I have been reflecting on my ideas for my project that I will start developing during my residency, although I have already started work on it in anticipation of when it begins in August (I want to start working as soon as I am in the studio!).
With looking at botanical and scientific illustration, I have been doing research into what exactly a plant it, the basics of what makes a plant, a plant. Of course in my research I have also learned that these ‘basics’ also have exceptions, and that organisms in nature are still considered to be plants without some of these.
To scientifically classify an organism as a plant, generally they will have these basic parts:
- Seeds
- Roots
- Stems
- Leaves
- Flowers
- Fruit
So while I began the idea behind this concept two years ago, by grafting different parts of plants together, through little accuracy but instead deciding which forms fitted well together. If I want to make my specimens more ‘accurate’, believable, and less fantastical, I need to start thinking about these elements within my hybrid specimens. This will allow me to better understand my specimens, how they live, their habitat, how they reproduce etc. I can create more of a back story for my specimens that is backed up by the form of the hybrid itself.
However, I run the danger of getting myself so caught up in all of these details that the work I end up producing is rather lacking. I need to make sure I achieve a balance between this, and the fantastical parts of the work that made previous artworks successful.
This also follows on from ideas that the most successful Sci-Fi (what is ‘successful’ is subjective) has a basis in sound science, is not completely fantastical or absurd, some kind of possibility (however remote or far fetched).
