New Artist - 2016__

Does the beauty and detail of nature inspire you?

For Julia Trickey it ‘s all she wants to paint.

Pansy Study

Watercolour botanicals

including four prestigious Royal

Horticultural Society (RHS) gold

medals between 2006 and 2013.

“One of the best places to

exhibit is with the RHS," says

Julia. “You get your work seen

and the audience know what

they will see and they will

appreciate the detail. It’s a risk,

though, as to whether they will

love it or hate it!“

Julia’s work has also been

selected for inclusion in the

Transylvania Florilegium

presently being created under

the umbrella of the Prince of

Wales's Foundation Romania to

record in a permanent way the

flora of Transylvania.

Julia teaches regular art

classes in and around the city

of Bath. She has also produced

a variety of instructional leaflets

and a DVD on botanical art

which are available from her

website (www.juliatrickey.co.uk).

Turn to page 56 to see Julia's

pencil drawing techniques.

Pansy Study: a step-by-step guide

Once you’ve drawn the flower, use the wet-in-wet technique to colour the petals.

MATERIALS

ODaniel Smith paints:

Hansa Yellow Medium,

Quinacridone Red,

Sap Green, Indigo

A

n award-winning
botanical artist,
Julia Trickey creates
glowing watercolours
that depict the beauty and detail
of nature. She is particularly
drawn to specimens that are less
than perfect, especially autumn
leaves, seed heads and fading
flowers, aiming to capture their
fragility in watercolour.
Exhibiting regularly, Julia
has received many awards for
her botanical watercolours

Allow your background

colours to dry before

adding the darker

areas: this keeps your

watercolour fresh.

Step 1 Step 2

Start with an accurate, well observed drawing. Pay particular
attention to the centre of the flower, as this is where the viewer’s eye
will be drawn, so it is important that this is drawn correctly. Use a
magnifying glass if necessary to study the plant parts that make up
the middle of the flower.

Working on one petal at a time, dampen each petal with clean water,

then dab in the background colours. This technique is called wet-in-

wet and results in soft graduations from one colour to the next. Add

the colour when the wet petal is at a sheen stage, ie, with no surface

water. The paint should just flare on the damp paper and, with

practice, you can tease the colour out to where you want it.