Megan J. Seiter, Jeannette, colored pencil, 12 x 12.
A frilled parrot tulip makes a low curtsy as the setting sun illuminates its graceful figure. Variegated pittosporum leaves and berries bask in the glow, slightly upstage and stage left, while the ceramic vase supports the troupe in its balletic performance. Although Megan J. Seiter doesn’t anthropomorphize her floral still lifes, it’s easy to see that her years of portrait and figure drawing lend an inherent personality to each highly realistic subject. “There’s so much variety within the floral world, but tulips, in particular, seem to have a personality of their own,” the California-based artist says. “The flowers often create the composition themselves.”
Such was the case for the award-winning JEANNETTE. After setting up the minimal still life in her home studio, Seiter took photos throughout the day to capture the curved-stem beauty in various lighting. She settled on “the one” immediately. “It was during sunset, and the sun was mimicking the burnished colors of the tulip,” she says. “I especially loved it for that reason.” The colored pencil drawing came together effortlessly for Seiter, who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Arts in Baltimore.
To achieve the soft, vibrant finish she favors, Seiter worked on fine-grit sanded pastel paper and built the multiple layers of colored pencil carefully, applying each sharpened stroke smoothly and consistently. She focused on building the vase and the leaves simultaneously to get the values just right, “placing the darkest darks and leaving in the highlights to achieve the full range,” she says. To create the smooth table surface, she turned to oil-based pencils for their pastel-like, blendable quality. JEANNETTE, the result of creative exploration and extra studio time during quarantine, joins Seiter’s impressive 2021 honors. “I just really went for it,” she says.
Find Seiter’s work at Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; and www.meganseiter.com. —Beth Williams
This story appeared in the December 2021/January 2022 issue of Southwest Art magazine.