Our recent flower painting competition with Jean Haines proved immensly popular with readers of The Artist and members of PaintersOnline. We had a huge response and all of the fabulous entries can be seen by clicking here (please note that you need to be logged in to see the paintings).

We didn't envy Jean the job of selecting just five winning paintings - congratulations to the winning artists.

'Phew. This was the hardest competition to judge yet!' said Jean. 'I love painting flowers so when I set the competition challenge to create unique floral paintings that were full of atmosphere I had no idea how difficult it would be to choose only five winners from the entries. The standard and variety of work is outstanding. I would like to thank everyone for taking part and my heart has been torn choosing the winners.

'Here are my winning paintings and artists. In no order of merit as all are utterly fabulous'.

Autumn to Summer by Diana Boanas.

'What a beautiful composition that really does give a flavour of the seasons. Bold colour and excellent brushwork. I loved this painting as soon as I saw it. I also loved the chinese lanterns which added such appeal to the subjects in the competition because they were very different. Well done Diana'.

Amaryllis by Lori North.

'Wow! The power of the colour and the energy in this piece leapt off my computer screen at me and simply could not be ignored. Very well deserving of a prize. Lorraine you would love the vibrant red shades in the Daniel Smith range, they make your watercolours pop with vibrancy. Congratulations!'

Geraniums and Achemilla Mollis by Anne Jones.

'This was a hard one for me to ignore because of the composition and unusual colour choices. I am usually drawn to strong vibrant colour but the softness of the violet hues of these geraniums caught my eye in a very different way. This painting screams of a garden path and favourite flowers that many gardeners like to combine. I felt the artist knew about gardening and plant combinations as well as painting. So this piece definitely gets my vote! Well done Anne'.

Taking Stock by Thalia Stones.

'Now this was another hard one for me to choose as a winner. I think explaining my judging process and thoughts might be helpful for those who wish to enter art competitions. As judges we often see so many paintings that might be similar. Here the flowers were in a still life composition and the way the jug was handled in watercolour was beautiful. I should of course be looking at the flowers. These were strong and seemed to be painted with confidence but the placement of the light and shadow on the jug set them off beautifully which aided my selection'.

Velvet Flowers by Esther Hawke.

'Whenever I am selecting winners in a competition I want variety in my choices. Who would choose to cover a whole competition piece in a similar colour? This is a very brave piece and cleverly created to bring the flowers to life in a rather unique way. I also loved the title. Never underestimate how a title can attract a judges' eye. Well done Esther'.

'Now this is where I should stop judging but two more paintings really gave me difficulty in coming up with my final five so I am also going to mention them'.

Lights in the Dark by John Elliott. 'Such a fantastic strong composition and brilliant title that says it all. John your work and style is wonderful, it really is!'

Hot Hot Hot by Janice Smith. 'Gorgeous sunflowersrwith great technique used to bring them to life, and the title suits this UK heatwave we are having right now'.

'But honestly, there are absolutely stunning paintings that are staying my mind, vibrant poppies, delphiniums, gardens and blooms painted in so many ways. Every entrant is worthy of winning.

'I hope you like my chosen five, and again, thank you for submitting and I hope you continue to enjoy painting flowers as doing so brings me so much joy'.

Jean

The five winning artists win copies of Jean's new book, Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour, from Search Press worth £19.99 each (rrp) (see below) plus a set of Daniel Smith Watercolours and a painting apron.