technical

TECHNICAL DETAILS

The techniques used in botanical paintings differ from those used in landscapes and portraits.

The fine details and subtle changes of colour in top—quality botanical art require many hours of work using the painstaking ‘dry-brush’ technique.

Always looking for innovations in style to add interest to her paintings, Gillian has enjoyed “Bending the Boundaries” in recent exhibitions with BASA Inc. in Sydney.

Many of her works sell to overseas visitors who take home ‘almost-living’, treasured mementos of their visit ‘down-under’.

pencil

GREVILLEA

This close-up of a Grevillea shows
the fine dry-brush work needed
to get the same smooth finish that
is seen in the plant.

King Arthur

'At the Court of King Arthur'
a study of various narcissi.

Using pencil instead of paint adds interest and emphasises the focus of a botanical painting, in this case of the Red-flowered Gum (Corymbia ficifolia, orange flowered form) painted for Mr & Mrs E Letts.

Gillian was taught to draw well by her engineer father. She insists this skill is essential for every botanical artist.

“Underneath every good painting is an equally good drawing”, Gillian says.

She illustrated her university notebooks and all her own lecture notes copiously and still draws as a ‘recreation’.

‘Doodling’, she feels is not a waste of time. It is imagination free-wheeling and should always be encouraged.

At the left are three of the many vines Gillian drew for the ‘Gondwana in Toowoomba’ project. These are so decorative that all were used in the décor of a new restaurant.

A trained botanist, Gillian enjoys using her skills in microscopy to create ‘different’ botanical paintings.

This painting of Yellow Pigface (Carpobrotus edulis) uses the cellular structure of a leaf of the plant as background for the parts of the plant.