Book Recommendation “Botaniphoria”
- Important: All images are the courtesy of the publisher! -
Need some inspiration? If you're interested in botanical art, you'll love this book!
The artist and author of "Botaniphoria - A Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities" is Asuka Hishiki, a botanical artist from Japan. In it, she showcases some of her previous works and provides profound and wonderful insights into her way of thinking.
In early July, I had the unique opportunity to meet Asuka personally during her exhibition in Maulbronn. If you haven't read the article about it yet, you can find it here.
In today's article, I´ll tell you more about the content of the book "Botaniphoria" and I´ll also show you some images from inside. Further down at the end of the article you´ll find helpful links to offer the book and gain more info about the artist.
Hi, I´m Carina!
I´m a former business economist, working in global companies, who thought that earning more and more money would give me more freedom and more joy in my life. The truth was far from it: more tasks - and yes more money - but also less freedom and less peace of mind.
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… Mountains, when I realised how wrong I was and that I have to change something in my life.
Fast forward to today, being blessed with our own garden and surrounded by nature, I became a passionate gardener and started teaching myself Botanical Art several years ago. With the purpose to share the beauty of nature, (re)connecting with it and encourage others to experience the same.
For years I read all the books, did all the tutorials and did several courses. But it wasn´t until I created my very own roadmap and timelines to becoming a Botanical Artist that I gained the confidence, clarity and ultimately recognizable progress in my drawing skills.
As a mom of two, also learning to grow our own food, I know about the financial and timely limitations you may have and how exhausting it can be figuring everything out on your own.
I write the Botanical heART Blog to share with you all the tools, all the techniques and all the tips on creating your own Botanical Art in an easy and actionable way.
Further along you can expect insights in what I´ve discovered about building a strong and healthy artist´s mindset and habits that´ll ultimately set the foundation to developing your desired art skills.
Whether you wanna sketch, draw and paint purely for your very own joy or you dream of creating a business in art by sharing the beauty of nature, I got you covered.
Welcome to the Botanical heART Blog! ❤
Asuka Hishiki: The artist and author
Asuka Hishiki is an award-winning botanical artist born in Kyoto, Japan. She currently lives and works in Hyogo, Japan.
She earned her master's degree in abstract oil painting from the Kyoto City University of Arts and spent 10 years in New York City to deepen her artistic style.
Asuka's artworks have been exhibited around the world for decades and have been permanently included in botanical collections and galleries.
She has also contributed to florilegia - huge visual records of plant collections - of numerous renowned botanical gardens, including the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.
For her work, the botanical artist has received numerous awards, including the Diane Bouchier Award in 2018.
Asuka´s intention
On the first few pages of the book, it becomes clear that her objects - from ordinary vegetables over rotting plums to endangered species - are so versatile, united by her curiosity and her ability to see the unique beauty in everything.
Her objects are like treasures and are depicted in her watercolours in a completely realistic and vibrant way.
This is food for thought and encourages one to take a closer look. Like a good friend of mine, after reading the book, promptly observed the decay of a rotting peach instead of throwing it away immediately.
The artworks shown in the book are complemented by Asuka's own profound and thought-provoking texts.
Key data of the book
First published: May 21st, 2023
Publisher: Two Rivers Press aus Reading/UK
Paperback: 96 pages
Language: English
More than 100 full colour illustrations
"Botaniphoria" is part of the Botanical Art Portfolios series by Two Rivers Press, which has also published books by the equally renowned botanical artists Julia Trickey and Christina Hart-Davies.
If you´d like to know more about the Botanical Art Portfolios series, you can find the link to the Two Rivers Press' website at the end of this article.
At this point of time, the book is only available in English.
However, the excellent print quality and presentation of the multitude of artworks alone are worth the purchase.
Botaniphoria - The content
Botaniphoria | 1
Asuka in Wonderland | 3
Subjekt Matters: Working with live subjects (From my tiny studio) | 6
I. Botanical alchemy: Jewels and treasures in your kitchen and backyard | 9
II. Messy business: Badly scarred, desperately tangled, and horribly bushy | 27
III. Bugs and me: A love-hate relationship | 39
Secret weapons: What´s on my desk (From my tiny studio) | 49
IV. Painting the unpaintable: Depicting my response to my subjects | 51
V. A cabinet of curiosities: My collections | 67
FAQ: Brushes, paper, colour mixing (From my tiny studio) | 78
Afterthoughts | 82
Table of content of “Botaniphoria” by Asuka Hishiki
A brief look into the chapters
The book is divided into 5 main chapters (Rroman numerals), interwoven with 3 short sections titled "From my tiny studio," in which the author humorously talks about working with living subjects, her go-to materials as well as her approach to painting in general.
