This page is an introduction to Pandora Sellars (1936-2017).
Pandora Sellars is widely considered to be a contemporary equivalent to the botanical masters of the past
and one of the top botanical painters of all time.
Pandora Sellars is widely considered to be a contemporary equivalent to the botanical masters of the past
and one of the top botanical painters of all time.
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This page will interest botanical artists and illustrators, aspiring botanical art students and botanical art collectors alike.
It covers:
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Pandora Sellars - Blue Water Lily Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, 1995, watercolour on paper, 385 x 500mm (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
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About Pandora Sellars - a summary
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“One of the most important botanical artists of all time[1]” and “the best leaf painter ever” is how Pandora Sellars is described by the leading independent botanical art collector in the world.
She is universally recognised as one of the most important and influential botanical artists working in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Pandora (known to friends and family as Paddy) began painting orchids after finding camera film was unable to record the colours of her husband’s orchids accurately. She had trained as an artist but lacked any formal training in botanical illustration. Hence she developed her botanical art from first principles - based on her design training and her excellent eye for colour. She understood very well how to plan, place and arrange the elements of art in her work. As a result the design and composition of her paintings excel. They demonstrate clarity and dramatic impact as well as botanical accuracy derived from careful observation and very fine painting. In the 1970s, she began to exhibit at the RHS in the 1970s and soon learned what was required of an excellent botanical painting prior to achieving a Gold Medal in 1977. Her RHS exhibits captured the attention of the botanists at Kew who needed high quality illustrations for their scientific publications. Margaret Stones, the principal illustrator at Kew, taught her about what was required of a botanical illustration for publication and encouraged her to produce work for Kew and Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Pandora subsequently had a very long and productive relationship with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. |
Pandora Sellars (courtesy of The Estate of Pandora Sellars)
Pandora Sellars also helped stimulate a renaissance in botanical painting when one of her more theatrical works was purchased by Shirley Sherwood at her sell-out exhibition at the Kew Gardens Gallery in 1990. This, in turn, stimulated more purchases and commissions and the start of a great botanical art collection.
Her paintings became more widely shared in exhibitions and books and have been a significant influence on subsequent generations of botanical artists - especially after close inspection! In later life she focused less on painting and more on teaching students of botanical art from the UK, North America and Japan. [1] Shirley Sherwood – quoted in ‘Opening Pandora’s Paintbox’ The Plantsman September 2005 |
Biography and timeline (1936-2017)
1936 - Pandora St. Christopher Brace was born on 25 August 1936 in Hereford and was brought up in a hamlet in a very rural area of Herefordshire between the Wye Valley and the Black Mountains. She grew up loving nature, collected and pressed the wild flowers she found and started drawing and painting plants as a child.
She subsequently studied at Hereford and Cheltenham Schools of Art, followed by a teaching diploma from the Manchester College of Art - and became an art teacher,
She subsequently studied at Hereford and Cheltenham Schools of Art, followed by a teaching diploma from the Manchester College of Art - and became an art teacher,
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1957 - Age 21, she married James (Jim) Sellars (1927-2000), a respected artist, printmaker and art lecturer. Their first married home was in Ulverston in Cumbria and both worked in Barrow-in-Furness. Shortly afterwards, they moved south to Southampton after Jim secured an appointment as Head of Fine Art printmaking at the Southampton College of Art. Paddy became a mother (of daughter Sarah) and worked part-time as an art teacher.
Her husband built heated greenhouses for his hobby of growing aroids, orchids and tropical plants. When Pandora found it was impossible to record their colours and form exactly using photography, she began painting the plants using watercolours. ...and so her career in botanical illustration started. |
Pandora Sellars and her husband Jim on the top of the Black Hill near their retirement home in Herefordshire (1995) Photo: courtesy Sarah Neill
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1971 - She began exhibiting her orchid paintings at the annual RHS Botanical Art Shows in 1971 - and raised her profile for botanical painting at a national level. She soon learned that accuracy of shape, structures and colours were most important to growers and botanists. She was awarded medals at every exhibition - and made constant progress in the colour of the medal as follows:
Pandora met Margaret Stones AM, MBE at one of the exhibitions. Margaret at the timeworked as principal contributing artist to Curtis's Botanical Magazine from 1950 to 1981. She recognised her talent, shared her knowledge of botanical illustration and encouraged her to paint plants for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, published by Kew Gardens. (One gets the impression Margaret went out looking for and finding her successor!) 1979 to 1995 - Pandora subsequently:
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![P. sukhakulii, C. lindeniana [Paphiopedilum and Cypripedium] (Watercolour on paper, 1989) Pandora Sellars. Courtesy of RHS Library Collections](/uploads/4/6/6/0/46602337/a-ps-1x550_orig.jpg)
P. sukhakulii, C. lindeniana [Paphiopedilum and Cypripedium] (Watercolour on paper, 1989) © Estate of Pandora Sellars. Courtesy of RHS Library Collections.
