Inky Leaves

2012-01-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

Sketchbook Pieces from Bali

Medinilla speciosa

Plumeria rubra and variegated leaves

Hibiscus sp.

Euphorbia leaf, Heliconia and leaf study

Caesalpinia pulcherrima

Leaf study of Plumeria rubra leaves

2012-01-25T05:52:00.001-08:00

Back from Bali and Java

So I am back from Indonesia and had a great time. The wedding was really beautiful and fascinating. I managed to get some sketchbook work completed, which is good, but I wanted to do more. There was so much beauty to capture, and I seemed to take quite a while in getting each painting completed!

Me painting... again...

Painting a leaf in Sidemen

I will upload the sketchbook work tomorrow... But for now here are some other shots..

Borobudur, Java - Marianne North has also been here.

Marianne North's painting

I have to say - I didn't know at the time, but when I was on top of the temple I thought to myself 'I bet she's been here' - it just felt like her kind of place and when I got to work today, I went straight to the guide book to see... It feels really magical to have been where Marianne has been. Wonderful stuff indeed.

Borobudur, Java

More painting...

The wedding... yes, it rained. These are the dancers they had - they were fabulous.

Mr and Mrs. Jessie - sorry for the confusion on which Jessie was getting married this month!

Me very happy relaxing in Ubud...

Chinese New Years Day, Jakarta - you have never seen so much insense in your life and yes, that is a human-sized candle.

2012-01-08T07:25:00.001-08:00

Off to Bali... for Jessie's And Jessy's wedding!

Have a great 3 weeks everyone. I guess now you can all see why I have been rampaging in my studio to get ahead of the 'game'...

TTFN xxx

2012-01-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

Notes on dissections for you all

I regard myself as lucky on this course, because I have done a year's worth of botanical taxonomy training... I kind of know what I am looking for when dissecting a flower. I know, for example that most flowers from the Rose family - Strawberry's, Roses, plums etc... have a hypanthium and I know the different types of arrangement in which the ovules can be arranged in an ovary. So before I go to Bali, I have loaded up some pictures from the best taxonomy book around with the hope that it will help all those who are doing dissections while I am away.

This is the book:

So we have all seen this type of diagram?

Good!

But there is so much more:

The diagram above shows you what it 'should' look like if there is a hypanthium present... The reason is starts as absent, then the hypanthuium appears and then goes absent again in the sequence is due to evolution... So you can end up with any of the 5 arrangements as shown above.

This shows how the gynoecium (female bit) can be arranged. The circles are transverse sections, the other longitudinal. As you can see, the ovules can be arranged in a number of ways in each locule (ovary). Along a column (axile), all around the edge (parietal), along one side of the edge (marginal) and sometimes several ovary's fuse to create a bigger septate ovary that has several cavities inside. Sometimes the axile placentation doesn't join at the top, and then it is called 'free central', and if there is only one ovule, then this can either be in the ovary as basal or apical depending on how it connects to the tissue.

This is how different anthers can empty themselves of pollen (dehiscence). Can be very important in dissections - especially in orchids.

Again, different dehiscence types on anthers.

Different arrangements of petals for a floral diagram

And - floral diagrams.. I find floral diagrams very easy to do and they can transform what is a very difficult flower to draw into a very easy one. This is for Julie so she understands what I was talking about on the cyclamen on the last comments in that post.

If you are donig a longitudinal section, you need to imagine what would be cut through the middle and what wouldn't be if you draw a line from the axis symbol all the way down the middle of that picture above to the bottom. When cutting a flower in two, you rarely get it straight down the middle, so you need this to refer to, plus the real flower in front of your to cross refernce with. I hope this helps.

2012-01-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

A bit more completed on Polly...

The dissections have been a REAL pain to do. I didn't realise that the flower was a double to begin with, plus there is a hypanthium to remember and all the sexual parts are leafy, so nothing is normal - no anthers, no 'filaments' and no ovaries! Anyway, I am very satisfied with the piece and luckily my friend Alex's herbarium specimen and fresh plant arrived in time, along with a pickled fruit which I have received from another Alex, it makes me very well sorted - (I began this painting with no material - everything from memory!

2012-01-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sewing progress

A bit more since the last time you saw it on 15th and 2nd August...

2012-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Sketchbook bits...

Tonight I will be doing a bit of work on Polly, but in the meantime I thought I'd post some bits from my sketchbook. None of the pieces correspond to any of the assignments at the moment, as these sketches are things I have done for fun over the past year. My sketchbook is in a ring bound file to keep everything together, along with 2 A4 notebooks.

A pea pod and colours for Sally

Study for Aiden the Aesculus which never got painted. Romilly replaced him.

A Rose study from my roses on Valentines Day 2011

Runner Beans from the garden study - not finished

Berberis dissection

Silene dissection and floral diagram

Orchid anatomy (Cymbidium)

Cyclamen anatomy, floral diagram and dissection. this was done a while back, but I thought it would be useful for Julie. But it may be wrong - can't remember - don't take my word for it! Maybe use it as a guide?

Rose anatomy, floral diagram and dissection

2011-12-31T03:14:00.000-08:00

Polly's Progress

Polly the Plymouth Strawberry

So after a four day Christmas break I am back on Polly. I did a lot of sewing over the holiday and it has to be said that I really enjoyed doing something different! However, with a deadline looming I have to get cracking on with this diploma portfolio. I started work in the morning, but it didn't go very well so I did a blogpost about what's happening in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery over Spring time instead. Then I returned to Polly - still the same problems - no flow. It always seems to take me hours to get back 'into' a painting and I have been so tired lately that my body feels like it would rather just sit down and watch a film.

I had a long bath. Which was delightful. Then I picked up a brush and felt like I wasn't making much progress again!

I went to watch Jane Eyre on the television which is my favourite story of all time. That I enjoyed, with a nice pot of loose tea, and before it finished, at 3pm, I finally felt like I could paint. I cut the programe short and went upstairs. I did an intense two hours and then went back down to watch Downton Abbey's Christmas special when my neck began to hurt. Then I sat for another intense two hours painting Polly.

Finally going to bed at about midnight!

Polly's roots

It is very frustrating when this happens. It isn't procastination, more like an emotional energy, which I need before I can tap into any creative thought. I need to be stirred by something. That certain something Jane Eyre and Downton Abbey had (Jane Eyre more so). I wish I could get up and just get on with it like I did with the 2011 Grapes and Sally, but it isn't working becuase I am currently very stressed about the looming deadline and how little time I have. I realise the deadline is in March, but I have counted that I have only 19 full days off between now and then. Madness.

You simply cannot rush these things. It usually takes me 10 days (of 8-12 hour days) to do one.

So, I will keep you informed, but I am really starting to feel the strain. I may call Pam this week to explain the situation. I also have to somehow 'create' a sketchbook as well. With time so short over the past two years, I just worked straight onto the paper with no sketchbook work. Risky, but I like a risk.

2011-12-30T02:34:00.000-08:00

Dates for the exhibitions at the SSGOBA

Herbarium Painting by Rachel Pedder-Smith ©

I thought, with a lot of you trying to organise your trips to London during the SBA exhibitions in April that it would be useful to point out what is on and what isn't in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art this Spring. We are actually having a major re-refurbishment during that time, to prepare ourselves for the David Nash exhibition which starts in June. This is unfortunate, but there is the Marianne North Gallery and bits of the SSGOBA will be half open showing all sorts of work. This includes the extraordinary piece by Rachel Pedder-Smith. Rachel, for the past three years or so has been painting specimens from the herbarium at Kew for her PhD at the Royal College of Art, London. She has just finished it and the 533cm long piece will be on show from the 31st March until the 7th May. Yes, it's over 5m long! I think this is the best bet for all those travelling to the SBA exhibition 'Botanical Celebration' in April 2012. I have seen this painting in the flesh and it is something to marvel at. I am not keen on Rachel's work if I am honest. I didn't like the piece showing for the Watercolour exhibition at the Tate Britain. However I LOVE this herbarium painting. There is something very beautiful about it. It is less cluttered I think, and that is what I like.

Herbarium Painting by Rachel Pedder-Smith ©

I realise the Kew website is not up to date yet and this is partly my fault, but I am waiting for some text and images. So, to give you a bit more info, I have copied and pasted the text that's going into the Kew Magazine. Please note that these dates can move if anything unexpected occurs and so it is good practise to phone the gallery on 020 8332 3622 before visiting.

