New Artist - 2016__

I discovered botanical
watercolours when I went on
a course years ago. As soon
as I started painting I knew it was
something I wanted to do – I
had that ‘coming
home’ feeling
where I just felt
that this was
me. And I
loved it so
much I just
practised and
practised. Now,
I love teaching others.
Being an artist can be
quite a solitary thing,
but with teaching,
it’s two-fold. You
meet all sorts of
people and learn
about them. You
have to think very carefully about
how you paint and draw and then
work out a way of communicating
that to them all.
To teach I think it helps that I’m
naturally quite analytical

• I like working out how and why,
  I enjoy problem solving – so
  helping others find their own
  way of working, of finding their
  drawing and painting skills,
  comes naturally to me.
  I teach people with all types of
  experience. For beginners, the
  key thing for them to learn and
  develop is observational skills.
  Making them take a proper look
  at the details. Often they see
  things in a different way for the
  first time. Then they can get on
  with putting it on paper, drawing
  what they see rather than what
  they think something should look
  like. With plants, you need to
  be able to see the structure and
  shape; there are a lot of things
  that you can take for granted.
  Then it’s about practice.
  Different parts of the brain
  control the skills we need to see
  shapes and draw them, and that
  skill becomes more natural when
  it’s repeated – so it’s all about
  exercising it.
  I like to think my work is
  interesting. Botanical art is a very
  particular style of art – it’s very
  realistic and scientific. I’m always

Julia Trickey: my approach

Artist profile

looking to push boundaries in

the way I paint, for example,

in large scale – doing things

that are larger than life – and

trying to find an area that other

people aren’t working in. I don’t

choose to paint pretty flowers,

for example, I like to study

something with more interest,

more texture. It’s like when

portrait artists describe how they

prefer to paint an old person’s

face rather than a youthful one

because there’s more interest

and detail to observe. I feel the

same about flowers and plants.

I like to think about the

passing of time of plants. Part

of this came from a practical

perspective though; I would get

flowers, but wouldn’t get round

to painting them straight away,

so I painted them when they

weren’t always at their best!

MORE INFORMATION

Owww.juliatrickey.co.uk

ARTWORK:

LEAVES FROM BATH BOTANICAL GARDENS

ARTWORK:

SPRING BLOOMS STAMPS

ARTWORKS: LEFT:

DESSICATED CLEMATIS; BELOW: FADING ANEMONES

Above: Julia enjoys depicting

subjects that are less than

perfect, aiming to capture

their fragility and papery-ness.

Far left: Rosa rugosa hips,

from the Nature in Waiting set,

which was awarded the RHS

gold medal in 2013.

Left: In 2014 Julia’s illustrations

could be seen on 16 Royal Mail

British Flora Post & Go stamps.