Dianne Sutherland

New Challenge and an Etsy shop!

2012-01-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

I didn't quite make the leaf challenge but it doesn't mean I can't try again! So thought I'd have another go but this time with flowers! Maybe one week at a time so that it's not too overwhelming. Here's number 1. Tulip

I've also created an Etsy shop to sell some of my smaller works and sketches produced as part of the challenges http://www.etsy.com/shop/diannesutherlandart

Final leaves, 30/30 Leaf Challenge

2011-12-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

Ornamental cherry from outside my daughter's house in Stoke on Trent

Picked up at a motorway service station in Glasgow on the trip home following my grandson's first visit to Scotland.

From Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, my hometown

No blogging for weeks now and never did get round to finishing the challenge - I think I managed just 17! too many other things to do in October but here are the last few leaves that I managed to complete....maybe next year I'll complete the 30! or maybe 30 flowers instead.

30/30 Leaf Challenge, week 2

2011-10-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind with posting the leaf challenge images but will try to catch up. Here are the leaves from week two.

Red oak from Trentham Estate Sept 2011, graphite

Mahonia, from my garden. A gift a gardener friend at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, Aberdeen. Watercolour.

Wych Elm, from Aden Country Park Aberdeenshire October 2011, watercolour. Collected by my husband from outside the North East Folklore Archive

Oak leaf from Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, Sept 2011, Graphite.

Rhododendron leaf from Aden Country Park, Aberdeenshire, October 2011. Collected by my husband from outside the North East Folklore Archive. Watercolour

A worse for wear Lime leaf, not sure what type. Collected from Aden Country Park, Aberdeenshire, October 2011.

Week one - 30/30 leaf challenge.

2011-10-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Bit of a cheat because I completed the first two, including this Oak from Duff House before October.

Another one completed before the start but thought I'd incliude it all the same. It's from a Herb Robert plant that arrived in the garden without invitation and gets everywhere! but it's lovely ground cover and gives this fantatic colour.

A selection of leaves painted for the first week of the 30 day leaf challenge. There's no doubt that some leaves are definitely easier to paint than others! I found it difficult to paint them in such a short amount of time too and only allowed about 1- 2 hrs each but some have taken a little longer. I'd normally spend longer than this on my work but it's good practice to set a time limit.

Hydrangea leaf from my mother. The large hydrangea grows by the front door of my paerents house. Collected Sept 11

Norway maple collected from Trentham Estate, Staffordshire, Sept 11

Copper beech collected from Duff House grounds in Banff 2010. I worked there for a couple of years until Jan 11 during which time I collected and painted many leaves.

Oxalis, I found this growing in the compost heap at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden at Aberdeen University during my studentship as a gardener in 2005.

Beech, collected from Trentham Estate, Staffordshire, September 2011

Botanical Artists 30 Day Leaf Challenge

2011-10-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

On October the 1st I started a challenge - to paint 30 leaves in 30 days! The task was set by botanical artist and illustrator Mindy Lighthipe via the Facebook Botanical Artists Group. It all started when Mindy was invited to be the guest artist for the new Botanical Artists blog. Mindy wrote about her previous experience of a similar task and invited other artists to join her in a new 30/30 challenge- so I decided to give it a go!

I have chosen to paint leaves given to me by friends and family or from places that I have some personal connection with.

Last week I visited my home town in Staffordshire and collected leaves from a number of locations including the Trentham Gardens estate- it was the first time I had visited the beautiful gardens since I was a child.

Here's the first leaf. It's from an enormous Acer cappadocium at Trentham Gardens which the estate manager estimates dates back to the1840's.

I'll be posting my leaves at the end of each week for the remainder of the challenge.

Botanical miniatures - jewellery

2011-09-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

I've been painting a few botanical miniatures for my daughter's online jewellery shop, pollypoppit. Great fun and so intricate, reminds me of my days painting tiny floral china patterns for Royal Albert! The paintings range from 13 x 18mm up to 30 x 40 mm. I painted them on HP watercolour paper which is then mounted behind a magnifying clear glass cabochon. The first few have now been mounted in sterling silver or natural brass surrounds. I might try a vellum version because it picks up the detail so well. Here's a few pictures of work in progress and a couple of finished items.

A selection of the miniature paintings

First attempt - Parrot tulip in brass 25mm round

Tulip mounted in sterling silver 18 x 25mm

Iris mounted in sterling silver 18 x25 mm

work in progress, meconopsis 30 x 40mm in sterling silver

Fritillaria meleagris ( Snakeshead lily) in natural brass surround 18 x 25mm

Primula

2011-07-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this painting of Primula vulgaris on vellum for what seems like weeks ....it's finally finished..... well almost!

