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.

0005 White Lilies

Rose & Lily designs

Botanical Illustration. Artist Code: 0005. Completed June 2002. Original SOLD. Water colour. Unframed size 12” x 16”.

SOLD to private collector November 2014.

White lily, Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum.

In November 2015, I was approached by Grace Cole Limited, who “produce award winning bath and body products, cosmetics and beauty gifts—the UK’s finest bodycare products” (Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 3SR), and was asked if they could use this lily picture to promote a new brand they were bringing out in 2016. Contracts were signed and they are licensed to use the artwork on packaging for one year, in the first instance.

Known as the Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum, this is an early botanical study of mine, an exotic flower which left yellow stains all over my carpet as it faded (and which I failed to notice until too late—new carpet!). The melded beauty of the leaves and eloquent bulging of the buds of this plant, I think, surpass the elegant flower trumpets. I included this painting in one of my calendars, and also included the initial sketches. I found the composition and painting of this picture very challenging.

The following poem went with the calendar illustrations:

Deliberation, thought and trial,
Means you have to wait a while
Before the pattern starts to fit,
Into the picture bit by bit
The finished plan: white lilies fine,
with wavy leaves all shimmer and shine

And another little poem in the language of flowers:

WHITE FOR PURITY
How sweet is love so lily white,
So precious, but a distant light
You cannot say what’s in your heart,
Nor let her know you’re torn apart
But say it with a lily pure,
To show undying love demure.