I was very flattered to be invited to talk to guests at a business event at the prestigious hotel at Rudding Park, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire last June.
Rudding Park contacted me to say that they were putting together an evening for around 40 local business people, with the theme being nature, and felt that my artwork was a perfect fit.
Before dinner, the Head Gardener at Rudding Park showed the guests around the hotels’ beautiful Kitchen Garden which has over 100 types of herbs, salads, edible flowers and fruits, many of which are heritage varieties.
In preparation for the event, I went to the Kitchen Garden, found a picturesque viewpoint, and used some herbs from the garden to create this acrylic painting.
Both the original and limited edition prints of this painting are available to buy here on my website.
Following a delicious two course meal, I gave my 20-minute PowerPoint presentation covering my background, Harrogate art gallery and studio, types of artwork and how I create them as well as my art commissions.
After my presentation I gave a short demonstration showing how I use twigs, leaves and herbs to paint with, as I painted the beautiful view from the window of the room.
Each guest was presented with one of the limited edition prints of my painting of the Kitchen Garden and they then looked around an exhibition of my artworks.
The whole evening was a tremendous success and I would like to thank Mike Woodcock of advance strategic & creative marketing, my marketing services provider, for all the hard work he put into the event.
Finally, here are a couple of comments from guests who attended the event:
"Sincere thanks for a wonderful evening. I just loved the garden tour and was blown away by Anita’s art."
“The whole evening was so thoughtfully organised, from the tour of the Kitchen Garden to the talk and demonstration from Anita, who I’m now following on Instagram!"
My background to painting outside stems from early childhood. No matter what the weather - I'll always try and paint outside of my studio to capture the subject matter be it animals, landscapes or as is often the case - a combination!
Beautiful autumn colouring this year inspired me to capture the cherry trees on the stray in Harrogate - slightly windy conditions made the outdoors challenging but well worth the effort - !
Had a fabulous time at the gardens of Monet in the tranquil village of Giverny. Made all the more exciting when a massive storm hit the village the evening we arrived - ended up eating my Sea Bass in a plate full of rainwater..... as the restaurant got deluged!
Anita Bowerman
Author