AMATEUR ARTWORK: 2002 to 2005
Please note that all paintings listed by Artist Codes 0000 to 0020 were painted prior to my turning professional. I started to number them in this way not in any particular order, then realized that if I was to be a professional, I needed to have a proper coding practice. So I decided after these 21 pictures that I would have four-digit Artist Codes, the first two digits representing the year, and the second two digits the order in which I either painted or sketched the artworks (not necessarily completing them at the time), i.e. “1023” was painted in 2010 and was number 23 of 23 paintings started during that year.

Spanish Garden Field Notes 0000
Botanical Illustration. Artist Code: 0000. Completed July 2002. Original water colour. Framed size 19” x 23” [No Prints].
My first ever holiday in Spain in July 2002 was at the invitation of my lovely sister, Rosemary, to her special farm house (Cortijo del Guarda) in a secluded, wild valley in Cortijo Grande.
The house is available for holidays. Click for details.
I just sat for hours in the garden, watching the local flora and fauna and drew these sketches to remind me of my first visit to that lovely country.
I used the hibiscus flower in one of my calendars with the following poem:
Hibiscus red in a trumpet bloom,
Dispelling any thought of gloom
In gentle breeze the petals sway,
And on the bush a vast array
In sunny Spain profusely grows,
But Britain’s ‘Best’ at Garden Shows.