Bernadette Ballantyne’s superb pastels never fail to amaze and daze gallery visitors. Sold today is her stunning composition, Outside the Kitchen Window, from the showcase, Flower Power.

The Dutch realist painters of the Sixteenth and seventeenth century specialised in creating both symmetrical and asymmetrical realistic floral compositions. Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder and Rachel Ruysch were associated with these forms that could approach the cadence of portraiture as they presented munificent vases and bouquets, sometimes accessorized with sea-shells, fruits and butterflies.  For more than two centuries this form of still life realism was held in the highest regard and the dominant form.

Working in pastels, Bernadette Ballantyne shares the same conscious adoption of realism to her floral work as her Dutch predecessors. The difference however, is that she presents a much greater focus and closer deep dive into the petals and blooms that are the essence of floral beauty. Rather than photographic mimicry, Ballantyne’s pastels, unencumbered with a broader structural context provide a direct visual connection with vivid colour and curves.