Olive Inspiration

A Taste of Spain, watercolour on vellum, ©Shevaun Doherty 2015

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy" ~Rumi

 Every now and then something finds you, and it whispers to you about golden sunshine, birdsong and the rich warm smell of earth. 

Paint, it says.

Life in Colour- Madrid

Ferdinand Bauer's Colour Chart, Royal Botanic Gardens, Madrid

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live.” 

Hans Christian Anderson

I have just returned from a week of light, colour, laughter, friendship and fabulous art in Madrid.

Beware of the Agapanthus

Agapanthus II (unfinished) Shevaun Doherty 2015 

"Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill."

Christopher Parker

I love what I do, but sometimes it’s a struggle. On my easel is

The Big Blue Monster

 

Agapanthus africanus WIP © Shevaun Doherty 2015

“Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.”

Victor Hugo

I am not a flower painter. 

Don’t get me wrong, I adore flowers of every kind, and I really admire artists who can capture that transient beauty with what seems like effortless grace. I’m just far happier painting fruit, seeds and dried plants, where I can indulge myself in the luxury of time, knowing that they aren’t going to wilt before my eyes.

Initial studies

The Agapanthus africanus is really not for the faint hearted. It’s a big robust ball of blueness that stands out taller than it’s neater cousins, Agapanthus praecox. Whilst doing my bud studies, I noticed with a bit of alarm, that there were over 50 flowers in each umbel! (I counted them in a fit of procrastination) Okay, so they weren’t all going to open at the same time, but once they started to open, it was definitely going to be a race against time.

So how to start?

Summertime Blues

“Blue colour is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight.”

John Ruskin

Blue is the colour that sings to us of heaven and sky, of fresh water and deep oceans, of spirituality, serenity and stability. It’s definitely one of my favourite colours, and yet I don’t seem to paint many blue subjects. All that is about to change, because I have a garden full of blues … tall elegant Agapanthus flowers that are just coming into bloom.

The first challenge with any new plant is the set-up. It’s great when

Exciting Times!

Grape practice on vellum (unfinished)

“Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive”

– Howard Thurman

Spring has finally arrived bringing in an excitement of warm sunshine, blossoms and bees.

I've plenty of reasons to be smiling this week because London is beckoning! 

Yes, the Society of Botanical Artists are holding their annual exhibition in Westminster, London, and it’s always an inspiring and exhilarating event. The theme this year is In Pursuit of Plants and my Spice Market painting is part of the exhibition.

The Spice Market  ©Shevaun Doherty 2014

 http://botanicalsketches.blogspot.ie/2014/07/the-spice-market.html

This year is the 30^th anniversary of the SBA, so there are also daily tours and demonstrations being held. I am delighted to say that I have been invited to be one of the demonstrating artists, which is a huge honour as well as slightly daunting!

So what to paint? I always get asked a lot of questions about painting on vellum, so it seemed the ideal choice of subject. My purple paints were already out, so I decided to do a few quick studies of grapes this week to work out the colours that I will need to bring with me.

It’s always a challenge to paint a fruit and retain the bloom on the surface. I have found that using a combination of cerulean and cobalt violet in my first washes really helps establish the bloom colours. I also used a recent purchase, Daniel Smith’s Verditer Blue which is a lovely light and transparent blue (think summer skies).

I did a practice grape on paper first and then selected a small piece of natural calf vellum. 

If you are thinking about trying vellum, it’s worth contacting William Cowley who make parchment and vellum and asking them for some of their small offcuts. There is a small fee for this, but it’s a great way of trying out all the different types of vellum. Kelmscott is the best one for beginners as it has a beautiful chalky surface that is so forgiving, but I prefer the subtle earthy markings of natural calfskin. It’s a matter of personal taste.

Painting dark colours on vellum is always a challenge. To retain the translucency you need a lot of layers of transparent colours and oodles of patience. I decided to paint a small sprig of grapes and leave some of them unfinished to show the underlying layers. When I do my demo I will paint a few small grapes to show the dry brush techniques but this small studies and colour charts will also help explain how it’s done.

So if you are in London on 17^th April, be sure to come along and say hello!

I'm off to pack my paints and brushes… let the adventure begin!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

– Mark Twain

Fresh Water Exhibition- Agua Doce

It rained in Galicia, not a heavy rain, but a gentle persistent mist that softened the ancient silhouette of Santiago de Compostela.