The Meconopsis

2011-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Several years ago Dr Evelyn Stevens, co-founder of the Meconopsis Group, gifted me some seeds for a cross pollination experiment. I raised a fairly large number of Meconopsis plants but far too many for my small garden, so passed on a number to the Cruickshank Botanic Garden at the University of Aberdeen, keeping just a small number at home. I've been trying to get around to painting them for the past 3 years - a few weeks ago I finally made a start, although in fairness it had taken 3 years prior to this to produce any flowers and some still refuse to flower! Anyway so much time has passed that one of the plants has recently been reclassified! (see description below)
Here is just one of the preparatory watercolours towards the series of Meconopsis paintings. They're quite tricky because the colour of the petals changes so quickly with age. The final pieces will probably be painted on vellum.....but that will have to wait until next year.

Meconopsis baileyi
Discovered in 1913 by Col. F.M. Bailey in Rong Chu, SE Tibet, the Tibetan blue poppy was named Meconopsis baileyi in 1915 from a herbarium specimen. Ten years after Col Bailey's discovery, Frank Kingdon Ward collected substantial samples of herbarium material and seeds from the same area. From this seed M. baileyi, or Bailey's blue poppy, was introduced into western gardens.

However, it was discovered that a similar plant had been previously been discovered, in 1886, by Pere Delavay in NW Yunnan. This plant was described and named, M. Betonicifolia in 1889. It was not introduced into cultivation. When George Taylor published his monograph of the genus in 1934, he maintained that the two taxa, were conspecific, therefore the name M. betonicifolia had priority having been published at the earlier date, thus, M. baileyi became a synonym.

In June 2009, Dr Chris Grey-Wilson, of Kew, published a paper in The Alpine Gardener which identified more than 8 distinct features that justify separation of the two taxa, as a result the original two species were reinstated. M. betonicifolia endemic to NW Yunnan and M. baileyi endemic to SE Tibet. You can read more about the history and classification on the Meconopsis Group website.

More leaves

2011-06-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

Painting has resumed again after a few glitches. The problem at this time of year is that there are just too many plants to choose from and not enough time to paint them. It's hard to decide what to do first and the end result always seems to be that I attempt too many pieces and flit from one thing to another, finishing only one or two. Every year I decide to be more organised.....

Now with all this choice and such a limited season it seems ridiculous to be painting dead leaves but that's what I've been doing. This behaviour was inspired by my recent purchase of the exhibition catalogue from Rory McEwen's 1988 retrospective 'Rory McEwen 1932-1982, The Botanical Paintings' - it has 24 colour plates of his works including some of his incredible leaves, there are still a few copies around through book dealers for those willing to search for it. This mahonia leaf was my latest challenge and caused me to abandon the poor Meconopsis that I've been promising to paint for 3 years! Below are some of the other dead leaves completed over the past year..... I'll finish the meconopsis next week.

SBA 2011 exhibition and graduation.

2011-04-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Returned home yesterday after visiting the 2011 SBA exhibition at Westminster Halls on Saturday 16th April. After sharing the train with the Manchester United and City supporters I was pretty relieved to finally arrive at Westminster albeit quite late in the day. There's so much to take in at the exhibition and I should have been there for longer to do the show justice. As always the standard was high with lots of amazing work which included a central display dedicated to illustrations of various plants from all corners of the globe titled 'The World of Plants' - A few of my favourites this year include: Jacky Jousson - for me he's one of the best botanical painters and the way he handles the light is truly amazing! Fiona Strickland's use of colour is fabulous, Julia Trickey's paintings are technically perfect and very beautiful, Billy Showell's design based botanicals always bring something that's very refreshing to the genre. I also saw Sigrid Frensen 's work for the first time and it really is lovely - particularly the Pelargonium sidiodes.
I had 4 works on display, three of which were assignments from the SBA course. Next year I hope to paint something specifically for the exhibition....but what?

It was also the graduation for course 6 of the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course on the 15th at the Art Workers Guild in Bloomsbury. Unfortunately this didn't go to plan and I missed it! After a hectic week visiting family in Staffordshire I headed to London but for some reason convinced myself that the graduation was later than the time printed on the invite! This wouldn't have mattered too much but I also managed to miss the earlier train, then got lost! I finally arrived a bit red faced and almost 90 mins late! just enough time to have a quick chat with Margaret Stevens and collected my diploma before heading back feeling rather stupid.....never mind some things just aren't meant to be!

