Magnolias, ginger jars, ikebana, cherry blossoms they all just go together, and I have taken to painting branches of magnolia blooms and I have taken to combining all of these elements in my subject matter.

I find jugs and jars I love the shape of and turn them into a Chinese vessel with a little creative chinoiserie. Chinoiserie is the interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts. I don’t really recreate their designs, instead I do a couple of squiggles and shapes that give an illusion of an intricate Chinese pattern which I draw on with silicone shapers.

Friends and family send me endless photographs of their magnolias, and I paint these beautiful magnolia blooms into my Chinese vessels.

I use thick impasto style paint to create the magnolia flowers. I mix a rich cream colour for the petals with a combination of titanium white, raw umber, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, cadmium red and burnt umber. I apply the paint with a palette knife the same way you would smear peanut butter on a slice of bread. The result is a thick, buttery rosette of petals with blobs of burnt sienna, alizarin crimson and lemon yellow in the centre.