Nature’s Gems Series
Between 2002 and 2004 I produced twelve water colour paintings which I hoped might be used in the design of a calendar. I went out and about at the beginning of each month and decided what flora and fauna might be of interest in a particular month and what would make nice little paintings to go on my proposed calendar. These 12 paintings have the codes NS01 to NS12 (‘NS’stands for Nature Series). However, when I designed and published the A4 limited edition calendar in 2005 for the year 2006, it ended up with the title: “Nature’s Gems”. All 300 editions were sold. And each year since then I have designed and produced a calendar based on my artwork done during the year, or re-using some popular pictures from previous years. The calendars remain as popular now as they were in 2005 and lovely people come back to purchase them year after year. The calendars have been sent all over the world. I also now produce A5 and Half A3 Calendars, as well as CD size calendars in a plastic case.
NS07 Nature’s Gems: July
Botanical Illustration. Artist Code: NS07. Completed July 2004. Original SOLD. Water colour on Aquarelle Arches 100% Hot Pressed cotton rag paper. Unframed size 9″ x 12″. Framed size 19” x 15”
This painting was selected for the National Exhibition of Wildlife Art (NEWA) 2007.
SOLD at Holt Picturecraft Gallery, September 2009.
Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio machaon, Milk Parsley, ‘Marsh Hog’s Fennel’, Peucedanum palustre.
The idea for this picture came from a holiday in Spain, as I saw my first beautiful swallowtail butterfly there. I looked up the English version on returning home only to find that it is only found in a few places in Britain. Trips to the Norfolk Broads and Wicken Fen revealed the milk parsley on which it feeds, but no butterfly. A deceased specimen as resource was all I could lay my hands on, but the beauty in life lingers after death.
Poem:
In boggy fen, in sweet July,
a swallowtail may catch your eye.
But take away the fragile flora,
milk parsley and its umbelled aura;
Soon the butterfly will die,
extinction then we know is nigh.
