Wild Flowers Prints

Wild Flowers 
a series of watercolour limited-edition prints

 Apple Blossom

This apple blossom wasn't wild - it came from my garden. I felt bad for the apples that would never grow on the branch I snipped but the petals were flying off anyway so I thought it better to paint them while I still could.
It wasn't too tricky - although I did make a false start and had to begin again as I made three mistakes on the first attempt with my waterproof, indelible pen which would have made the painting less than up to scratch. The cloth under the jug belonged to my great-great-grandmother, who came from Madeira. My great-grandmother left Madeira for England (with her manservant!) and this, and many other cutwork cloths, came with her, so they must have meant a lot to her.
The jug comes from a large discount retailer, so although it's lovely (I bought the big one too, see an earlier post with hyacinths and white tulips) it was probably made in the thousands in China somewhere. Then again, some Chinese person may have carefully wrapped it and sent it off on its journey to a far-off land...

Bluebells

These bluebells, or, more accurately harebells, were growing on the roadside along a country road near my house. There is a most incongruous car sales place next to the little clump of bluebells, which seems very wrong in the setting. Anyway I felt bad pinching the flowers but I figured the pouring rain would deter anyone from gazing thoughtfully out the window, never mind making an appearance.
Again, the cloth belonged to my great-grandmother Florence. She was a watercolour painter too. Her work was exquisite. She painted many views of her fabulous house and its beautiful gardens in Nursling, Hampshire, which is now a boarding school. I wonder did she have the ambition as a painter that I have? She would never have had the chance to do anything or go anywhere with her painting, in spite of her privilege. Thank God for less privilege and more opportunities.

Cowslips

These were truly wild. We did not invite them to live in our lawn, but they have made themselves very much at home. I can't even say they are domesticated as we try and chase them off whenever possible - with the lawnmower. But they are so pretty. The lace came...from Madeira. It was tough to paint but I quickly got into the swing of it and discovered the trick (which, obviously, is to paint the holes and not the lace). Most of the clumps of cowslips I found had sedge growing right beside it. They are obviously bosom pals so I decided not to separate them and to paint them together. I think the sedge is cute too.

My brand-new e-commerce website, www.roisincure.com, will be up and running in a few days and you'll be able to purchase prints from there. I'll make updates on progress on this blog.