Essence of Spring

Essence of Spring 2024 - watercolour and paper inlay

24 floral swatches, surrounded by 48 leaf swatches, each carefully colour matched and inlaid on board.

Location diagram

This sets out the position of each of the 24 floral and 48 foliage swatches

Spring in my village

I collected my samples on my morning runs. This photo shows exactly the type of luminescence I wanted to capture

Digital draft of a possible layout

I tested lots of ideas both in sketches and digitally before deciding on my finished approach.

Collecting samples 1

I took samples or photos of the flowers or leaves that caught my attention. I then identified and colour matched them.

Collecting samples 2

Collecting samples 3

Some of watercolour pigments

Over 50 different pigments were used in various combinations

Creating a swatch

The watercolour was floated onto the soaked paper and layers built up until the correct hue was reached

Magnolia swatch in development

Drying swatches

I laid the swatches in the sunshine to dry naturally before rewetting and floating another layer of pigment on.

An early trial in how the painting might look

Arranging the swatches

My first sight of how the 24 central floral swatches might look

Finding the best arrangement

This shows the 24 central floral swatches and the 48 surrounding leaf swatches

Leaf and floral swatch close-up

Finding the best location for each swatch was crucial to the overall success of the painting

Poster charting the development of the painting

The artwork took several months of planning, experimentation, specimen collection, swatch development, and cutting and gluing. This poster gives a hint of the main stages.