I’m very excited about my new work – this line probably starts a lot of artist’s blog posts – but I am actually properly excited: I’m excited because I can’t wait to get back into the studio to paint some more! It’s good news all round: I’ve found a medium that suits my style, I’ve found a style that suits my character, and I can run and run with this subject: plants. I’ve always been interested in plants and nature, and I’m very pleased that I had the opportunity to make it my career for a decade (working with Garden Organic and the National Trust in the UK as well as private clients) – this taught me to recognise and categorise, and appreciate, plants, and of course how to best care for them..
The technique: I’ve been experimenting for a year really, since I finished my studio, and the “CREATE” course at NCAT, and the four years of painting with oils immediately before that, not to mention the rest of my lifetime.. – anyway, this isn’t supposed to be an online “dear diary”, but I am just so happy to find that I can return to my watercolour technique, but using more robust materials – that I don’t have to be so precious with! Acrylic Inks are lightfast, permanent, and waterproof. The way I can use them suits the way I draw, focusing on smooth linear direct drawing, and the clear colours suit how I like to colour things, kind of super-real, directly observed from life but making the 3d into more of a graphic 2d.
And I’m also excited that this technique will lend itself to anything that I can draw (see for example my instagram feed).
My current paintings are of course all available to buy, currently at great low prices, once they are gone I will be selling prints of them, and, more paintings – as soon as I can get back into that studio!
I really like Fresh Crop Lemons II, with the black background. It really makes the lemons stand out!