Florum 2016

Its that time of year again for florum. For details see below or to see a selection of some of the artists' works click here and go to the galleries.

I have 7 paintings in this exhibition along with prints and cards. 

Iris 1 silk Painting (c) Tessa Spanton

I have done 2 silk paintings of this iris, this one is heading East to florum and the other is heading West to Somerset.

 The Still Pond, Isabella Plantation, Richmond Park
   watercolour (c) Tessa Spanton

 Mayfield Lavender watercolour (c) Tessa Spanton

Here they all are waiting to be packed in bubble wrap.

Florum 2016
Exhibition of botanical and floral works and landscapes with flowers in various media by invited artists

10 - 17th September 2010 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.
62 different artists are taking part, many of them professional artists or tutors and over recent years nearly £10000 for the work of the Wildlife centre has been raised from sales at the exhibitions.

Right next to the centre there is a garden, a bird hide with information about 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!

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.

Heartsease

Heartsease   Silk painting by Tessa Spanton

Heartsease is also known as Viola tricolour, heart's delight,

tickle-my-fancy, Jack-jump-up-and-kiss-me, come-and-cuddle-me,

three faces in a hood, or love-in-idleness. in North America it is known as Johnny jump up.

This beautiful little flower is edible and is used in herbal remedies.

This one was grown in my garden. There can be variations in colouring and markings, often the middle petals are white.

It is the progenitor of the modern cultivated pansy and I think it's more beautiful than many modern pansy flowers.

Shakespeare mentioned a flower called Love-in-idleness in Midsummer Night’s Dream, from it was made the love potion to be placed on the slumbering eyelids of Titania by Puck as directed by Oberon. 

This flower was associated with thought in The Language of Flowers from the French "pensée" - thought

Just Joey

 Rosa Just Joey an original silk painting (c) Tessa Spanton

I spent about an hour drawing this rose in the gardens of Pashley Manor. It was around midday on a very warm

and sunny July day. By the time I had finished, the rose had opened further and the quality of light had changed.

The silk painting was done later in my studio.

Today I took this and 4 other paintings, some prints and cards down to Pashley Manor in East Sussex. They will be there on show and for sale from Easter till the end of September.

I also have limited edition prints available to buy. If you are interested conact me here

It was windy, cold and wet today, very different from the day when I drew this rose. The trees were bare and the rose bushes neatly pruned. There were snowdrops, hellebores, winter honeysuckle and daffodils in flower

These flowers were under snow only a few days ago but in about six weeks time there will be around 22,000 tulips in flower in time for the tulip festival.
When I look at that painting I still remember being in those beautiful surroundings and what a hot sunny day it was and the lovely lunch I had on the terrace when I had finished the drawing. That's what I love about drawing or painting out of doors, there's so much more of the experience going into it than from just a photo.

Flamingo on Silk

'Flamingo' Silk painting (c) Tessa Spanton
Maybe I should rename this painting 'Female Flamingo applying Make up'
Prints and cards of this painting are available too.

It's that time of year when I start to send paintings off to exhibitions and this flamingo has just flown off to the Wow Gallery. I went to visit the garden at Chestnut Lodge Cobham one summer and took lots of photos of the flamingos on the lake there. I have also seen them wild in the Camargue in the south of France.
Some were standing around on one leg, some wading around together and from time to time seemed to be getting into arguments with each other. I was fascinated by the shapes they made and in particular this bird preening itself. The striking coral pink colour is derived from shrimps that they filter from the water to feed on. While writing this post I have discovered more abaout preening hence the alternative title at the top!
The birds spend a lot of time preening their feathers to keep them in good condition and to enhance the colour by rubbing their feathers with a wax that contains carotinoids. This comes from the preen gland. Females have been observed to apply the 'make up'  more often than the males.  more here

Pink and Lavender Poppy Scarf

This morning's work

Silk paint colours were dripped onto damp silk.

 The pink and lavender were applied using the dropper, then the aquamarine blue was applied with a watercolour brush. while still damp some salt was added to the middle of the poppies to make a bit of texture. It is important to make sure that the whole area is roughly at the same degree of dampness while working on it. When the desired effect was achieved I dried the silk scarf with a hair dryer then ironed it on the cotton setting to make the colours permanent.

It will be on it's way to the Corner Gallery later today with some other scarves and paintings mostly on the theme of lavender and poppies.

It will also go into my etsy shop.

Adventures with glass, silk and paper

I was invited by Helen of tiaratiara to join her for a creative craft extravaganza day and I have written about her in a previous post when I went to her for lessons in making lampwork beads.

Helen demonstrated glass bead making and papercrafts and offered ' have a go' sessions.

I ran 3 silk painting make and take classes; silk lavender bags, necklace and scarves.

Below

Helen is making a cupcake bead and is applying white (glass) icing, she went on to put little pink dots on the icing. When finished the bead is threaded with silver wire with a red Swarovski crystal for the cherry on the top.

Below

Silk necklaces painted and assembled during one of my make and take sessions.

These are the only 2 photos I took as the day was busy. In between I made some glass beads, stamped some labels and had a go on a Bigshot. To find out about that go to Helen's blog here

and if you scroll up from there you will find a recipe for the cake we had.

I am hoping the beads have survived the cooling process and if so will post photos later.

Painting at the Mall Galleries

Entrance to the Mall Galleries London

My recently painted Strelitzias (previous post) has been accepted for an exhibition in the Mall Galleries in London. I also have cards and Giclee prints in this exhibition. It is the 150th exhibition of the Society of Women Artists. It will be opened by HRH Princess Michael of Kent on Wed 29th June at 11am and runs until the 9th July.

For more details of the exhibition click here

For more of my silk paintings that have been shown with this group click here

florum Exhibition

My 7 paintings ( including the oils shown in the previous post and the Iris below )are now bubble wrapped and ready to go off to this exhibition with some Giclees and cards. The iris is another version that I have just painted like the one I showed several posts back. This is the one that I have chosen for the exhibition.

florum

Exhibition of botanical and floral works and landscapes with flowers in various media by invited artists

11 - 18 September 2010 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.
62 different artists are taking part, many of them professional artists or tutors and over recent years nearly £10000 for the work of the Wildlife centre has been raised from sales at the exhibitions.

Right next to the centre there is a garden, a bird hide with information about 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!


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.