Moving on - exhibitions 2011

2011-03-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

The exhibition calendar kicked off early in 2011 in the cafe gallery at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed, House for an Art Lover, situated in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. It's a lovely venue and I felt privileged to be invited to exhibit alongside four Scottish botanical artists, Fiona Strickland, Jenny Matthews, Lynne Henderson and Mary-Clare Cornwallis.

In February I had five works accepted by the Society of Botanical Artists for inclusion in their annual show, the World of Plants, 8th - 17th April at Westminster Central Hall, London. I've been putting works into the SBA shows on and off since 2002 but this was the second consecutive year that all five works had been accepted and secured election as an Associate members of the SBA.

The next deadline is looming - to produce 8 paintings of native plants on vellum for inclusion in the BISCOT (Botanical Images Scotia) annual exhibition. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. It's the first time I've exhibited with BISCOT after having work accepted by their committee last year. The exhibition is held at the Gardening Scotland show at Ingleston, Edinburgh, from 3rd - 5th June. Work is then transported to the RBGE, and forms part of their Botanical Art Bonanza exhibitions. BISCOT work will be on show at from 8th -24th June in the Fletcher Building.

Any artist interested in exhibiting at BISCOT 2012 must submit work by the 24th May 2011.

Diploma Portfolio

2011-03-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Posted the final 3 portfolio pieces and sketchbook this week! I will update this post with images when they have been marked.

Graduation for the SBA Distance Learning Diploma course 6 is on the 15th April at the Artists Guild, Blomsbury, which coincides with the SBA annual show, 'The World of Plants'. I hope to head down to London for this event. I also have paintings included in the exhibition and look forward to seeing the wide variety of work - last year over 700 paintings were on show!

Here are the final diploma portfolio works:

Vegetable Study

I completed this a while ago and decided, due to lack of time, that it was OK to submit as the fruit or vegetable piece. This isn't actually the final version - I added an extra leaf at the top to cover a small mark made just before putting it into the envelope! I prefer this version. There could have been a bit more contrast on the leaves to give the glossy appearance and to separate the leaves on the right hand side. I was happy with the beet and the roots though and the composition was good apart from that extra leaf. (23.1/25).

Botanical Painting

Difficult to photograph this one because of the light pencil work - there's a bit more to it which includes the reproductive parts x 1.5 on the right but it didn't show up so I cropped the image. Again perhaps a bit more contrast on the pencil work would have benefitted this one. (23.8/25).

Mixed Floral

Having had a few 'out of the blue' things to deal with in Feb and March, I had to spend some time away from home for a while, as a resut I found myself with only 3 days left to complete my final diploma piece! It seemed inevitable that I'd have to defer until next year, but following encouragement from Margaret Stevens, I picked up one of the few remaining bouquets from the supermarket on my way home. It had a very limited palette and I'd no idea what variety of tulips they were - but decided to give it my best shot! I tracked down the very helpful tulip grower via email and he helped me to identify the flowers. It did the trick and I managed to get it in the post on time. There's a slight misalignment on the stem on the right hand tulip, which probably cost me - I'll correct this at some point. The judges particularly liked the detail and tone in the central anemone. (23.6/25)

Assignment 12 Mixed Floral

2011-02-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

There was nothing decent left in the garden when I finally got round to assignment 12, so had to resort to cut flowers for this one. This assignment was pretty challenging, and, like assignment 11, it isn't something I'd normally do. The protea didn't have any leaves, which was a real shame and the red rose was a tough subject. Also the maximum size of approx A3 is a bit small for something like this but I think I got there in the end with the arrangement. There's another mixed floral for the diploma portfolio so I'm hoping to have a bit more choice of subject. I've just about finished the other two portfolio pieces - the vegetable or fruit study and the botanical illustration and will post when the final piece is finished....less than one month to go now, so nearly made it!
I've been seriously neglecting the blog and need to get back on track! Sorry the picture isn't great - seems anything white or red is difficult to photograph - I'll try again later.

