Rachel Needham

I have loved gardening and plants all my life but it was on retiring that I found time to discover the pleasure and pain of botanical art.  I love the challenge of capturing the light, colour, texture and form of botanical subjects.  I find, the more you look, the more detail and nuances of colour you see.

I use watercolour which allows the brightness of white paper to shine through to give a natural glow to my work.

My inspiration comes from many sources, particularly Rory McEwan’s work. He said in 1971 “ I paint flowers as a way of getting close to the natural world. This mostly means looking, looking and thinking, then painting. Then thinking how much better the painting could be.” It’s a never ending challenge which gives so much pleasure.