Garden, Vence

During the 1950s and 1960s, Elizabeth Blackadder (born 1931) made several trips to Europe and produced many sketches and paintings while travelling. This watercolour is of a garden in Vence in the south of France. It was made early in Blackadder's career and instead of her later sparseness, she uses large areas of rich fluid colour.

Blackadder is now better known for her exquisitely stylised still life watercolours, showing flowers and decorative objects carefully arranged to create an elegant flat pattern.