TECHNIQUES
Mainly watercolour, from time to time graphite.
APPROACH AND INSPIRATION
My inspiration comes from nature. The wild flowers are the ones I like best. While walking in our Swiss mountains you can find an endless quantity of colours and I like to paint them. I am a birdwatcher and going around watching birds helps me to find flowers, leaves, fruits and other things to paint at every time of the year. Botanical art can show this beautiful world to the ones who want to see it. I also find inspiration in other artists’ works: i.e. Jacopo Ligozzi, Edith Holden, Mary Delaney and others.
BIOGRAPHY
For more than 30 years I have practised different artistic techniques focusing mainly on glass etching and porcelain painting. In 2012 I received the “Master in the Art” certification for China Painting. Some of my pieces have been published in a Finnish review, Posliini Plus, and in the book Porcelain Pots.
In 2008 I attended seminars in Como, Italy with American artists Kim Hogue, Maxine Thomas and Jamie Mills Price, focusing on country style painting.
My experience with the hyper realistic style of painting has come from courses in Rome and Milan, Italy. Taught by artists Karen Hubbard of the United States and Mabel Blanco of Argentina, these courses focused primarily on animal portraits.
In 2011 I began practicing etching using zinc plates.
Botanical painting captured my interest many years ago. I enjoy painting the wild flowers I see in our meadows and mountains. In 2010, I began my courses with the Italian botanical painter Silvana Rava. In 2012 I continued my studies by taking a course at the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom with Elaine Searle.
EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS
Group exhibitions:
2016 Heritage Irish Plants, Plandaí Oidhreachta, Dublin (Ireland) ISBA Exhibition at National Botanic Gardens
2016 Arosio (Italy)
2015 Lucca (Italy) at Murabilia “ Botalia”
2014 San Bernardino (Switzerland)
2014 Appiano Gentile e Lentate sul Seveso (Italy)
2013 Villa Olmo a Como (Italy)
2012 Villa Carlotta a Tremezzo (Italy)
Solo exhibition:
2016 Balerna (Switzerland) Sala del Torchio “Petali da acquerello”
MEMBERSHIPS
Irish Watercolour Society
Irish Society of Botanical Artists
Irish Orchid Society
Royal Horticultural Society
Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society
CONTACT
nanuk7@bluewin.ch
https://www.facebook.com/Ragged-Robin-Botanical
