in various stages of growth and decay—in a single image that photos fail to capture. Out hope had been to commission one new botanical watercolor for each genus covered in our monumental new series on the Mesembs, and so far we’re on track to reach that goal. Of the nine genera to be covered in our book on the Titanopsis group, we have commissioned six new paintings from three of South Africa’s best plant illustrators. Another painting, of Nananthus, will be selected form the excellent 1920s watercolors of Mary Page housed at the Bolus Herbarium in Cape Town.
Herewith, a little information about each of our artists and some samples of their work.
Janet Snyman details life with clarity
We approached Janet Snyman at the urging of Gerhard Marx, who told us her botanical paintings were really the best he’s seen—no small complement from such a well known botanical artist. Janet works in an array of media, including oils, pastels, and pencil, and she’s done wildlife and still-life paintings, portraits, landscapes, and children’s books. Naturally we were most attracted to her botanical watercolors.
We were thrilled when Janet unhesitatingly agreed to work with us in producing two new watercolor paintings for our first book, and Steven quickly posted live specimens of Vanheerdea and Deilanthe for her to work with. Now her scheduled has opened up and she is on board to produce at least one more original work for our book on the Titanopsis Group
Janet hails from Hoopstad in the Free State of South Africa, where she grew up and attended primary and secondary school. She completed her Degree in Graphic Design and Photography at the Free State University of Technology in 1982. Living in the surfer’s paradise of Jeffrey’s Bay in the Eastern Cape since 1992, Janet is married and has two grown children.
Janet has held graphic design positions at the Provincial Library Services, African Commerce, and the National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Her introduction to botanical illustration came with a commission from Professor Johan Venter at the Free State University, and soon after she made the acquaintance of Ernst van Jaarsveld of Kirstenbosch, with whom she is currently illustrating a new volume on Gasteria. Her work was showcased at International Succulent Congress in Pretoria in 1993.
Lisa Strachan expands horizons with Mesemb series
Lisa Strachan is a resident of Cape Town. Her specialy as a painter is simply to “capture the fragility of rare plants in watercolor—a process that takes as long as a flower takes to fade.” She believes, as we do, that photographs are inadequate to show a plant accurately, and completely: plant size and the color may vary from the plant specimen, flowers and fruits arrive at different seasons, dormancy has it’s own illustrative needs.
Lisa’s recent work has involved bulbs and other wildflowers, so our commissions for paintings of mesembs are a new avenue of creative outlet for her. We are excited to have a chance to debut this work in our first book.
Strachan qualified as a textile designer, but her illustration career started in 2002 when she received a bronze medal at the Kirstenbosch Biennale. She has exhibited at Filoli in San Francisco and at the 2004 Royal Horticultural Society Winter show. She now documents rare plants for private reserves who are building their own florelegiums.
Gerhard Marx takes a break to paint for Little Sphaeroid
The succulent plant community hardly needs and introduction to the work of Gerhard Marx. Instantly recognizable, unique visions of succulent plants are only a small part of Gerhard's vast body of work.
Not only is Gerhard a gifted artist, but he is an expert horticulturalist, and the interplay between his horticulture and his botanical illustration has always been evident. Witness his series of paintings of medusoid euphorbias that illustrate his scholarly articles on the subject, or the many paintings that have graced the cover of Haseltonia and Cactus and Succulent Journal.
Gerhard worked in Arizona at Arid Lands Greenhosues from 1999–2002, when he returned to South Africa. Since then Gerhard has worked as a freelance artist and has kept busy with artwork for various succulent-botanical books, including The Bushman Candles by Charles Craib and John Lavranos, a book on rare succulents and bulbs by Charles Craib, and another on cliff-dwelling succulents by Ernst van Jaarsveld.
Gerhard is also busy these days painting haworthias for a book that he is authoring on those marvelous plants. Each of his watercolors, typically of a plant situated in habitat, requires nearly three weeks of continuous work to complete, and at least sixty such paintings are planned for this book. Still, he agreed to take time to produce new paintings for us. He will paint Tanquana hilmarii and Didymaotus lapidiformis, both of which he has seen and photographed in nature. We couldn’t be more honored.
