Demonstration at SBA exhibition, Westminster

May 12, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Yesterday was the last day of the Chichester Open Studios art trail. We had many interested visitors and several of you who read this blog. Thank you for coming so far. It was lovely seeing all of you, and an honour.

After finishing yesterday we obviously had to clear everything up. Take the pictures and screens down and pack everything away for the next show. This will be at the Stansted Garden Show in June; more about that another time.

But, today I have been hastily finishing off the picture of Irises in Watercolour, so that I can trace off a similar image to use for the coloured pencil demo tomorrow. I have made some adjustments to the tracing I used and I will tell you why at the demonstration – if you are interested.

A hint might be in the following pictures. Yesterday you saw the start of the picture with only two Irises of the three intended. I was waiting for the third flower to open properly before I drew it.

It will be good to see you in London tomorrow.

Open studio in Bosham

May 11, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

The Chichester open studios art trail started its second and last weekend, today. The weather as hoped for, was very good although it has blown quite hard. The wind has not kept people at bay and we had a lot of very interested visitors.

We got a few visitors who chanced on our set-up and as always I took this as an opportunity to get them interested in botanical art. However, it seems that most of our visitors had highlighted coming to see my work.

For the first weekend I decided to paint irises in watercolour as I had spent so long using colour pencils on the crab apples. Our visitors were very interested in the progression through drawing and first layers of colour. I continued with the painting during the week as the irises rapidly died. How to finish the painting without the flowers?

I bought some new irises, but they were redder than the original ones. Today I have continued the painting using the new irises for their form and size, but I had to bear in mind the colour palette I needed to use.

I will be continuing my demonstration on the irises for whoever is interested on the last day of open studios tomorrow.

Chichester open studios art trail last weekend

May 9, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Yesterday I was in London at the SBA annual exhibition opening. It is well worth seeing and there is a lot of good botanical art. You will need plenty of time, but luckily you can stop now and again and get a cup of tea – or coffee, in the cafe in Westminster Central Hall.

Tomorrow is the start of the last weekend with Open Studios art trail . I understand that the weather here will be really good tomorrow after all. We have been hearing all week that it was going to be especially bad tomorrow, but it looks as though this will happen overnight.

Luckily, if there is any rain there is no problem coming in to see me with wet clothes and shoes and it would be an opportunity to dry out. However, I can imagine that at some venues they might struggle.

I look forward to seeing you either tomorrow or Sunday. My watercolour picture is coming on leaps and bounds. I think I might use the ‘template’ for my coloured pencil demonstration on Tuesday at the SBA exhibition. It would be a good comparison between the two media.

I am showing you some pictures of my gallery this weekend. It is only a glimpse, but you will be able to see the pictures properly when you come. I’m sorry that all those of you who live abroad will not be able to make it.

Completion of a good workshop

April 17, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

For the last two days I have been running a workshop with the title of Spring Bulbs. I have already commented how out of place that title was. However, it was still a good group who found suitable botanical subjects to paint.

The coloured pencil artists outnumbered the watercolour ones, but I was very grateful for being able to use my brushes having concentrated so much on coloured pencils recently.

As a group we had great fun. Everyone got on well together and were encouraging to each other. We had plenty of lovely weather, warm and sunny. But, the sun moves and the warmth affects the plants!!

Aren’t we hopeless, we want the sun – to stand still and in the right place; we want the warmth – at just the right time and the right temperature; we want to paint living plants – that act dead, but look alive!! We are impossible beings.

This is the lovely group.

Now the results. These came from people who hadn’t before, through to those with good experience. I am very pleased with the results . Thank you to everyone who allowed me to show their work. By the way. Notice that one of the pictures is actually done twice. The artist did it first, then decided to do it again incorporating what she had learnt. She (and I) were well pleased.

The next workshop will be Thursday 29 – Saturday 31 May. Have a look on http://www.gaynorsflora.com, on the Tuition page. I hope to see you here in Bosham then.

Botanical Art workshop

April 16, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Now I am back into the swing of things with a two- day botanical art workshop. The title was based on pictures I took at this time last year; spring bulbs! Bad mistake. Most spring bulbs are finished now.

I trawled through the local garden centre and found some worn out tulips, fading well in their pots, and some Fritillary. I therefore bought the latter, and some Osteospermum. One student found some Lily of the Valley and another brought some more Fritillary from the garden. Challenges galore.

I think that the greatest challenge was the pattern on the Fritillary and this was tried both in watercolour and coloured pencil. Thank goodness for a little knowledge about Fibonacci. It certainly helps in knowing about the spiral when planning the pattern.

For those who might not know, Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician and he worked out the mathematical process behind the spiral which we basically find in nature and in good design. For example, the spiral of segments in a pineapple and it’s leaves, a pine cone, the centre of a sunflower – and of course the pattern on a Fritillary petal.

