'Magnolia georgiana 2014 - after Georg Dionysius Ehret 1743' is almost complete, after work was delayed by a wonderful sojourn in Mexico. In March I began reinterpreting the magnificent Magnolia grandiflora first painted in 1743 by Ehret (1708-70) which, continues my well worn relief/assemblage technique, but uses a cropped image to fill the whole picture plane. I'm also using whole flower and other motifs to build the image, rather than always dissecting them into tiny fragments as I have done previously and vintage velvet to build the leaves. The cropped nature of the work is a reference to Georgia O'Keefe. Photos below show the development of the work and in the top left corner I have embedded several letters within the white/greys - "G" for Georg and Georgia ; "D" for Dionysius and an "L". They were embroidered on scraps of linen sent to me from France. Just before as I was completing the painstaking task of mounting the work, I was thrilled to find an "E" for Ehret. It had been embroidered on a handkerchief belonging to my grandmother Edna, which several years ago had been tucked away in my sewing basket at home. Last week my Magnolia was photographed by Gavin Hansford, my photographer of thirteen years and today, 'she' returned home from the framer! It's worth the struggle (and pain) to have a work that takes so long to make, at home with me for a short while before it goes out into the world.