Plants provide painting inspiration

Lady Emma Tennant is staging the exhibition at Scampston Hall near Malton to showcase a selection of her watercolour paintings that have used fruit and vegetables which she has grown herself as subject matter – and garden administrator Anne Ainsley, pictured, has been helping to hang the pictures, many of which show plants that have been nurtured in the Hall's gardens.

Lady Emma, who lives in the Scottish Borders and is now an established and respected botanical artist, began gardening at the age of five and painted radishes and marigolds that she grew during her childhood.

The exhibition organisers add that she is largely self-taught and the work of the Scottish painter, Elizabeth Blackadder, has been a great influence on her art. Her watercolours of flower, fruit and vegetable are created on Japanese rice, and she has regularly exhibited her work in London.

The exhibition is open Sunday September 12 in the Garden Restaurant at Scampston Hall. The house dates from 1690 but was extensively remodelled between 1795 and 1800 by the architect Thomas Leverton.

Picture: Mike Cowling.