Peonies, Hydrangeas and Eucolyptus (24″ x 20″ unframed size). (NOT FOR SALE)

I had never given floral painting much thought until I was introduced to the paintings by the French artist Henri Fantin  Latour. This was 15 years ago when I was commissioned by an American client to copy two from the originals in the National Gallery.  A chance arrangement, combined with some lively background illumination prompted me to give this genre another go. The challenge of painting flowers is that the image has to be captured within two days or they begin to droop. The second challenge is, their natural delicacy and subtlety of form is a very hard act to follow. It is a question of getting things down as well as one can and hoping to capture something of the original.