About the artist; Floral and landscape paintings by Christine Derrick; oils, acrylics and pastels.

Born in 1955 in Somerset, I have been involved with art circles since the age of 17, when joining my first painting classes. Starting with oils and belonging to a class dealing almost entirely with the local Somerset landscape, I gradually extended my interests to produce work in pastels, acrylics, gouache, coloured pencil and acrylic inks. During a spell in the mid-90's of severe back problems, I began using subject material close to home....the garden. This led on to a steady run of some four years painting floral subjects almost exclusively.

In 1999 I joined a growing number of painters who were putting up personal websites showing their pictures. This eventually led on to the current website in 2001.
Working on floral topics is now being balanced with a few more landscapes, prompted by constant and continual changes in the preferences of buyers. My annual production is shared between a few offline group exhibitions, one or two selected online galleries and this website. My canvas picture sizes have grown a little larger during the past couple of years, due to so many people asking for large images, and the undiminishing popularity of multiple-panel paintings; however I tend to keep to a maximum single panel size of no more than 36". My working-area is small, and I haven't the strength to handle jumbo-sized stretched panels.

Style of Work

The style varies somewhat, ranging from traditional to semi-abstract; this latter tending mainly toward the floral subjects rather than landscapes, which I find work better (for me) with a traditional approach.

My background is in scientific, technical and analytical laboratory work, operating with precise instruction and requiring sharp observation. Some of this spills over into the artwork (close-up florals, for example), but in spite of this I prefer not to produce exacting botanical specimens. I do not generally follow trends, fads or topics-of-the-moment, working only on subject matter that I can relate and respond to in a personal way.

General History:

1974... Started art classes, first pictures exhibited and sold the following year;
1979... Shared local exhibition with three artists;
1980... First successful entries to Royal Bath and West Art Show;
1980 onwards... Support of various local exhibitions involved in charity fundraising;
1996... Start of flower painting, production and sale of first floral pictures;
1997... Joined S.A.A (Society of All Artists)
1999... First website created at Cottagegallery;
2000 onwards...creation of second website; reintroduction of more landscape pictures;
2001... Local Best In Show Award for "Seaton Beach" landscape pastel painting;
2003... Repeat Local Best In Show Award for "Purple Autumn" floral pastel painting; also successful sales from two other online galleries ;
2004... Third repeat Local Best In Show Award for "Storm Run, Chew Lake", landscape pastel painting; several works commissioned via website;
2005... Continued establishment of artwork sales online and commission-work. First sales made to buyers in U.S.A
2006... Participation in Chicago-based exhibition, with a group of artists; displaying mainly small works no larger than 4 x 3 inches approximately. Further commissions for private buyers, single and multiple-panel florals; further sales made to overseas buyers.
2007.....A quieter year, heavily interrupted by family and household needs in the second half. However, a couple of commissions successfully completed during this time. The painting "Calla Curves" appeared as a support image in the book "The Acrylic Flower Painters' A to Z" by Lexi Sundell (Quarto Press).