Programme:

Exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

Open daily from 9.30, no extra charge

Galleries 5 & 6 until 9 April 2012

The last opportunity to see Plants in Peril – paintings of endangered plants

Encephalartos woodii, Leslie Carol Berge ©. Extinct in the wild

Galleries 2, 3, 4 until 9 April 2012

Joseph Hooker – Naturalist, Traveller and More

Celebrating the life and work of Sir Joseph Hooker, Director of Kew from 1865 until 1885

Rhododendron hookeri by Joseph Dalton Hooker, RBG Kew ©

Gallery 1 from 31 March until 7 May 2012

The Pressed Plant – Rachel Pedder-Smith’s Herbarium Specimen painting

Herbarium Painting by Rachel Pedder-Smith ©

Gallery 6 from 5 May until 14 April 2013

Portraits of Leaves and Fungi - paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection

Leaves by Brigid Edwards ©

Galleries 1,2,3,4, 5 from 9 June until April 2013 ( NB there will be a re-fresh of this exhibition in October to include new work produced at Kew)

David Nash

David Nash ©

The Marianne North Gallery

Open daily from 9.30 am, no extra charge

See all of Marianne North’s original paintings in their full glory, after two years of painstaking conservation work.

Painted by Marianne North. RBG Kew ©

Please note that between the second half of March to June some areas of the gallery will be temporarily closed for exhibition installation. Please check the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art web pages, or tel: 020 8332 3622 for further details.

2011-12-29T01:59:00.000-08:00

Bunting at Ugford

Here's some of the Christmas bunting which I was busy making before Christmas... All up and being enjoyed! The chandelier was made by Henry's papa. It's very beautiful and clever as you can adjust it's height using a winch-like structure.

2011-12-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

A drawing of the Plymouth Strawberry from 1765

in one of Duschene's books...

Not the most accurate of drawings, but you certainly get the idea of what this strawberry is all about!

2011-12-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

Polly's Progress

I have started using my new watercolour paints for this painting... I am finding it rather tricky, as I am not used to them at all. However, I do feel that this paint does look a lot fresher using a tube rather than a pan. It's nice being able to mix lots of colour at once as well. When I had only pans I used to run-out of mixed colour all the time, which was very annoying as you can never really get exact mix again.

2011-12-20T04:03:00.000-08:00

Introducing the Polly the Plymouth Strawberry!

http://www.aphotoflora.com/d_fragaria_vesca_muricata_plymouth_strawberry.html

This is the plant I am studying for my next piece. Polly, or Fragaria vesca var. muricata, is from the damp deciduous woodlands of Plymouth in Devon. The Plymouth area is home to many rare, local and unusual plant species (Pyrus cordata, Carduus pycnocephalus, Silene vulgaris ssp vulgaris to name a few), but the Plymouth Strawberry is the strangest. It's like a common wild strawberry, but not so tasty. It's flowers don't have any pure white petals and it's fruit isn't really a tasty summer treat. Due what I think is a naturally occurring genetic mutation, all of the floral parts have reverted to leaves (green leafy flowers) and the fruits are covered in green spines. Petals, anthers and sepals were after all leaves originally - before Angiosperms evolved. So I have come to the conclusion that certain genes have been switched off in this subspecies, making this plant revert to an archetype which unfortunately makes it infertile at the same time.

The Plymouth Strawberry

The original plant was found a few centuries back by the famous plantsman John Tradescant, who rescued it from the clutches of a child who wanted to burnt it, thinking it was the Devil's fruit. Tradescant subsequently placed its progeny in every botanical garden in Europe, where it slowly died out un-noticed. There are few publications which refer to this species, and a massive gap in the reference section after Linneaus and Duschene, until 1962 when it was published by a chap called Staudt as being extinct. Probably a result of it's sterility and massive habitat destruction in the city area.

If we fast forward a few hundred years, we come to 2007, when a couple of botany students at Plymouth University (one of which was me) wondered whatever became of the Plymouth Strawberry. The original site has long since succumbed to the sea of concrete and grey stone that is Plymouth city and no live plants could be found in any botanic gardens. Fortunately we found a few colonies which have survived the years in private gardens, mainly in the Plympton and Tavistock area. We managed to obtain some of the plants and propagated them...

Currently, myself and my friend are trying to increase the prevalence of this local variety in Plymouth. Back in October 2009, we planted 50 plants in eight secret sites throughout the city and its remaining wooded areas. It was surprisingly difficult to find suitable sites, but we were confident that at least some would thrive.

A quick sketch of mine

Bibliography:

Prudence Leith Ross, 'The John Tradescants - Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen', Peter Owen Publishers, London, 1984

John Gilbert Baker, 'Flora of Plymouth', William Bredon and Son, 1880, London

G. Staudt, (1962), 'Revision of Fragaria', Candaian Journal of Botany, Vol. 40. No. 6. pages 864-886.

Gerard, Herbal, ed. Johnson, op. cit. pg 998

John Parkinson, (1629), 'Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris'

2011-12-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

New paints means new colour cards...

All of my colour charts... mixture of paint brands

My new Winsor and Newton paints

Prussian Blue, Winsor Violet, Ultramarine Violet, Cobalt Violet, Rose Dore, Potter's Pink, Winsor Green, Coblat Turquoise, Davy's Gray, Green Gold and Transparent Yellow.

2011-12-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Boris is getting his flowers

Close up of the flower head in bud

The piece as a whole

Close up of the flowers

2011-12-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

A Weekend in Cologne

The night of the Lunar Eclipse at a Weihnachtsmarkt

Just got back from a lovely weekend in Cologne... Filled with lots of visits to Christmas Markets and a trip to the Dom. Fantastic mosaic work on the floors of the Cathedral... You can distinctly identify each plant. Thought I'd share them with you all seeing the botanical theme of this blog:

Grapes

Oak

Thistle

Ivy

Strawberry and my feet

The Rhine

2011-12-13T01:58:00.001-08:00

Pen and Ink

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

This is simply an amazing video. In the world of botanical art, most scientists like their artists to draw plates in pen and ink using dots. Shading in dots reduces the confusion because a line in hatching could represent an outline or a gash rather than tonal variation. Stella Ross-Craig is one of the few botanical artists who got away with hatching (below).

Nymphaea sp. by Stella Ross-Craig

Primula sp. by Stella Ross-Craig

Here is a dotted example by Lesley Randall (below). This is what is deemed as a more acceptable representation, but it is a real pain to do! I remember drawing 19 plates of Araucaria species for the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and all those dots nearly drove me crazy!

Aristolochia giganteaby Lesley Randall

(Margaret Flockton Award FirstPrize 2007)

Margaret Flockton, Botanical Illustrator For the NationalHerbarium at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens

Which reminds me thatthe Margaret Flockton Award is ack on! Deadline is the 6^th February2012 for all those interested in submitting...

2011-12-08T01:38:00.001-08:00

Marianne North prints are now available

for sale online

After a much anticipated wait, I can now say that a selection of Marianne North Prints are now available online. They aren't on the Kew website yet, but can be ordered from Magnolia Box directly. Magnolia Box do prints for a lot of institutions, including the Natural History Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Happy shopping!

They start on page 4... flick through the pages to find more.

2011-12-06T06:25:00.001-08:00

Boris the Brocolli

He's a pretty little thing with primrose-coloured yellow flowers

2011-12-02T02:54:00.001-08:00

Boris the Broccolli

Otherwise known as: Brassica oleracea L. convar. botrytis (L.) Alef. var. cymosa Duch.

So this is what I have done so far on Boris. He is very tricky. This is just a trial run really because I felt I had the time, but maybe I don't?! The leaves are so dark, I think many layers of paint are required for Boris, which means time. I do love doing Brassica leaves. Maybe if this isn't to my satisfaction I can quickly do a pencil study last minute.

The greens need a lot of purple in them. As I have a limited palette of 25 Daler Rowney colours, I am using Mauve. The rest of the green is made of Gamhodge Yellow, Phathlo Blue and in places there is Lamp Black and Ultra Marine. I have used a limited palette all my life, and though out the course, but I hope to get a few new watercolours for my birthday from my daddy, who I am seeing this weekend. Ideally I want colours that you can't really achieve in a mix. I'd be really grateful if anyone could let me know of which colours would be best in the comments box, as I have never bought my own watercolours (I inherit them). I am guessing Windsor and Newton are the most preferred as they are easily available.

2011-11-29T01:27:00.001-08:00

My New Skin for Jess-Pod

I got a fabulous birthday present from my mum and step-dad Andrew... yep, an i-pod! It is officially amazing. I have wanted an MP3 player for a long, long time. I am slowly going through my CD collection and loading everything up onto i-tunes. Last night Henry understood why I had wanted an MP3 player for so long, becuase I think he thought I was getting to the end of loading up all my CD's after 3 boxes of them, but alas, another box from on top of my wardrobe came down for entry... It's a never ending task!

