I've been back to the Elizabeth Blackadder exhibition, and this time I bought some postcards to give away.
Since EVB is so well known for her flower paintings, if you'd like one of the sets of three cards, just leave a comment on this post telling us what your favourite flower is (I shan't be offended if no-one mentions cornflowers), and I'll draw a name from the hat soon. Everyone is welcome to enter, no matter where in the world you are, but that's not all because if you'd like the chance to win a couple of Blackadder bookmarks as well, just click here.
(Mr. C., who is in London today, popped in to Bonhams to view their forthcoming Scottish sale which happens to include some Blackadders; they are a wee bit pricier than the cards).
Ever since I was a -very small - child: lilacs.
Posted by: catharina | 18 July 2011 at 06:11 PM
Auriculas - always
Posted by: Laura | 18 July 2011 at 06:26 PM
Lilies for me.
Posted by: Lizziemac | 18 July 2011 at 06:37 PM
Sweet Peas, I picked some today.
Any S J Peploes in the Bonham sale? I make do with postcards of his paintings, more affordable and another plus point, they don't take up much storage space.
Posted by: Geraldine | 18 July 2011 at 06:37 PM
Oh so difficult to choose only 1 but would have to say Foxgloves.
Posted by: Jan | 18 July 2011 at 06:57 PM
What gorgeous postcards - I especially like the shells. My favourite flowers are freesias (but there are many contenders!)
Posted by: Gill | 18 July 2011 at 07:26 PM
Yes, there are quite a few, Geraldine: http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?screen=MySearchResults&saction=search&sFreeText=Peploe
Posted by: Cornflower | 18 July 2011 at 08:17 PM
It has to be lilacs for me, too.
Posted by: m | 18 July 2011 at 08:44 PM
Violets for me--since I was a little girl. Cards are lovely.
Posted by: Linda C. | 18 July 2011 at 09:00 PM
Primroses - they were one of the few things I managed to grow in my garden as a child, and I love their purity of colour and that they are one of the earliest flowers in the year.
Posted by: Karin | 18 July 2011 at 09:09 PM
It would have to be sweet peas for me. I grow some every year and my daughter had sweet peas as her wedding posy so very special memories. I didn't grow the wedding ones!
Posted by: Claire | 18 July 2011 at 09:19 PM
Lady Slippers! Or roses. Or morning glories. Or hydrangea. Or...well, I love flowers even more than yarn! God's little gift to each of us. Thank you for the chance to enter your giveaway!
Posted by: Kate/Massachusetts | 18 July 2011 at 09:29 PM
Iris - my mother's first name and my middle name. When younger, I was not altogether happy about this. But now, five years after her death and a wiser woman myself, I am proud of it and the very sight of the flowers produces such happy memories of her
Posted by: Mrs Red | 18 July 2011 at 09:37 PM
Beautiful cards! For me, daffodils that come before the swallow dares...or pansies for thoughts...or a rose by any other name...
Posted by: Susan E | 18 July 2011 at 09:43 PM
Red poppies.
Growing up in Italy I would see fields of wheat and red poppies every summer.
Now that I am in California I see the famous California orange poppies, but I long for the poppies of my youth.
Posted by: Francesca | 18 July 2011 at 10:01 PM
A hard choice, but I think it would have to be daffodils. Or perhaps rosemary, as that's my name-flower!
Posted by: Rosie H | 18 July 2011 at 10:53 PM
I was intent on writing peonies when I clicked on this - but, am now distracted by other mentions above!! Sweet peas!! Oh, in my childhood, I used to 'take' (without permission!) the sweet peas that grew on the garden that was kept for my dad's boss (he never went there).
The peonies are have close competition by hydrangeas and roses. Ummmmm, thinking about roses reminds me that it is one of my favorite scents - and I used to comment that I wish my middle name was Rose for that reason. :-)
Posted by: Nancy | 19 July 2011 at 01:54 AM
Foxglove - in the wild and in the garden (and in the medicine cabinet too)
Posted by: oxslip | 19 July 2011 at 06:50 AM
I like poppies. Poppies in the wild fields, in spring. They remind me of my childhood.
1kiss.
Posted by: Maria | 19 July 2011 at 07:13 AM
Here's a vote for camellias...Love Elizabeth Blackadder.
Posted by: adele geras | 19 July 2011 at 08:01 AM
It just so happens that cornflowers (bleuets in French) are truly my favourite flowers, closely followed by drifts of cosmos swaying in the breeze ...
Posted by: Grace in France | 19 July 2011 at 08:04 AM
Hurrah!
Posted by: Cornflower | 19 July 2011 at 08:19 AM
It has to be sweet peas-they are beautiful.Whenever I see any in a garden they make me smile and remember my childhood.
Posted by: margaret 46 | 19 July 2011 at 08:30 AM
I'm another for cornflowers - I love the colour and the shape. And I love them even better when you come across them in the middle of a field of wheat with wild poppies and those big white daisies (are they Ox-eye daisies?) The combination just looks so right together.
Posted by: Alison Morris | 19 July 2011 at 09:27 AM
Yet another lover of poppies - I can't get enough of them and love them mixed with cornflowers best of all.
Posted by: B R Wombat | 19 July 2011 at 09:49 AM
As the southern Antarctic winds wrap their icy fingers around Melbourne, the lone contender graces our front verandah. With fragile, dainty blooms and the most heavenly scent - almost unbelievably created by such a diminutive flower - the daphne takes first place on my list at the moment. Such a wonderful welcome of home as we prepare to enter our front door during the cold grey days of our winter.
But the joy of flora comes with every miraculous bloom that nature gifts us. So we thank wonderful artists such as Elizabeth Blackadder who so cleverly capture these moments.
Posted by: Helen | 19 July 2011 at 12:21 PM
I think it varies for me, today my favorite is a humble daisy.
Posted by: carole | 19 July 2011 at 02:47 PM
Thanks for that link. I love the Peploe still lifes the best. We went to Kirkcaldy when we were in Scotland in June, and had a splendid time looking at their exhibit of Peploes and works by the other Scottish Colourists.
Posted by: Geraldine | 19 July 2011 at 04:58 PM
It's tulips for me!
Posted by: Miriana | 19 July 2011 at 07:43 PM
Peonies! They have the most intoxicating scent.
Posted by: Michel | 19 July 2011 at 09:01 PM
Heavens, what a decision, I like them all. !?! Primroses, Tulips, Daffs, Forget-me-nots in the Spring, Magnolias Lilac, Roses, Clematis, Honeysuckle, Peonies, the list is endless. Right now, the Moon Daisies that have been flowering in profusion in my garden for weeks on end....
Posted by: Vivienne | 20 July 2011 at 01:07 AM
stocks - I love the heady scent
Posted by: Juliet | 20 July 2011 at 11:27 AM
So hard to choose - do I choose for sent or for colour? I think it has to be primroses, the tiny pale yellow flowers with the scent of spring hedgerows, nicer in my opinion than vivid yellow daffodils ... and then I love sweetpeas for their scent, and tulips for their form, and peonies for their powedery scent which is more subtle than that of a rose ... then the froth of Queen Anne's lace, or the tiny scarlet pimpernel, or the vivid blue cornflower ... they are all lovely in their own ways.
Thanks for the Peploe link. I didn't know of this Colourist until I read Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Winter Solstice in which a charater in the story buys a Peploe (was he made of money?)
Love Blackadder's paintings, especially those of cats! I believe a series of stamps was commissioned from her cat paintings.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 20 July 2011 at 07:28 PM
Blowsy, show off, sweet smellling cabbage roses, and chamomile.
Elizabeth B. makes all flowers stunning though.
julie
Posted by: Julie Whitmore | 21 July 2011 at 04:23 PM