Plant

A single dried protea, painted life-size on a large sheet: long curling bracts in straw and pale violet, twisted leaves going from olive to slate blue. Anastasia Mitikova works in the tradition of scientific botanical illustration, but she is interested in the flower after its prime, when the color is leaving it. Every fold is drawn with a fine brush and the background is left untouched. Framed with a wide white mount, this watercolor looks like a museum plate.

• Artist: Anastasia Mitikova
• Medium: Watercolor on paper
• Size: 60 × 40 cm (23.6 × 15.7 in), height × width
• Year: 2021
• Original: one of a kind, signed by the artist