The Chelsea Flower Show is an iconic horticultural event that has been held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for over a hundred years. Presented by the Royal Horticultural Society, it showcases the best in international garden design. This year the dominant theme was foreign landscapes – giving us a way to “travel” in these restricted times.
We were delighted to have participated for the first time, presenting our ultimate travelling art materials: watercolours. Visitors to our booth were able to try our art materials, including Cotman Watercolours, Promarker Watercolours and Studio Collection Watercolour Pencils, and were encouraged to participate by painting their own individual paper flower to feature on the spectacular flower wall that kept growing over the course of the show. You can see the result and how the event unfolded by watching our short timelapse video below.
Alongside the flower wall, we also had artist Andrew Carter painting live. Carter is a painter, printmaker and teacher with more than 25 years’ experience who studied fine art painting at Central Saint Martins. Over the duration of the show, he completed four large-scale watercolour paintings, each one inspired by one of our new Cotman Watercolour themed sets: landscape, skyscape, portrait and floral.
And that’s not all: artist Helen Ireland designed bespoke wrapping paper created using Winsor & Newton Promarker Watercolour and available with every purchase. Ireland also studied fine art painting at Central Saint Martins and has an MA in fine art from Chelsea School of Art. She also co-founded the well-regarded Cubitt Artists’ Studios and Gasworks studio in the 1990s.
We’re thrilled to have collaborated with these fantastic artists and to have been a part of the Chelsea Flower Show and hope you’ll feel inspired by the artists and their work. Follow the links above to find out more about their work, and discover more about the watercolour products mentioned here.