Picture Profile 2419: Turkey Tail on White Poplar Log © Artist Code 2419. ORIGINAL Water colour on Aquarelle Arches 100% cotton rag 140lbs size 14” x 10”. Started October 2024, completed 11th February 2025.
I attended a 3-day botanical illustration course at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, as a refresher (termed CPD or Continuing Professional Development) with tutor Reinhild Raistrick in October 2024. The theme was to paint fungi and there was a great range of these to choose from.
I liked this stick of fungi with the lovely rings of colour on the turkey tails and the blue, pink and green sheen on the stick—which I later found out was a decaying white poplar branch.
A nice little exercise which I thought for a minute or two might need more background, but once completed I knew there was no need for any further embellishment.
Turkey tail fungi and fallen poplar log show nature’s patterns at their best—a fallen branch becomes a life-line.