Inky Leaves on the BBC's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show

Hopefully, with a bit of luck, Inky Leaves should be making a small appearance on the BBC's coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show at 19.30 this evening (Saturday 28th May) on BBC2, although it's not certain.

Carol Klein asking me some questions about the Brighter Blooms display

After spending a couple of days painting the flowers, the BBC found me painting. I did make a teeny appearance in the background of Carol Klein's piece on Tulipomania on Tuesday afternoon when I was painting on the Bloms Bulbs stand (28 30 minutes in). However, for Saturday's programme I am hiding amongst the Zantedeschia's which had been beautifully arranged by Brighter Blooms.

BBC crew shot...

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Chelsea and recommend it as an adventure in painting to all botanical artists. The traders and growers are very helpful and were happy to have me painting and asking lots of questions. It is the perfect place to find speciality growers for projects. I learnt a lot during my time there, not only about horticulture but also about botanical art and the painting process. I was left feeling a little stunned at how fast tulip flowers open and had to find a way of capturing them quickly. I also learnt how important it is to have shadows - I really missed them when hiding in the Grand Pavilion which filtered so much of the light.

During my time there I took an A3 fat pad of the new Botanical Ultra Smooth paper which was kindly gifted to me for the event by Burts. I really enjoyed painting on this paper and prefer it to all other choices for this type of sketchbook work. I will be publishing a review of the paper soon.

Now I am back in my UK studio I am busy cracking on with my large leaves for the upcoming exhibition 'Leafscape' at the Abbott and Holder Gallery in London. Please email me for details mail@inkyleaves.com.

Big thanks to Burts, the RHS, Brighter Blooms, Bloms Bulbs, the BBC, Alex Prendergast (aka Punk Botanist) and Jamie Denyer for making the day possible and to Carol Klein for guiding me through the process.