So here is my gelaskin... I have loaded it up here becuase you may recognise the pattern - Yep, it has been made using one of my paintings (number 2)... I am so pleased with it. Sadly, it isn't a great photograph, but it's really green and lush. I almost loaded the grapes, which looked very cool, but the Ginkgo is far more me.

Anyone who has artwork, and a device, be it a kindle or a touch or a pod, I highly recommend 'making your own' - there is an option to do this.

2011-11-27T05:19:00.001-08:00

Beautiful gift cards and prints from
Flat Flower Cards

I really like these. I used to make a lot of pressed flower cards, but wish I came up with the idea of scanning them in first!

This is the URL for shopping: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlatFlowerCards?ref=seller_info

2011-11-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

Another Day in London

If I was a good girl, I would have stayed at home painting. Alas, I can't just sit there like some sort of ancient form of scholar with no inspiration - no way of putting what I am doing into context - so today was my day in London. There were several exhibitions I wanted to see: Leonardo da Vinci at the National Gallery, Grayson Perry at the British Museum, the New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries and Miracles and Charms at the Wellcome Trust.

Rather a lot of pack in for one day. I also wanted to get to St. Paul's to see the protesters...

So, the day began with a quick trip to the Mall Galleries. As I walked to them from Embankment, I noticed a very long queue of people. "Ah!" I thought, "must be for Leonardo"... that it was. I have never seen such a large queue... I have to say everyone was very polite. I was hoping to go into Leonardo later on. I knew it would be busy, but my staff card lets me in straight away so I get to bypass the queues. This can be great - a perk of the job, but this morning I just couldn't bring myself to jump the queue when so many others were waiting patiently. In the end I decided to go to Leonardo on a day when I felt more rebellious and bolshy.

The Leonardo Queue

It's the first time I have been to the Mall Galleires and I was a bit disappointed if I am honest. Still it is good for me to have seen it. I was expecting something larger and I didn't see why someone had to pay the admission fee if they just wanted to use the café. Personally it seems to me like they need to re-arrange the galleries so that this can be done.

Then I popped into St. Martin in the Fields whilst waiting for a friend, and in front of Shirazeh Houshiary's east window Zoya Shuhatovich was playing Chopin. "Brilliant" I thought. I had been meaning to go to St. Martin's for ages, and I finally made it by accident, and even managed to time it with a lunchtime concert. Bingo! It was truly beautiful and I recommend these little lunchtime concerts whole heartedly. They ask for a small donation, which is really rather nice of them not to charge. I hope to go to their candle lit evening concerts this winter. I am currently thinking of Handel's Messiah...

Inside St. Martin in the Fields by candle light

After a cup of tea and an apple strudel with my friend Richard, I trekked onwards to the British Museum for Grayson Perry's 'The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman'. Again, my staff pass lets me in... sadly though, the booking system at the British Museum meant that they would not let me in at that current time. Maybe another day Grayson...? I do hope so, as even though I wasn't impressed with the difficulty in getting to the exhibition, I have heard that it is a great show. From what I understand, it's just my sort of thing... an exploration into relationships between the objects in the British Museum collection and those of his own. An exhibition that travels time and space, from culture to culture. Sounds amazing.

The Rosetta Vase, 2011 by Grayson Perry

When it comes to booking for exhibitions, there are some great articles from the Guardian here and 'Are Blockbuster Art Shows Worth Queuing For?'.

A little disappointed, I then walked onwards to the Wellcome Trust, who had an interesting exhibition on show about curiosities and charms, which had been recommended to me by a friend of mine, Morag MacInnes. I was really impressed. I thought the 'Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings' were beautiful. I liked the way that there were lots of them, which gave you that impression of a shrine. These small paintings are usually executed on small plaques and depict the moment of personal humility when an individual asks a saint for help and is delivered from disaster (usually death). Room upon room, there they all were. I have to admit, I could imagine that some people would find it a bit repetitive after seeing twenty, but as a collection I thought they worked really well together. The exhibition explored the reaction of individuals during a time of crisis in which their strength of faith came into play, reminding me of how delicate life is. This, for me, seriously put our own 'environmental-financial crisis' into perspective, but at the same time it seemed rather apt. This exhibition left me with a feeling of hope and I noticed that there was a collective healing experience going on the spaces. An empathetic presence.

I thank our Lord Saint Francis of Assisi for saving us from drowning on 27 October 1962. (Monterrey, Nuevo León).

Oil on tin, 1962. Propiedad del Santuario de San Francisco de Asís de la Diócesis de Matehuala, SLP, México/INAH

The other exhibition at the Wellcome Trust was 'Charmed Life'. This exhibition was curated by Felicity Powell and featured some 400 amulets from Henry Wellcome's vast collection. The amulets, ranging from simple coins to meticulously carved shells, dead animals to elaborately fashioned notes, were amassed by the banker Edward Lovett, who scoured London by night, buying curious objects.

Hazelnut with copper mount and wire link at the top for attaching to a chain or similar.

Courtesy Pitt Rivers Museum [1985.51.195]

"I do not know of any object which for its size enjoys such a reputation as the acorn. I do not allude so much to the natural object, which when ripe falls from the cup and thus loses its character. I refer to the acorn design, which is so widely met with and made in so many different materials." Edward Lovett, 'Magic in Modern London', p. 63
Carved horn acorn in two pieces, containing a bell. Used as an amulet against lightning.

Courtesy Pitt Rivers Museum [1985.51.269]

I thought this exhibition was thoughtfully presented - sympathetic to the objects themselves. Such a marvellous array of odd things, which were screaming at me to be held, touched, and kept close, as they were many years ago. What I loved was that although each amulet on display had long been separated from its wearer, collectively they still formed a repository for anxieties, reassurances and superstitions. Alongside Lovett's amulets was a series Powell's intricate wax miniatures. I thought these were wonderfully delicate - they had that ethereal quality like the charms close by. The wax had been touched and moulded lovingly with Powell's digits (link to video). This quote sums up the wax work very well: 'Like Lovett's amulets, they seem to be more than themselves, hinting at a hidden magic at work, as they dip between real and imagined worlds'.

Detail from one of Felicity Powells wax artworks

Feeling rather uplifted from that exhibition, I decided to call it a day. I went to Intaglio's to get some printing ink, and then homeward bound. I am really gutted that I didn't get to St. Paul's. I have already been to the camp site and there is such a great collective vibe there (now they have a new library). I guess the Wellcome Collection filled the void that needed filling for me that day.

The Alleyway were you can find 'Intaglio's':

9 Playhouse Court off Southwark Bridge Road

Inside Intaglio Printmaker's, my favourite printing shop

Work tomorrow... and some sketchbook work.

Many thanks London for a great day!

2011-11-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

'Somehere Place' by Ryan McGinely

at the Galerie Gabriel Rolt

Wish I could see this exhibition, or at least have this as a postcard on my wall! There is just so much optimism represented in this image.

2011-11-17T07:19:00.001-08:00

I was burning the midnight oil last night

So I went to bed at 1am this morning... still not finished! I will be working on this little beast of a project tonight, so it will have to be sent by recorded delivery tomorrow morning. I have been working on getting the two bottom passion flowers - trying to get them to leap off the page (REALLY DIFFICULT!). With them being so pale, they naturally recede into the paper. I am really happy with the shadow on the left flower around the right below the stigmas. It seems to work well.

This bit above needs more work - the last touches

I can't even begin to describe to you how tired from working. Keeping a full time job on the go as well is now becoming very tricky indeed. It was not bad to begin with, but I am beginning to become concerned with regard to my portfolio pieces ... I have to do one a month on average.

It's been really lovely seeing more comments on my blog recently. It's always good to hear what people have to say - good or bad. Thank you!

I hope my next post will be about this beauty being put in the post!

2011-11-16T06:10:00.000-08:00

A nice little piece I saw in the Stylist Magazine today

I love the detail, the relief work and of course the fact that it is in pen and ink - my favourite!

2011-11-14T15:19:00.001-08:00

A bit more work - almost complete!

Another day in my bedroom studio and a few more layter sof paint have been added. I have no idea why this painting is taking so long.. I am guessing it is beucase of all the different shapes and colours which are slowing me down. I am desperate to get my tonal variation right this time around, so am trying to get the layers really deep as well. Just got Thursday night left on this and then I'll post it on Friday morning... Missed yoga tonight, and am feeling pretty ill with a nasty bug, so I hope I get a good mark!

2011-11-11T13:06:00.001-08:00

And another 12 hours, although you wouldn't think it...

... you have to look carefully for the changes. It is like 'spot the difference'!

2011-11-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

A little bit more...

2011-11-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

Phaseolus and Lonicera being painted in...

