A Conversation
Botanical Artist
Volume 28, Issue 1
March, 2022
INTERVIEW BY Laura Bethmann
Louise’s two careers, art and law, are more similar than you’d think. Louise received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1980 from Mount Mary College (now University) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a year in London, England, at Richmond University. Not imagining she could earn a living as an artist, she followed in her dad’s footsteps and got a law degree from DePaul University, Chicago, in 1985. Former law colleagues asked why she went from easy work to hard work. Louise just laughed and explained how both fields require hard work, commitment, analysis, and research. Success in each depends on devotion and skill.
The horizon line is the ground line. After 20 years of cases dealing with bankruptcy, divorce, and personal injury-while making drawings on the pages of her calendar during court sessions-Louise returned to DePaul for a Masters of Education in 2009. Today she teaches art to students in kindergarten through fifth grade and loves it. Using quality materials, the students learn advanced concepts such as perspective and composition, but in simpler terms. For example, Louise draws a horizon line and calls it a ground line explaining that “...this is where the ground is...” The COVID-19 shutdown forced Louise to create an entirely new curriculum for online instruction, teaching four classes a day from her well-lit, recently-finished basement home studio.
Botanical art becomes her passion.
Initially relying solely on instruction from books, Louise began online courses in 2018 with Dianne Sutherland, and later with Jackie Isard, Shevaun Doherty, and Heeyoung Kim. Louise works primarily in graphite and colored pencil and is practicing to become proficient in watercolor. Private facebook groups such as ASBA Members, Botanical Artist, and Scientific Botanical Illustrations are great resources for Louise, as well as her membership in the Reed-Turner Botanical Artists’ Circle.
Inspiration, comfort, and hard work. Techniques and resources shared in these forums are useful, but more importantly, Louise describes the connections with other botanical artists as “...like gathering in the campus cafeteria after class, chatting over a cup of spice tea and pumpkin bread-comforting.”
It’s important for artists to find a place of comfort in their work life, because art is hard work!