Pressed Botanical Specimen Paintings

Carrie Garrott, "Pressed Bloom in Blue", Watercolor on paper, 18" x 24". 2022.

Carrie Garrott, "Pressed Bloom Multi-color" Watercolor on paper, 9" x 10", 2021.

Carrie Garrott "Imperfect Bloom Rainbow", Watercolor on paper, 9" x 9", 2021.

Carrie Garrott, "Pressed Bloom in Lilac" Watercolor on paper, "9 x 10", 2020.

Carrie Garrott, "Patience" Watercolor on paper, 18' x 18', 2020.

Carrie Garrott, "Balanced Petals", Watercolor on paper, 7" x 9", 2018.

Carrie Garrott, "Imperfect Bloom One" Soft pastel on paper, 18" x 24", 2016.

My inspiration for this series is like most of my work; an exploration of fragility, impermanence and the spark of life. It started as an experiment with drying and dyeing flowers in an attempt to preserve the individual beauty of each bloom. I go through a process of dyeing and pressing my reference blooms. (These are the actual blooms that I look at as a guide for the shape and color of my paintings.) It takes a couple of weeks to get a bloom ready to be painted. Once the reference is ready it can take several hours to sketch and paint a finished piece. My goal is to have a painting that is a slight exaggeration of the bloom. During the dyeing and pressing process the flowers have natural flaws that become more noticeable. Also, they are often damaged in a way that creates new irregularities or scars. I find this damage beautiful and poignant. When I start to paint a bloom I try to focus on these irregularities. I do this by intensifying them with more detail or color and texture than is found in the rest of the painting.