Eden Project Botanical Illustation Course

Last week I attended a Botanical Illustation Course at the Eden Project. This was my second time doing a course there and this time it was a whole 5 days of drawing and painting, and learning a bit about plants.

The course started with us learning all about the different parts of plants and flowers to help make more informed drawings. We had tours of both the outside and tropical biomes from members of the horticultural team at Eden which were really interesting. 

We began the final piece by choosing something to draw, there were plenty of interesting plant materials to choose from, I chose this Globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus) because I love the colours and shape, plus I thought it would be achievable to complete a painting of this in the time. Next we made a scale drawing of the item, which we shaded in using graphite on some tracing paper. The original drawing was then transferred to the watercolour paper using tracing paper before being painted with watercolours.

Our teacher was the lovely Laura Silburn who is a botanical artist working in Cornwall, and a Fellow of the Eden Project Florilegium Society, whos beautiful paintings we were able to view at the end of the course.

My completed Artichoke botanical watercolour painting

Initial sketch of Artichoke

Dissecting a daffodil

Daffodil Ovary!

Our Paintings

Exhibition visit: 79th Annual Exhibition from The Society of Wood Engravers

Yesterday I visited the 79th Annual Exhibition from The Society of Wood Engravers, at the 44AD Gallery in Bath. I was so impressed by the level of detail and workmanship in the prints that I felt I had to share my favourites with you. I have never tried wood engraving myself but I have tried Lino printing and found that quite difficult to get my head around, I think wood engraving must be super difficult! (and time consuming) it makes you really appreciate this ancient art form. The exhibition has now come to an end but you can see images of all the pieces on the Society of Wood Engravers' website.

The Sailmaker's Garden by Barry Woodcock

Dunnock in the Camellia by Cathryn Kuhfeld

Partrishow by Kathleen Littler

Lifeboat by Terry Browne

Greenhouse by Geri Waddington

The Tortworth Chestnut by Peter Collins

Cherry Blossom by Rosamund Fowler

Lewesdon Hill Beeches by Howard Phipps

Edward Thomas: A Landscape Journey by Neil Bousfield

Apple Pressing by Bob Guy

Some more lino prints

You may have seen my previous post where I shared my lino prints, well I decided to try them out again on some different paper stocks, and with two different green colours (although I'm not too sure that you can see the difference here on my scans). It was fun to use the big albion printing press instead of just rolling over the paper with a roller as I had previously done, and also this time I used oil-based inks which can give a deeper and richer colour.

New A4 Vintage Style Screen Print - Coffee Jug

I have created another Vintage Style Screen Print,  this time featuring a Hornsea Coffee pot, to match my egg cups and little jug. It is slightly different, due to the fact that I made a small error! All part of it's charm haha.

This A4 print is available to buy now from my Etsy and Folksy shops at £20 each.

New A5 Vintage Style Screen Prints

I've been working for a while on these prints and finally they are complete! I have 2 finished prints so far, a collection of 3 egg cups and a little oil or vinegar jug, both in Hornsea Heirloom pattern. I plan to add to the collection in time, with different items and patterns.

These prints are available to buy now from my Etsy and Folksy shops at £11 each.

Framed Moustache Artwork

My latest creation! This cute little unique framed artwork features a bushy moustache made from shrink plastic, and decorated with fun retro stripes.

The moustache is mounted on a brown kraft paper background and is framed by mountboard. The white wooden frame measures 11cm wide x 10cm high x 3.5cm deep. The moustache itself measures 3.5cm.

This would be an ideal little humorous gift for any male, especially if they're striving for a bushy moustache! Available here in my Love Local shop for £15.

Cutout Books framed artwork

This week I have been busy making a framed piece of work for my colleague and friend Stu for a wedding gift to him and his wife Jo. They both love books so I thought I'd make them a book themed artwork along the same lines as my Butterfly wall art.

I used thick cartridge paper and cut out 9 shapes of opened out books, then I made thin paper pages and glued them behind the cartridge paper books. Next I selected some vintage music sheets with text on them to use as the background. The whole thing was then framed in a deep box frame.

If you'd like me to create a similar piece of wall art for you then please do not hesitate to contact me!

 

Available now in my Folksy shop for £15 is my latest creation, a three-colour screen print featuring 3 victorian bicycle images overlaid to create an interesting montage! I have used process colours, cyan, magenta and yellow for an eye catching overlaid effect, I hope you like!

Following from the success of my Gold bicycle screenprint, I've also printed a lovely rich blue version! Available now at £12.00 in my Folksy shop. Limited edition of 8 so don't miss out!

Bicycle Screenprint - "I want to ride my Bicycle" - Gold colourway

Featuring gold metallic acrylic my latest screenprint has a lyric from the famous Queen song, "Bicycle Race". It's available now in my Folksy Shop, and there's a blue colourway coming soon!