On Thursday, my last day in Spain, I managed to squeeze in a few more hours of painting and put down the first layers of paint for my runner bean and honeysuckle flowers. I have a lot of work to do though and only 2 days off to do them in, so I will be working in the evenings to get this completed in time. I am enjoying it though.

Back in London this weekend, and straight into work in the gallery. They have just finished putting all the Joseph Hooker paintings on the walls, so we are now only waiting for the lighting to be done and the vinyl text and labels. The exhibition opens on the 12th - can't wait. It's an interesting exhibtion because it is biographical, and we haven't had one like that yet. Lots of photographs and examples of Walter Hood Fitch's work.

Off to Hattie's tonight in Manor House, London. She is designing a set stage for her party next week and the theme is 'The Botanical Garden and the Mad Scientist'. I think I will be painting some more plants - but in a rather different way - I am thinking BIG here. She lives in a type of communal warehouse - very cool. It's a big open space with hand crafted furniture and circular doors made by her house mate, Aidy.

Will post some images when it's all done!

I hope these images look ok. I am currently getting to grips with a new camera which I have called Io, and in using photoshop...

2011-11-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many hours into this I am now...!

Another day in and I feel like I am making good progress. I am very pleased now that I have chosen to compose this differently, and stayed away from doing a portrait view with all the stems meeting at the bottom. With the climbing plants coming from the side I feel a little more 'free'. I have completed the unfurling bud on the far right which was pretty tricky! Being in Spain has really helped me relax and get into the zone! I am a little anxious about how I may be when back in London this weekend... It's time to start getting a bit more real and serious until March, when I complete the course, and I am concerned how well it is going to go with my full time job.

Eyes down look in...!

2011-10-31T05:48:00.000-07:00

Working from Spain

So I am currently in Spain! Seeing my mum and step dad for a little break. It was my birthday not long ago too, so I had a really great time! My mum had baked me a chocolate birthday cake!

Just been on a walk and saw some beautiful alpine plants up in the resinera close to mum's village. It's very beautiful here. All the Poplars have just turned the most golden yellow and the people here have just made a new botanically themed walk with lots of plant labels. What's so odd is there isn't a soul in sight - so quiet.

I am finding it tricky doing this illustration, only becuase I am worried that it isn't what the assessors are looking for. But I am going to have to carry on with it now. The leaves are such hard work! Even at this stage of the course. I am really trying to get my tones right though, as i am still loosing marks with this aspect of my painting style... and this is an ideal subject to get my tones sorted out.

2011-10-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

Psychedelic Trees in Kew

2011-10-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Climbing Plants

Here is a glimpse of my latest piece of work - an array of climbing plants (Passiflora, Phaseolus, Lonicera and Hedera. I wanted to paint something with tendrils this season and the Passionflower just spoke out to me when I walked past it a few weeks back. I had been on a long walk, 'ransacking' florists and gardens to little avail, and then I found Perdita on my return leg, scrambling over a wall only a few minutes from my house. I thought: 'what luck'!

What I really wanted to do with this painting is to she if I can have a composition like this one, and get away with it. I like the way it looks like a herbarium specimen - but I am also conscious of the fact that I don't want it to look too flat.

So here are my first washes:

2011-10-25T02:24:00.000-07:00

The Bunting Factory

My friend Kate came to stay with me this week for a pre-birthday weekend. The weather was beautiful so we spent a lot of time walking outside. We went to Hampstead Heath on Saturday and on Sunday we walked along the River Thames from Kew to Hammersmith. It's amazing how beautiful the river is up this end of town. You'd never know you were in a busy city! We had a lovely time catching up. Kate lives in Bristol, and because I work weekends we rarely get to see each other now, so we had a lot of catch up on!

On Sunday, with there being two of us I thought it would be good to get another line of bunting done... Mum's roof terrace is going to look really colourful!

I haven't got much illustration done (again)... Autumn is a very busy time of year for me, always has been and probably always will be. I like to spend as much time out-of-doors as possible when the sun is this low in the sky and the leaves are turning. Still - I have Friday off so I will try and get some work completed then. In the meantime, I am at work busy writing up a new webpage for the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. It's about an oject that'sll be on show in our forthcoming exhibition 'Joseph Hooker - naturalist, traveller and more'.

2011-10-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Surfing the web and I found these...

I think they are great fun!

http://www.busyboo.com/2010/10/20/serving-dish-ramekins/

I am busy making bunting again - for my mum this time and some librian friends. I ought to get cracking on with my last assignment though, but I am not quite 'there' yet in my mind. I thinking about how to avoid dying cut flowers, because they always die on me rather more quicly than I intend them to! The tree's do look stunning in Kew, but I am a little weary of attempting to depict them. Marianne North always found the Autumnal shades the hardest. In Japan she had a particularly hard time. She had trouble capturing the colour of the maples which totally defeated her:

‘the hills were perfectly on fire with different tints of red, crimson scarlet and every shade of carnation, even different purples... I spent a vast quantity of madder and carmine in trying to imitate that which could not imitated’.

Which reminds me... I am giving a talk at the Chelsea Physic Garden on Marianne North a week on Thursday. I am a teeny bit nervous, as this is the first talk I have done since moving to London. I used to do a lot of presentations on Sir John St. Aubyn less than two years ago. I guess I am feeling out of practice.

Anyway, it's going to be a very insightful talk about Marianne - I will be talking about some of the findings we made on the conservation project ad showing lots of rarely seen photographs.

Come and join me if you can! For details please follow link.

2011-09-30T00:36:00.000-07:00

Henry's birthday card

Enjoying the break... and the birthday's! It was Henry's birthday on the 23rd, so since posting my waterlilies off I have been very busy celebrating. That and enjoying the marvellous weather at Kew. It's been a sensational Autumn here this year. Just look at that big blue sky!!

2011-09-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

33 hours in and I have broken my camera so no flash...

... but it looks a bit closer to the original in colour... I like the flash though, because you get really sharp images (especially at this time of night!).

I have discovered since doing this painting that ellipticals are actually very difficult (never had a problem before). I like water droplets, but not huge one's like these. I am finding the perspective on these lily pads very tricky - they get smaller, and more squished for sure, but being so zoomed in, the squishing isn't that much and is hard to judge, ad it is that, with the water droplets that's making the ellipticals so tricky. I think I may have to try this one again until I master this technique as I certainly haven't yet. Not bad for a first try I suppose... It's frustrating becuase I want 'atmosphere', and also accuracy - can't have both I suppose...

Boyd and Evans, two artists I met in July at the bunting party do this very well. I wish I saw this one in the flesh: Clee Hill... Another one is this. I really admire their work, it requires so much concentration!

2011-09-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

And a bit more...

I wasn't sure about putting in the glass house ceiling, as it was the only bit I could see as a perfect reflection, but I think it works...

2011-09-15T01:23:00.000-07:00

The Bunting

Here are the pictures of the bunting I was busy making - as promised.
Really easy to make and I recommend it for all parties!

2011-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

A bit more done to the painting...

This is my last stint to get it completed now. I have another 2 days off and I hope to have it complete by then. I am finding the leaves the hardest now, and not the water!

2011-09-09T06:46:00.000-07:00

Botanical Wallpaper

2011-09-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Another evening of painting...

Here's Walter, William, and pink Winnie, and there are some more flower heads now. I am off for the weekend, so it will be quiet in InkyLeaf Studio's for a few days. I am camping in Seaford, so I hope the weather is nice... For all my readers abroad, it's been very wet here. On Tuesday the rain was so heavy it was like being inside a car wash rather than the Shirley Sherwood Gallery - the water came down the windows in waterfalls. Was rather amazing. I love water... I notice I look at it in such a different way now I have started this painting. After I finish my SBA course, I think I will dedicate a year or more to painting water.

Here is quite a nice read on the effect water has on glass in a car wash and the photographs are just like how my windows where like at Kew, although we had much more greenery reflected in them, so it looked much prettier!

2011-09-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

A bit more done to Will, Winnie and Walter...

So I have managed to get a bit done this evening, a couple of hours, which is optimum for me. I have noticed I relatively get a lot more done in a couple of hours than in a day. I will do more on the leaves, but I want to get all the washes in first so I can get a sense of perspective. I think one has to be careful of 'knitting' their way across the page with botanical illustration. Doing things really accurately as you go along bit by bit, becuase the composiiotn can then be lost. One has to work on it as a whole, especially with something of this nature!

One other thing is I am trying to get bits of the water in now for the same reason. However I am trying to keep in mind that it is the plant that needs to be accurate - that's where my marks lie in the end.

