Botanical illustration – The Yellow Lepanthes and sad times.

In 2010 my friend Daniel Jiminez and I found several plants of, what we belived then, was a yellow form of Lepanthes mariposa high up on Cerro Arbolado in Costa Rica. The plants grew in dense cloudforest at around 2300 meters altitude. Several years later Daniel told me that they now think the Yellow Lepanthes is a new species. Time flies and in 2022 I arranged a trip to Costa Rica again for Pathfinder Travels (Swedish travel Company). When me and the group hiked up to Valle del Silencio I found many plants of the yellow Lepanthes sp between Cerro Quemado and Cerro Frantzius at around 2000-2200 meters. Later on the group and I hiked up on a brutal path to Cerro Arbolado with the guide Omar. Now choosing a more southern path than in 2010. At around 2300 meters I found several plants of the yellow Lepanthes.

There are plants of the yellow Lepanthes at Lankester Botanical Gardens in Costa Rica and I saw some of them there while visiting the gardens. Had talks with Diego Bogarin and he and his team have now started the work to publish the Lepanthes as a new species (also the green Lepanthes that I found high up on Cerro Echandi in 2015), with some help of Alexandre Antonelli at Kew Gardens (Joined Alexandre on a expedition to Colombia in 2013).

I have a lot of photos of the Lepanthes but it is hard to photograph as the flowers are 2 – 2,5 mm “big”.

As I have painted all my life in a family with artists I felt that I wanted to start painting botanical illustrations and that the first painting should be the yellow Lepanthes. I started the painting late 2023. During this time my father got more and more sick. Despite that I got a lot of input from him and he also gave me his some of his old watercolors, brushes etc as he could not paint anymore. 17 February my father passed away. A horrible time and I miss my father soooo much. But I found some inner power to finish the painting a month later.

I know my father was happy that I started painting again. And I will continue to paint until my last breath on this planet, in this universe.

So here is my first botanical illustration. Watercolor on Arches 300g Hotpressed paper. Used colors by Winsor & Newton, Dave Smith, Sennelier, Schmincke. 297×420 cm. Painting photographed with a iPhone. Soon I will take better photos of it with my Nikon camera.

Here you can see more of my art: https://www.instagram.com/art.by.pontus.aratoun/

The yellow Lepanthes in situ, Cerro Arbolado, Costa Rica. 2010. This was the first plant that we found.

The yellow Lepanthes in thick moss. Cerro Quemado, Valle del Silencio, Costa Rica. 2022.

The yellow Lepanthes at Cerro Arbolado, Costa Rica. 2022.

The Yellow Lepanthes at Cerro Arbolado, CR, 2010.

Close up of the flower. Compared to a millimeter scale.