Three weeks until the RHS botanical art exhibition

March 16, 2014April 3, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

How am I doing? Will I be finished in time?

These of course are the questions I am asking myself and I imagine are the same questions for those who follow the blog.

Preparing for the RHS botanical art show which will happen in London 11 – 12 April, with preview on the evening of the 10th, has taken three years. The work is almost finished. Believe it or not.

I have finished painting each of the six pictures. I have only painted the necessary six and I haven’t painted a 7th as a reserve in case one wasn’t up to scratch ( I was advised to do this – in case). The frames are made and all that remains is working up the digital images for printing plus writing the information to hang with the pictures.

Matching the colours exactly is a hugely time consuming exercise. I prefer to do this myself unless the picture is too big for the equipment I have. As having the correct colours to reflect my subject is important for my painting, I am a perfectionist in matching the colours in Photoshop.

The last bit of work will be to research further the six Malus plants I have painted and write some information about each of them.

Three weeks is not long. The sun is shining, the garden and gardening await and May this year will be very busy with exhibitions. But, the RHS exhibition is the most important having taken three years to prepare.

Breath!

RHS exhibition: twelve weeks to go!

January 15, 2014April 3, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

I have my work cut out to get my six pictures ready for the RHS botanical art exhibition during the Orchid show in April.

The series of six crab apple trees is well on the way. The apples are painted in all six pictures. I have done all the sketches and colours for the blossom ( done two years ago); all the sketches for my dissections were done last year; all of the apple dissections are sketched and ready to go. It is now a matter of putting it altogether in the finest detail and with my best techniques.

I have just completed the first picture. It is the Malus ‘ gorgeous’. I will give you a little glimpse at the end, but to see the completed picture I will encourage you to come to the RHS exhibition itself.

I will ask for one bit of help though. I need to include the Latin names for each of my apples and I can’t find all of them. If you know them, please let me know. The pictures will be, M. Gorgeous, M. Golden hornet, M. Evereste, M. Red sentinel, M. Red jade, & M. John Downey.

I’m afraid that this photo is not too brilliant – a little dark. Even more reason to see it in real life. Just pray I get all the pictures finished and retaining a good standard.

First botanical art workshop in 2014, 16-17 January

January 6, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Happy New year and plenty of botanical art.

I have two workshops in January, in Bosham Nr. Chichester. The first is ‘Colour mixing in Botanical art with Coloured pencil’ and the second is the same theme only using watercolour.

The first workshop is for anyone interested in working with coloured pencil if they already do so, or they would like to learn. Therefore it will be a good one both for new beginners and experienced.

We have all had the same problem now and again haven’t we, that we just can’t mix the right colour ? Well this workshop will be focusing on how to get it right. Getting the right depth of colour with coloured pencil is a matter of mixing the colours optically on the paper. We don’t always have the right colour to hand and, if we did, it is likely to be flat and boring without depth to it. Come and learn how to do it.

Thursday and Friday 16-17 January between 10:00-16:00. Get in touch via my website gaynorsflora.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

This is a snippet from that on which I am working towards the RHS exhibition in April. It is in coloured pencil:

Botanical art workshop starting tomorrow

October 31, 2013April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Tomorrow morning several students will be arriving to do a botanical art workshop entitled ‘Autumn Colours’. Obviously with the storm that was, and the pouring rain today and forecast for tomorrow, I am not exactly sure what people will be wanting to paint.

This year the seasons seem to be running a little late and the trees are not really changing too much yet. We have nothing like the number of Maple trees in the near vicinity that have the colour that we saw in the Adirondacks, but we do have one or two. One of our neighbours has a Liquid Amber tree, but only the leaves at the top have begun to change colour.

The things that are striking in our garden are the different colours of the crab apples. In fact, as we now have all six sorts that I am in the process of painting, they do make a spectacular picture dotted around the garden. I can imagine that someone might be tempted to paint one of them or even an apple scattering from each of them!

One thing is sure, that someone will arrive with something that I want to paint!

Back home to crab apples

October 12, 2013April 3, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

So far this week I have been catching up – or trying to, after our time in the US.

I mentioned that everything was green and therefore a shock after seeing the intense fall colours in America. This was the first sight of our back garden and one of our cats.

It was still reasonably warm on our return, but I kept on my full length jeans.

Monday and Tuesday afternoon I did a lot of paperwork to catch up, but Tuesday and Wednesday morning I had my normal weekly botanical art classes. Everyone was very interested in the trip we had taken and most particularly in the catalogue from the Hunt Exhibition. Hopefully the catalogue will be motivational for some of the students.

At last on Wednesday I was able to get back to painting my crab apple series. Whilst we had been away, the Malus Golden Hornet crab apples had swelled up (luckily it has rained a little since we were away) and turned yellow. The apples are not fully ripe yet, but as this was the only painting where I had done no apples at all and very little preparatory sketches, it was the one picture I was most concerned about.

I had in fact actually started the painting before we went away. I had done a composition and finished most of the leaves, placing the apples roughly in accordance with measurements taken two years ago when starting the series. However, this year there has been little rain during the summer months and the fruit were not as big as originally allowed for. That aspect of the painting had to be sketched anew. A photo from the Malus Golden Hornet.

On Thursday morning it started getting really cold here (relatively speaking) and a wind was building up. The Malus Gorgeous, a lovely little tree near our front door, has quite big deep red crab apples. They were beginning to fall off the tree. Although I have painted a composition with this apple several times, I had started a different composition. I again have done most of the leaves, but need to paint the apples. The Malus Gorgeous.

I felt it was now important to do a list of the pictures, detailing what was missing on each one and the urgency of each element. I don’t want to miss an important phase in the development of each apple because I was concentrating too much on one of the..

My Malus John Downey tree now has only three apples left on it. It didn’t do too well this year. I still had five apples to paint in the picture! I decided this was a priority. I can wax lyrical about the beauty of this tree, but I will save this for another time.

So, now I have been rescuing crab apples to paint their portraits in the relevant picture and yesterday managed nine hours on John Downey. My husband went out in the evening, so I could do what I enjoyed best – paint.

I haven’t got new pictures of this painting, but here you can see the notes from my flower dissections in my sketch book. Peeking out from under the sketchbook you can just see some completed leaves on a branch contain gripe crab apples.

Today, Friday, I have only had a couple of hours painting as we had to travel to Bristol for a meeting with other tutors from London Art College (LAC). I am the Botanical Art Tutor for LAC which is a distant learning course. If you are interested in this, have a look at their website. It is a good course.

Prep Monday before Pittsburgh tour starting Saturday

September 17, 2013September 17, 2013 | Gaynor's Flora

Today is Monday (Tuesday really). On Friday I go to the US. Next week is the opening of the Hunt Institutes 14th International Exhibition of Botanical art and Illustration. My picture will be part of the exhibition and I will be there at the opening. What excitement – I think. My head is only just being able to think about it.

The last few months have been extremely busy between painting, teaching, exhibitions, demos and large family visitations. I have now started the last of the six Crab Apple series of pictures. None are complete, but I now have enough detail to complete each one – I hope. I was worried about getting all the detail I needed for the Golden Hornet as I had not studied the leaves and growing habit in detail. But now I am well on the way with it – as long as the fruit from my new tree continues to grow and ripen without falling off the branch before I get back from the US. I am doing the apple branch from this section of the tree. Unfortunately it doesn’t have all the leaves as per the photo, as I have been removing them one at a time to copy!

Back to the trip. I have been doing the usual things that one does before going away. Choosing and un-choosing suitable clothes for such an expedition. Apparently it is still very warm there. Making it difficult to make the right choices when I am freezing here! Also I have to bear in mind that apart fro Pittsburgh I am hoping to avoid towns whilst over there and try and find some nice places to walk and things to sketch – thus enough sketch books, pencil etc.

My additional luxury is that the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) has their conference in Pittsburgh at the same time. I am booked to take part in that.

My tickets are booked, visa sorted, pencils and sketch books ready, prints of the work to be exhibited are also ready to take with me – in case……. I’m not ready though!

I intend to write a short blog up until and during the trip.

Open studios the next two weekends

May 2, 2013April 3, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Spring is coming. At last!