2011-09-05T06:15:00.001-07:00

Waterlilies

Waterlilies after about 14 hours of work... the picture at the top is how they look now, and the one below is one that's been fiddled with in brightness, contrast and mid tones. I do this a lot to check my tonal values. I always notice that my painting looks better when I lower the mid tones and this tells me that my tone's need darkening on the real painting, so I apply more paint. I stop doing this until the opposite happens on my computer i.e. lowering the mid tones makes it look worse! As I suspected I need to get this water really dark. Pond water is not like other water - it's not like the sea, and it isn't like a big lake, it's almost black, but black with all the colours of the plants inside it if that makes sense? So I am trying to put all the colours in and then the black. One can't do it the other way around. What you can also see is that the pink flower at the top - that is in what I'd say it's best tone in it's current state. When it's made darker it brings it too far forward into the foreground and messes up my perspective, so I don't need to fiddle with that one anymore.

So today I have given the bud more detail... I love doing buds so much, especially ones this fleshy! I am off to the theatre with Henry soon, so I ought to get cracking on... I have about 3 hours of paint time left for today...

2011-09-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Updates from the InkyLeaves Studio

Wowee - I am not sure if anyone else has upgraded their blogs for the new layout but it is really snazzy! If only they were able to sort out why I wasn't able to receive my comments... I'd be really grateful if there is anyone out there (but Shevaun and Julie as you have already let me know about problems with commenting), who cannot comment on my wall please email me or write on my facebook wall so I can see how big this problem is before I email Google... Email: mail@inkyleaves.com. Thanks!

The latest news... at work I am now constructing a talk which I am delivering the 13th October to the Chelsea Physic Garden. I have been seriously 'swatting up' on all things Marianne North and am still discovering new things. Today I found out that Edward Lear's poem 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' - one of my all time favs - was written for her neice! Edward Lear was an artist and illustrator as well funnily enough, and did a lot of ornithological paintings for the Zoological Society. Here is my own rendition of the poem.

So, alongside this I have been busy dropping off Sally the Savoy and 2011 Grapes to the Discerning Eye Competition at the Mall Galleries... fingers crossed that they get accepted! This is a big first for me.

Waterlilies at Kew Gardens Update:

Well I am plugging away when I can, but it has been a nightmarishly busy September so far. This time around I really am rather laid back to be honest after the craziness of Romilly the Rose and Seaside Plants, which I think is helping me. I have no idea where this is going and so this is making it a bit more fluid. I am struggling a bit with mixing the purple colours as I don't have all the wonderful colours you can get and I onlyhave mauve and crimson pink. Being on a tight budget and a tad stubborn I just stick with my little palette and mix my own greens, but the purples are tricky. The problem is that the waterlilies also don't look very real. Their amazing bold and bright colours are nothing like the black-petrol blue deep waters or the muted and monotonous greens of their leaves.

Had a small problem with my washes as well and had to stretch the paper after painting on it. Luckily a friend of mine Vicki told me a while ago how to do this. She does her's once it is completed by wetting the back with a sponge or squirter/mister, but I had to do it straight away as the water was sliding off the lily pads making one bit very dark and concentrated with pigment... that'll teach me! Having done so much dry brush I had forgotten that this can happen!

Any suggestions for names for these two lilies? I am thnking Wendy and Willamina... but they have friends at the back..

2011-08-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Waterlilies so far...

I had a stressful day today thanks to a Mercury retrograde with Saturn in Libra squaring Mars in Cancer. Bad combination which left me sort of in the firing line. Never mind... that's life. So I have been painting this evening to try and wind down. This is what I started on my day off on Tuesday and I have done a bit of the other waterlily on the right this evening. I painted for about 2 hours, but I am finding purples rather tricky to do under the tungsten bulb in my anglepoise light. Therefore I am going to have to stop for now and carry on in the daylight on my next day off. I haven't really done anything purple before, so this is a first! The yellow spectrum in the tungsten is making the petals look too yellow and pretty yucky if I am honest! I also still haven't really worked out how to do the water. So I am going to have a play now instead of painting on the assignment piece.

Autumn is approaching in Kew. It's been a very showery August this year and I think this may have contributed to a early autumn. That, and the fact that our growing season did start very early thanks to a delightful Easter holiday!

Red leaves on the trees at Kew 25th August 2011

2011-08-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

I will be spending my lunch breaks here

Lucky me! I have decided to spend my lunch breaks here for the forseeable future... This is the Waterlily House at Kew Gardens and is my chosen patch for my next painting. It is my favourite place and one day I will have one of my own, full of lilies!

Yesterday I spent a rather long time working in my sketchbook, trying to capture these really luminous colours. However, what I am having trouble with is the water. I have never painted pond water so close up before. It's almost black in most places, but in some there is the pale blue sky reflecting back at me or the leaves of the climbers all around the edge. The thing is, pod water in a confined space like this behaves differently to large water volumes outdoors. The light acts differently and the movement in the water itself is different. This is a very tricky subject to choose, but I appear to like a challenge!

In an attempt to understand how other's have approached this sort of subject I have been looking at other artists working in watercolour. This has helped a little. What I have noticed it you can either paint it in a stylised way, or you can be more precise - but there is definitely no middle ground!

This is what I would describe as an accurate painting of water. This has been painted by Tracy Hall.

This is very peaceful and still, but not really like the water in waterlily house. By Bunny Griffeth.

I really like this for capturing the reflection of a blue sky, but I'd need to put more black in. By Julia Swart

The reflections in this painting by Serena Rose are stunning, but to me the colour of the water is too blue and looks a little unnatural.

So... on that note I am off to look at the pond water for half an hour. I am hoping it won't be as busy as the other day - too many faces in the water!

2011-08-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

Sally the Savoy prints for sale

Our all-time friend Sally now has lots of cousins in the form of high quality, A3 giclée prints on archival, heavy weight paper. If you'd like to buy one, please drop me a line: mail@inkyleaves.com.

Limited edition of only 20 prints.

2011-08-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

Intriguing website...

http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/

2011-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Needlework update:

So I have been able to find some time to carry on with my sewing which has been wonderful and very calming to do. I found myself to be in a lovely quiet gap whilst I waited for my coursework to arrive and for the next book in a series to arrive. I am reading Geroge R Martin's books - A Song of Ice and Fire which I am REALLY enjoying, but I finished book two and I Henry as all of the other volumes at his parents house in Bristol, so rather than buy a new copy, I thought I'd wait for his as he is going to see them this weekend coming. Can't wait, as I have been experiencing some serious withdrawal symptoms!

So my 'Colour' sampler was firstly made to help me see which colours work well next to each other, but it has now for me become something far bigger. I like the mathematics in this piece, the tessellation, the pattern and the way it looks like a map. It has become my very own Mandelbrot set!

From this, I have had the idea to try and get some Mandelbrot sets in this piece, and maybe do a larger sampler after this one of just one big Mandelbrot set. Would be tricky, but I like to do tricky things...

2011-08-02T01:51:00.000-07:00

Needlework Project: Colours of 2011

As promised I have posted my needlework project which I began some weeks ago, but got it fully underway whilst in Spain. I have been keen to do something for myself, and so this is it. I am not sure where it is going yet - I fill in area's slowly and make up the patterns in my head. I do like the geometry in this though. I find it satisfying sewing something that is linear because it contrasts so well with my botanical drawings. I feel that it gives my eyes a rest and balances out the organic shapes in my other work. I also like the free style - it allow me to be more creative.

The stitch count is 28stitches/inch, so they are VERY small. I have included a photograph with a pencil for scale.

This shows how it is expanding...

2011-08-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

Redouté Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Flower Drawings: Redouté and his Pupils

A beautiful summer exhibition of flower drawings by Joseph-Pierre Redouté and his pupils is being shown at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The 'Raphael of flowers', Joseph-Pierre Redouté, internationally famous for his prints of roses and lilies, was the finest botanical draughtsman of his age. He worked for both Marie-Antoinette and the Empress Joséphine.

His school of botanical drawing in Paris had over 80 pupils, the majority of them women, several of whom became professional painters of flowers and their work will be shown as part of this exhibition.

Rosa sp. by Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840)

The exhibition celebrates the recent acquisition of Julie Ribault's watercolour, painted in 1830, of Redouté's school of botanical drawing in the Salle Buffon of the Jardin des Plantes, exhibited here for the first time since it was shown at the Paris Salon of 1831.

The exhibition runs from Tuesday 19th July 2011 to Sunday 30th October 2011 for anyone who finds themselves in the area.

2011-07-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yvonne the Yellow Long-horned Poppy, Sapphie the Samphire, Barry the Biting Stonecrop, Felicity the Fescue, Carol the Campion and Kevin the Kale all got together for a picnic by the sea...!

So I have been sat on my milking stool all day with these paintings and if I am honest I am pretty sick of them, which probably isn't helping my progress. It's taken me all day to do those Kale seeds... Still I quite like the fact that the Kale leaf is not finished and is still in washes in parts, as it's watery, like the sea.

