Natural Law Botanical Art Exhibition

It all started with comment that Katherine Tyrrell (Making a Mark) made about holding an exhibition in a place where the people who can afford to buy your paintings live (or work). Normally when people put on a botanical art exhibition, they seek out a gallery or a Botanic Gardens, but what if instead of trying to coax people to come and visit your work, you bring your exhibition to them?

So with that in mind, Yanny Petters, Liz Prendergast and I approached the Law Library in Dublin, where Irish barristers and judges have their offices, and the seed of the Natural Law Exhibition was planted. 

The Natural Law Artists (L-R) - Patricia Jorgensen, Yanny Petters, Lynn Stringer, Shevaun Doherty, Elizabeth Prendergast, Holly Somerville

We planned it very carefully. We invited three other artists to join us (Lynn Stringer, Holly Somerville and Patricia Jorgensen), all superb artists. This meant that the exhibition would have a good variety of artwork of a very high standard. Everyone was given a job to do- invitations and posters, printing, email lists, labels, hanging. We organised sponsorship (a logo on the posters and invitations) to cover our costs. Our little group worked very well together and by November 8th, we had 73 paintings to hang.

Carpe Diem

“Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate.”

 Beth Comstock

'Eve's Temptation' Shevaun Doherty 2014

Something totally unexpected happened the other week.

 An opportunity arose to put on an exhibition with some friends in the Law Library (The Irish Bar Council), where Irish barristers and judges have their offices. The area is brightly lit and spacious, and barristers are good potential clients. Previous exhibitions have supposedly done very well there. 

I always remember Katherine Tyrrell's advise  (of Making a Mark blog) "to hold an exhibition where the people who can afford to buy your paintings live" (or work), so fingers crossed, this could be worthwhile. However it’s only five weeks away and I have nothing prepared. Five weeks is really very, very soon. 

 

Three little quail's eggs

We went for a coffee to mull things over and decided that it is simply too good an opportunity to let pass. Between us we have enough art to make this an interesting and varied exhibition, and so the planning for the Natural Law botanical art exhibition began.

There are five of us involved- Yanny Petters, Lynn Stringer, Holly Somerville , Elizabeth Prendergast and me.

Burren Meadow, Verre églomisé panel by Yanny Petters

Crocosmia by Elizabeth Prendergast

Rhododendron delavayi by Lynn Stringer

Poppy, Papaver rhoeas by Holly Somerville

 Although I personally haven’t had a lot of experience in organising exhibitions, all of these artists are well versed in everything that needs to be done. They have all been very involved in both the Bloom Botanical Art exhibition, and  Aibitir, the ISBA’s Irish Alphabet in botanical art.

Lilies and Eryngium by Shevaun Doherty

So, what to paint? 

Calamondin orange, Shevaun Doherty

Well, there really isn’t a whole lot of time and being as it will be at the end of November, I’m going to work on some small paintings. Liz sells a lot of work, and she suggested doing lots of small affordable paintings, ones that could used as Christmas gifts. From her experience, paintings that have an emotional attachment tend to sell first, eg. a single flower (especially pink ones), dandelion clocks, apples, blackberries, even conkers. The weird and wonderful that we botanical artists like to draw usually doesn’t. Leaves, despite the pretty autumnal colours, also don’t tend to sell. Liz often grumbles that people seem to think that the leaves just grow on the page and that all the hard work involved in painting them is often overlooked. Of course, we will also have some larger paintings to bring a little variety.

King of Conkers

So now it’s a matter of getting my head down and getting some painting done. The next five weeks will fly by. I'll post more details about the exhibition once all the details are finalised.

This tiny vellum piece of Iris foetidissima seedhead will be perfect for the exhibition

 “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy in Bloom

“The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year; all things were glad and flourishing.”

~Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

I love this time of year. Even though life is a hectic whirl of end-of-school commitments at the moment, the world looks glorious when the sun is shining and the gardens are in full bloom.

Bloom Garden Festival is Ireland's largest Garden Festival and takes place in Phoenix Park Dublin over the June bank holiday weekend, running from Thursday 29^th May until Monday 2^nd June. Last year there were over 110,000 visitors, and with so much to see and experience at Bloom, there is definitely something for everyone.

For the botanical art lovers, there is the second annual Botanical and Floral Art Exhibition, held in the Visitor’s Centre, which lies between the beautiful Victorian walled garden and Ashton Castle, a 17^th century medieval tower house.

The Visitor's Centre, Phoenix Park, Dublin

The hard-working organisers, Holly Somerville, Yanny Petters, Margareta Pertl and Lynn Stringer

I submitted my two vellum pieces, the Iris foetidissima and the Calamondin (Citrofortunella microcarpa)

This year over seventy paintings were submitted, but only 38 made it through the tough submission process. The organisers, Holly Somerville, Yanny Petters and Lynn Stringer did a great job hanging all the work- it looked amazing. 

Brendan Sayers, Glasshouse Foreman in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin was one of the judges and he opened the exhibition with an entertaining speech which had everyone chuckling.

I was over the moon to discover that my painting of Iris foetidissima seed heads had won a gold medal!!!

Me with my painting and gold medal! Kind thanks to Bernard Van Giessen  for taking this photograph!

There were 14 medals awarded, so there were plenty of very happy artists in the room. There were only two gold medals, and I was delighted to see that the other person who had won a gold was my friend Soyoung Sin from South Korea. Soyoung is currently doing the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course, which is how I know her.

Winning work by Soyoung Sin from South Korea

My good friend Yanny Petters won a silver for her work

Happy artists- Siobhan Larkin, Helen Noonan, Angela Jupe and Janet Colgan

Jacky and Holly, who won a silver gilt for her beautiful work

The party was great- the wine flowed, the guests mingled and the artwork was much admired. By the end of the evening, there was a satisfying number of red dots on the wall.

Elaine Mackey, her proud daughter and her lovely Fatsia japonica painting

If you are in Dublin this weekend, come along to Bloom! It’s a great event- as well as the botanical art exhibition, there are over 30 show gardens, gorgeous displays of flowers and plants, live music, great food and drink, art & crafts and plenty of entertainment for all the family. As the Bloom video below promises, you will go home happy!