Artist focus: Liz Shippam
Botanical artist painting in Chichester, UK
Welcome to Behind the Brush… I’m so happy you’re here. Artist Focus is my mid-month feature where I invite botanical artists from all over the world to share their favourite seven studio picks for plant art and beyond.
Liz Shippam is a botanical artist based in Chichester in the south of England. She works in watercolor, building up layers of paint to produce highly detailed, realistic paintings. She likes to choose subjects which often go unnoticed, aiming to convey to the viewer what attracts her to them and is particularly drawn to fruit which changes as it ripens, capturing its transient beauty at a particular moment in time.
Liz is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and a Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists. She has received awards for her paintings and has work in private collections both in the United Kingdom and overseas.
I first became aware of her work whilst I was in a supermarket buying blueberry yoghurt! I was stopped in my tracks by the beautiful illustration of the fruit and was very inspired to have my work on packaging too, which I have since achieved but no yoghurt products yet! Meet Liz and her studio favs:
Brushes: I love Winsor and Newton series 7 brushes. I use a 3,1 and 00
Paints: I use Winsor and Newton professional watercolours. I use the tubes now because I teach occasional workshops but I always used to use the pans and like them both equally
Paper: I’ve always used Arches hot pressed. I love the really heavy duty 600gsm but it’s so expensive!
Artists: I’ve been thinking about this and still can’t give you one favourite- there are so many whose work I love and admire for different reasons
Subjects: I guess it would have to be blueberries but also plums and damsons -I love anything with bloom
Drinks: No drinks in the studio! I stop for a tea break and like to move around a bit. I hate just sitting for hours.
Studio music: I listen to The rest is history podcast sometimes and have a long playlist of songs on while I work - and sometimes stop to have a bit of a jump around! LCD soundsystem’s Dance Yourself Clean is a favourite for this:)
Thanks for reading, and happy painting!
