2008
This year has been a busy year artistically. I exhibited with the RHS in London back in February gaining a second Gold medal. May Bank Holiday  saw me exhibiting in a Bath open studios weekend. The Bear Flat artists live in a small area on the south side of the city of Bath and encompass a wide variety of artistic styles and techniques. Also in May I took part in the Royal

HEDGE HOG

Caledonian Horticultural Society Botanical Painting and Illustration Exhibition, where I was awarded a Silver medal.
The paintings were displayed at the Gardening Scotland Show before moving to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Over the summer I was involved with a public art project - King Bladud’s Pigs in Bath. Over one hundred pig sculptures, decorated by local artists, were on display around the city and beyond. I was fortunate enough to get the chance to paint two pigs. One was a commission for the Brassknocker Canal Basin and was decorated with stylised canal roses (so much quicker than my usual work!). The other pig gave me opportunity to paint

my own design  based on topiary animals, with a clematis and small insects added for colour and interest.

The Bath Society of Botanical Artists (BSBA) have exhibited in the Bath Central Library twice this year. As well as our annual exhibition in June we also displayed a set of paintings of plants associated with the plant hunter, Augustine Henry (a distant relative of one of the BSBA members).

I was also privileged to have two of my paintings selected from the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society archives for inclusion in an exhibition on Medicinal Plants at the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery in Kew Gardens. The exhibition continues until mid-March 2009.

I have also been teaching Botanical Illustration courses, both for the University of Bath and privately.

BRASSKNOCKER PIG

2009
EXHIBITIONS
21, 22 March:  RHS Orchid Show, Vincent Square, London
24 May - 20 June: South West Society of Botanical Artists (SWSBA) Annual Exhibition, The Meeting House Arts Centre, Ilminster, Somerset.
29-31 May: BSBA, West Barn exhibition, Bradford on Avon.
7,8 June: Widcombe Art Trail, Bath.
26 June - 5 August: Bath Society of Botanical Artists (BSBA) - Plants associated with Augustine Henry. National Botanic Gardens, Dublin. Ireland
7 - 19 July: BSBA Annual Exhibition, Bath Central Library.
1 July - 15 Aug: Time and Space Gallery summer show, Combe Down, Bath.
12 Sept - 8 Nov: ‘Inner Beauty’- Paintings of medicinal plants by the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society - Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, New York, USA.
5 Nov - 5 Dec Flowers in Focus -  Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey.
10 Oct - 24 Dec: Time and Space Gallery Christmas show, Combe Down, Bath.

2010
JUNE
Well, this seems to be the year of the public art project for me. Since my last update I have painted a lion for Bath and a dragon for Newport! The lion was based on a child’s design chosen by the sponsor after setting a competition in a local school. The picture was covered in spring flowers which I then interpreted as daffodils.

The dragon is a more abstract design based on a simple idea around dragonflies. It was much quicker and great fun to do.It will be out on the streets of Newport from mid-July.

I was also thrilled, in April, to be awarded the St Cuthberts Mill Award at the Society of Botanical Artists’ annual exhibition for a large watercolour painting of an oak leaf (left). The leaf was depicted five times its original size. This painting was then selected for the Bath Society of Artists annual exhibition and will be on display and the Bath Society of Botanical Artists exhibition in July.

MARCH
Having been involved in the Bath Pigs public art project in 2008 (see below) I was really excited to have been asked to design an elephant for the Elephant Parade, London. 250 fibreglass baby elephants will take to the the streets of Central London during May and June. My design was based on a large autumnal horse chestnut leaf. His name is Eleafant.

It was a steep learning curve as the paint behaved quite differently from watercolours.
Still, I learnt a lot about acrylic glazes!
EXHIBITIONS

16 - 25 April: Society of Botanical Artists , Westminster Central Hall, London

14 May - 19 June: Bath Society of Artists,  Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

19, 20 June: Widcombe Art Trail, Bath. (will include students course work)