ANN ORAM | INTO THE GARDEN
Photography from: Colin Hattersley Photography
Gardens are my sanctuary and my studio. Rather than reaching for a ready-made bunch from a florist or supermarket,(and I do on occasions), I seek out the living, breathing abundance of real gardens. It is the flowers I discover there that become the main focus of every composition and still life I paint. What draws me to gardens is the element of surprise. The seasons dictate what I find, and I love what that gives me.
My travels take me from the grandeur of Kew and Edinburgh Botanical Gardens to the quiet charm of a roadside verge in blossom, a field of oxeye daisies, or a hedgerow thick with cow parsley. I count all of these as gardens. Further afield, a chance encounter with a little boat adrift in a field of dandelion clocks in Iceland remains one of my most treasured memories.
Closer to home, my favourite haunts include the beautiful Wemyss Castle Gardens in Fife, the celebrated Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows, Millpond Flower Farm, and the private gardens I am privileged to visit. Each one offers something unique. It could be its formal structure, wild abundance, or something entirely unexpected.
I have no rigid rules. Many of my paintings draw on a composite of several gardens, woven together into a single composition. In that sense, I suppose I become my own garden designer. I arrange nature on my own terms, guided only by what speaks to me.
I am no flower snob. Whether a bloom is prized or dismissed as a weed, I can find beauty in it. And like my father before me, I have a particular love for roses — alongside lupins, foxgloves, lilac, and anything that fills the air with scent!
