Artist focus:Úrsula Romero

Botanical artist painting in Granada, Spain

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 (eight this time!) for plant art and beyond.

I first met Úrsula Romero when she exhibited her groundbreaking Leafscape exhibition at Abbott & Holder in London in 2017. I had just begun my Diploma at Chelsea School of Botanical Art. I was lucky that she was present when I visited the gallery on a lovely sunny day. She was immaculately dressed in a neat pale blue suit if memory serves me(?), and stewarding her show. I was completely captivated by her paintings, I had never seen leaves portrayed so dramatically in that way. I bought one of her smaller paintings as a birthday present to myself, a piece that I treasure. I came across Úrsula again when she was living and working in Granada near my parents’ home. She was very generous with her time and gave me a tour of her studio and also her mother’s, as she is also an artist. During the Pandemic Úrsula sold some pieces on IG to support fellow artists so I acquired another leaf painting then, and more recently some of her Pandemic pansy paintings. I am a fan!

Meet Úrsula:

Favourite Paintbrush? I get cheap brushes as I paint so much, across such big areas, on rough papers that the sables don’t last very long. The synthetic ones are durable and last well. So I have my Pro Arte series 100 in sizes 12 and 14 for washes and glazes, and then my series 104 spotters - size 4 being my most used. I couldn’t say which of these is my favourite – I need them all!

Favourite Paint? My favourite pigment still is the Daler Rowney Cobalt Blue. I know it isn’t transparent but it makes the most marvellous soft greens. It’s sort of become my trademark. I will say I equally can’t go without my Winsor and Newton Perylene Maroon. I have tubes of the stuff hidden everywhere in the fear I might run out.

Favourite watercolour paper? I paint on Saunders Waterford by St. Cuthbert’s Mill. It is my all-time favourite. I seriously cannot paint on anything else. For my super-sized work, I purchase the separate sheets sized 150 x 100 cm at 640gsm. They come in packs of 5, but are only available in cold press. The smaller works are on hot press (76 x 56 cm, 640gsm), but I find the cold press isn’t too bumpy to paint on, especially if you burnish it first with a polished agate stone. I never buy rolls – I get very irritated by the constant re-curling and the paper is too thin and needs stretching, which I find a bit boring. The Saunders Waterford 640gsm is durable and takes a lot – this is what I need. I can get many layers on a piece without it cockling and I feel confident transporting the finished painting across continents as it is so durable.

Favourite botanical artist? That’s a tricky question. I think it might still be Rory McEwen, just for being such a total trailblazer as well as incredibly talented. He paints in poetry. I am a huge fan of Weronika Anna Rosa. I am impressed by her originality and her bold use of colour. If I had the money, and could buy any botanical painting for my casa, I would want one of her pieces.

Favourite painter? I have put in this extra question, because for me, I am more of a fan of other painters than of simply just those in the flower painting sphere. I think it is very important that we, as botanical painters look to all artists and painters for inspiration. It’s hard to break it down to one painter (huge fan of De Chirico), but I think in terms of a body of work over one’s lifetime, Leonora Carrington tops them all. I remember seeing her work in the flesh at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. I was in my 20s at the time and I was totally transfixed. It’s her masterful use of tempura on board which I find so fascinating and the wondrous, imaginative scenes she conjures from the depths of her psyche. It’s inspiring, moving and captivating. I certainly wouldn’t mind a Leonora Carrington (The Giantess) on my bedroom wall either. A girl can dream!

Favourite plant to paint? We all know I like my big, veiny leaves, but I also like anything that behaves interestingly under light.

Favourite studio drink? Beer

Favourite studio music/pods? I like to catch up on all the current astrology first, and then I move onto my music. If I have a deadline or painters block, I find listening to Philip Glass really helps to get the juices flowing. I am a big fan of Leonard Cohen. I rather like The Orb and Brian Eno when needing to zone out to something ambient. Other from that, I listen to the bar next door and try to make out the Andalucían being spoken in the street.

Happy Easter!

Emma x

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