Dod Procter, RA (1892 - 1972) was famous in her lifetime for her figure studies of young women and girls about to blossom into womanhood, but she was also the creator of a series of wonderfully evocative flower paintings. Perhaps influenced by the painterly skills of Renoir, she developed a technique that was highly expressive, and has left us a gallery of floral portraits that are widely varying in mood and character. Here her flower paintings are compared with those of her contemporaries - the Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell and Dora Carrington. Having trained at Newlyn under Stanhope Forbes, in 1923 Dod and her husband, the painter Ernest Procter (1886 - 1935), bought a house there at North Corner. Together they built a romantic and abundant garden, whose cultivation was to become an abiding interest. The products of Dod's flower garden, and the clear light of south-west Cornwall, were always to be inspirational for her. Dod's studies included a year at the Academie Colarossi in Paris and in 1919/20 she and Ernest spent a year in Burma. Later Dod visited Tenerife, south and east Africa and the West Indies. Her experience of travel in these countries, and her introduction to their exotic flora and fauna undoubtedly added to the richness and subtlety of her flower painting. Although she is remembered for her figure studies and portraits, including many African ones, her paintings of English garden flowers have remained largely undiscovered.
