The Botanical ABC

THE BOTANICAL ABC BLOSSOMED INTO LIFE AT THE KITCHEN TABLE.
THROUGH GUMPTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT IT HAS GROWN INTO SOMETHING QUITE EXCITING, AND WE NOW WORK FROM A GARDEN STUDIO IN BATH, SURROUNDED BY THE BEAUTIFUL SOMERSET HILLS AND FIELDS AND FLOWERS. I grew up amongst the hydrangeas, narcissi, magnolias, grape hyacinths, snowdrops, cowslips, and other floral delights of the mild, damp Cornish climate. Our family home was full of beauty and interest, and filled with magnificent Cornish art and artists. Much later I ran galleries and was an art dealer. Never for a moment did I imagine I could be any kind of a painter myself.
I have been making and decorating for ever. Perhaps I was inspired by Granny Viva’s can-do ways. She made shell pictures, pressed flowers, painted watercolours of primulas for her desk, built ambitious rockeries and put large floating coloured glass balls in her garden pond full of waterlilies and shimmering carp.