I released my new print, ‘An A-Z of Houseplants’ last week - I’ve been meaning to make this print for such a long time, it’s great to have it completed and out in the world! I thought I would share a look at some of the original artwork for the print and tell you a bit about the process.

I always like to work on lots of loose sheets of paper, instead of in a sketchbook or on larger sheets. I find this is a much more free way to work and I feel much less pressure to make the artwork totally perfect! If I mess it up I can just hide it and get a fresh piece of paper.

I wanted to paint plants mostly because I hadn’t really painted them before, and I love their organic shape, and how each plant is completely different. There are no two plants that are the same. This is something I wanted to reflect in my paintings; those lovely organic, natural, and sometimes sprawling shapes and lines, as well as the uniqueness of each plant. This Holly Fern is one of my absolute favourites - at first I had no idea how I was going to paint it, but I just went with a free-flowing approach without thinking about it too much, and it worked!

I was also fascinated by all the colours - so, so many shades of green! And like in this Maranta, a beautiful bright pink. I used to have one of these gorgeous plants at home but accidentally damaged its roots whilst trying to add support sticks in its pot - I genuinely felt really sad about losing it and I still miss it! I knew this one just had to be in the print… (and I must get myself another one soon!). Working with gouache paint means colours can be layered up nicely, and it’s worked really well in this particular example - one of the reasons I love gouache!

I did some colour-tests for the plant pots - I spoiled a couple of earlier paintings by choosing the wrong colour for the pots!

I love how these two look together on the paper. I like to work quite methodically, so these were the last two I painted (doing the Yucca first on the right because I’m left-handed).

It’s always very satisfying to have a stack of artwork like this! To create the print itself, and as I always do, I scanned in each piece and then used Photoshop to assemble everything into one piece. It can be like a big jigsaw puzzle to fit it all in, but this is something I really enjoy doing. I’m really pleased with how the print has turned out, and I’m especially happy with the coral-pink writing! The print is available to order in my shop, and I’ve also decided to make a small selection of original artwork available to purchase too. I can become quite attached to my original pieces, and although I’m particularly fond of the pieces I’ve chosen, I feel like it’s a shame to just tuck them away in a drawer! So, they’re available in my shop to order along with the print. Just click here to have a look.

Here are the four original pieces that are available to purchase.