
Painting from Life – Exploring your Garden, the plants and the light
It is so easy to get into the habit of painting from 2D reference particularly when the weather isn’t good and forget that looking at the world in 3D is essential.

Nel Whatmore has been a professional artist for 35 years and discovered pastels for the first time when she was 18 and at art college.
“Suddenly there were things I could achieve that I couldn’t in any other media, the possibilities seemed to open up immediately. I believe everyone settles on a medium that suites their personality and the way they want to create the most. I have a particular fascination with colour and the positive effects it can have on our everyday lives.”
“This led me naturally to Unison Colour pastels and their gorgeous range of colours. I love the quality of the pastels and the fact that they are produced with such care from the rolling of them to the packing, all by hand.”
Nel is joint founder of The New Pastel School in the UK with her life long friend Rebecca de Mendonca.
She moved into her fabulous new studio in the Twisting Gallery at Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, West Yorkshire in 2019 which is an award winning development and centre of creative business.
Her main interest is in colour and light and it’s effect upon our emotions. She has a great love of flowers and has been a regular exhibitor at Chelsea Flower Show where her stand has won multiple awards.
She has been commissioned to paint the national Collection of Michaelmas Daisies, at the Picton Garden in Malvern and The National Collection of the Rose. She was also Artist in Residence at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, Harrogate for a year culminating in the ‘From the Garden Exhibition’ at their Flower Show. She became a professional with the help of the Prince’s Youth Business Trust.
As well as painting florals, Nel has also been exploring the joys of painting water after an amazing trip to the Highlands of Scotland and Outer Hebrides in 2019, but in lock down she has been using her garden as her outdoor studio and is currently studying all the plants as they bloom throughout this extraordinary year.
Her most recent multi media abstracts focusing on conveying uplifting emotions have met with particular acclaim.

It is so easy to get into the habit of painting from 2D reference particularly when the weather isn’t good and forget that looking at the world in 3D is essential.