Barbara Groenteman

Because I am an avid gardener, tropical foliage is my passion. My inspirations come from my tropical surroundings. The process begins with visits to botanical gardens, my reference photography and on sight sketches. Color value sketches are developed which lead to enlarging the concept. The emphasis of my realistic approach is the composition and the vibrant colors that balance with the light and shadow. I capture the sparkle and sunlight patterns by preserving the most important areas of the white paper; no masking is used during the painting process. The essence of my style is the careful build-up of wet-in-wet layers of pigment. The pigments are sometimes just dropped in clear water washes, allowing the colors to mingle and dance on the paper. As many as 20 glazes of pigment may be used to achieve the glow of vibrant color saturation. My palette has the highest grade of light-fast transparent pigments executed on 300 lb. archival mould-made Waterford paper from England. All framing procedures are done in a conservation manner to preserve the archival integrity of the original artwork. Sharing with others my techniques and my passion for this medium "fertilize" my own growth.