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. The artist has pointed out that, as her paintings are not concerned with the straightforward depiction of external events, her choice of an image, colour or texture may initially be prompted by her experience as recorded in her note-books, but when she begins to paint, the needs of the painting itself dictate the way these elements are eventually combined, amended or organised. I use Winsor & Newton watercolours, and work quite dry. This mix is Opera rose with a touch of Cobalt blue. I always use a Winsor & Newton series 7 paintbrush, normally a number 1. Doctor Martins PH Hydrous inks come in a lovely array of jewel-like colours, and I often add a tiny drop of these vivid hues to my watercolour washes. In this case it’s the turn of Quinacridone Magenta. Step 6: Add darks and shadows

One of the plants needing illustrating was the sweet pea. While visiting a friend, I espied her sweet peas, and immediately begged some of the dark purple and bright red-pink ones from her. I ended up with an enormous bunch of flowers as well (thanks to Layla who runs The Majestic Bus, a wonderful converted bus where you can stay, in the gorgeous hills near us in Hay); but the sweet peas went straight into the fridge to stay fresh until I could draw them the next day. Getting ready to paint the Sweet pea 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. Exh: Jennifer Durrant, Recent Paintings, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, March–April 1979 (no catalogue, listed on duplicated sheet); Hayward Annual 1979, Hayward Gallery, July–August 1979 (9, repr.) As Garden Shades often goes on directly to the wood, without a primer, sometimes it will soak deep into the wood and this can create the need for a third coat. This may be noticeable with rougher woods, open end grains or indeed deep colours. If wood has been exposed and dried out for a long period of time, this may also draw the more of the product away from the surface and into the wood structure.The first step is to draw the plant in pencil (I use pentel P205 mechanical pencils). Keeping the line crisp and simple helps avoid mess when you work into the illustration with watercolour. Drawing up the plant in pencil, considering composition Now do the same for the veins in the central winged area of the flower too. The colour mix here is the same as before, but with some purple added.

You’re going to be putting a layer of pale pink on the flower next. Mix up a very pale tint of pink, and be sure you make it paler with clean water rather than with white paint. I paint my pictures with the canvas stretched flat on the floor, viewing them from the top of my steps, and I see the painting frontally/head on, only when it feels whole or I cannot choose what to do. I suppose (as I have not changed this procedure for several years) I enjoy the surprise I get when the picture goes up and then I feel either relieved or disappointed. I often experience difficulty in making choices within the painting-what the painting needs as opposed to what I put in the painting ... I work on several canvases at a time ... and I view them as a group although I feel each painting is separate and complete itself. The sensation of place in painting is very important to me... How much you are enveloped, or brought in, or feel up against the painted surface ... I am aware of ways in which I use my experience of the visible world as starting-points for my painting. A starting-point can be my wish to create a visual equivalent for a particular experience in purely painterly terms within a tradition of painting-and in so doing, discover (for) myself. 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 Mix up an ever paler and wetter tint of pink. Apply this wash across almost the entire flower (including the parts which got the first layer of colour). Leave the palest areas as white paper, right next to the stem of the flower.MINIMUM 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. More detail on the stem and calyx, this is alizarin crimson and purple lake, with a touch of vandyke brown. 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

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). Test a small area first for colour and adhesion: Colour the final colour will depend upon the type of surface, previous treatment and number of coats applied. If using more than one can it is advisable to mix them together in a container or finish in a corner before starting a new can. Adhesion: if adhesion is inadequate on previously coated surfaces, lightly sand before application.Below is a real-time video of me painting this everlasting sweet pea. It’s a very long film, over an hour, but I discuss every process in detail as I go along. 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. Lit: Judy Marle, ‘Jennifer Durrant, Recent Paintings’, Arnolfini Review, March–April 1979, p.2; Alister Warman, catalogue introduction for 13 Britische Künstler, eine Ausstellung über Malerei, Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, December 1981–February 1982, and tour [p.10] Stir thoroughly before pouring contents into a Cuprinol sprayer. Overspraying surrounding areas can be minimized by avoiding spraying in windy conditions and by using cardboard or plastic as a shield. Any overspray should be cleaned up immediately (whilst still wet) with water and household detergent.

Untreated wood: should be pre-treated prior to adhesion test with an appropriate wood preserver to prevent rot and decay. 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. The artist made no finished preliminary sketches before starting on T03305 and T03306 but experimented with small coloured arrangements on paper. For the paintings, she employed a variety of techniques; some areas were freely painted (for example the blue central shape in ‘Other Cloud...’), whereas for the “tear” or drop shapes and for the spiral in ‘Sweet Pea...’, paper stencils were used. Each painting was built up in layers on unprimed cotton canvas and in some areas the artist applied a mixture of metallic powder and acrylic solution.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.