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1984 - Her paintings were published in a book. 18 specially commissioned watercolour paintings by Pandora were included in ‘Flora of Jersey’ by Frances Le Sueur (published 1984).
These include both classic specimen illustrations and her complex compositions portraying companion plants in their natural habitat. The 18 superb colour plates of paintings by Pandora Sellars, one of Britain's foremost botanical artists, are a mixture of rare and common species, some native, some introduced, chosen to give a general impression of Jersey's Flora 1985 - She created paintings for stamps, a Jersey Lily for the Jersey Post Office in 1985 |
The cover of Flora of Jersey exemplifies the type of complex composition which are her 'trademark'
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Painting for publication suited her. She was a modest woman who neither sought the limelight nor any associations with art galleries. She painted for publication at 1.5 times life size and her scrupulous attention to botanical accuracy, tone and detail generated exquisite results.
1986-2005 - her paintings also featured in numerous books about the art of botanical illustration and the artists of Kew Gardens.Notable monographs by Kew publications which featured her paintings included:
"a consistent and superior talent in the delineation of plants: the fidelity to nature is absolute; the quality of draughtsmanship unwavering; the use of colour impeccable..." |
Pandora's paintings of orchids were on the front and back cover and filled "The Genus Paphiopediulum" by Phillip Cribb (published by The Royal Botanic Garden Kew)
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Arisaeura canidissimum, 340 x 335mm., (1991) by Pandora Sellars
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1987 - Kew Gardens commissioned Paddy to produce a Tropical Glasshouse Plants painting as a gift for HRH The Princess of Wales to mark the formal opening of ‘The Princess of Wales Conservatory’.
A commemorative plate by Spode with a design based on her painting was also commissioned. |
Spode Plate - with painting by Pandora Sellars - produced to commemorate the formal opening of the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens
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1990 - Pandora Sellars botanical painting 1974 – 1990 Pandora had a very successful solo exhibition (a sell-out) at the Kew Gardens Gallery.
Her theatrical watercolour Laelia tenebrosa (1989) caught the eye of Dr Shirley Sherwood. It challenged conventions for how plants should be painted at the time and helped trigger Dr Sherwood's interest in the scope for botanical painting her subsequent support for botanical artists which contributed to a significant renaissance in botanical art. |
Laelia tenebrosa, Philodendron hybrid, Calatheaomata, Philodendron leichthnii, Polypodiaeceae (1989) watercolour painting signed Pandora Sellars (Shirley Sherwood Collection - First botanical painting by Pandora Sellars acquired by Shirley Sherwood - at Kew Gardens Gallery 1990)
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1992 - Jim and Pandora moved back to Herefordshire after her husband’s retirement. Painting took a back seat while new greenhouses were built and the garden established.
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1993 - Her paintings of orchids are released as a set of Royal Mail stamps to mark the 14th World Orchid Conference at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow in April 1993.
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Five stamps issued to commemorate the 14th World Orchid Conference at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in April 1993. They used crops of paintings of orchids by pandora Sellars
PUBLICATIONS: Display of paintings of orchids for stamps and the three botanical books that she illustrated (at the exhibition at Kew Gardens)
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1996 - Her Blue Water Lily (1995) provided an eye-catching cover for Dr. Sherwood’s book about “Contemporary Botanical Artists” (1996). Many of today’s leading botanical artists date their interest in botanical art back to this book and her paintings. Who can forget the blue waterlily on the cover? One shouldn't underestimate the impact this had in the mid 1990s when the book began to appear on the shelves of bookstores around the world.
I am not alone in considering Pandora Sellars one of the most important botanical artists of all time. It goes without saying that her work is scientifically accurate, but here is an artist who has transcended the pedantic plant study to paint true works of art |
Blue Water Lily by Pandora Sellars - the feature image of the cover of the first book about Contemporary Botanical Art by a leading botanical art collector.
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1999 - The Linnean Society awarded her ‘The Jill Smythies Award’ for excellence in botanical illustration.
2000 - Jim Sellars died. Paddy then converted his last orchid greenhouse into a space for teaching botanical illustration to the artists from the UK, North America and Japan who wanted her to teach them. Her students now win RHS Gold Medals and have exhibitions of their work at the gallery in Kew Gardens. 2005 - Work included in "A New Flowering - 1000 years of botanical art" exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford |
Pandora Sellars teaching in Stratford (Photo courtesy Margaret Best)
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2017 - Pandora Sellars died on 9th May 2017, age 80.
