How Beautiful Bubblegum found its home - A journey of flowers and friendship
Everything’s coming up roses
Bubblegum pink, lichen, racing green and a touch of saturated azure blue is the delicious colour recipe for a collection of show-stopping florals. They are a series of contemporary fine art paintings of roses inspired by my own tiny rose garden. The story of how they came to be is full of personal connection and the journey one painting took, to find its forever home in a new kitchen extension, is one of inspiration and commitment. With the help of my original Instagram posts and photos of the collection developing I’ll illustrate this charming tale.
Cheeky chintz
In June 2020, in the middle of what I now refer to as the “quiet time” (the first lockdown), I took to sketching roses. With a wide-brimmed hat, little stool and a stack of paper, pencils and pastels I camped out in my front garden and started drawing roses.
Initially I found myself drawing what I thought a rose should look like. We can probably all conjure an image of their very recognisable form in our mind. They are such iconic flowers that I had to put all my preconceived ideas about them to one side and just look, very carefully, at what was in front of me. Imagine my surprise when I started drawing chintz. I have to admit I’ve always had a secret soft spot for the stuff; my inner Stepford wife must have been calling!
Curious contrasts
A couple of the first paintings in the collection were all about contrasts, hard and soft, light and shade, dark and BRIGHT.
For me, the spaces between the flowers have become as important as the flowers themselves. Shadowy areas where dark leaves overlap and contrasts, heightened in bright summer light, have become a fascination. Add into the mix the beautifully contrasting structure of a rose bush with its silken flower heads, serrated leaves and thorny stems, a wonderful combination of marks and pattern fill my mind.
Carving out these spaces, with crisp cuts of matt black paper, has caused a brilliant lifting effect on all other colours in the pictures. I particularly love the bold contrast achieved between the strong cut edges of paper and the softer brush marks of paint. These bright paintings remind me of the floral motifs on Scandinavian painted furniture, another wonderful avenue of inspiration.
Surface area
At school there were two art departments, fine art and printmaking. I chose printmaking as it complemented the design subjects I was taking. Those early years of thinking like a printer left an indelible impression. With Lino printmaking (the art departments medium of choice) you have the ability to block in areas of an image in a single smooth plain, either with ink or negative space. This process of elimination thinking and the desire to create flat areas of colour is still very present in my work. Collage is a brilliant way of achieving a similar effect and I love the immediacy of the process. It’s fast, full of energy and can really make a picture POP!
Remarkable roses
Today I spent the afternoon in a beautiful rose garden. I was like a kid in a candy shop, greedily feasting my eyes on the incredible array of colours, textures, shapes and sizes. Some flower heads gracefully swirling to perfect peaks like silken Italian meringue. Others a unruly riot of velvety curling layers. Each a unique universe of pure perfection and together a magnificent symphony of brilliant colour.
Floral obsessions
Fast marks, rough colour and a froth of flowery fun. I love it when you know you’re onto something good. That tingly, single-minded feeling of excitement that won’t leave you till you’re knee deep in roses, or is that just me?
This is the rose drawing that kick started my current floral obsession. The cupped forms of the David Austin Scepter’d Isle variety of rose reminds me a little of miniature peonies. Full and flouncy with lots and lots of layers.
Scepter’d Isle
This is the rather fearsome name of the rose variety featured in my Rose Garden collection. Apparently its name is inspired by Shakespeare’s Richard II, and of course we all know “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". The rather curious thing is that I have two of these rose bushes in my garden and for the longest time I thought they must be different varieties. David Austin describes them as “pretty, cupped blooms with a powerful myrrh fragrance” however one of mine has the distinct smell of bubblegum!
Pretty in pink
In the relentless summer heat of August 2020 my rose garden managed to muster energy for a beautiful late summer bloom. At the time the anticipation was palpable.
During the garden’s first flush I simultaneously worked on a couple of clustered rose paintings. One in shades of pink the other peachy tones. I was looking at the subtleties of cool and warm colours and their overall effect on the pictures.
These original paintings quickly sold. Little Bird helped work on them and when finished said they were so beautiful she wanted to buy them. When asked how she planned to pay for them the answer was “with a kiss.” How to melt a Mama’s heart! They’re now framed and hanging on her bedroom wall as a heart-warming memory of the flowers I fell in love with during the quiet time.
