Almost Famous Wareeya Wiraya (Ying), 28, studied Botanical Illustration at the New York Botanical Garden and is now pursuing her career here. Her fi rst exhibition, “Portrait of the Flowers: The Art of Botanical Painting,” at Sweet Sin Gallery, is already drawing a lot of attention.

BK: Why flowers?

Wareeya Wiraya: I love fl owers, leaves, trees; I grew up around nature. My father used to grow fl owers in the garden of our home in Chiang Mai. That’s probably where I got my first inspiration their beautiful colors inspire me.

BK: Do you paint in the wild?

WW: No, I grow fl owers at home, so I can pick out the one that I like and use it as a model. I grow the pink torch flower (dalaa) at my place, for example. It takes up to a week for me to do one painting, so I end up using more than one.

BK: The pink torch fl ower seems to be your favorite.

WW: It was love at fi rst sight. When I fi rst saw it, I thought, “Wow, this is beautiful!” I  mmediately wanted to paint it.

BK: How did you choose to study botanical illustration?

WW: I used to work as a librarian and every time I saw a book about fl owers, I would be absorbed. I quit my job, I went to the America and saw that they were offering a botanical illustrations course. I signed up because I wanted to have fun painting, but I didn’t think I’d end up studying it seriously. Soon, I found out that this is my true passion.

BK: Were you always good at painting?

WW: When I was in grade 2, I drew a pomelo and won first price in school along with B200, but after that I never really drew until 3 years ago, when I signed up for the course.

BK: Tell us a little bit about this collection.

WW: There are about 20 fl owers in this collection, some of which I drew a long time ago. They are characterized by their torch-like shape and their sexy pink and green colors. Inside one single fl ower, there are in fact many colors if you look closely. Some may look green but if you look closer, there is actually some blue.

BK: If you could be one fl ower, what would you be?

WW: I would be a rose because I am fl exible, I can adapt to things pretty quickly, and I am hard to please. I collect roses and the fi rst fl ower I drew was, of course, a rose—but it didn’t look like one back then! Sabina Ahuja

See the Art of Botanical Painting at Sweet Sin Gallery 432/9
2/F, Siam Square Soi 9, 02-251-2439, www.sweetsingallery.
wordpress.com, through Jan 31.