Supplemented by a short introduction with the headings "Botaniphoria" and "Asuka in Wonderland," in which she talks about her enthusiasm for nature, about how she was fascinated by botanical drawings early in her childhood, and what influence a compliment by one of her first buyers has on her work to this day.
The conclusion, "Afterthoughts," may seem a bit mundane, but Asuka Hishiki also here provides meaningful insights into her thoughts, what forms the wonderful conclusion of this extraordinary book.
In each of the chapters Asuka Hishiki vividly shows what drove her to choose her subjects and the thoughts behind it.
“From my tiny studio” - Glimpse into the book “Botaniphoria” by Asuka Hishiki
Chapter 1: Botanical alchemy
- Jewels and treasures in your kitchen and backyard
Asuka ponders on the beauty of nature and describes her feelings in a very poetic way.
She describes how she may not be able to turn anything into gems or gold. But that she, by depicting a subject using watercolour and other media, indeed is able to keep its beauty forever.
After the original subject itself has disappeared.
She maginificently describes, how it is often not visible to us that the appearance of a subject changes over time, such as the changing colour of a fruit as it slowly ripens. However, when you work with it for hours, you will inevitably witness it, she writes.
As language sometimes simply falls short of adequately describing the beauty of nature, Asuka hopes that her artworks do a better job than her words could ever do.
I wouldn´t state that Asuka´s words fall short at all. But I do agree that her artworks describe very successfully the beauty of nature in an extraordinarily vivid and detailed way.
Even odd things like kitchen scraps are interesting and inspiring for Asuka as shown in the book with the painting "Turezure no kusa: Three carrot tops" (2018).
“Cactus fruit (Prickly pear cactus, 2012)” by Asuka Hishiki
Chapter 2: Messy business
- Badly scarred, desperately tangled, and horribly bushy
This chapter is about how fruits and vegetables, that are imperfect and can often not even be sold in supermarkets, can be exceedingly beautiful. Asuka can vividly describe what she sees in her subjects.
To quote her:
"Like a veteran pirate, scars on vegetables are a badge of pride indicating bravery or strength."
She also describes the difficulties of depicting very complex subjects, such as the black pine bonsai in the image below, or the entangled root system of her artwork "Wasabi" (2011), which is held at the Shirley Sherwood Collection in UK.
“Black Pine Half-cascade-style Bonsai (2015 - 2017)” by Asuka Hishiki
Chapter 3: Bugs and me
- A love-hate relationship
This excerpt shows a beetle of the image "Turezure no kusa: Blackberry and beetles" from 2021, which I was able to admire during Asuka's stay in Maulbronn in 2023.
She also showed a small collection of dead insects there, which she uses as reference objects for her works.
The images in this chapter remind me, as I´ve written in the blog post about Asuka, of the works by Maria Sibylla Merian.
If you haven't read it yet, you can find the article here.
Sometimes it's just a single caterpillar on a cabbage leaf, or an army of caterpillars on a tomato, or even a praying mantis playing hide-and-seek behind a tomato.
It´s obvious that Asuka wants to draw attention to the importance of insects, regardless of their species, and bridge the gap between disgust and fascination.
Chapter 4: Painting the unpaintable
- Depicting my response to my subjects
Several times, I tried to find the right words for this chapter.
In the end, I had to admit that Asuka had already written the perfect introduction.
And so, I decided to simply quote that intro of hers.
“This may sound weird, but my focus is not to reproduce my subjects with photographic accuracy. What I care most to depict is the excitement and euphoria I feel when I see my subject, the enchanting smell that makes my mouth water or the soft, velvety skin of a plant, inviting me to touch it. It is not hard to draw shapes and colours, but how do I capture the unpaintable elements like the touch, the weight, the smell and time passing?”
- by Asuka Hishiki
In the last chapter, you´ll find unexpected painting objects, such as a moldy plum and a moldy citrus fruit named Buddha's Hand.
She once again shows how she identifies human characteristics in her botanical protagonists, such as the various tomato characters in the following image.
“Nipa palm” (2018) by Asuka Hishiki
Double page of “Botaniphoria” by Asuka Hishiki
Chapter 5: A cabinet of curiosities
- My collections
“Pieces of nature” (2015 - present) by Asuka Hishiki
I took the above photo during Asuka Hishiki's exhibition in Maulbronn.
