Inside the world of botanical artist Charlotte Verity
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Anne Purkiss Pin It
- I work directly from observation; either in the garden or from something set up in my studio. If it's an outside day, I check the weather forecast, dress accordingly, lay out the paints on my palette, then stand in exactly the same spot as the day before. A studio painting starts in the same way: I do what I can to make sure that my eyes are in the same relationships to my subject as they were the day before.
- A new painting often begins by going into the garden and 'prowling and peering', as I believe Vita Sackville-West once put it so nicely. I'm searching for a motif. To my mind, when painting the sharp red of the fuchsia flower cutting into the white canvas, I feel the sudden brightness of all late flowering and the decay of autumn (pictured below is Fuchsia Fall, 2013).
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Stephen White Pin It
- If the painting is to have any life, I have to have a feeling for it. Once started, I'm straight in - paint on canvas, trial and error. It can come quickly, but more often they are slow: a whole season or two, or even a year.
- My favourite days are open-ended so that by the time the light fades, my feet hurt from standing and my eyes ache from looking.
charlotteverity.co.uk
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