The Story Behind My Multimedia Botanicals Series

I love to share my creative process, and what my artwork means to me. Here’s the story behind my Multimedia Botanical series.

My Multimedia Botanicals series followed on after my Slapdash Joy series that I so enjoyed creating, but this time I wanted to create botanicals. The dancers I created in my Slapdash Joy! series are an obvious choice for an expression of joy, but if you asked me what gives ME great joy, botanical beauty tops dancing any day! I particularly loved South Africa’s unique Fynbos flora that are both resilient and radiant.

The creative process for my Multimedia Botanicals series

I loved the process I used for creating my Slapdash Joy! series. I wanted to preserve that, so I kept the “anti-stuckness” rules for my Multimedia Botanicals process:

  1. Work on a dozen pieces, all at the same time.
  2. Work in very quick layers to create backgrounds. My background layers were watercolours, then dry brush with acrylic, then gluing down bits of fabric.
  3. Then I did quick charcoal drawings (about 1min each) of botanicals, on top of the multimedia backgrounds.
  4. Finally, I added a little more fabric and some charcoal and chalk highlights.

As hoped, this creative process kept me out of my head, in my body, moving, and creating. I had such fun, and the pieces feel alive and rich with texture and colour.

Here’s how they turned out …

As you can see, some were more successful than others, but I love the layers and textures, and the contrast of the dark charcoal with the rich colours in all of them.

My Multimedia Botanical Proteas and Aloes are available to purchase as fine art prints!

I’ve selected my favourite pieces from the Multimedia Botanical series, and I’m making them available to purchase as Fine Art Prints. You can browse and select your favourites over here.