HOW I PAINT
C
hristopher Ryland
graduated from
Goldsmiths College
in 1972. He has specialised in
botanical painting since the early
1980s and has been a member
of the Society of Botanical
Artists (SBA) since 1995. The
SBA’s annual exhibition, Plantae,
runs from 2-7 June at the Mall
Galleries in London.
Christopher has held several
solo exhibitions in London and
East Anglia, most recently at
Ipswich’s John Russell Gallery in- His paintings have been
featured in many publications
and won several awards,
including the President’s Award
at the SBA’s annual exhibition in
2001 and the St. Cuthbert’s Mill
Award in 2007. He also teaches
art courses from his studio in
Sudbury, Suffolk.
BELOW White Rhododendron, watercolour on paper, 50x40cm
OPPOSITE PAGE Yellow Begonia,watercolour on paper, 60x51cmABOVE Tulips, watercolour on paper, 59x49cmADDING VARIETY
Flowers are a marvellous feature of
the natural world, always surprising,
so when you are painting them, they
need to be treated and shown in a
natural way. Often the flowers
themselves will suggest a composition.
Too much arrangement and they can
look artificial and unnatural. It is a
good idea to make a rough sketch
before you begin a painting. A smallish
pencil sketch will give a good idea
of the composition you will follow.
The painting can become a kind of
evolution from that starting point.
Watercolour is a superb medium to
use for flower painting, partly because
of its fluency and partly because of its
transparent qualities. The translucency,
created by the light reflecting through
the paint film, is unique to the
medium and relates strongly to the
subtle or bold coloured light of
blooming flowers.
All flowers will tend to move around
as you paint them. I was in the middle
of painting some tulips and, the next
morning, every flower was completely
vertical after the light source
changed. Flowers can gradually return
to their original position more or less,
but one should allow for the process
of natural change and growth. Try to
keep the light source as constant as
possible and avoid making very
detailed line drawings so that
changes can be made along the way.
Sometimes, with tulips, a flower will
fall and hang open, showing black
stamens and marvellous colours
and patterns within the open petals.
When this sort of variation occurs,
it’s great to use it. A combination
of buds and open flowers will add
greater diversity to the finished
painting, giving a real feeling not only
of the look of the flowers but also the
whole process of growth.SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY
Every painting you make becomes
a sort of journey. With practice, you
can gradually get to know the
characteristics of the different plants
and how best to work with them.
For example, begonias are unisexual,
so male and female flowers are borne
on the same plant. The larger, more
showy blooms are the males and
the females are smaller and can be
distinguished by their prominent,
winged ovaries.
For my Yellow Begonia painting,
I made a sketch first in which I picked
up on the triangular shape of the