Looking for personalised gifts for bridesmaids? Would you like to give your bridesmaids a special gift that reminds them of your special day? My hand painted silk bracelets and pendants could be just what you are looking for. I can tailor the colours and images to match your wedding colour scheme/theme or perhaps tailor them to each of your bridesmaids favourite colours/flowers. Each item is made from hand painted crepe de chine mounted in a silver plated setting. The jewellery comes in a protective soft cotton bag and can be gently hand washed. Visit my jewellery page to see more examples of what I can do or contact me to discuss your ideas.
Are you looking for unusual silk gifts? In addition to my original silk paintings and giclee prints, I am excited to be able to offer a range of silk jewellery and cufflinks. Each item is made from hand painted crepe de chine silk mounted in a silver plated setting. All items can be gently hand washed and come with a soft cotton storage bag. Please visit my jewellery page to see the items I currently have available. I also take commissions so please contact me if you are looking for something specific.
Gin and Tit – Blue Tit & Gin and Tonic Original Silk Painting
Lark and Stormy, Original Silk Painting
Looking for a special valentine’s day gift for the love of your life? How about a beautiful original painting or giclee print that they can look at every day?
My paintings are mainly painted on pure Chinese habotai 8 silk with specialist silk paints. I start each work with a drawing on paper and then trace the image onto a piece of white silk stretched onto a wooden frame. On this painting I have painted the silk with a special medium to stop the paint from running before hand painting on the colour using watercolour brushes. You can see some videos of me in action here.
The finished painting is removed from the wooden frame, ironed to fix the colour in the fabric and stretched onto acid-free mountboard ready for framing.
A signed giclee print is printed on fine art 308gsm paper using archival inks and is signed by the artist.
In December 2020, I received an exciting phone call from Andy who wanted a special anniversary gift for his wife. He had seen my painting of Hummingbirds and Hibiscus and it reminded him of their wedding in Antigua surrounded by beautiful flowers and wildlife. He decided that he would commission a painting as a special silk gift for her. He had some beautiful photographs of their wedding and I was able to use the stunning view from his photograph and add some bougainvillea and hummingbirds using photographs that my husband took when we visited Antigua a couple of years ago.
If you would like a special silk gift for a woman in your life, please take a look at my available original paintings or perhaps think about commissioning something unique and personalised.
My paintings are mainly painted on pure Chinese habotai 8 silk with specialist silk paints. I start each work with a drawing on paper and then trace the image onto a piece of white silk stretched onto a wooden frame. On this painting I have painted the silk with a special medium to stop the paint from running before hand painting on the colour using watercolour brushes. You can see some videos of me in action here.
The finished painting is removed from the wooden frame, ironed to fix the colour in the fabric and stretched onto acid-free mountboard ready for framing.
In October 2020, I was contacted by a lovely lady called Deborah who wanted a special anniversary gift for a her husband. She liked my style of landscape painting but wanted something that would bring back happy memories and be a unique gift for him. We discussed various options for subject matter, size and budget and she sent me some photographs. I was delighted that one of them was this fantastic view of the coast in Crete where they had had a very happy holiday in 2018. I felt it would really work well as a silk painting and Deborah commissioned me to paint this as a unique silk gift for him. Painting this brought back happy memories of a holiday I had in Crete with my family in 2016 so it was an absolute joy to paint.
If you would like a special silk gift for a man in your life, please take a look at my available original paintings or perhaps think about commissioning something unique and personalised.
My paintings are mainly painted on pure Chinese habotai 8 silk with specialist silk paints. I start each work with a drawing on paper and then trace the image onto a piece of white silk stretched onto a wooden frame. On this painting I have painted the silk with a special medium to stop the paint from running before hand painting on the colour using watercolour brushes. You can see some videos of me in action here.
The finished painting is removed from the wooden frame, ironed to fix the colour in the fabric and stretched onto acid-free mountboard ready for framing.
I was given these beautiful tulips as a special birthday gift by the long-suffering Mr G for my lockdown birthday in 2020. The intensity of colour just filled me with joy so I had to do a little painting of them.
Birthday Tulips
Would you like a special birthday gift for your loved one? Why not have a browse of my original silk paintings and giclee prints that are available to buy online? Or if you want something truly unique why not commission a painting of their favourite flowers!