Peaches and cream
At the risk of being hugely sentimental I can’t quite believe we are days away from the start of a new school year (remember this post would have been written at the end of August 2020). I’ve become so accustomed to my family being with me, it will be a big adjustment to a new (or is it old?) routine. I have so loved the joy of a constant stream of cuddles and kisses throughout the day. I will miss the little chitchats about everything and nothing. I’m a little scared of losing sight of all the things we have enjoyed and achieved together when the rush and whizz of school life kicks in.
All this said I’m so grateful to be able to mark this time through pictures and know my family were part of the process. Early lockdown paintings, worked on in the living room among home school projects because we had no kitchen (our lockdown journey coincided with a kitchen extension). The paintings created outside in the glorious summer warmth, while games of hide and seek were played around the builders rubble. The first pictures made in my new studio on a table big enough to share with Little Bird. Both of us enjoying the bright colours and feel of paint on paper. This is what I will treasure from this time — we did it all together.
Showstoppers
In the autumn of 2020 a group of local artists got together to organise an unlikely art trail in the midst of covid uncertainty. Against the odds we put on an open air art event which was an overwhelming success. People were craving places to go, things to see and welcomed the opportunity for creative conversation after months of strangeness.
Beautiful Bubblegum and Marshmallow Meringue were my Amersham Art Unlocked showstoppers. They’re big, BRIGHT and beautiful mixed media paintings created on legacy paper and were the culmination of my rose collection.
The previous year I was gifted a stack of gorgeous vintage papers by the daughter of a watercolour artist, who was clearing her father’s studio after his passing. The paper has a subtle texture, measures 58cm x 77cm and is finished with fine deckle edges. Until my new studio was finished I hadn’t the space to work on such a large scale and so it was an absolute delight to finally have the opportunity to go big! To get lost in a piece of paper and slowly work your way out is an extraordinary feeling.
Rose Red and Briar Rose
It was such a delight to be talking to people face to face about art during Amersham Art Unlocked. Engaging in conversation about techniques, materials and how to choose your favourite painting when there’s so much to catch your eye. A lovely customer was spoilt for choice when choosing a pair of paintings. Holding up different combinations helped to make the final choice and I’m delighted to say the roses were selected. Rose Red and Briar Rose were painted together and, being the sentimental sort, I’m so happy they’ve found their new home together. I’m told they will hang side by side on the wall of a brand new kitchen. Such a joy!
Beautiful Bubblegum
Now to the part of the story you’ve been waiting for, how Beautiful Bubblegum found its forever home. For this chapter I’m going to share with you the eloquent words of the painting’s new owner Emma.
“In the autumn of 2020, as a friend and I made our way around the Amersham Art Unlocked trail, I found myself looking into a painting that gave me pause. There was a joy in it that connected with something in me that needed that joy. It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that I would buy a painting that day – and, as it turned out, I didn’t.
But I kept thinking about it – Beautiful Bubblegum. Layers of texture and colour and fun and light. Always something different to see. A year went by and the painting and the feelings it evoked were still under my skin, so when I saw it again, on another Art Trail, I knew it would be coming home with me that day. Same friend along for the ride; same reaction to the painting.
My hesitation was less about the investment - although, naturally, it was a factor – but more about the commitment to the art. Could I do it justice in my home? Could I find somewhere for it that would let it breathe? As it happened, we were planning on building an extension at the time. While I didn’t yet know the dimensions, had neither decided on a colour scheme nor knew how we’d kit out our new space, I knew in my gut that Beautiful Bubblegum would find its forever home there, high on a wall that catches the sun.
Christmas 2022: the extension is nearly finished, and my painting is nearly completely home.” — Emma Adams
Blooming lovely
Fast forward to summer 2023 and I’m proud to say that Emma is now a good friend and creative colleague of mine. We met over roses, our friendship blossomed (pardon the pun) and we’ve had the pleasure of exhibiting alongside each other in The Garage for the past two Bucks Art Weeks. She is a furniture designer and upcycler extraordinaire and her lovely business is called KayuCo; see below in Journal Notes for links.
Over a recent celebratory brunch I was invited to see Beautiful Bubblegum framed and lovely in its new home. It is a glorious sight to see!
Did you enjoy this rose-filled story?
There’s a story behind all my paintings. Some of them are writen in blog post and the rest are shared exclusively with my BRIGHT News readers. I send a couple of short emails a month, that I do my best to fill with joyful things that are going on in my corner of the art world. I invite you to join today by clicking on the pink button.
