The waterlily is one of the two flowers of the month for July, the other being the Larkspur.
For most people, waterlilies are synonymous with the French impressionist painter Claude Monet, and the many waterlily paintings that he made in the later years of his life in his garden at Giverny. I've been lucky enough to see several of these incredible pieces including some of the largest and most abstract ones and they are incredible. My particular favourites are probably some of the later ones in which the waterlilies themselves are almost formless and the painting itself is about colour and light. These paintings just seem to shimmer and have a magical life of their own and the only way I can describe them is as awe inspiring.
These enormous canvases which anticipate the work of later abstract artists are probably less well-known and viewing them, especially in the L'Orangerie in Paris is an immersive experience.
More familiar perhaps are images such as these.
There is so much these paintings and I could just sit and look at one for hours and just let myself sink into it.
However from the sublime to if not quite the ridiculous this month's waterlily themed jewellery.
This piece is the most complex one I have made so far and I'm delighted with the result, it was complex not only because of the size of the flowers that are used in this piece and the care and precision needed to fold them this size but also in the fact that to get the effect I wanted each element, the background the leaves and the waterlilies were varnished separately using different varnishes before assembling. I think the easiest thing for me to do is show you in a video.
I'll be back again later this month to tell you a bit more about the history, folklore and meaning of the waterlily.