Watercolour

308 x 295 mm. (12 1/8 x 11 5/8 in.)

Belindas interest in Botanical Illustration and Plant Portraits has evolved out of a life-long passion for plants instilled in her from an early age by her parents who were both gifted and knowledgeable gardeners. All her illustrations are life size and drawn from live specimens, many of which she grows herself. She uses the traditional medium of watercolour on paper for the original paintings using many layers of paint to build up to the vibrant colours which make her painting so striking. She was thrilled to win a Silver medal at one of the Royal Horticultural Societys winter shows in London for her paintings of Capsicums which she had only executed just 18 months after taking up a paintbrush for the first time. One of the paintings-Capsicum frutescns Malagutea is to be used in a book A Herana Africana em Portugal (The African Heritage in Portugal) written by Isabel Castro Henriques, a well known Portuguese Author. Belinda has also recently been invited to join the team of artists contributing to a Florilegium for Nymans Gardens, belonging to the National Trust in West Sussex where there are extensive collections of plants from around the world.