 I had travelled with my parents to Galicia, to visit the Fresh Water Exhibition in the magnificent Gaiás Centre Museum. However not even the weather could dampen our spirits, because we had come to see my painting of  papyrus hanging in the museum

“With the works by geniuses such as  John Constable, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, Mario Merz, Martín Chirino and Chema Madoz as well as important Galician creators, this exhibition proposes an intense aesthetic experience through a multidisciplinary selection of artworks including painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, scientific devices and ethnographic pieces.”

A huge sculpture made of books representing a vortex of ideas and words

The exhibition was opened by Crown Prince Felipe on March 21^st, on the eve of World Water Day, and has already had more than 7000 visitors in the first two weeks. The museum is vast, over 6600m² of exhibition space, spread across four floors, but everything has been very cleverly laid out. A series of temporary walls, painted in rich dark colours, invite you to weave your way through, with surprises around every corner to intrigue and inspire you.

All life begins with water and water is essential for all life.

The journey begins.

“Water is the driving force of all nature.” Leonardo da Vinci

Of course, I was eager to see the botanical paintings, so we hurried to the first floor “Water on Earth”. This floor is dedicated to telling the story of the great rivers of the world, and how water has shaped the landscape. There is an incredibly impressive gallery with paintings by the likes of Gerhard Richter, John Constable, Anton Mauve, Graham Sutherland and  Henry Lewis, to name but a few. 

Finally we turned a corner, and there they were!! The SBA paintings. 

"Art and science, aesthetic impact and cool analysis are combined in the ornithological drawings of Audobon, who traversed the forests of North America in pursuit of the beauty of birds. ... A further example of the descriptive efforts of nineteenth century biologists is furnished by the botanical plates produced by Kew Gardens. This tradition lives on thanks to the work of members of the Society of Botanical Artists." (Exhibition catalogue)

L-R Sue Hénon, Robert McNeill, Shevaun Doherty, Mariko Aikawa 

Flying the flag for the SBA were Penny Brown, Sue Hénon, Robert McNeill, Mariko Aikawa ......and me! I felt quite humbled to find my work hanging beside such wonderful artists, but very, very proud.  Marta Chirino SBA also had three stunning botanical illustrations in the exhibition. 

Marta Chirino Argenta SBA

On an adjacent wall were the paintings from Kew Gardens. The artists were Fanny Russell, Joan Bacon, Margaret Stones and Sydenham Edwards.

 I especially liked the mixed compositions of Joan Bacon. I was charmed to later read that she won a medal  for her work at age 92!

Utagawa Hiroshige, Nishki-e (1833-34)

The paintings were all in good company because on the opposite wall, were a series of engravings by Hokusai and Hiroshige. What a treat!

Huge prints from another favourite, the master of ornithology, James John Audobon

This exhibition absorbs you, delights you and fascinates you. We saw paintings and sculptures from the Inuits, the Aboriginals, the Amazon river and of course the Nile. 

A gorgeous little travel sketch painted Egypt by Edward Lear, (author of The Owl and The Pussycat)

Butterflies from the Amazon River

The exhibition also explored  Hidden Water, Humankind's relationship with water, and finished with Gazing at the Sky. There was something for everyone, from Roman mosaics to modern-day spas, Egyptian amulets,engineering and scientific equipment, glassware (amazing stuff by Lalique) , satellite images, book illustrations (The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland), sheet music (Johann Strauss's Blue Danube), photography, video installations, costumes, sculpture and much, much more.  Despite the diversity of objects everything had the common theme of fresh water.

David Hockney's Lithographs of The Weather Series. I especially like the middle one, The Rain. You can see a better image here

I loved this enormous painting by Spanish painter José Freixanes (2001) 200x200cm

The highlight of the whole trip was meeting the Director of the museum, María Periera, who came to meet me and talk to me about my work. It was such an honour to realise that my little painting is hanging alongside works from great cultural institutions like the MoMA, the Victoria & Albert, the Musée D’Orsay, the Rijksmuseum, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. 

She presented me with a beautiful book of the exhibition that I will always treasure.

One happy artist with Director Maria Pereira!

The exhibition runs from March 21st until September 14 2014. If you are walking the Camino, or just visiting Galicia, it's definitely worth a visit.