Botanica An Interview with  Barbara Wyeth
Barbara Wyeth SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES
Can you remember the very first thing that you scanned as an art work, and how long ago was that
What type of scanner do you use
What scanner settings do you use and are they varied from subject to subject
As a photographer, I am delighted and amazed at the detail I can get by scanning objects directly. For a while now, I’ve been working with flowers and plants from the garden behind my building on Russian Hill, and with beautiful specimens from the flower shop where I work. My background is in traditional photography and hand-tinting, but I admit to the thrill of seeing these wonders of nature so lovingly rendered on my iMac screen! I also like to break away from the computer screen and sketch, usually flowers and natural materials, always humbled by the unmatchable beauty and intricacy of nature. In the 70s I was excited by Color Xerox and did a lot of work on the copier machine. A fellow-artist and I had a art postcard shop, the Postcard Palace, in North Beach, San Francisco and sold a lot of cards made with color-copy art. We merged with a copyart studio and then had a Color Xerox on premises and did lots of experimental work so the scanner was not a leap for me. I’ve long been fascinated with the immediacy of getting an image so quickly and with the brilliant color. Oddly enough, all along I was also shooting in black and white and handtinting my images but the convenience and my growing interest in digital imagery got me going on the scanner. I use some photoshop but really only know some basic stuff so I don’t alter my images very much – mostly I just “clean-up”, like the old days of spotting photographs. I use an Epson Perfection 4490.
I use pretty basic settings when scanning. I try to frame on the scanner, like framing an image in a camera’s view finder. When I’m working with these lovely flowers and growing things, I want to capture their “naturalness” – they are so beautiful on their own and that beauty is what I’m trying to show. I think of these images as botanical art and like to render my subjects in a straightforward manner.
Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 52
In your profile you say you work in a florist, do you have a favorite flower
I work at a lovely florist in San Francisco and have access to beautiful flowers. I also garden so I have a bounty of material to work with! I love so many flowers, my favorite seems to vary with the seasons. Some are definitely easier to work with, since depth of field is somewhat limited on the scanner.
Have you put items on the scanner, that were not organic.
I’ve put many things on the scanner – a favorite series is “Things Found In the Garden”. I love the wonderful textures and colors on some of these objects that I find while working in the dirt.
Do you use photoshop to clean your images in, and do you ever just like them left natural
I do clean-up my images and use a few adjustments in photoshop but try to keep them “pure”.
If you could give a new artist one piece of advice, what would that be.
My only advise to new artists is just to jump in and do it! Don’t think about perfect time, perfect conditions, or whether you’re doing it “right”. The beauty of computers and all this technology is that you can experiment and play. And you can do it in the comfort of home – and in your ’jammies!
Who is/was your inspiration to create scanner art images
My mother was a "garden clubber " and great lover of growing things. I attribute my love of nature and flowers to her and her influence!
Coral-Colored Dahlia Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 54
Single Coral Peony
 Barbara Wyeth
Red Shirley Poppies Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 56
Hawthorn
Nepeta Bunch Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 58
Borage
Mock Orange Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 60
Summer!
Golden Nasturtium Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 62
Graham Thomas Roses
 Barbara Wyeth
Dandelion Garden Tripod 11 ~ page 64
Vegetables
On the Vine
Deux Radis
Spring Onions
"Cabbage" Rose
Drawings
Anemone China Lily Iceland Poppies Clematis Sketch
Traditional Photography
Ranunculas in Tin Anemone
Digital Photography
Pink Summer Roses