Paint or Draw

Orchids are my favourite indoor plant. It is painted in watercolour on white paper, using neutral tint mixed with Gum Arabic to give a solid background colour to make the plant stand out.

Autumn leaves I had been picking up leaves and a few of them just fell into place and inspired me

I am an amateur artist in every sense of the word, and it would be true to say that I rarely even doodled before I joined my art class when I retired a year or so ago. In my search for new horizons, I was surprised and delighted to discover my own creativity and so become engaged in the amazing world of painting. I have chosen my submission because my relationship with trees and plants is one of calmness and reflection.

My painting is of my magnolia tree which sits just outside my back door. In Spring it's a cloud of pinky-white flowers,

Because of my love of flowers, I like doing botanical art using mainly pencils and watercolours, here is my most recent piece.

I Drew these Geraniums from a plant in my back garden during lock down using pastels and ink.

This is a painting of a Rose Bay Willow Herb which I saw on a recent woodland walk. I was struck by the vibrancy of the colours.

I painted some poppies as it is November and I have got some wild poppies coming up in my garden. I have added a background of leaves for autumn colour.

Early in the first lockdown, our local bluebells put on the best display for years. It was a cheering sight in difficult days that I wanted to capture in my painting.

I created this picture whilst sitting under the pergola in my garden during the warm sunny days of lockdown

Plant in a ceramic pot with white flower inspired by U3A challenge.

Lockdown restrictions, staying indoors with dreadful weather, need to get motivated.

I had lovely fuschia growing in my garden and wanted to capture them on paper.

Autumn, when the leaves on the trees are such a magnificent range of colour and shade. Someone said it looked like the Goddess of Autumn and suggested I gave it a face, but I will leave that to the imagination. Painted in watercolour.

This cactus dahlia was the star attraction in my garden this summer.
I was inspired to paint this flower in watercolour because of the vibrant yellow and pink colours.

The slender petals give it a star-like appearance, hence its name ‘Star Elite’.