TECHNIQUES
Watercolour

APPROACH AND INSPIRATION

My love affair with plants started when I was very little and we lived in rural Donegal where wild plants are in abundance. I spent a lot of time in our garden with my mother and had my own little patch where I grew nasturtiums mainly and often bought seeds with my pocket money because I loved the pictures on the packets. But mostly I loved wild flowers: what I saw when I walked down the country lanes and in the fields.

Plants in their natural habitat appeal to me very much, I was fascinated by the plant life in East Africa when we lived there in the 70s, bougainvillea in many different colours grew everywhere, birds of paradise, magnificent flamboyant tree, acacia and baobab.

I volunteered to work as a gardener in Central Park when we lived in New York in the late 90s. It was then that I heard about a course in botanical art at NYBG so I immersed myself in that for three years and was awarded a certificate in 2002. I was very enthusiastic when we returned to Ireland in the early 2000s, and started working on an exhibition at Ardgillan Castle. Eventually I met some like-minded people and it was then we formed the ISBA. I believe we have enough enthusiasm to encourage others to become members and to paint in the botanical style.

BIOGRAPHY

Certificate in Botanical Art from New York Botanical Garden, 2002

EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS

Ardgillan Castle
Plandaí Oidhreachta/Heritage Irish Plants, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, November-December 2016

MEMBERSHIP
Irish Society of Botanical Artists