An exhibition which featured five of her paintings had opened at Kew some six weeks earlier in March 2017. Her daughter Sarah, son-in-law and her much-loved grandson Thomas survive her. 
Pandora Sellars - Photo: courtesy The Estate of Pandora Sellars
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Pandora Sellars and two of her students - Margaret Best (Canada) and Masumi Yamanaka (Japan/UK) at Kew Gardens. Yamanaka was introduced to Kew Gardens by her mentor Pandora Sellars
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2018-2019 - Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars (1936-2017)
A retrospective exhibition of he paintings at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens was visited by botanical artists from all over the UK and the world.
A retrospective exhibition of he paintings at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens was visited by botanical artists from all over the UK and the world.
View of "Botanical Theatre"
Exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery
View of "Botanical Theatre" #2 at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens
Tributes to Pandora Sellars (1936-2017)
All who knew her personally held her in the very highest esteem, for her kindness and generosity as well as her exceptional talent and dedication to botanical art as an artist, teacher, mentor, colleague and friend.
The tributes to Pandora on her death bear witness to the very high regard people had for the woman, the artist, the art teacher and her art - and are listed at the end of this page. See MORE TRIBUTES section below.
At Kew, Pandora's death was marked by an article and also by a commemorative tribute in the Library Reading Room in the Kew Herbarium Building
The tributes to Pandora on her death bear witness to the very high regard people had for the woman, the artist, the art teacher and her art - and are listed at the end of this page. See MORE TRIBUTES section below.
At Kew, Pandora's death was marked by an article and also by a commemorative tribute in the Library Reading Room in the Kew Herbarium Building
Tribute to Pandora Sellars by Kew next to one of Pandora's paintings of tropical plants in the Kew Gardens Collection
Artistic Practice
Pandora Sellars painting in her studio in later life. Note the size of her magnifier. (Photo courtesy of Margaret Best)
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Pandora painted plants in watercolour.
Her particular talent was for being able to paint multiple plants in well thought out compositions. In fact, most artists when asked will highlight "composition" as being one of the stand-out qualities of her botanical artwork. It's what makes her work transcend a wholly accurate rendition of a plant. She also paints the most amazing leaves and, to my mind, knew exactly how to paint proper saturated colour and at the same time suggest how light falls on structures to suggest form. Her work positively jumps off the page! Studying how she uses leaves in compositions to reinforce her focal points is an exercise which will pay dividends. Features of her practice
I measure everything quite carefully with dividers or a compass
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Pandora Sellars changed the lay of the land for all those botanical artists who followed her, opening up possibilities for interpretation not previously imagined. We admire the subtlety and sensitivity with which she rendered each petal and leaf, but also the drama, complexity, and freshness of the compositions she created, whether for a Bot Mag plate or in one of her massive tapestry-like stagings. From conception to execution, she took no short-cuts, and her work still leaves me awe-struck. No matter how many times I’ve seen one of her paintings, there is always something new to see. I feel very privileged to have had Pandora to stay with me as I invited her to run some workshops here at Heligan for my students. We were in awe at her meticulous attention to detail, and at the time she took in preparing her compositions. |
Exhibitions of Botanical Art - including paintings by Pandora Sellars
A corner of the main gallery -
displaying paintings by Pandora Sellars - during the "British Botanical Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection" exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens
Solo exhibitions in her lifetime1990 - Pandora Sellars botanical painting 1974 – 1990 - Kew Gardens Gallery. Kew had opened its gallery in 1988 and immediately began discussions with Pandora about an exhibition at Kew. They had to wait a little while because of her claims on her time due to her schedule of booked commissions.
Group exhibitions in her lifetimeShirley Sherwood Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Various Art Galleries and Museums in the USA
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Looking over the twenty or so works painted specially for this exhibition one is immediately aware of being in the presence of a consistent and superior talent in the delineation of plants: the fidelity to nature is absolute; the quality of draughtsmanship unwavering; the use of colour impeccable and the representation of texture without equal. Just as many of us first respond musically to large-scale works such as symphonies, so it is the large-scale ‘plant symphonies’ which instantly attract and are most accessible. Chamber works often appeal later as knowledge and appreciation matures. Similarly one moves from admiration for the large complex paintings to a deep respect for the elegant but simple plant portraits which have formed the main body of her work for over ten years. |
This section is a work in progress and will be further developed
An Inventory of Paintings by Pandora Sellars
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Her paintings are an education for all who see them and are treasured by all those who own them.
