FRESH flowers

Faced with a bunch of newly-cut blooms, ANNE-MARIE BUTLIN wanted to capture some of that freshness and optimism in the way she painted them – here’s how she did it

- ANNE-MARIE BUTLIN

My recent work has been inspired by gardens and garden flowers, and reflects the movement towards more naturalistic, seasonal planting. I signed up to receive a monthly bucket of flowers from an organic, sustainable local cutting garden, Wolves Lane Flower Company, and my very first delivery was unexpectedly lovely – a glorious tangle of spring blooms.

There was a nice simplicity to this composition. I just felt really compelled to capture the beautiful flowers in front of me as quickly as possible.

Those first flowers of spring had a certain symbolism: new growth, fresh beginnings, and hope for the future. I wanted my painting to convey a sense of this optimism and energy. They also had a rather old-fashioned look, which tied in quite well with my painting style. I liked the idea of very traditional subject matter painted with a modern sensibility. Anne-Marie’s next exhibition runs 5-22 October at Thackeray Gallery, London. www.anne-mariebutlin.com

1 Compose carefully

I began by taking photos of the arrangement in my house. I used the square-format option on my phone’s camera as I played around with the composition. I then worked in my studio, drawing from both the photo and directly from life, taking the best bits of each.

I painted my primed linen with a fairly thick layer of acrylic gesso to give it some tooth. Once dry, I used the large decorator’s brush to apply a thinned down layer of Burnt Sienna as a ground.

2 Scrub in the basics