Hopefully I will be back with some pictures from the workshop tomorrow. Things look promising, but I have students who have not painted since they were at school, and those who are very experienced. Believe it or not, it is those with experience who feel most challenged as it is generally very specific problems that they want to overcome.

I think it fitting that I show you Diane Sutherland’s exhibit for the RHS. She painted these Fritillary on vellum. In fact, the largest piece of vellum in this series is from Rory McEwen’s vellum left to the Hunt Institute of Botanical Art in Pittsburgh.

Monday after the RHS botanical art exhibition

April 15, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

I expect that my day has been very similar to the other artists who took part in the RHS exhibition. Beginning to clear up after our last massive input into the exhibition.

For me, I have a lot of paperwork to clear up and finish off. But the shed looks an absolute mess. And, tomorrow I am starting a two- day workshop. I know that some will be using watercolour and some coloured pencils. It will be lovely to get into it again.

We have re-arranged the conservatory cum sitting room so that the work table is as big as possible. Two extra tables are brought up to the house from the shed and everything is in place for arrivals tomorrow. We also ordered good weather with good light, so what more do we want? Good humour!

What you really want to see are some more pictures from the exhibition. I know that some of the same or similar ones will be found in other places on the net too, but I don’t think you will see one of these. It is of all the artists who took part in the RHS exhibition this year. As I have already said , they are. Lovely lot of people.

The second picture is of Isik Guner. She is a fantastic botanical artist and also a very bubbly person. The picture she is standing beside is the one that was best in show. But each of her pictures were very beautifully done.

Next Botanical Art workshop – Hellebores

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

The next workshop is February 28th – March 2nd. That is Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The topic suggestion is Hellebores.

Many will have seen Hellebores and snowdrops
poking their heads up in the garden already – as long as their gardens are not underwater.

I feel so sorry for all those people who are struggling in the UK, because of the wind and rain. I am so grateful to have been spared and can only imagine what they are going through.

Back to Hellebores and the botanical art workshop. I have one or two places available on the workshop and it is suitable for those who want to start painting botanically, to those who are already fairly well accomplished. You can use watercolour, coloured pencil or graphite and as the class is kept deliberately small I will be able to give individual attention to everyone.

The workshop is held in the beautiful village of Bosham, near Chichester on the South coast of England. Beautiful even now!

Can I tempt you with one or two pictures from my garden this week?

Do get in touch via this blog or my website http://www.gaynorsflora.com if you want to take part in the workshop or make any comments.

Teaching at West Dean

November 16, 2013April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Thus last week has been incredibly unexpected – and busy.

Last week my husband and daughter made quick decisions about moving her goods and chattels from Amsterdam to her new lovely home in Tønsberg, Norway. I was not too happy as this meant I wouldn’t see her new home -yet. But as I had classes, these were my primary responsibility and I couldn’t let my students down.

I remained at home licking my wounds, but consoling myself that I would have plenty of time to paint.

After a few days, I got a call from West Dean. They said it was a mercy call, asking me to step in for one of the teachers; a colleague whose work and techniques I know well. I made a few calls to re-arrange my own plans, and stepped in!

Obviously, before I arrived at West Dean I did worry a little about what I was letting myself into, but trusted that my friend had made notes of what she had planned. When I arrived, I met a really lovely, welcoming group of people and a programme.

Because the morning had been wasted, I worked with the group unto 21:15 to catch up so that they wouldn’t lose out on too much. They weren’t going to get the tutor they signed up for, but it was important not to lose out on more than this. By the way, the topic was about mixing colour in watercolour.

During the remaining days, I got to know the group fairly well and an extremely good time was had by all – at least as far as I could see. I enjoyed myself and as usual learnt a lot from them too. I stuck to the programme already laid out, giving the students the information and showing the technique that my colleague used. As can be expected I was able to make additional suggestions from my own techniques which they found useful.

All very quick demos on the course.

Botanical art workshop – Autumn colours – in Bosham

November 3, 2013April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Well, I mentioned that I was due to have a botanical art workshop from Friday until today. Are interested in how it went?

I have been allowed to take the following pictures and you can judge from these how it went. I and the people who came, would obviously be very interested in your feedback, so please comment.

Some of the subjects.
As usual, we took a photo once the position of the subjects had been arrived at. As I have suggested previously, it is worth doing this as we are painting from living things and they change over time. If something wilts, we can replace that element and if we knock something out of position, we can re-arrange. We still paint from living subjects.

Enjoying the company and the opportunity to paint.

Glory tree – Coloured pencil

Malus Gorgeous – coloured pencil

Fallen leaves – Watercolour

A pear plus Malus Gorgeous and Golden Hornet crab apples – Coloured pencils.

I think that you will agree that these are lovely pictures that are well on their way to completion. But, what is even more amazing is that some of the students had not done much in the way of their chosen medium previously and they accomplished so much in this one workshop. It was exciting to watch them develop. No wonder I enjoy teaching!