This week I’m posting a different botanical illustration of the Pacific Northwest native plant named for Bernard McMahon- and not one of my own. This actual botanical illustration was very possibly created in McMahon’s home. To find out how read on. Tall Oregon grape. Mahonia aquifolium syn. Berberis aquifolium. Illustrated by Frederick Pursh in his Flora […]
Mahonia aquifolium syn. Berberis aquifolium. © Aislinn Adams 2008 Tall Oregon grape, Mahonia aquifolium- Oregon’s state flower and its Irish name! I’ve always marveled at how something as fragile as a plant can end up thousands of miles from its original home: collected and pressed into herbarium specimens or more amazingly, kept alive on long transcontinental […]
© 2011 Aislinn Adams Fawn lily, Erythronium oregonum Botanical Illustrations become rubber stamps for Spring. I’m delighted to announce that twelve of my black and white botanical illustrations are now available as rubber stamps. I’ve just signed my first license contract with the rubber stamp company Impression Obsession. Spring is finally in the air and […]
The Art of Communication – 100 Artist Show February 1-March 3rd This pen and ink illustration was created for The Art of Communication – 100 Artist Show at the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, Oregon. I decided to use my pen and ink drawing style for this black and white illustration. It seemed in keeping […]
Feisty, Famous Irish Women. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day I’m launching the first two greetings cards in my new series- Famous Irish Women. The first two women are Queen Maeve of Connacht and St. Brighid of Ireland, one a warrior queen, the other a spiritual leader and god. Queen Maeve of Connacht […]
© 2011 Aislinn Adams St. Brigid of Ireland, Naomh Bríd. February 1st is the first day of spring and St Brigid’s Day in Ireland. St Brigid, or Naomh Bríd in the Irish language (Gaelic), is a powerful historical figure who founded a famous monastery in Kildare, thirty miles west of Dublin. Bríd, regarded by many […]
© Aislinn Adams 1998 My first American Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua. The first time I saw an American sweetgum was in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland. It was autumn and I was a first year horticulture student attending college there. Ireland is not known for its fall color but that sweetgum, growing on a […]
© Aislinn Adams When Sleeping Women Awake Every accident has a silver lining. Many years ago I fell while rock climbing at my local crag in Dublin, Ireland. I broke my ankle and spent nine weeks in a large, heavy cast, from upper calf to toe tips. I broke the […]
The story of the common fig, Ficus carica, needs more than one blog. I started writing about the common fig in my last blog- The common fig, Ficus carica, Fruit, Flower or Carnivore? As I uncovered its story I realized that it would take more than one blog to share its long and complex history. […]
The Common Fig, Ficus carica, unwelcome bounty! I originally started writing about the common fig, Ficus carica, because of my annual battle with it. Our neighbor’s fig tree leans over the fence onto our yard and rains its bounty of figs onto our vegetable garden every year. Unfortunately, neither I nor my husband or daughter […]