It does irritate me that there is not enough time to do these pieces of work probably though. It is after all the quality one is aiming for here. I don't like to churn out pieces just because someone told me to... I want my painting to have more integrity.

Once this is posted, I am looking forward to reading more of my book - the 'Clash of Kings' which I am very much enjoying since I watched 'The Game of Thrones' on television. Can't wait for the next series, so I am reading the books instead. I am also looking forward to carrying on with my sewing which I started a few months back, but really got into it while I was on holiday. I will post pictures of this soon. Currently though, the needlework is under lock and key at my boyfriends house so that I am not tempted to work on it when I ought to be painting! Which reminds me... back to the brushes!

2011-07-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

Penultimate Night...

Just got to finish the seed head on the Kale, the Kale leaf and the Poppy flowers and then a quick dash to the photocopier tomorrow ready for postage on Saturday morning. I have to say it is Kevin the Kale I am most enjoying - he has such amazing colours.

2011-07-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Page one is almost finished...

Another late night at Inky Leaf Towers tonight...! I feel a bit more positive about this piece now I have the Sea Campion at the bottom and the two dissections at the top. I am very tired though! I have Thursday and Friday to finish the Kale. In the end I have rather enjoyed this piece, although it has been unfortunate that it has had to be done in such fits and spurts with work commitments, Glastonbury and family things popping up all over my timetable this summer. Still I think that is the nature of this course - just have to squeeze in the painting when you can!

August and September look to be quieter months, so hopefully I can really get back into what I want to be doing with my brushes. I find my work gets too bitty when my life itself gets bitty and compartmentalised. Does anyone find the same?

Night night!

P.S. I have realised that all my images are DREADFUL at the moment in quality... I must apologise - something about doing them all in the middle of the night after a long stint. I hope to get a nice crisp image uploaded later in the week when it is finished.

2011-07-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

A late night painting to my Amy Winehouse album...

2011-07-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Google goes Botanical

Nice find by my mum last week while I was away...

2011-07-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Progress of sorts...

So it was my day off work today, and therefore time to attack this beast of a project full pelt... Started of well, and I thought for a moment that I may even finish this sheet by night time, but alas I was very much mistaken. The Festcua rubra was REALLY intricate to do and so took me several hours to complete. I did enjoy it though, and drifted off several times in a meditative state whilst applying layer upon layer of paint. I like it when that happens. So, I am glad to say that the Festuca is complete now... I have also started off a Biting Stonecrop in the right hand corner. Regrettably I have not even started the Sea Campion yet, so I will start that tomorrow after work.

Please feel free to click on the image and then zoom in using the magnifier to see the detail...

What is surprising is how long it takes to shade in one of those pebbles too... It is very obvious if you press too hard with the pencil or make a mistake because of their smoothness. what is also surprising is how difficult it is to get a proper photograph of this piece! I think the colours in this particular study, being glaucous and pink makes it a nightmare to colour correct the image. So it doesn't look very good online. Apologies for that... Will have to see Andy in Farringdon to scan it in at some point!

2011-07-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Still trying to squeeze in a few hours every night - tonight its a midnight night!

Working on the Yellow Horned Poppy at the moment... It's a small nightmare because it is hairy, but not in a fine way that is easy to illustrate, but in a thick-almost-like-spines-way :( The masking fluid did not work, so I am trying to lift with my brush. I think at the end I may attack the surface with a scapel, which is something I really don't like to do, as it is dangerous and cheating, but it is the only way to get these things done... White hair-spikes - a word of advice - AVOID.

Kale pootling along nicely... having trouble working out what to put next to it. Suggestions on a card please! I am thinking a Fucus, as it is has to be something strong. Right, I am going to carry on now after that mini-break. Listening to Blondie from my bedroom window. She is playing a gig tonight in Kew Gardens and she sounded rather good during practice, it has to be said!

2011-07-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sea Kale at the end of day two

2011-07-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

Sea Kale after a few hours of work...

2011-07-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

New work on the Inky Leaves Website!

So my wonderful and talented boyfriend has improved Inky Leaves by loading up more of my work, making the site more up to date. He has also included links to my published work and added some more sections in, including space for a shop, where I hope to offer some of my original work and prints for sale.

I can't tell you how pleased I am with this!

www.inkyleaves.com - much better in firefox or google chrome

2011-07-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Working on an lunar eclipse day is so hard!

Saltmarsh Flora after 12 hours

I suppose I have managed to achieve some work, but I've been pretty restless today, too busy thinking about where I am heading and about the things I want to be doing in the next few years. I decided to make this piece of coursework very different from my style to see where I'd end up, so I have used graphite - a medium I don't get along with and fiddled with the composition. I quite like the effect. The Festuca flowers are not get done, nor the Poppy. I hope to get a Sea Campion to the right of the Poppy, and a Sedum to the right of the Samphire, along with dissections. For me to be on target, I need to get this completed by 8th really, and then another A3 by the 15th becuase I am going on holiday to Spain on the 16th. It's tight - VERY TIGHT. I am going to have to work after my day job to complete these, so I will probably need a holiday by the time I get them done!

2011-06-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Getting my mojo back...

Assignment 10 - a possible final piece - who knows?!

After what has been a rather sluggish few months, I seem to have got back into the spirit of doing things without caring too much on outcomes. I feel like I have got my curiosity back and with that has come an improved creative flow. I think Glastonbury has something to do with it, and a change in my astrological outlook! This piece of coursework also suits my style much more... and I am really enjoying looking closely at the Salt Marsh flora. It's a habitat I know very well from past projects at university.

Habitat (salt marsh) view - Pagham Harbour by the sluice gates - close up

I have spent roughly 6 hours on my work today, and have spent a lot of time at the harbour before hand noting all the species. As you may have guessed, this habitat is no where near my home at Kew, but is near my dads and hometown. This has meant that I have had to really rely on a combination of sketchbook drawings, photographs, books and herbarium specimens. I have actually found the herbarium specimens to be the most informative because you can see all the hairs and things and get a sense of scale.

I have decided to try and do two pieces of A3 rather than just one because some of the plants are rather large, including the Horned Poppy and the Sea Kale. I am finding the greens very interesting - some plants like the Poppy, Kale and Fescue are almost blue, where as the Samphire and Stoneworts are bright vivid green. Amazing.

My bedroom studio with all my books out on the bed!

My mum is really on a creative burst at the moment... she's like an alchemist:

http://kittyshepherd.blogspot.com/

2011-06-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

Private View of our new exhibition 'Plants in Peril'

The latest exhbition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botancial Art called 'Plants in Peril' opened this Saturday and the private view was last night. Here are some pictures I managed to sneek in. It was a well attended event with lots of illustrators and collectors. Was a bit of a culture shock working for this evening event after returning from Glastonbury the day before!

Inside the main gallery...

Dr. Sherwood and Prof. Mabberley. The picture behind David Mabberley called 'Big Fir' was a nightmare to hang, still we did it.

2011-06-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

Stan the Stag

After a session of yoga, I like to walk home 'properly'. I like to walk home 'aligned' and thinking of every muscle and bone in my body. I either look really stupid doing this, or really perfect, like an 18th century lady. Either way it doesn't matter, as Kew is delightfully quiet at 9pm and so there are few to judge. It's actually my favourite time to be Kew. It's like have the whole district to myself... all the neighbours are quiet and there no visitors in the Tesco buying their picnics for the garden :)

However, this evening I was rudely interrupted from my 'proper' walk by Stan, who looked a little lost as he crossed the pavement on the busy Kew Road. I picked him before he got trodden on and tried to get him back into Kew Gardens, but this was a hopeless task, so I brought him home. Amazingly this is the second live stag beetle I have seen this summer. It's been a good year and I have never seen a live one before - only dead and pinned in museum drawers!

So, this is Stan. He was amazing to hold. Such delicate legs and yet so strong. I loved his little hooked feet, which he used to hold onto me for dear life as I paced him to safety. After bringing him home I took him to the river bank where it is nice a woody and let him go. He's got all night to find a hiding place and very few cyclists and feet to contend with. It was a beautiful night - the moon was bright in the sky and bracing itself for another eclipse. This one is on the 15th June at 24 degrees Sagittarius... a bigg'un for me.

The River Thames facing east.

2011-06-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Exploring my habitat for my next piece of work...

Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare)

Pagham Harbour, West Sussex

2011-05-24T15:12:00.001-07:00

Romilly after 50 hours

I think she is pretty much finished now, the paper's starting to get a bit rough from the brushing.

