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July 2010 saw the 100th anniversary of the birth of Barbara Everard, my mother, and I would have liked to stage a commemorative exhibition of her work. Together with family and friends that I know and with time to track down more from around the world, around 2000 paintings could be assembled, if the Medici British Isles paintings are included. For instance, 150 are in the Herbarium at Kew.

Two years ago, it had been my intention to hire a large hall, probably the RHS at Vincent Square in London, scene of many of her Grenfell Medal awards, in order to stage the show. However, in the then-and-now financial climate, the logistics and costs of shipping large paintings from around the world - many are in Australia and Malaysia - proved prohibitive.

So I have created a "virtual exhibition" and, provided with digital images from my collection and other owners of pictures, I have started to create a show that the whole world could see not just those that make the journey to central London. Best of all, no one has to risk their art treasures to the dangers of long distant shipping. With a modicum of understanding of creating web-pages and relying on the simplicity of Network Solutions software, I have launched a very easy to build website. I am currently transcribing and illustrating her memoirs, Call Them the Happy Years, with a view to publication both as an eBook and in print early this year.

Through the website, the attention of partners and investors is being sought and I am very excited about the involvement of Sharon Michaels, Chilli Pepper Marketing, who has come on board quite voluntarily and whose determination to not only stage an exhibition in March, 2011 but also to use her contacts to achieve the ultimate objective: to develop the existing flatwork gallery into a 3D gallery.

This will be an extraordinary experience for visitors. My ambition was always to create a 3D virtual space, with "rooms" through which visitors could travel as if in a real gallery - rooms that would be dedicated to collections i.e. orchids of Malaya; English garden flowers; Wild Flowers of the World; Trees and Bushes, etc.

It would be possible for visitors to re-assemble their selection of paintings into their own room, a vital resource for botanical researchers, artists, gardeners, landscape designers. All pictures would be annotated and credited to owners with web links to other relevant sites. There will be opportunities for interactivity, blogs and comments as well as commercial revenue generating activities such as ordering prints of some pictures, greetings cards and other designs.

But the first stage in achieving the ultimate eternal goal is the opportunity provided by the RHS at their London Orchid and Botanical Art show in March, at which many of Barbara Everard's paintings, botanical or floral, will be exhibited in public in many cases for the very first time. Collections held by the Lindley Library, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Orchid Society of the Great Britain and the Medici Society together with many in private hands will be represented alongside a display of the artist's studio and artefacts associated with her life and work.

The exhibition is open on Saturday/Sunday 19th/20th March 2011 with a Gala Preview on Friday 18th.

For tickets telephone 0845 612 1253 and quote promotion code: EVBE or name Barbara Everard

You can find more on her website: Logon to www.barbara-everard.com for a preview of her botanical virtual gallery centenary exhibition 2010
Logon to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/barbara_everard to see the entry in wikipedia.