All about the detail...



This picture, and the one on the left measure 5 cm
My Totoiseshell butterfly watercolour is lifesize..
Detail from 'Tree of Wonder'

Detail from 'Amber Redfox'
Detail from 'The Guardian'
Detail from 'The Guardian'

Detail from 'The Guardian'
Detail from 'The Guardian'

Watercolour Miniature



Tiny pen and ink drawing measuring 5cm

   I think my fascination with all things tiny began early in my life. I have vivid memories of happy hours passed in the garden watching all manner of little creatures going about their business among the plants and flowers. My father was a keen gardener, and I would help in the garden as often as possible. I remember sweet smelling Phlox, Asters, and Gypsophelia growing in the borders and trailing Nasturtions with bright orange flowers which would be home to the caterpillars of the Large White butterfly every year. I loved the bees, beetles, woodlice ( which rolled into balls when poked!) worms and moths too. For many years I studied the life cycle of Peacock butterflies from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis..and the final wonderful transformation to winged adult. I have often stayed up late into the early hours to watch the chrysalids hatching, and the butterflies hanging onto their plant stalks while their crunpled wings gradually expanded..
    Among my first childhood scribblings are several butterfly pictures..and when I first took up watercolour painting, it was flowers and butterflies which provided inspiration.
    It isn't always easy for those who view my drawings on-line to gain a clear sense of the scale at which I draw, or the level of detail in the work. This is a shame because I see my drawings as being all about the detail - I place enormous importance on trying to make the smallest elements of the drawings as perfect as possible because this reflects my belief that 'the universe' attends to detail on every level of creation, incuding the microscopic, and that this is where magic and beauty rise..
 

5cm Miniature
5cm Miniature

Watercolour Miniature