1512 Tulipa Bridgit Parrot

Botanical Illustration. Artist Code: 1512. Completed 15 December 2015. Original SOLD. Water Colour and 23ct Shell Gold on Aquarelle Arches 100% Hot Pressed cotton rag paper. Unframed size 16” x 12”.

SOLD to Private Collector January 2016.

I started work on this painting in September 2015 whilst attending a three-day course at the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens (Course Tutor: Georita Harriott). The task was to complete a painting in the style of the old Dutch Masters, but using water colour rather than oil paint. The class visited the Fitzwilliam Museum to study and admire the collection of Dutch flower paintings. I only managed to get my drawing done and painted two petals at the course, eventually finishing it off in mid-December. The main body of this painting is watercolour with a blue background of body colour (very thick paint with a tinge of white added), and the borders and filigree are 23ct shell gold. I just love the frilly edges of the flower heads!

A little Poem:

This gorgeous Tulipa Bridgit Parrot,
Whose borders gold are 23 carat
Shows flaming red with silver shine,
And stonking yellow ‘flippies’ fine
Never did such flamboyance flow,
To give us such a special show.