4 little windows, each about 22cm square, designed for a 16th century house in the Perigord region of France.
The brief was to create designs based around the seasons, and I enjoyed choosing the insects and animals to accompany the fruits (walnuts, garriguette strawberries, prune d’agen and wine grapes) typical of the region of France.
Each design is hand painted using kiln-fired grisaille paint, vitreous enamels and silver stain to build up the layers of detail, shading and colour.
For reference material, I turned to my trusty vintage botanical illustration books, as well as looking at the work of CFA Voysey, French ceramicist Bernard Palissy and the illustrated fruit specimens of 17th century horticulturalist John Tradescant.
If you are interested in commissioning something similar for your own home, you can email your enquiry here:
The completed set of 4 windows. Clockwise from top left: Winter, Spring, Autumn, Summer.
Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Work in progress - the grisaille painting completed.
Designing the artwork for the paintings - this is Winter in progress
The May Cherry - John Tradescant
Apothecary Garden by CFA Voysey
Coiled snake and fern platter by Bernard Palissy