The Rose
by Ted Hughes

Unconcerned with men's writings,
In a dingy corner of her room
Flames to its petal-fringe, and no further,
Keeping perfect propriety,
Its petals not a lyrical cry, like the anguished lily,
But a muffled thunder of perturbation,
A coloratura of openings, beckonings,
The simple, cool eyes, the core hectic.
Miniature admirers with black legs disport themselves.
Your picture floats, logical, illogical,
With flames, with undies, without drapery,
Wide open, your secret averted
As the sharp-nosed critic, the puritan
Rejects the excess of your silks,
And your abandon, like the needlessness of a parrot,
Mountain behind mountain, dawn beyond dawn.

2011-05-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 47 hours...

2011-05-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 43 hours...

2011-05-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

William Morris Stamps available!William Morris Stamps available at Royal Mail... Whoppee! I love Morris's patterns.

2011-05-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 34 hours

This is what I did on Thursday evening... making the top rose darker and blending in the colours with a dry brush. I am taking a break this weekend as I am rather tired when I get back home in the evenings after work. Yoga tomorrow, so Romilly will be resumed on Tuesday hopefully!

2011-05-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 25 hours...

2011-05-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 19 hours

Leaves are being put in...

2011-05-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Romilly after 19 hours...

Back on with the brush tonight... I have tomorrow and the next day off work, so will get cracking on with Romilly. I began to do the dissections last week and rather enjoyed it. Roses have complicated ovaries, well, not the ovaries as such, but the hips. The hips are actually hypanthium tissue enlarged, and inside the walls of the hypanthium are several ovaries, which each individually houses an ovum. Complicated! All members of the Roseaceae are rather odd. Strawberries are in the Rosaceae and they don't have a real fruit - it is a false fruit or in other words - a swollen hypanthium (the red bit is the hypanthium). It's at time like this I wished I drew a member of the liliaceae or solanaceae...

Romilly

Petal close up - having trouble with this at the moment - trying to get the grey right in the shadow - I think it needs a little red which I am guessing is in the reflected light? Suggestions are welcome!

2011-05-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Romilly the Rose after 6 hours

Yes - I just went straight in here - no preliminary sketches, and no composition arrangements - no time and I don't usually bother anyway... Just gotta dive straight in! Never done a rose before, so this will be interesting. I am not expecting this one to be very good, it has to be said as I am still struggling with my brushes and drive.

2011-05-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

Aiden, Ruby and Bryan all abandoned...

Aiden the Aesculus

Ruby the Rhododendron

Bryan the Bird of Paradise (check out his ovaries!)

Romilly the Rose

Can't draw can't draw - crises level here in the Inky Leaves studio. So, I have gone outside and abandoned weeks of drawing different things for Romilly. I kept trying to draw top heavy flowers (especially umbels) with bent stems that just wouldn't sit still in the glass and it's irritated me so much that I have opted for a rose - which thankfully is well behaved despite being covered from petal to thorn in green fly.

Now I have to work REALLY HARD to get this finished.

This is my desk as it is. I have to balance my sketchbook on my lap, which is quite a juggle at the start.

2011-04-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

New Book out by the British Museum on Book Plates

This looks like a nice book. Click here for more pictures.

Still no artwork to post, but then this is a museum blog with a bias towards botanical art. I have been very busy with lots of tissue paper however (making a birthday present) and my garden and house are pristine. After the Wedding Weekend I hope to crack on with some artwork, but first, please pass me a glass of Pimms and a cucumber sandwich!

2011-04-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Bird of Paradise Flower

Can't paint still, so I am reverting back to my old self to see if that shifts something. Rather enjoyed doing this, it has to be said. It is still not finished though... It'll be much darker at the end.

2011-04-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

My bedroom Studio

This is my bedroom - where I paint. The room costs me £560.00 a month without the bills... I wish I had more space, and more light - but don't we all?!!! So this is where Sally hung out in her days, and Aiden for a while.

2011-04-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook Pages

So I have completed some pages in my sketchbook for the next assignment and matched all my colours. I hope to start the final piece soon. It's been unusually hot in London this week and everyone is out in their summer dresses in Kew Gardens, which looks amazing at the moment. I went out with my camera this lunchtime and this is what I got. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad on Saturday in my hometown in Bognor Regis in the sunny weather. Think we'll probably go for a spot of twitching and I may get some sketches done for Assignment 9 - habitat illustration. So I'll be a bit quiet in blogland over the weekend as my dad doesn't 'do' the internet!

2011-04-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Artists block

I'd like to know what Sally did to me, but whatever it was, it has rendered me useless. I so desperately want to pick up a pencil, but each time I do it, something goes wrong (i.e. the nib snaps or my anglepoise light falls down or my specimen won't stay in place). All attempts to actually get on with my work appear to be in vain. I would normally just go along with nature and decide that today is not the day to be drawing, but alas, I have had too many days like this and I need to get cracking! So, after much screaming, fist clenching and swearing I managed to work out what I am doing:

Introducing Aiden the Aesculus!

He is suspended as this is the only way I can draw him
(he's a fidget and won't sit still).

Aiden is a member of the Hippocastanaceae family, which I think has been merged with the Sapindaceae with APGII. I was going to do something from the florists, but the tree down the end of my road surprised me on way home, and so I abandoned my Sunflowers and Bird of Paradise for Aiden.

2011-04-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Californian Poppies

I went to pick up my prints in Farringdon this week. A limited edition of 20 on Somerset Enhanced Satin paper (330gsm) of my 'Californian Poppies', which I drew when helping my dad on his allotment a few summers ago. I probably wasn't being much help if I was busy drawing this! Sized A3 in pen and ink... Please email me if you are interested in them or have any questions: mail@inkyleaves.com.

2011-04-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

I found this intersting site...

Vermilion Poppy by Rose Black Gallery

I am trying to work out what to paint for the next assignement at the moment. The mission is to find something that is currently in flower and that will be in seed before the end of May. I don't want to do anything white or pink as those plants are not my thing at all, and I am having great difficulty in finding soemthing new and challenging. It's odd, as this type of illustration was the thing I used to do all the time, but I haven't done a professional scientific illustration for a couple of years now and it feels like a backwards step in my development, so I am resisting... anyway, I need to get over that and get on with it! Whilst browsing the net, I found these lovely images by a scanographer...

Milk weed by Rose Black Gallery

I love the mysteriousness of these images - they look like they have been suspended in time and space. Something just doesn't look normal at all and that's a little creepy. I used to love working in this way with a scanner during my art A-levels... you seem to always get the same result, like you are looking at somethng hidden...It's like being inside a womb, looking at something growing in the darkness.

Old fashioned Hydrangea's by Rose Black Gallery

2011-04-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

From the Archive - Kew's World Garden 1941

This wonderful film was recently found in the archives at the British Council. Made in 1941, the film explores Kew Gardens the work taking place at the time. And it is in colour - which is what makes this so extraordinary. It is hard to believe that it was recorded 70 years ago. I am left wondering how many of those people filmed are still alive and if they are I wonder what they look like now. My father was born in 1941 and it seems strange to think that the world in Kew wasn't that different then. It makes me realise what a funny place it is where I work - it's aging process seems to at a completely different pace to the rest of the world. There is also some lovely film of a botanical illustrator in the herbarium 08:10 minutes into the film - I wish I knew who it was... To see the film, please click here.

2011-04-08T03:21:00.000-07:00

New book by Bryan Poole and David Marks

A new book is out or soon to be out about Bryan Poole, my favourite artist and I am very excited about it. You can see a preview of it here.

I went to the SBA 'World of Plants' exhibition last night - bumped into Katherine Tyrrell which was nice and I await her news of the exhibition on her blog :) It is the first time I have been to an SBA exhibition and I was very impressed. It must have been a lot of work getting all those pictures up - so many of them, it was like a garden on paper downstairs in the Central Hall!

I think my favourite was everyone's favourite - 'Papaver, June Poppy' by Fiona Strickland - as I think it got the People's Award. However, I also really liked 'Decaying Magnolia Leaf (pencil) by Carolyn Worby and Rocco Amico's work was pretty outstanding... one to watch as I think he was an SBA student. It was also really lovely to see Diana Sutherland's work in the flesh - the pineapple was incredible and she really deserved the distinction that she was awarded.

2011-04-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

Quiet Patch

Going through a recovery phase after Sally I think! Actually it's not that - there has just been a lot on at the moment at work in Kew and I was lucky enough to have my mummy visit me on Monday which was really lovely. We went to see the Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain. I enjoyed the first two rooms very much, my favourite paintings were the John Dunstall and Arthur Harry Church's.

John Dunstall, 'A Pollard Oak near West Hampnett Place, Chichester' c.1660

Arthur Harry Church, 'Geranium phaem (Morning Widow Geranium)'

My '2011 Grapes' prints are steadily going to their new homes, which I am very pleased about. If you are interested in one, please let me know as I will only be doing a run of 20. They are £85.00 each. I plan to pick up a brush after this weekend... watch this space!

