“I Am Essentially Painting Light Using Colour”: Interview with Painter and Designer Flora Roberts

© Flora Roberts

Nature is everywhere. We are inspired by nature. Nature is in every one of us. The same can be said about art. Flora Roberts’ distinctive work uniquely combines these two. She is a painter, mural artist and the designer behind many wonderful wallpaper designs. Flora paints with colour and light and feeling. Her paintings bring you close to nature, their realistic quality storing emotion and excitement to look at and to be enwrapped by. But they also seem to be filled with an imaginative space where the viewer can play in and dream.

In her floral paintings, Flora Roberts not only captures nature’s coveting and calming beauty and unique colour palette, but the very essence of flowers: their ephemeral nature conveys a kind of immediacy and emotion that make you realise the importance of each moment, and the importance of allowing each thing to have its moment. There is always an atmosphere in Flora’s paintings and designs, they surround you in a way that folds you in. There is life in her images.

Growing up in rural Southern Scotland, with keen gardeners as parents, Flora Roberts was always interested and surrounded by flowers. Art and nature were intertwined from an early age and forged a creative path. She studied printed textiles at Glasgow School of Art and went on to do an MA in mixed media textiles at London’s Royal College of Art. She began her career working on textile designs for the fashion industry and then went on to do murals, wallpaper and fabric designs for various brands such as Lewis & Wood and Mulberry Home & GP & J Baker. In 2020, Flora launched her first collection of wallpapers exclusively available at Hamilton Weston Ltd.

In our interview, Flora and I talk about painting from life, her early beginnings in art, using Dorset as inspiration, and the importance of slowing down and really looking.

© Flora Roberts

The natural world, especially the flora, permeates your entire work. Has nature always been a big part of your life?

I grew up in a very rural part of Southwest Scotland. My mum and dad were keen gardeners and introduced me to lots of flowers as I was growing up. Nature continues to be a really important part of my life. I’ve just started a small garden of my own and I can’t wait to paint some of the flowers when they come into bloom.

What is your earliest drawing memory? Were you attracted to drawing and painting from an early age? Did becoming an artist come naturally to you?

My mum is a painter and my two older sisters and I were really intrigued by what she was creating. I remember sitting with my sister Amy, who is now a garden designer, painting a picture of some snowdrops in a miniature glass vase. I remember copying her, then finding it really satisfying and starting to lose a sense of time. At school, I was never happier than when I was in the art class. I found my friends there and still continue to do so today.

How would you describe yourself as a painter?

I would describe myself as a painter and designer. My medium is paint, but I transfer the information from my paintings to wallpaper designs separated into a limited palette of colours for printing. I design repeats for my wallpapers, but I also feel like I ‘design’ my paintings; the compositions are really important. If they are not right, it feels like an itch that hasn’t been scratched!

You paint from life. How does that inform your style of painting?

I believe anyone painting from life and really observing something about it can capture the essence whatever they do. That’s what I’m after. I try to continue this through into my design as much as I can.

© Flora Roberts

You mentioned earlier how intrigued you were as a child by your mother’s paintings. What else has inspired you along the way?

I have usually been inspired by art and design history. I love to visit old houses open to the public. National trust properties have given me lots of ideas. More contemporary inspiration comes from photography and films. Mostly moods explored through colour. In the Mood for Love comes to mind and the photography of Sarah Moon.

“I am essentially painting light using colour to do this.
I love painting flowers against backgrounds. Often against
the dark the flowers look like light sources themselves.”

Your magnolia mural is one of your works that stand out for me. It literally seems to bring to life the room, an enchanting, calm and most beautiful world to walk into. How different is the mural design process from project to project? What pulls you into a certain creative direction?

I love it best when I can be spontaneous. Much depends on my client and how much trust they have in me. I respond to atmospheres in houses and how people use the space. This all very much informs the kind of work that results.

© Flora Roberts

You cited your mother’s garden in Dorset as a big inspiration for your wallpaper collection for Hamilton Weston. Can you tell us a little more about the place, the entire area of Dorset and your connection to it?

We came to live in Dorset from Scotland when I was a teenager. The first thing we all noticed was how much more flowers we could grow in a warmer climate. Dorset is a wonderful place full of rambling tall hedgerows, friendly hills and beautiful hidden valleys. My mum and dad’s garden is like a mini version of this.

What about the light? Do you chase the light? Do you think you would paint differently if you lived in another part of the world, or even of the UK?

I guess I am essentially painting light using colour to do this, so, yes, light is really important. I love painting flowers against backgrounds. Often against the dark the flowers look like light sources themselves. I’m sure I’d paint differently in other parts of the world. I’d love to spend some time painting in India. The light seemed rose-tinted when I visited Jaipur.

How challenging is for an artist to do commissioned work? How does it relate to your personal, freelance work?

It is challenging working on commissions, but the benefit is that it often forces one in new directions that it would be hard to come up with on one’s own. It is easy to get too comfortable and the inevitable complacency that comes with that sometimes makes work a little dull. Outside challenges bring it back to life!

What is the best piece of advice you received when you started out as an artist and would like to pass on?

Keep at it. Do not be afraid of making mistakes. In fact, quite the opposite, making mistakes drives you forwards. Just give it time and you’ll see!

In this time and age, what do you wish people appreciated more?

Time. In the context of art and design anyway, slowing down, not panicking about time and really looking.

Thank you, Flora, for taking the time to share with us insights into your creative process and let us know the artist behind the easel a little better.

Website: floraroberts.co.uk | Instagram: @flora.roberts