1st incarnation - Teacher

2nd incarnation - Civil Servant

3rd incarnation - Retirement …….Yippee!


Retirement + long forgotten paint box + painting courses
with Colin Swinton = one happy botanical painter.

The challenge is to paint plant portraits exact in size and detail which gardeners can recognise. Orchids pose for weeks but some wild flowers fade in an afternoon and then the pressure is on.

Members of Darlington and District Orchid Society have been most kind since I joined (seeking advice on my first moth orchid) and have loaned orchids to paint with a print of the finished painting in payment.

Prints and packs of notelets are printed with the help of a local computer buff and sold at craft fairs, country shows and orchid shows. This is a great way to meet other painters and gardeners.

Each season offers something new and exciting to paint and the paint box also goes on holiday.

Some paintings have gone to new homes in Spain, Mallorca and Holland as well as various parts of the UK. Commissions are welcome in season, which can mean a wait but customers are kind and patient.