What brought you to the Singapore Botanic Garden?
Last year I was celebrating 30 years of painting en plein air at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland with a show of more than 50 paintings, Inside, Outside & Beyond.
The newly-appointed Irish Ambassador to Singapore, Pat Bourne, happened to visit the show and took a liking to the painting Springtime in Glasnevin, which he took to his residence in Singapore. This piece was the starting point of my engagement with the Singapore Botanic Gardens, as the current director, Dr Nigel Taylor, saw it and offered me a one-month artist residency at the gardens.
What will the exhibition entail?
Botanical Fusion launches during the first three weeks of my residency. On show will be 17 artworks, including 14 oil paintings and three charcoal sketches. On completion of my residency, I’ll be relocating to Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay as I’ve been invited by the CEO, Felix Loh, to create my artistic interpretation of this iconic garden.
Which of the works are you most excited to share?
My latest creations, a series of four large-scale abstract paintings. They were all painted outdoors, under the heat of the midday sun and very high humidity. Three of them are depicting Heliconia plant, while the largest piece, Green is the New Black, features leaves of the Monstera deliciosa [the Swiss cheese plant]. I am really pleased with these.
Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de Artists & Illustrators.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2019 de Artists & Illustrators.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Still life IN 3 HOURS
Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn
Movement in composition
Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement
Shane Berkery
The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio
The Working Artist
Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work
Washes AND GLAZES
Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING
Hands
LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands
Vincent van Gogh
To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display
BRING THE drama
Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene
Serena Rowe
The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall
Bill Jacklin
Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration
