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.

0009 Queen Protea

Botanical Illustration. Artist Code: 0009. Completed April 2005. Original SOLD. Water colour and graphite. Framed size 22” x 18” 

SOLD at the St Peter’s & St Paul’s Biennial Exhibition, Steeple Morden, Herts, August 2007.

Queen protea, Protea magnifica.

A fellow artist who designs and produces elegant African figures and animals by smoke-fired pottery asked me to paint this South African symbol to complement her work. She provided the live specimens on condition that she be allowed to purchase the first limited edition print.

The beautiful lines and curves of this spectacular flower held me in rapture, and I intended to include cross sections of flower parts and leaves. However, when I had painted the flowers and stems and stood back to look, I realised I did not really need the other parts (which I had already drawn), so on the original these have been left as graphite outlines (erasing would have damaged the paper). The limited edition prints do not include the pencil drawings.