Botanical Portrait 3: Disocactus (Original Acrylic Painting)

As a “plant parent” of twelve years, life sciences nerd, and artist who gravitates toward portraiture more than landscape, I am interested in the idea of creating botanical paintings in the style of traditional portraiture, basing each composition on a specific plant genus that I am interested in researching. This series begins with the painting “Botanical Portrait 1: Hoya”, and continues with an exploration of various non-aroid epiphytic genera. With this painting series, I portray plants as the stars of the show rather than the backdrop for animals, and I do it in a way that begs to be hung on a home wall or in a gallery instead confining the plants to the stuffiness of an encyclopedia illustration. While stylistically inspired by portraiture, this painting series appeals to modern aesthetic sensibilities through use of popping color and the contrast of high detail and graphic sleekness.

The stars of this portrait-sitting, moving clockwise starting from the top, are: Disocactus aurantiacus, Disocactus anguliger, Disocactus quetzeltecus, Disocactus speciosus, and Disocactus phyllanthoides.