florum 2011

Easter Lilies Lilium longiflorum painted on silk (c) Tessa Spanton

Strelitzia reginae painted on silk (c) Tessa Spanton

It's nearly time for the next florum exhibition (admission free)

It is held at the visitor centre at the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve Details here

Several different artists are taking part, many of them professional artists or tutors and over recent years nearly £12000 for the work of the Wildlife centre has been raised from sales at the exhibitions.

I will have 7 silk paintings in this exhibition as well as giclees and cards.

Right next to the centre there is an enormous bee hotel, a wildlife garden, a bird hide with information about the birds and a lake as well as more extensive walks to other lakes and hides. Ideal for a family visit or for artists wanting to work en plein air!

It is a fitting place to exhibit flower paintings. The bee hotel a reminder of the interdependence of living things as so many plants depend on bees for pollination.

The visitor centre where the exhibition is shown has displays illustrating the prehistory and history of the site, the creation of the nature reserve, its habitats and the wildlife which they support.Visitors can handle all sorts of 'treasures' such as nests, feathers and thirty-thousand year old mammoth teeth.

10 - 17th September 2011 Open daily 10 - 5
Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks TN13 3DH

The Reserve is off the main A25 and is well signposted. Follow the track past the Riding Stables and bear left when it divides. Continue as far as the Wildlife Centre where there is ample free parking.

There will be works in different media including watercolours, oils, mixed media, etchings, machine embroidery on painted silk, silk paintings, coloured pencils, jewellery etc. and different styles and subjects including botanical, floral and landscapes.