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Dig This
Friday, February 2, 2001
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Cassandra de Kramer teaches botanical drawing and
painting at Foster Botanical Garden.
Cassandra de Kramer sees blue in a brown leaf. Where the casual glance sees yellow, she sees lemon, ocher, cadmium, saffron, straw, gold, buff and citrine. Drawn to
natural beauty"Since Cassandra's been here she's made me more aware of colors, spectrums," said Nathan Wong, community garden coordinator at Foster Botanical Garden, where de Kramer volunteers her skills as an artist and educator.
He wants her to teach him how to describe the garden's bromeliad collection.
"To me they're either red, pink or green, so I'm going to get her to help," said Wong.
Since coming to the garden two years ago, de Kramer has offered her vision to students interested in botanical drawing and painting, the realistic rendering of plants, flowers, trees, seeds and pods.
"She's totally nonthreatening. That's very comfortable. She always loves everything you do," said Gerry Jobes, a volunteer in Foster garden's orchid collection who has studied botanical painting with de Kramer.
An illness kept Jobes from registering for de Kramer's class until it was already full. But since they both work at the garden, de Kramer took Jobes under her wing.
"After I finished, we would pick an orchid and just sit down and draw them and paint them together," said Jobes.
Occasionally piping up with a technical suggestion, de Kramer also would swap half-finished work with Jobes to give her a different look at the object.Jobes had taken drawing classes before, but she said students with no art background also can learn from de Kramer's class.
"She'll work with different levels," said Jobes. "She just thinks everybody can do it."
And she does.
"People are usually amazed at what they can do," said de Kramer. "Success comes quickly to many."
De Kramer resisted turning her lifelong interest in art into a career.
"First I wanted to be a doctor because everyone said, no money in art. And they were right," she said.
Her strong suit reared it's head even in the midst of zoology and biology classes, however, as teachers complimented her lab drawings and encouraged her to pursue her gift.
Eventually she attended the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles where she developed skills as an abstract painter, but rendering the natural world held overriding appeal for de Kramer."I've done (botanical drawing) since I was a child because nature always fascinated me, the colors, bugs, everything," she said.
Among her favorite things to draw are seed pods.
"I love this one (from the shower tree) because that big thing comes from that little piece of the shower flower. I just love these seeds."
And with Wong's guidance, she is beginning to draw the garden's succulents. De Kramer likes the otherworldly appearance of these prickly plants.
"I wish I had more time and more money to do more all the time," she said.
Her teaching technique is to simply get students working on an object and then offer technical help. "You cannot tell what you need until you work at it and then you can see what's missing."
She starts each drawing with an outline in lead drafting pencil. When it comes to colors, start with light ones, as going darker is easier than the reverse, she said, though that is possible."It's not as precarious as it may look," said de Kramer. "Especially with pencils, I find that you have a great deal of control."
And despite the amazing detail involved in her work, she swears it's not difficult.
"It isn't. They're small and it's over quickly," said de Kramer, adding the biggest problem she has with students is getting them to stop when a piece is finished.
Watching her students get excited about their work is the best part of teaching for de Kramer.
"They're totally amazed when they can do it themselves," she said.
The next six-week class in botanical drawing and painting begins March 7 at Foster Garden. It is limited to eight students and typically fills up quickly.
In the classroom
What: Botanical Drawing and Painting with Cassandra de Kramer
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Stephanie Kendrick's gardening column runs Fridays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802
or email skendrick@starbulletin.com
