Local artist Verity Watkins is fascinated by flowers – including Wanstead Park’s iconic bluebells – and celebrates their beauty through screen printing
Over Easter, the bluebells were out in all their glory in our beautiful Wanstead Park, and I visited there most days to enjoy these increasingly rare and delicate plants. There is nothing like an ancient woodland glade, in dappled spring sunshine, with a misty blue carpet of flowers.
Traditional English bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are defined by their arching stem and almost violet bells that droop in one direction, and this is what I’ve tried to capture in my screen print designs. They are also known as wood bells, wild hyacinths or fairy flowers, on account of the fluted bells that look charmingly like tiny fairy dresses.
I work on an occasional basis for the learning department at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the oldest botanical garden in London which started in 1673, just after the Great Fire of London. It gives me ample opportunity to observe the many plants that come and go during the seasons and I take a lot of pictures of these. Sometimes, I scavenge leaves, petals, nuts and berries from the streets around Wanstead or Wanstead Park itself. I’ve even knocked on someone’s door and asked if I can take a picture of their gorgeous flowers. From these, I create digital collage images, which I also turn into designs for cards. Sometimes, I just sit quietly and look. It’s amazing what you can see when you truly look; this is what nature teaches us, to appreciate the small details of the beautiful plants around us.
Screen printing can be a complex process, but I choose to do it at home on the kitchen table, cutting out traditional stencils, which encourages simplicity. I’ve always been fascinated by plants and flowers and the character they have when distilled into simple shapes. I use acrylic paints for their vibrancy and work fairly large, with anywhere between three and eight colours per screen print. These days, it’s fairly easy to recreate the look of screen printing using digital techniques, but it’s the real-life inconsistencies that give a screen print its character and joy. I usually start by intending 10 prints, but after some misaligning or soggy stencils, I usually end up with about five originals I am satisfied with. I then scan the image and create artwork to send to the printers to create greetings cards.
I have lived in Wanstead for 30 years and always look forward to the show of bluebells every year. It used to be a local secret. But sadly, the rise of social media has led to many more people coming simply to grab a picture of themselves with these iconic and joyful plants. Did you know that a bluebell once stepped on can take six years to recover? We all need to be careful to protect the natural heritage we have, otherwise, sadly, all we will have left are the pictures.
To view more of Verity’s art and to order greetings cards, visit wnstd.com/verity
