Before leaving London, Durrant had become increasingly dissatisfied with the direction her work was taking; she had produced no large scale paintings for some time and her output was mostly confined to small drawings. In retrospect, she sees the Canadian trip (which she has compared in its liberating effect on her subsequent work to her first visit to the United States in 1972) as a major turning point, and has attributed the bolder and more confident looking paintings she started on her return to the general sense of exhilaration and optimism the trip had given her.

Now plot in the network of veins you can see within the petals. Concentrate on getting the pattern correct, and anchor the veins at the edge of the petal with extra little brush marks. Apply in dry conditions, above 5 degrees Celsius and when bad weather is not forecast, minimum of 2 coats required. The final colour will vary depending on the surface and number of coats. If adhesion is inadequate on previous coatings, lightly sand before application. Make sure wood has been pre treated with appropriate wood preserver to prevent wood and decay. These [ T03305 and T03306] are two from a group of paintings, started after a holiday the artist spent in Canada and the USA in the summer of 1978 and completed between February and March 1979. Six of the paintings were first shown in her exhibition at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, in March 1979. Apply this to the outer edges of the flower, and the darker zone at the centre of the flower. Be sure to follow the lines of growth with your paint brush, and don’t be heavy handed. You can always make watercolour darker, but you can’t lighten it! In relation to ‘Other Cloud’, she has no special recollection of having seen anything resembling the drop or ‘tear’ shapes, and the central blue form relates to a formal problem she had tried to resolve in earlier works, the setting of a circular shape into a rectangular format. As with all her titles, this one hints at a mood in the work rather than defining the painting's sources. She told the compiler that ‘Other Cloud’ suggested the names of Native Americans but could equally well relate to the cloud formations she remembers having seen from the aeroplane on her way to Canada. She had also been reminded of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings of sky and clouds seen from aeroplanes, (the ‘Sky Above Clouds’ series 1962–5).In the catalogue of the 1979 Hayward Annual exhibition (op.cit.,p.66) Durrant discussed her approach and working methods: Once your botanical illustration has dried, work into the inner petals a bit more. Add some detail, and balance the different parts of the flower by adding pinks to this central zone.

Decide if you want to focus on the flower, or want to include leaves and tendrils too. It’s worth concentrating on the flower first as they can wither fast. You can extend their lives a little by putting a twist of wet tissue at the base of the stem. It’s wise to take a photo of the everlasting sweet pea flower early on for future reference. Make sure you have several flowers on hand before you start. I simply loved painting these tendrils, the way they knot and twist is fascinating. A simple green line either side then a very pale top wash suffices. Here I’m adding some darker areas; the green mixed with prussian blue and purple. Painting the Sweet pea petals There are lots of different species and cultivars of these pretty flower; some smell amazing and come in a wonderful range of colours. These flowers can be found in gardens around the world. Sweet peas are beautiful flowers, and a joy to paint. This blog is a step by step guide to painting the Two-flowered Everlasting Sweet Pea Lathyrus grandiflorus. About Sweet peas As you can tell, it’s the twirly tendrils on this sweet pea that I particularly loved drawing. Adding a second flower head, looking at venation in more detailMINIMUM OF 2 COATS REQUIRED. SUBSEQUENT COATS MUST BE APPLIED ON THE SAME DAY NO LONGER THAN 8 HOURS APART. IF NOT POSSIBLE, LIGHTLY SAND DOWN SURFACES BEFORE RECOAT TO ENSURE ADHESION. Work into your darkest areas with a blue purple mix. Be brave and don’t dilute it too much. I love the colour you get when you mix Cobalt blue with purple lake and often use this mix to add dark areas. This is the completed sketch. This image is a scan rather than a photo; it’s interesting to note the difference in tone and colour due to the different ways of recording the illustration. Generally, scans are lighter and yellower. You can always adjust for discrepencies between colour of scans or photos and the true illustration’s colours in an image editing programme such as Adobe Photoshop. Having put down the initial green on the stem and calyx, I work into it, adding the flush of purple. I try to keep my colours fresh and light, and don’t erase the pencil in these sketchbook studies, which gives me a little more freedom with the paint as it doens’t have to delineate any edges.

Using a pencil, and drawing direct onto your watercolour paper, draw the flower. I like to use the Pentel P205 mechanical pencil, and my current favourite hot press watercolour paper is Global Arts Fluid 100.

Advice on buying sweet peas

If you put cut plants into a closed plastic bag in the fridge, with a paper towel wet with water, it really extends their lives and keeps them fresh for illustrating. Plants, paper and pencil ready, and most important of all, the cup of tea. Good to go. Getting ready to paint Use your paint pretty dry, and build up layers of tiny brush marks. These should echo the areas of light and dark on the flower. Be sure to follow the line of growth, and adding some extra paint marks at the outside edge is a wise move. Your eye likes to feel anchored at the edge of a petal. I used Opera pink and a touch of the purple used for the flower veins. Go slowly and make sure you don’t take everything too dark too swiftly.