Assignment 11.Working from photographs

2010-10-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

The 'working from photographs' assignment required a floral painting suitable for a card design. I attempted a looser style of painting, which isn't really my thing and it felt a bit awkward and not very botanical.
I decided to paint a corner of my garden working from a number of photographs taken this year - I would have liked to try something a bit more creative but the garden was handy and I was very short of time. The agapanthus was the obvious choice for a feature - there wasn't much else left that looked half decent because high winds had flattened everything else! I made lots of colour notes - the reproduction in the photographs is a little inaccurate so some care had to be taken. The painted lady butterfly was a regular visitor to both the agapanthus and the lavender and added a bit of interest. I assembled the sketches and traced the whole image which was transferred to my watercolour paper (roughly A3 size). I took about 3 days from start to finish. Valerie Wright was my tutor for this assignment.

Only one more assignment to go, then the Diploma Portfolio.

Working in the Field

2010-10-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Assignment 10. Working in the Field. I chose to work at a coastal site, Gardenstown, which is just a few miles from my home on the north east coast of Scotland. I had studied the site for my biology dissertation some years ago so was pretty familiar with the habitat. I think 5 species were required for this assignment, one had to show surrounding vegetation/ habitat and one cross section/dissection.

I chose Parnassia palustris (grass of parnassus), Succisa pratensis ( Devil's bit scabious), Prunella vulgaris(self heal) Trifolium pratense (red clover) and Rhinanthus minor (yellow rattle), which had gone to seed. My tutor for the assignment was Simon Williams.

Botanical Illustration

2010-09-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

Assignment 9. The Botanical Illustration. I went with an old favorite for this one, Pulsatilla vulgaris. Playing a bit safe really because I've painted it so many times.

SBA Silver Jubilee Show

2010-04-23T03:06:00.001-07:00

Society of Botanical Artists Silver Jubilee Show 2010 and Diploma Seminar

I managed to make it to Westminster Central Hall for the Silver Jubilee show and to the student seminar on the 17th April 2010. It was a most enjoyable day and a pleasure to meet the tutors and fellow students.
I participated in a number of the short tours delivered by tutors and came away with lots of 'food for thought'. I particularly enjoyed hearing what Margaret Stevens had to say. She has a wealth of experience and was my tutor for four assignments. She used computer images to analyse some of the works on show in detail - this was extremely enlightening and revealing!
I also managed to submit 5 works for this years exhibition and had all accepted (although one was not shown). I am extremely grateful for the service that Jackie Gethin provides and she has submitted work on my behalf a number of times. There is no doubt that I would not be able to participate in the show without her assistance simply because I live so far away. To my surprise I was awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit for my Scots thistle seedhead (detail from the study pictured above) , and, was highly commended for the Joyce Cumming Award for the same drawing - something that I hadn't even considered! Again thanks to Jackie for collecting the award on my behalf at the opening ceremony. Better start work now for next years show!

Botanical Illustration

2010-04-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

Botanical Illustration Assignment 9

It's now over half way through the course and this is the assignment that I've most been looking forward to. Have been working on a couple of subjects and can't decide which one to use but think I'll go with Fritillaria meleagris - it's not too complicated and is one of my favorite flowers. Lots of sketch book work and measurements are required for a true botanical illustration, showing all parts and a dissection. Here is a page from my sketch book with some of the preliminary work. My sketch book seems a bit messy and my handwriting and colour notes always look a bit rough - but I guess that's just the way I work. I recently purchased Mary Ann Scott's Botanical Sketchbook, which shows her work throughout the SBA diploma course - it's fabulous and puts mine to shame! Her book is reviewed on the 'Making a Mark' blog

Vegetable Study

2010-04-23T02:48:00.000-07:00

Assignment 8 Vegetable or Fungi Study
The Savoy cabbage. This time I really regretted starting such a large and complex subject - it completely filled the paper! I'd spent so much time on it that I felt I had to continue. I didn't manage to finish it but that was ok as long as two leaves were finished and all the preliminary washes were in place. Perhaps I'll go back to it one day.....but not just yet. I couldn't find anything to paint that hadn't been decapitated for this study so the choices were a bit limited, so I decided to grow some of my own veg for future studies.
Fungi is no longer allowed in future courses as DNA evidence has finally confirmed that fungi has no place in the plant world.

The Essay

2010-04-23T02:46:00.000-07:00

The Essay Assignment 7
I wrote my essay on Arthur Harry Church, simply because he completed some beautiful work on the reproductive mechanisms of flowers with such skillful dissection too - something that interests me.
If you want to find out more about Church see David Mabberley's book The Anatomy of Flowers. I think the book is fairly hard to get hold of now but there is more and more information about Churche's work coming to light and he has finally received the recognition he deserves through this publication.

