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
up the seen-ringlv never- that I woulcl see this very rare orchicl
encling steps that u.incl just a f-ew months after discussing
their way up thc slopes ofAlount coelogrnes at the Roval Botanic
Kinabalu in 200-{, I encounterecl Garclens, Keu', rvith Ducller. Clawon,
the alien-like fbrm of the pitcher an acknowledged expert on the genus.
plant Nepenthes a illosa lor thc very Neither coulcl I ha','e fbreseer-r that
first tinrc. Growingbesitlr it was I rvould have the opporruniw of
aplant of Coelog,ne pdpillosa (below 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

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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
the Coelog,ne pdpillo-nt ttxl tl-rc 1-ritchcr
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
nl'th'.rr,rr rlrrr rh' r .'rrlr( rrr(rFrher
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Other orchids onthe clirnb
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,
..rrrlul :clcctitrn artcl tlocumcntltion
oicecl-r orchicl rvas unclcrtakcn.
thc rrssistlrncc of the 1-rorticulturist
-lirnv
ancl botanical ath isor I-irrnb
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
Plt !,u t he rr k i na ba I ue ns i s agai
thc backgrountl vegctation.
Climbing lVlount Kinabalu was the
culmination of a trip to the Bornean
rainforest in search ofthe most eyc-
catching 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.
A host of paphiopedilurns
During a visit t() the trlountain
(]arclen Nurseries to see the legenclarv
.lune ZOOS
Pttph iopedi lu nt roth-rc h i ldi a n u nt within
the cagecl confines ofthe nurserv,
Alim Buin, the Sabah Parks Assistant
Research Officer, drew my attention
to numcrous orchicl species, manv
oirvhich were paphiopeclilums. Mv
hrst atten-rpt to see P rotbscbildianutn
sevelal davs befbre in the
I-racl lree r-r
blisterir.rg heat while wading up
the Penataran river with the ever-
dcpenclable Alin-r. Llnfortunatcly,
rve cliscoverecl that the site had
been stripped ofits valuable orchicl.
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Close to aplanr o{ Paphioltedilunt
rothschildianntn in tlrc l\lorrrrtain
Garden Nurseries was a singlc plant
of Pd1:hiopedi/un ooii, namerl in
\7ith
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
nrt signrhcencr thet rbis singlc. r'cn rarc
plrrnt t rlrkl holcl tirr me. It harcl onc
spikc rrith thrcc rullv openccl flos-crs
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
u ondcrlirl shapes and Iuntriotts
colours. I attemptecl to capturc the
effect of light on Paphiol:edilunt ooii.
Oirthid Review
aimost bleaching the colour from
the flowers. lrVith P lou.ti i, I wanted
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
eye ofthe viewer and create a
balance befwccn the paintecl areas
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<l tl-reir fhscinatior-r for me . The
clocur-ne ntation of these plants led to
nrr. scconcl painting of Paph iopedi hm
ooii in2O06, zrnd an ink drawing of
Coe logt' n e ra di oTQrers. Further orchid
clrarvings ancl paintings have fbllowed,
includine P,r2lr iopediltm Clair cle
I;une. a /,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 .
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.
'l
hc printincs in this article are
rrr ailrrbk to buv as postcards from,
irf ,',,','.d a n ielv\i i || ia ms.c0.uk/order/order.php
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