TUITION

The Poison and Vespertine Series: Carnivorous Plants and Night Blooming Flowers

I urgently need to study and understand these by thoroughly painting them in a detailed way. We need to recognise these poisonous plants so we know what we’re dealing with. One person’s poison is another person’s medicine. We need to cover the dark side, too. And also use glow in the dark paint. I’ve used this extensively before. This is the nighttime’s equivalent of the daytime’s gold and gilding for me. I love anything glow in the dark and so do my kids. If there is a choice between the ordinary version, and a glow in the dark version, I’ll go for the latter. In the spirit of the best of both worlds, glow in the dark paint looks good during the day AND at night. I like to kill two birds with one stone wherever possible (comes with having hardly any time). Optional indigo papers at the ready!

Here: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com/book-online

OCT

• Corpse Flower (probably my favourite*) and Voodoo Lily, both related to and leading on from the Calla Lily

• Moonflower or Datura (Datura is BOTH night blooming and poisonous… or shamanic and medicinal, depending on where you’re from!) - it would be fun to paint 3 small versions of it closed, opening and fully open - some fantastic 5-fold geometry in movement there! (Also happens to be my favourite number geometry - so related to the movement of life itself)

NOV

• Venus Flytrap and Pitcher Plant - the Flytrap faintly glows through light and you'll see a trapped fly through its translucency, and the Pitcher is surprisingly elegant and veiny

• Deadly Nightshade and Night Blooming Jasmine - the purple flower and its very dark, poisonous looking berry - related to the friendly, delicious tomato! - and the beautiful night white jasmine. If only we could capture scent in a painting...

DEC

• Holly is prickly

• Poinsettia is poisonous!

JAN

• Poison Ivy

• Snowdrops and Bladderworts and Butterworts

FEB

• Rafflesia, my stinky valentine

• Bleeding Heart

MAR

• Narcissus is poisonous! (I didn’t know that, they look so innocent)

• Gloriosa Lily and Casa Blanca Lily

APR

• Lily of the Valley - so cute, yet so poisonous

• Iris

MAY

• Passion Flower

• Frangipani

JUN

• Pink Lotus - the Lotus Eaters and Water Lily (and lily pads too)

• Strelizia - poison version

JUL

• Oleander - Pliny

• Flying Duck Orchid

AUG

• Digitalis Foxglove

• Mandrake

SEP

• Hemlock - killed Socrates, and Henbane - possibly Hamlet, and for Greek oracles and magic and medicine

• Queen of the Night

OCT

• Hydrangea

• Clematis

NOV

• Opium poppy - the Opium Eaters, and Tobacco Flower (the annual cigar smokers?)

• Mistletoe

DEC

• Make a tiny Book of Poison Plants

• Make a tiny Herbal of Healing plants (tbc in January)

…and to round it off, a Flowers end of year show in the online gallery!

*The Corpse Flower has been a recurring motif for me ever since I was a teenager. I was and still am fascinated by it. I've also missed its flowering twice now! Dammit - only flowers once in 7 years and both times I didn't make it. I painted this giant version in 2013: