Nancy Tichborne

Nancy is perhaps best known for the annual floral calendars which she and Bryan published for 25 years. A commission for a New Zealand Forest Service poster sparked the idea for the original calendar. It featured a dragonfly and Bryan, a fly fisherman, and fishing flies. Nancy agreed to follow up on the success of the book, The Cooks Garden , a joint project with her two sisters and so the New Zealand Trout Fly Calendar was born in 1985. In later calendars, it was Nancys passion for her garden and for beautiful light effects that shone through her images. Along with exuberant portrayals of flowers, the calendars featured cats, fly fishing, vineyards and landscapes. The original paintings were usually sold well before the calendars went to print - such was her international and national adoring public.

Bryan and Nancy bought an 11-acre property in French Farm, on the western side of Akaroa Harbour. On the bare steep hillside, they established a lush wonderland, bursting with vigorous plants and interesting sculptures, a delight to explore. In 2011 it was designated a Garden of Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. In 2008, along with Alfred Memelink, I visited the couple and had the delight of seeing Nancy painting at her specially-designed studio space, located right in the living room! Inspiration needs immediate implementation. No remote garden studio would have done.

Over thirty years Nancy collaborated in producing 15 books, many with her sisters, Mary Browne, a cookbook writer, and Helen Leach, food anthropologist. In 2008, Nancy Tichbornes Watercolour World was printed. Prepared over months of careful work, this is one of the finest instructional books on the art of watercolour and contains a feast of beautiful paintings.

Nancys paintings were featured in diaries, cards and postage stamps depicting New Zealand vineyards. She also produced instructional DVDs and over the years taught more than 500 students through her workshops.

For Watercolour New Zealand

In 2007 Nancy agreed to do Watercolour New Zealand the honour of becoming our patron and held the post for eleven years. When stepping down she emphasised the great pleasure it had been, especially as she felt the standard of watercolours in New Zealand had improved significantly.

In 2012 Nancy was Guest Artst at Splash. She shared this honour with two other respected flower painters, Susan Worthington and Sue Wickison. The exhibition, Diamond Jubilee Splash, celebrated the 60-th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth. The event was opened by the Governor General and the Highgrove Florilegium, two volumes of watercolour paintings of plants growing in the garden of Prince
Charles, was on display. Nancy had her own connection with Highgrove when, several years earlier, she was able to take photographs there and created a painting High Summer at Highgrove .

Nancys watercolours

What I want to say in my paintings is quite simple. There is no hidden meaning, no symbolism, no angst - just an abiding passion for the sensual nature of light showing up texture in nature. I try to draw attention to hairy bits, prickles, decay, wetness, crumpled petals, thick waxy petals and thin transparent petals. Dark mysterious holes in the undergrowth, brilliant light that bleaches all detail, reflected light that shows warmth and back lighting that forms halos. To show luminosity in natural settings I have become what can really only be described as a negative painter. This sounds rather damning but all it means is that I paint around the subject as opposed to painting the subject itself. I paint the shapes between the shapes. Very rarely do I paint a subject with no background or with a white or light background.

Nancy used Arches 300 gsm paper, usually hot-pressed, and Maimeri paints. She liked a brush with a good point and paintholding reservoir.

She described herself as having an eye for a subject. When I see a possible subject I (if possible) take lots of photos. Its often a fleetng moment of light showing through a flower/whatever & the moment has to be captured quickly.

You want to explain something you have seen and, rather than using words, you reach for a brush rather than the pen. In getting the message across it is natural to exaggerate. You do it when you are talking by putting more emphasis on certain words, by speaking more loudly or softly. Its the same with painting - you can exaggerate the colours and the tones, you can pick the right brush strokes and make them heavier or lighter and you can elongate or shorten a subject. A large flower can be made even larger to a point where it overflows the border. So forget the techniques for a while, they should come naturally if not instinctively, and concentrate on the message. Your urge to communicate must be more dominant than the method used to get there. Losing yourself in this ambition is an exhausting process. I can often judge how successful a painting is by how drained I am by the end of it!

Watercolours, by their very nature, have fascinated both amateurs and professionals for centuries. But it is the very fluid and thus wayward characteristics of the medium that cause such ecstasy and anguish in those painters.

Thank you Nancy for all you have given to our society and to the art of watercolour.


Nancy: This dramatic arch was a feature of the Banks Peninsula Track walk. One passed it just before arriving in Stony Bay, Otanerito for the last night of the four-day walk. It collapsed following the Canterbury Earthquake in September 2010 - an arch no more but now a new island just off-shore. I decided to paint it as it was, from photographs Id taken over the years.