All admirers of fine nature art in Indiana and the Midwest know the distinctive and intricate paintings of Maryrose Wampler. Her work is found in homes, offices, and business establishments, and it has been displayed and sold by the region's finest art galleries and print dealers. Her paintings are featured in Wildflowers of Indiana, a book that details some 350 species of wildflowers and that remains enormously popular.
She has now produced a more ambitious volume dealing with Indiana's native trees. Each of the 72 plates depicts one species, presented as a living organism in its natural setting. Supplemental paintings show the flowers, fruit or nuts, leaves, and a winter twig from that tree and occasionally from near relatives that bear a close resemblance, so that most of Indiana's approximately 100 native trees are represented in this book. The careful, detailed work is intended as a scientifically accurate representation of each tree's character or essence. ""Most people see a tree and think generic tree"", says Maryrose Wampler. ""But they are more than that. Now that I have studied them and painted them in detail, I see each species as unique"".
Fred Wampler has contributed fascinating text to go with each plate, describing the tree's properties, natural history, uses, and special features. Trees of Indiana is a book for all art lovers and naturalists.
Maryrose Wampler conducts classes in painting and maintains a private studio in Bloomington, Indiana. Besides her many commissioned works, she painted the illustrations for Wildflowers of Indiana (Indiana University Press, 1988).
Fred Wampler is a retired elementary school teacher. He has devoted much of his time to assisting Maryrose in finding specimens and in writing the text for this book, as he did for Wildflowers of Indiana.