This coming weekend I will be opening my studio during the Chichester Open Studios event. It will be open from Saturday to the bank holiday Monday and again the following Saturday and Sunday.

My pictures will be hung in the conservatory and prints and cards will also be displayed there. Luckily my husband Robin will be manning this area whilst I am down in the shed at the bottom of the garden.

As the event is called ‘Open Studios’, I have the excuse to stay in the shed all day long. I will be getting on with either painting my current piece of work or doing the preparations for other aspects of it.

Normally people do like to find their way down to the shed to see what an artists studio is like. I expect all studios are very different, just as the mess in mine varies according to what I am doing – even though it is generally botanical.

During ‘Open studios’ I can’t say that I work too effectively. I enjoy the visits throughout the two weekends as people are so interested and have so many questions. As I work in coloured pencil, watercolour or graphite, I am given so many opportunities to explain and demonstrate the different techniques. Sometimes, visitors become so interested they want to learn more. This is exciting.

Presently I am working on a series if crab apple paintings. There are meant to be six different crab apples, but my neighbour has just gone and bought a new one which is quite beautiful.

My husband Robin bought me a microscope for my birthday and at last the crab apple flowers are beginning to open, allowing me to capture their detail. Hopefully, more of the trees will be coming into blossom, in which case I will be using the microscope when dissecting the flowers. This might well be art with a difference for those who visit me down in the shed during these next two weeks.

I do hope you will join me.

The address is on my website, but have a look on the Chichester Open studios website for instructions as to how to get here. It is http://www.chichesterarttrail.org/.

I really look forward to seeing you in my shed!

FRom an earlier ‘Open Studios’ event:

The Artist at work in the shed!

Tracing to art paper

March 25, 2013March 26, 2013 | Gaynor's Flora

I have done some art tutorials with ArtTutor.com and they are now live via my website. Look at the page on tutorials and follow the links to download the E-book showing you how to paint a Crab apple picture with coloured pencils. You can also link into one of the tutorials as a taster.

I have had some very positive feedback and essentially this blog is in response to one of these which asked how I transferred my image onto the final art paper.

An image can be transferred in so many ways depending upon how refined you need the transfer to be. The more you rub out on your art paper, the more you damage it’s surface no matter how careful you are. You can use tracing paper, a light-box, your window as a light box, or this way:

I compose a picture using various thumbnails. This leads to a general rough design which forms the basis of the final line drawing.

This is part of the line drawing of the picture I am in the process of doing now:

I trace the line drawing onto tracing paper, using a 0.3 clutch pencil.

I turn the tracing paper over and draw the line again on the reverse side, being very careful to trace accurately.

I then place the traced image right side up, on my art paper ( normally Fabriano HP) and, using a Decoupage tool, I rub across the lines. This transfers the graphite from the back side of the tracing paper to the art paper.

The image left on the paper can then easily be lightened with a putty rubber, without leaving any indentations on the paper.

I hope this helps those who wonder how best to transfer an image without damaging the art paper or leaving any indentations to get in the way.

Subject for next RHS submission

October 19, 2011April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

As a botanical artist, I have been thinking about what subject to illustrate for the next time I submit my work to the RHS. Having won a silver for my Magnolia series in March this year, I want to choose a subject that is likely to earn me an additional medal. As Wisteria flowered not long after the exhibition, I had thought about plants from the Pea family, then seeing red berries from one of the Nightshade family (Solanum) in the hedgerows, I thought of doing that. I am in the middle of one botanical watercolour painting (Solanum dulcamara), but they have quite a sprawling habit and therefore a painting needs to show this.

We have four crab apple trees in our garden and three of them are heavily laden this year. They too make a good subject. I would have to find four more trees though to make the series of eight.

Today, I have been doing drawings, making colour samples and taking pictures of the fruit and leaves, so that I have something to start with. Hopefully I can add the flowers and young spring leaves to the preparatory work next year. I might do this series in colour pencil.

This means that in fact I have some material already on the go to do two separate series. I wonder which one will get there first?

GAYNOR'S FLORA

Botanical art, illustration, artist, illustrator, teacher, workshops, classes

Crab apples