A bouquet bursting with the joy of summer. Flowers so full of life you can almost reach out and touch them!

Summer Memories is an original watercolour and ink painting on paper, celebrating the exuberant beauty of summer flowers.

Full of colour, movement and atmosphere, this expressive floral painting captures the wonderful abundance of nature at the height of the season.

It also became the inspiration for my original handmade woodcut print Flowers for a Queen.

A bouquet full of summer

There is something irresistible about summer flowers.

Their colours seem to compete for attention, their petals unfold in every direction, and the whole bouquet appears to be bursting with life.

I wanted to capture that wonderful exuberance in Summer Memories.

Rather than creating a formal botanical study, I allowed the flowers to fill the composition with movement and energy.

The bouquet seems almost to reach out towards us, inviting us to step closer and enjoy its abundance.

For me, painting flowers is not simply about recording their appearance. It is about expressing something of their character and vitality.

Painting the feeling of summer

Summer is a season of generosity.

Gardens are full of colour, flowers bloom in extraordinary variety, and the natural world seems to offer us an endless supply of inspiration.

But these moments are fleeting.

A beautiful bouquet eventually fades, and the long days of summer give way to autumn.

Through painting, I can preserve something of that experience.

Watercolour is a wonderful medium for capturing the spontaneity of flowers. Its fluidity allows colours to meet and mingle, while ink introduces expressive lines and contrasts.

I enjoy allowing the materials to play an active part in the creative process.

The result is not simply a record of a bouquet, but my response to its beauty.

From Summer Memories to Flowers for a Queen

This painting has a special place in my printmaking practice because it became the inspiration for my original woodcut Flowers for a Queen.

I was interested in discovering how the lively, spontaneous character of the watercolour could be transformed into an original handmade print.

Using two carved woodblocks, I reinterpreted the floral composition through shapes, contrasts and layers of colour.

The process was very different from painting.

Where watercolour allows for fluidity and unexpected effects, woodcut requires careful decisions about which areas of the block to carve away and which to leave.

I printed the woodcut entirely by hand, without a printing press, using traditional hand-burnishing techniques.

The resulting print has its own distinctive character, yet the joyful summer bouquet remains at its heart.

I called the print Flowers for a Queen. I began working on it on the day Queen Elizabeth II died and completed it on the day of her funeral in September 2022.

It became a tribute not only to the Queen, but to all the women whose work, care and generosity so often go unrecognised.

You can explore the connection between these two artworks here:

Discover Flowers for a Queen, the original handmade woodcut inspired by Summer Memories.

The beauty of nature, the joy of art

Nature is a constant source of inspiration in my work.

I believe that the world around us is alive, full of relationships, movement and possibility.

When I paint, I want to express more than outward appearances. I want to explore the feeling of being in the presence of something living.

Flowers are particularly wonderful subjects because their beauty is so immediate and generous.

They bring joy into our homes, mark special occasions and remind us of the changing seasons.

I believe art can do something similar.

A painting can offer a moment of beauty, invite us to look more closely and bring a little of the natural world's vitality into our everyday lives.

Keep the joy of summer all year round

Measuring 30 × 30 cm, Summer Memories is an original watercolour and ink painting on paper.

Its lively floral composition would bring colour and warmth to a living room, bedroom, hallway or favourite corner of your home.

I particularly like the idea of living with a painting that recalls a beautiful season, even when the garden outside is resting for winter.

And because it inspired a handmade woodcut, Summer Memories also tells a story about the creative process: how one encounter with nature can lead to different artworks, each revealing something new.

An original expressive floral watercolour celebrating the abundance of summer, the beauty of nature and the imagination of the artist.

Artwork details

• Title: Summer Memories

• Artwork: Original, one-of-a-kind painting

• Medium: Watercolour and ink on paper

• Painting dimensions: 30 × 30 cm

• Orientation: Square

• Subject: An exuberant bouquet of summer flowers

• Presentation: Supplied in a mount with cardboard backing

• Artist: Sibylle Laubscher

• Related artwork: Flowers for a Queen, original handmade woodcut print

This is an original painting, not a reproduction. There is only one in the world.

Presentation and care

The painting is sent to you carefully wrapped in cellophane and cardboard.

I recommend framing original watercolours with archival-quality materials and UV-protective glazing to help preserve their colours.