Fruit Study

2010-04-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Fruit Study Composition 2
I didn't really do a composition here, just a straight forward pineapple! I think I forgot what I was suposed to be doing and got carried away with the detail. I was also very short of time on this one. Anyway it was an enjoyable assignment all the same and my tutor Billy Showell was very kind to me.

Flower composition

2010-04-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

Flower Study Composition 1.

Assignment 5. Flower Composition
I decided to paint the Paphio that I'd completed as part of the flower studies in the previous assignment (shown above top). Orchids are such obliging flowers and stay in bloom for long periods so are perfect for slower painters or those that have a limited amount of time each day. I think I fit into both of these categories.
Unfortunately I made the fatal error of not reading the brief properly for this assignment! so I carried on with the work oblivious to the fact that I was supposed to include various aspects of the flower! As a result I had only painted the central flower, then decided to read the assignment as I was about to pop it in the envelope. There was a clue in the word 'composition' and to my horror that I hadn't met the brief! I tried not to panic and proceeded to add two further flowers ( showing front and back views) I suppose I was lucky in that the Paphio has more than one flower. So my lesson here was to read and re-read all assignment texts! It's pretty shocking considering that I'd worked as a freelance illustrator for over 15 years but for some reason these courses turn the brain to mush ! I wouldn't make this mistake again....would I?

Flower Studies

2010-04-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

Flowers
Again lots to choose from so went for different coloured flowers. I chose yellow rather than white because for me it's more challenging. Flowers are: Alcea rosa, Crocosmia 'Lucifer', Digitalis purpurea, Hydranga macrophylla, Gentiana septemfida, Trapoleum majus. Sorry I've chopped the image will post a better one later.

Leaves

2009-07-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

I painted some more autumn leaves later in the year. Here's a beech leaf on vellum.

Leaves.
A minimum of eight leaves to paint for this assignment- difficult part is choosing which ones. There is so much to choose from at this time of year in the the garden but I've gone for as much diversity in adaptations and colour e.g. shiny, hairy etc. Leaves are: (top row) Pulsatilla vulgaris, Althea rosa, Euonymous fortuni, (middle row) Trifolium repens, Stachys byzantina, Lilium auratum, (bottom row) Papaver somniferum, Polmonium pulcherium var. hidakanum 'Purple rain', Cotoneaster franchettei, Leycestaria formosa.

Tonal drawing Fritillaria pallidiflora

2009-05-02T01:08:00.000-07:00

A couple more pencil images before I move on to colour work.
Fritillaria pallidiflora. These seem to grow well in the garden, the bulbs came from the Cruickshank Botanic Garden at the University of Aberdeen - I was lucky enough to work for there a few months in 2005.
Fritillaria species are some of my favourites - they're generally pretty easy to grow and I hope to paint more in the near future .
F. pallidiflora is a native species of the mountains of central Asia, E. Siberia and N. W. China, IUCN category vulnerable.

2009-03-29T03:22:00.000-07:00

A couple more images. Seedheads of iris and poppy. The drawing of Iris reticulata was used for my first assignment submission.

Some new images

2009-03-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more works completed after the initial pencil assignments. I think (hope) that I have managed to create a bit more tone and shape in these works compared with some of my first attempts. There's definitely a need to be bold with pencil to achieve tone.

2009-03-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

First assignment - pencil drawing.
Never really drawn in this much detail before or used such a broad range of pencils (from 4H to 8B). The Faber Castell 9000 Series is my preferred choice for this work. Have now completed numerous studies an look forward to trying more, particularly seedheads and lichens which seem to work well in this medium.

Struggled slightly to find a decent garden subjects at this time of year but the Hellebores, Helleborous niger and H. lividus, and Iris reticulata obliged just in time.

Recent work 2008

2009-01-18T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of examples of recent work as a starting point. A study of a foxglove flower Digitalis purpurea in the style of Arthur Harry Church and a Scots thistle, Onopordum acanthium. You can view more of my work at www.diannesutherland.com
The thistle is painted on Arches HP using Windsor & Newton Artists paint and Kolinsky sable WN brushes.
The foxglove study is on Kelmscott vellum. I prefer vellum as a surface because it gives a greater vibrance of colour and allows very fine detail that I find hard to achieve on paper.

Beginnings

2009-01-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

Having just started the Society of Botanical Artists Distance Learning Diploma Course I thought it might be useful to create this blog as a personal record and to share with anybody that might be interested. I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember but only started to focus on plants about five years ago.