Liz Butterfields Original Watercolours artist english england landscape beautiful

Welcome to my world where the glowing colours of Nature are the inspiration for the picures I paint.

Why not spend a minute or two imagining you are strolling slowly through the English beechwood with me as the drifts of bluebells come to flower. The light plays through the leaves of the the trees and throws the bluebells into deepest violet shadow or illuminates them to palest blue. These are the places I walk to refresh my soul.

Or here where the Autumnal mists shroud the deep gorge we call Hubbards Hills. In the Autumn the beech tree in the foreground turns to richest burgundy and the leaves drop silently one by one into the river. The only sound is the imperious call of the Mallard as he glides along in search of his mate.

This picture, now in the collection of Miss Yvette Hake was a real labour of love. In it I experimented with almost the absence of colour in the far distance to lead the eye into a spiritual glade. The running water glints with the blue of the sky as it pours over the little dam under the bridge. This parkland is part of the estate at Thorpe Hall , a Tudor treasure concealed from the World in the same valley as Hubbards Hills.

Here is the formal garden at Thorpe Hall and the home of the famous ghost of the Green Lady. The present gardens were remodelled at the turn of the century by Gertrude Jekyll the legendary garden designer. The gateway I painted here dates back to the time of Queen Anne (c.1700) and links the rose garden to the woodland garden. Today all her creations are lovingly tended and restored by the Head Gardener, Mr Robert Clarkson.

And last in the Thorpe Hall trilogy is this little study of the deer who roam the parkland. I particularly enjoy painting animals and I recall the endless sketches I made at school all those years ago instead of concentrating upon the matter in hand.

Tucked away in a hidden vallley in the Lincolnshire Wolds is the hamlet of Swinhope. My own father laid out the gardens here 40 years ago and throughout my childhood he came back to oversee their upkeep. Here I played as a child on stolen days from school, discovering the magic of a partridge's nest in the long grass behind the church gate. I would run through the churchyard to the freedom of the open pastures beyond and lie in the meadow looking up at endless blue sky, wishing I could stay there forever . So when I came to paint the little family church it was I suppose inevitable that I chose a golden sky to recall those golden days.

This simple view of the drive at Swinhope demonstrates my style of painting well. Its such a good thing I like the colour green ! The original is about ten inches by fifteen and took almost three weeks of full time work to complete. I'd like to show you a picture I painted of the pale pink Rectory and the formal gardens but the scanner isn't big enough to cope, but perhaps you can imagine a Georgian House where any of the characters from a Jane Austen novel would still look completely at home.

I do hope you enjoyed this brief look at my work.

See some more of my work at my Gallery.

Due to illness, my mother Liz Butterfield can not at this time reply to correspondence.

We hope you understand.

Chris Butterfield.

Chris@freareng.demon.co.uk

All text and images contained within this page is the copyright of Liz Butterfield 1996, 1997,1998.

	Why not spend a minute or two imagining you are strolling slowly through the English beechwood with me as the drifts of bluebells come to flower. The light plays through the leaves of the the trees and throws the bluebells into deepest violet shadow or illuminates them to palest blue. These are the places I walk to refresh my soul.
	Or here where the Autumnal mists shroud the deep gorge we call Hubbards Hills. In the Autumn the beech tree in the foreground turns to richest burgundy and the leaves drop silently one by one into the river. The only sound is the imperious call of the Mallard as he glides along in search of his mate.
	This picture, now in the collection of Miss Yvette Hake was a real labour of love. In it I experimented with almost the absence of colour in the far distance to lead the eye into a spiritual glade. The running water glints with the blue of the sky as it pours over the little dam under the bridge. This parkland is part of the estate at Thorpe Hall , a Tudor treasure concealed from the World in the same valley as Hubbards Hills.
	Here is the formal garden at Thorpe Hall and the home of the famous ghost of the Green Lady. The present gardens were remodelled at the turn of the century by Gertrude Jekyll the legendary garden designer. The gateway I painted here dates back to the time of Queen Anne (c.1700) and links the rose garden to the woodland garden. Today all her creations are lovingly tended and restored by the Head Gardener, Mr Robert Clarkson.
	And last in the Thorpe Hall trilogy is this little study of the deer who roam the parkland. I particularly enjoy painting animals and I recall the endless sketches I made at school all those years ago instead of concentrating upon the matter in hand.
	Tucked away in a hidden vallley in the Lincolnshire Wolds is the hamlet of Swinhope. My own father laid out the gardens here 40 years ago and throughout my childhood he came back to oversee their upkeep. Here I played as a child on stolen days from school, discovering the magic of a partridge's nest in the long grass behind the church gate. I would run through the churchyard to the freedom of the open pastures beyond and lie in the meadow looking up at endless blue sky, wishing I could stay there forever . So when I came to paint the little family church it was I suppose inevitable that I chose a golden sky to recall those golden days.
	This simple view of the drive at Swinhope demonstrates my style of painting well. Its such a good thing I like the colour green ! The original is about ten inches by fifteen and took almost three weeks of full time work to complete. I'd like to show you a picture I painted of the pale pink Rectory and the formal gardens but the scanner isn't big enough to cope, but perhaps you can imagine a Georgian House where any of the characters from a Jane Austen novel would still look completely at home.