Mixed media on cotton paper.
22 x 30 inches.

This large piece is made up of hundreds of collaged pieces of paper, cut from handmade acrylic textured papers, each made for this piece to capture the essence of the different materials: leaves, flowers, stems, ceramics, glass and the metal pot. It is a still life made up of house plants, pots, bottles and dried flowers arranged on my kitchen table, although the window and objects upon it are entirely imaginary. The painting in the background is a miniature version of my collage 'Welsh hills'. The background is painted with gouache and the highlights and shadows are scribbled or shaded in with derwent inktense pencils.
 
The many individually cut pieces and textures of the collaged materials give it a 3D feel, and some of the leaves are not fully stuck down at the tips so they appear to come out of the painting and can move slightly in a breeze like real plants. It was made last winter, gathering my plants and dried flowers together to remind me of the summer gone, and enjoy a little of the green they bring into the depths of winter.