2011-03-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sally after 60 and a half hours

So I am getting rather fed up with Sally now... she is boring me and I dropped my brush on the white background which is a sure sign I am not concentrating. I managed to save the paper with tissues and a bunch of swear words. It's always a nightmare that you mess something up at this stage!

Sally... almost done, still a lot of touching up to do.
She won't get any darker now, this is pretty much it.

Sally's placement on the sketchbook

2011-03-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

Limited Edition Prints of the Grapes

So on Friday last week I went and collected my prints beofre spending the evening in the V&A and here they are on my bed! Andrew has done a really good job and is now scanning in my Californian Poppies and my Ginkgo biloba pen and inks. These prints are for sale, so let me know if you are interested. The edition is limited to 20 and 3 have already gone, so the race is on!

2011 Grapes (A3) Giclėe Print on acid free, heavy-weight, rag paper £85.00 each

Californian Poppies (A3) Giclėe Print on acid free, heavy-weight, rag paper £50.00 each

Ginkgo biloba (A3) Giclėe Print on acid free, heavy-weight, rag paper £50.00 each

2011-03-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

Sally after 46 hours...

I have had to resort to taking two days of holiday from work to finish her... Tuesday and Thursday and I had Wednesday off anyway, so I should get her done by then. Then I plan to go to the pub! So, a new phase of the work has just begun - a less frustrating one - I call this stage: 'perfecting', which is always done to trance. I usually require less breaks as well as it is very monotonous. By the way, I have purposely avoided the underside of the leaves, as I want to do these when I am fully awake and hydrated rather than after a day at work.

When I am 'perfecting' I use the tip of a tiny semi-dry brush and rub all the layers in together. This makes the painting look less like a painting and makes the surfaces smoother. It was an essential stage in painting '2011 Grapes'... and a lot easier. Sally's bumps are a small nightmare - as is this milking stool, which I have to get up from in 2 minutes before my legs go dead!

Below is an image without a flash. The problem in photographing my work is I need a flash to make it crisp for you guys, so you can blow it up. However, the flash makes it shiny, so then I optimise it and then the colour goes all odd. So I have put the picture below for you to see.

I hope you think it is going well. I have to say I am more satisfied with it now, but am starting to worry about the undersides of those leaves - I am not great with venation.

Wish me luck!

2011-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sally after 40 hours...

I have been pushed to work by Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave today. I rarely listen to them these days, but their efforts to raise money for charity spurred me into action. My 10 hour painting marathon today seemed feeble compared to their World Record attempt at 52 hours of broadcasting non-stop. It's been hilarious...and they raised a lot of money for Red Nose Day, so its a well done to them.

With a day off work today I gave Sally my full attention with breaks here and there. I decided to sit on my milking stool today, as it brings me closer to the paper and stops round shoulders and bad posture. But it means I cannot feel my bottom now.

It's now 10pm and I want to stop. Here is Sally/Sylvia after a days work :) I have been adding more layers of paint and tried to do the leaf on the left. I just can't believe how long this is taking! I had no idea it would be this long... Still it is worth it. I think it is because I am having to use a dry brush because all the bumps are a maximum of 5mm long/wide and watery paint is too intense and not able to be controlled satisfactorily.

Sally on my bed - the colours are more true here... She was a very lurid green and not very purple which was unusual, but she was a 'baby' cabbage and juvenile.

I have just noticed - this is my first landscape watercolour as well :)

2011-03-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

Sally after 30 hours...

So Sylvia hasn't started her contract at Inky Leaves yet as Sally has some life still in her. Painting after a days shift in the gallery today and it is never easy. I am just too tired, and I have also lost the flow a bit after leaving Sally alone all weekend. So, four hours of painting and little achieved it seems. Still it all adds up and means I may be doing less of an all-nighter at the end of the month when this is due for assessment. It's been a question of adding layers of paint really this evening, and marking out the back two leaves.

Work in the gallery again tomorrow, but I hope to squeeze in another four hours after dinner. Then I have two whole days off to dedicate to Sally and a reward on Friday night. Yes, you've guesed it - a nightime trip to the V&A with Henry! :)

P.S. Best way to watch Sally grow is to flick through the images here:
http://www.blipfoto.com/inkyleaves

2011-03-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

Translator

I have noticed that I have some readers who are looking at Inky Leaves from abroad. Not sure if it helps, but I have installed a Google Translator gadget to translate everything into any language you choose. I have had a go at looking at what my writing looks like in a variety of languages, and it looks rather fun!

2011-03-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sally after 26 hours...

2011-03-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

21 and a half hours...

Painting Sally in the sun today... slow progress if I am honest. I feel rather beaten by her complicatedness and I'd rather be laying lazily in the sunshine!

2011-03-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Trip to the V&A to see Beatrix Potter's Grapes

Above and below: Still life drawing of grapes and peaches October 1883 (Potter was roughly 17 years old).

So I visited the V&A last night - always worth a trip on a Friday night. They close at 10pm on Fridays and there is something really wonderful about getting lost in the rooms of a museum that size in the night, which I hasten to add - I did. I went with the intention of seeing Beatrix Potter's still life studies from when she was sent to art school at a young age. So after a cup of Lapsang Souchong in the 'Green Room', I trotted up to room 102.

Really fascinating little exhibition and she quite evidently did not suit the style in which they were instructing her, and yet she tried. You can see how much she is trying... and improving. I found this to be really encouraging. One has to keep practising. Below is an image of her grapes which she painted a year before - notice the difference?! (Apologies for the appalling image).

Still life drawing of grapes and peaches 1882 (Potter was roughly 15 -16 years old).

I had no idea but interestingly Beatrix Potter was quite a scientist... She wanted to become a mycologist (study of fungi) and her uncle tried to introduce her to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, but she wasn't accepted becuase she was a female. Later on, Potter was one of the first people to say that lichens were the result of a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. In 1897, her uncle presented her paper on fungi to the Linnean Society becuase women were barred from attending meetings. A hundred years later the Society issued a posthumous official apology to Potter for the way she had been treated. She also lectured at the London School of Economics several times and visited the V&A frequently as a child.

Picturing Plants: Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration

Rudolf Koch (1876-1934)

So, after being inspired by Potter's grapes I then got lost in the galleries. After skipping through jewellery, miniatures, tapestries and a series of Constable paintings, I came across a temporary exhibition on botanical illustration. I found it most interesting - nice collection of works on show from all the ages using a wide range of media. I really liked these foxgloves. I like the simplest illustrations - they are always the best and the most useful for scientists. I also appreciate how hard it is to be simple when depicting something accurately. Nice work there Rudolf!

So I am up to the Lake District on Thursday night with Henry. He has been very generous and wants to whisk me up north on a romantic get-away - I can't wait! I wonder if I'll bump into Peter Rabbit while I am up in Windermere ?

2011-03-05T05:14:00.000-08:00

I found this blog, or rather this blog found me

This is a wonderful blog by Kim Tillyer which I wanted to share with you. Kim has been rather lovely in promoting my work. Her own creations are really inspiring. They make me want to carry on working on projects behind the scenes (some days I feel it is rather indulgent to work on some embroidery when I 'should' be painting). Her work is really pretty and intricate and some of it is for sale.

Mad March Hare and Button £16.00

Kim's blog helps one to appreciate how fabulous it is to indulge in one's creativity!

2011-03-04T05:22:00.000-08:00

After 17 hours...

Can't focus today... too tired and I need a break from all the bumps in the leaves. I have two more hours to work on this today and then I am off to the East of London to proof my prints of 2011 Grapes. Got... to... keeeep... painting....

2011-03-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

Sally's Wilting!

Great... so it's that time in the process when I wished I worked a little harder and faster, because Sally is starting to wilt. The fridge has kept her going surprisingly long, so I am working in haste to get as many washes in place before she gives her leaves up to the ether.

Sally after 14 hours

I have been rather ill this week with some sort of tummy upset which put me out of action a bit. I think I have discovered that I am allergic to oysters, so it wasn't all in vain. I like making discoveries about myself. However, my gut is still not right and I have to get this thing completed.

If I stare at her long enough, she'll enter a memory bank of sorts, which is what I often work from, along with photographs in the end. But I like to work from the fresh material for at least a couple of weeks at the start so I can soak up the essence of her being. I have to admit, I am quite shocked at how sensual this subject is. The way the leaves curl at the edges is quite remarkable and I am finding it rather off putting and intimidating. Sally is certainly a seductive cabbage! (Apologies if I have offended anyone, but I felt it had to be said).

Propping droopy Sally up with matches