UNFRAMED WORK AND FRAMED WORK 2023 & 2022
(these paintings are still available for you to buy)
Please contact me if you would like to know more about any of my work, or purchase any pieces.
Dimensions for each artwork include the mount.
HILL-TOP LOVEBIRDS
Original Watercolour and Gold Ink
Dimensions: w: 68cm h: 70cm
£400
(mounted in antique white, unframed)
THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING
This is a sunshine painting, I love the pinks oranges and reds. The weather is hotting up outside and Spring is giving way to a radiant warm, rich palette full of life and vitality. The colours of the grass, leaves and flowers are becoming rich and vibrant. I wake up with my windows open so I can enjoy the birds singing their heavenly Dawn Chorus. Outside smells heavenly.
Several years ago we built our off-grid home on the outskirts of Melbourne. It is the perfect location to enjoy and feel fully connected to the changing seasons and what this means for the land and animals who live around us.
I paint from home and "Hill-top Lovebirds" is a celebration of these precious mid-life moments painting here in the Summertime.
PAINT PLAY
I began mark making in yellow and pink. The organic shapes of pink and green represent falling blossom and leaves. Outside the blossoms on the pear and plum trees and the elderflowers have blown in the late Spring breeze giving way to the sight of tiny buds of fruits left to grow and ripen. The moving leaves are added as symbols of life and richness and the little hill-top an intimate space and my colours are joyful and rich. The leaves and blossom fall like confetti. It is a romantic painting.
ARTIST MATERIALS
I chose Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour for this painting as their unparalleled wide and balanced choice of pigments made them the perfect choice. I especially longed to create a painting with a resolved pink and red clash and complement it with the deep turquoise I so enjoyed in 2022. Opera Rose and Deep Turquoise are perfect choices for this.
I have painted on a sheet of Langston Prestige a superior-quality 140lb (300grn) watercolour paper manufactured using 100% cotton, the highest quality material for papermaking. It is tradionally made on a cylinder mould machine acid-free, with an alkali reserve to preserve finished pieces of work and prevent discloration. This pretty painting will cheer the wall in any home.
''YOU WERE ALWAYS WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT TO ARISE..'' Songwriters: John Lennon/ Paul McCartney Blackbird lyrics: Copyright of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Original Watercolour and Gold Ink
Dimensions: w:60cm h:56cm
£250
(mounted in antique white, unframed)
THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING
I have wanted to include the songful blackbird in a painting for some time and I very much wanted to capture the deep emotional connection I and so many others have with this beautiful song. In May 2002, following a show in Dallas, Texas, McCartney discussed the song with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, saying:
"and I actually just remembered why I'd written "Blackbird", you know, that I'd been, I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic." Wikipedia
PAINT PLAY AND ARTIST MATERIALS
This painting began as a Sunday evening doodle. I was experimenting with dots of paint and gold on transparent blue-grey shapes. I could see the aerial pattern and seized the opportunity to paint this scene with my blackbird isn't it.
I am happy with the aerial aspect to the land below. My free Blackbird has flown and is sitting high up looking down at the land below thinking and reflecting from its lofty seat on a rock
This reflective blackbird has been painted with a mix of indigo and deep turquoise from Winsor and Newton professional watercolours on thick watercolour paper.
For the rest of the painting I have painted with Maimeri Blu watercolours. It is an excellent quality watercolour made from a mixture of single pigments and gum arabic- no blending powders, no additives, just clean transparent colours.
DANDELIONS AND HYACINTHS
Original Watercolour
Dimensions: w: 45cm h: 38cm
£150
(mounted in antique white, unframed)
THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING
Spring 2023 is emerging and I am on colour watch for flowers popping up a reminder of the continuing cycle of life outside. The shades of yellow and purple in succession remind me how much I love to celebrate Spring.
The softness and femininity of this palette brought essences of Spring to me. It is a simple little painting but very absorbing to gaze at.
PAINT PLAY
It was a delightful painting to create and I lingered marking its gentle tranparent colours. These feminine shades and my pleasure creating them have encouraged me to explore lighter palettes in my work and also satisfied my love of organic shapes.
ARTIST MATERIALS
Maimeri-Blu watercolours on Arches watercolour paper. Maimeri Blu is an excellent quality watercolour made from a mixture of single pigments and gum arabic- no blending powders, no additives, just clean transparent colours.
I painted this Spring inspired painting on Arches paper which is a world famous professional grade paper. I was gifted some Arches (rough) and I loved it. Arches rough (the thicker the better) is now my "go to" paper. This paper is made in France and the only one there to use the cylinder mould process, this combined with natural raw cotton means it is of the highest quality and as good as handmade paper. It is a professional grade paper.
My affection for where I paint and the sights I see influences my work and feeds my playful imagination.
THE WREN AND THE TURKEY FOWL
Original Watercolour
Dimensions: w: 67cm h:84cm
£500
(mounted in antique white, unframed)
THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING
I live and paint surrounded by fields of barley and winter grass grown for cattle feed. These lovely fields are deceptively high and are home to a wide range of small birds and also larger birds such as pheasants; occasional gatherings of geese, ducks, a funny trio of visiting guinea fowl and a visiting junior heron.
In this quite charming scene I have paired two ground-loving birds the friendly wren with a cheeky guinea fowl, who my husband calls a "Turkey Fowl". We often see our neighbours three Guninea Fowl zig-zagging across the field near our home and they run in a hysterically funny way. I am really pleased to be offering up a painting with them in.
PAINT PLAY
I began enjoying mark-making circles overlapping soft pastel colours. I painted a wing shape around these gorgeous overlapping colours and decided then that this would be a bird inspired painting as the shape was wing-like.!
"The Wren and the Turkey Fowl" came to mind... a title reminiscent of "The Owl and the Pussy Cat" by Edward Lear.
ARTIST MATERIALS FOR THIS WORK OF ART
I painted this with Maimeri-blu watercolour on Arches paper.
Maimeri Blu is an excellent quality watercolour made from a mixture of single pigments and gum arabic- no blending powders, no additives, just clean transparent colours.
I used Arches paper which is a world famous professional grade paper. I was gifted some Arches (rough) and I loved it. Arches rough (the thicker the better) is now my "go to" paper. This paper is made in France and the only one there to use the cylinder mould process, this combined with natural raw cotton means it is of the highest quality and as good as handmade paper.