Donnett Vanek is a contemporary botanical artist working in the traditional botanical art techniques of drybrush watercolor, graphite, and silverpoint. The artist’s studio is in Los Padres National Forest, near Los Angeles, California. Donnett is honored to have her graphite drawing, Elegant Clarkia; Clarkia unguiculata, in the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. This graphite drawing exhibited at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation's 17th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration. Donnett is honored to have had work exhibited in the American Society of Botanical Artists 28th International Exhibition, 27th International Exhibition and 26th International Exhibition,The New York Botanical Garden’s Fifth Triennial;Curious Allies: Mutualism in Fungi, Parasites, and Carnivores. Exhibitions also include a solo at Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants; California Wildflowers and Pollinators.
Artist Statement
My primary interest is California native plants. I think of my renderings as portraits. I am intrigued by the never-ending variations of color, shape, texture, and size of plants and insects in the natural world. I am interested in where they grow, how they grow, how large they grow, and the unique relationships plants have with pollinators. Through my work, I hope to encourage people to consider the crucial role that native plants play in the ecology of our landscape. Go out and enjoy nature, look closely, look down; you just might be stepping on a tiny beautiful flower you have never seen before.