Native tree leaf motif for social media posts

January 28, 2022

Leaf motifs (I like how that rhymes) have long been used in art and architecture for hundreds of years. As someone who works in the environment sector, leaves and other symbols of nature are always fun to use in artwork.

Before the new year I worked with the Haribon Foundation on a social media card design for their Women GO project, which is trying to get more women in natural resource management. This is crucial, because rural women in the Philippines don’t have much say in the management of their forests.

Women GO staff recruited me to design social media posts for them using their branding and colors. I decided to use a leaf motif to help go with a theme of trees and forests, since this project works in an area of forest in the Southern Sierra Madre mountain range in Luzon.

The leaves and branches I drew are actually from real leaves and branches that belong to species found in the Philippines. I used Philippineplants.org as a resource for the images, sketched portrayals of them on paper, and then polished them up with Adobe Illustrator.

Translation: “I will try to do well and be positive… I will try to strengthen our Organization.” Mary Heidi Mortel is a member of the women’s organizations Haribon is working with to get them involved in natural resource management in their towns. See the Facebook post here.

Women in the municipalities of Real, Infanta, Gen. Nakar, Polilio and Burdeos in Quezon are increasing their influence in conserving the forest with the help of Women GO staff. See the Facebook post here.

Leaf motifs are not new, and botanical art in general goes back just as long. Chinese flower painting or Hua hui for example started in China as early as 4,000 BC. A later example is “A Spring Breeze” (春風圖) by Yun Shouping (惲壽平), who was a major Chinese artist in the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

“A Spring Breeze” by Yun Shouping (惲壽平).

Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai is best known for his “The Great Wave off Kanagawa“, but he also had many works featuring nature particularly birds and plants.

“Peonies and Canary“, circa 1833 by Katsushika Hokusai.

Then there are the palm leaf manuscripts by Tai peoples in Southeast Asia, the nature-loving Mughal Emperors of India who commissioned botanical works, and the depictions of Acanthus plants from Egyptian to Roman architecture.

“The Emperor Shah Jahan with his Son Dara Shikoh” by Nanha, circa 1620.

Today, I enjoy seeing art from Filipino artists such as Raxenne Maniquiz and Cynthia Bauzon-Arre for example. Raxenne is known for her detailed paintings of native plants and trees, and has done this work for local and foreign brands. One of my favorites is her Waling-waling that she used to raise funds for local conservation work.

Raxenne Maniquiz depiction of the beautiful Waling-waling, which raised funds for the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society Inc.

Cynthia Bauzon-Arre is even better known among environmentalists because of her long and on-going work illustrating Philippine native plants and trees for different organizations. I’m a proud owner of one of her illustrated planners.

Forest Blooms PH planner by Cynthia Bauzon Arre with illustrations of various trees native to the country.

Forest Blooms PH planner by Cynthia Bauzon Arre with an illustration of a Narra tree.

It’s safe to say that I’ll be using leaf artwork for a while since trees and plants interest me so much. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for even more artists who do this kind of work, especially with the intent to spread awareness of Philiippine’s unique floral biodiversity.

Here is a list of prominent contemporary Filipino botanical artists that I know of so far:

If you know of more, please do let me know and I’ll add them.

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