It shows various natural finds that she painted in watercolour on small pieces of vellum. Similar to a diary, she captures her fascinating objects forever.
The inspiration for this is the cabinets of curiosities that were popular in the 16th century.
Although the incredible radiance of today's works has nothing in common with the portraying possibilities of past times.
The bright orange and red of the "Maple leaves" from 2017 or the multicolouredness of the painted objects from the Denver Botanic Gardens from autumn 2018 are astounding.
Asuka even tried symmetrical arrangements of her botanical protagonists, such as the arrangement of beans in circles and grids.
Asuka surprises you with her artistic skills til the very end of her book.
Extract of the chapter "Botaniphoria"
To give you a better idea of Asuka Hishiki's unique writing style, I have included an excerpt from "Botaniphoria," the first section of the book.
I deliberately didn´t translate that extract, to let Asuka speak in her own words.
Here we go.
“Instead of telling you how beautiful the treasure I find is, I paint how beautiful it is. Painting is my language.”
- by Asuka Hishiki
“Ever since I was a small child, I’ve liked two things: to paint and to flip through the pages of illustrated books of insects, plants and animals. Until I learnt that scholars took painters with them on their research trips around the world centuries ago, I never thought to connect the two. Then I immediately thought how wonderful it would be if I could spend my days travelling around the world drawing plants and insects. However, instead of going out on adventures and finding exciting new species, I found beauty in ordinary vegetables and weeds on the street. A common butterfly in my backyard became much more valuable than a rare, undiscovered species to me.
Nature pleases not only my eyes, it inspires me in various ways. I wonder, I get curious and I am amazed. If I see something interesting, my imagination flies like a butterfly. At the same time, it makes me worry, because we are facing many, many environmental problems. I have come to understand that I know very little about these issues, and it is sad to think that this beautiful day today doesn’t last any longer than it does. However, it is even sadder to imagine that a common butterfly may not be flying in our backyard for future generations to enjoy, perhaps becoming a rare endangered species. These thoughts and worries are woven into my artworks, but my main motivation in creating them is to share the beauty of nature and celebrate the simple joy of experiencing it.
~
How can I articulate my feelings when I find a treasure? It’s excitement and euphoria, which is like being hit by lightning or falling in love. The treasure itself is often overlooked as an insignificant piece of nature. For example, a half-rotten tomato, a mundane acorn, a broken or crumpled leaf and so on. However, it is a remarkable sensation that I can spot its beauty, while other people pay it no attention, as if I possess a special power. Inside me, it is shouting, ‘Can you see me? Look, look, look!’
But then another realisation hits me. Other people may spot something that I don’t. That unseen treasure is shouting, ‘Look, look, look at me!’ Suddenly, the shouting match of hidden treasure pops and cries out to my mind’s ear – from my fridge, my backyard, the vacant land filled with weed next to me, anywhere and everywhere. It is a euphoric echo of a silent roar.
Instead of telling you how beautiful the treasure I find is, I paint how beautiful it is. Painting is my language.”
My afterthoughts about the book
"Botaniphoria - A Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities" is a fantastic book that never loses its appeal even after reading it for several times.
My review is certainly no substitute for the real book. There are many more images to admire than I could have shown, and the way Asuka describes her work by herself is extraordinary and unique.
I can´t recommend this book enough. It´s worth every penny, it will always amaze you and will bring you joy for a very long time.
At the end of this article, I´d like to quote a brief passage from Asuka's own concluding thoughts, the "Afterthoughts."
“Until the day comes when I can show you my actual works and hand you an actual magnifying glass, I hope this book can be your cabinet of curiosities, keeping you amused. My actual artworks will meet you someday, somewhere… Until then, a big smile to you. - Asuka”
In fact, your real artworks already met me one day in one place, in July 2023 in Maulbronn. And it still fills me with so much joy that I was able to admire your originals there.
Until I have the opportunity to visit your works again in the future, I have your book, which will undoubtedly bring me great joy. A big smile back to you.
- Carina
“Afterthoughts” - By the artist and author Asuka Hishiki
Links
If you´d like to get the book yourself, I summarized the order details for you below:
Publisher Two Rivers Press (UK only): https://tworiverspress.com/shop/botaniphoria/
Via your local bookshop:
ISBN-10: 1915048109
ISBN-13: 978-1915048103
Botanical Art Portfolios Series by Two Rivers Press:
https://tworiverspress.com/two-rivers-press/botanical_art_portfolios/
More about the author Asuka Hishiki
Instagram: www.instagram.com/greenasas
Website: http://greenasas.com/
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