My paintings are mainly painted on pure Chinese habotai 8 silk with specialist silk paints. I start each work with a drawing on paper and then trace the image onto a piece of white silk stretched onto a wooden frame. I then apply a special paint called gutta, which contains natural latex called gutta-percha, over my traced lines. This creates a resistive barrier through which the coloured ink will not flow. I apply the coloured ink with a brush and use salt dropped into the ink whilst wet to created textured effects.
The finished painting is removed from the wooden frame, ironed to fix the colour in the fabric and stretched onto acid-free mountboard ready for framing.
So delighted that my silk painting ‘Gin and Tit’ was recently bought as a unique silk anniversary gift! I wasn’t aware that the traditional gift for a 12th wedding anniversary in the UK and 4th anniversary in the USA is something made of silk. The tradition of giving certain gifts for anniversaries can be traced back to the Roman Empire and medieval Germany. Apparently the Romans used to adorn their wives with a wreath of silver after 25 years of marriage (I wish :-)! ) In the 18th century the Germans started to develop the idea of different gifts for the other years. Anyway, I was tickled pink that I was able to contribute to someone’s special anniversary celebration in this way!
Gin and Tit
‘Gin and Tit’ is part of my ‘Birds Behaving Badly’ series. In this series I explore the idea of birds up to mischief and in various compromising positions and just generally let my crazy imagination run riot. Many of my ideas also stem from my love of a good (or very bad!) word pun….
Do you have a silk anniversary is coming up soon? Why not have a browse through my available original paintings or get in touch to talk about a personalised silk painting. Perhaps a beautiful landscape that means something to you or your favourite birds, animals or flowers. I can work from photographs and even accommodate the colour scheme for your home! I’d love to create something special that will give pleasure for years to come.
Remember the Redwings, hand painted on silk, mounted to fit 40 x 40 cm frame
With recent survey showing that children spend less time outdoors than prisoners and words like wren and conker recently excised from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, the wonders of the British countryside are fading from our national consciousness. Continue reading Remember the Redwings
My latest exhibition ‘Scenes in Silk’ is now open at Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire. The exhibition is open 10.30am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday from the 28th June to the 24th July 2016. The exhibition features some of my work painted on silk woven at the mill (such as ‘Sunny Jays’ above) as well as work painted on chinese habotai silk.
I am delighted to be able to say that my painting ‘Quarrelling Gulls’ has been accepted for The Society of Women Artists 155th Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries, The Mall, London. The exhibition is open 10am to 5pm daily from the 28th July to the 7th August.
December’s Shining Star, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm
£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available
What other flower could I possibly do for December but the wonderful hellebore. When everything else in the garden is looking pretty dull these little fellows pop up and show us their exquisite beauty. And there are so many different varieties all with their own special charms. For me this little plant really is the shining star of December. I decided to use resistad (a colourless resist) instead of gutta on these guys so as not to overwhelm their delicate petals. What do you think?
I apologise for the poor quality photo today. I finished painting too late to take a photo in daylight.
I’ve really enjoyed my little 12 day project again this Christmas. It’s made me think a lot about the seasons and I’ve had a few technical challenges along the way. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at the results and I look forward to seeing some of you over the coming year.
November’s Indoor Imitation, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm
£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available
I felt the need for more flowers today. It’s something I want to practice as I find composition difficult with flowers. Although there wasn’t much I could find that blooms in November outside that inspired me so I’ve gone for an indoor imitation. I’ve never had much luck with growing amaryllis myself but both my mother and my mother-in-law have grown some beautiful ones in the past. Such a lovely way to brighten up the house on dark winter days.
October’s Cornish Dreams, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm
£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now
For half term in October 2015 we took a trip down to Porthleven on the Southern Cornish coast. We stayed in a lovely cottage right on the seafront and were blessed with great weather. Quite out of character for me I was motivated to keep up my running training and ran around the edge of ‘The Loe’ Cornwall’s largest freshwater lake which is separated from the sea by the shingle bank of Loe Bar. I got hopelessly lost but was rewarded by this wonderful view of The Loe and the hills beyond. I loved Porthleven and am definitely dreaming of a Cornish October 2016…..
September’s Apple Abundance, Original Silk Painting, Framed size 30 x 30 cm
£95 including P&P – Limited Edition Prints Available – Buy Now
Having done the plums yesterday, I couldn’t resist a little more fruit! The apple harvest from the tiny trees in our garden is never likely to result in the composition of an apple blues but provides enough for a few crumble and pie treats and they look so attractive when they are on the tree.