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I aim to develop an inventory of paintings by Pandora Sellars. This will take sometime and for the most part will always be incomplete until every last one has been tracked down!
I will be using the same approach as that used for Rory McEwen i.e. a strict timeline - as that reveals a lot about interests and approaches to painting over time which is not always immediately apparent |
The 1970s
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1974
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Watercolour studies of British Fungi by Pandora Sellars (1974)
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The 1980s
1980
- M. Flavesceus, 280 x 220mm., 1980 - sold at Bonhams Oxford 1 December 2009
- Paphiopedilum parishii 1983 (from Burma) Watercolour on paperH: 430 , W: 300 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
This is a wonderfully composed work, showing her early training asa designer. Each green-golf slipper orchid trails a pair of twisted brown petals and the painting is executed with unnerving perfection down to the finest hairs on the stem which are hardly visible except under a magnifying glass.
Shirley Sherwood in 'A Passion for Plants'
1984
- Arisaema costatum 1984 pencil and watercolour drawing for Kew Magazine Plate 7 1984 (also Page 74 in Flowers from the Royal Gardens of Kew)
1984
18 colour Plates published in Flora of Jersey - in this series she focused on one of the classical reasons for botanical painting, the recording of plants associated with and found in a very specific geographical area and published in a scientific book about the flora of that area - in this case the Island of Jersey in the Channel Islands.
18 colour Plates published in Flora of Jersey - in this series she focused on one of the classical reasons for botanical painting, the recording of plants associated with and found in a very specific geographical area and published in a scientific book about the flora of that area - in this case the Island of Jersey in the Channel Islands.
- Alderney Sea-Lavender
- Jersey Fern
- Jersey Pink
- Yellow horned poppy
- Sea Stock with Sea Bindweed and Marram
- Dwarf pansy, Early Forget-me-Not, Wild Thyme and Three Fingered Saxifrage
- Sea Holly with Sea Sandwort
- Spotted Rock-rose
- Jersey Thrift
- Fragrant Evening Primrose
- Jersey Cudweed
- Thorn Apple
- Winter Heliotrope
- Milk Thistle
- Three-cornered Leek
- Sand Crocus with Early Sand Grass and Mossy Stonecrop
- Lords-and-Ladies, a presumed hybrid between Arum maculatum and A.italicum subsp. italicum
- Jersey or Loose-flowered Orchid
1985-7
The following are plates in The Genus Paphiopedilum by Phillip Cribb - published as a Kew Magazine Monograph in 1987.
Of the 56 colour plates in the book, Pandora contributed nearly half - 26 plates in total. At least some of the plates were originally published in the Kew Magazine at an earlier date.
The following are plates in The Genus Paphiopedilum by Phillip Cribb - published as a Kew Magazine Monograph in 1987.
Of the 56 colour plates in the book, Pandora contributed nearly half - 26 plates in total. At least some of the plates were originally published in the Kew Magazine at an earlier date.
- Plate 2: Paphiopedilum bellatulum
- Plate 3: Paphiopedilum concolor
- Plate 6: Paphiopedilum armeniacum
- Plate 8: Paphiopedilum micranthum (also in Flowers from the Royal Gardens of Kew)
- Plate 10: Paphiopedilum randsii
- Plate 12: Paphiopedilum kalopakingii and Paphiopedilum supardii
- Plate 14: Paphiopedilum adductum
- Plate 16: Paphiopedilum rothschildianum
- Plate 17: Paphiopedilum haynaldianum
- Plate 18: Paphiopedilum lowii
- Plate 23: Paphiopedilum victoria-reginae and Paphiopedilum primulinum var. primulinum
- Plate 32: Paphiopedilum fairrieanum
- Plate 33: Paphiopedilum appletonianum
- Plate 35: Paphiopedilum bullenianum var. celebesense
- Plate 38: Paphiopedilum bougainvillianum
- Plate 39: Paphiopedilum violascens
- Plate 40: Paphiopedilum wentworthianum
- Plate 41: Paphiopedilum tonsum
- Plate 45: Paphiopedilum hennisianum
- Plate 46: Paphiopedilum lawrenceanum
- Plate 49: Paphiopedilum superbiens
- Plate 50: Paphiopedilum acmodontum
- Plate 51: Paphiopedilum javanicum var. virens
- Plate 52: Paphiopedilum urbanianum
- Plate 54: Paphiopedilum sukhakulii
- Plate 56: Paphiopedilum venustum
1989
- Laelia tenebrosa 1989 Watercolour on paper H: 410, W: 600 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- [Paphiopedilum and Cypripedium] P. sukhakulii, C. lindeniana, 1989, w/colour on paper (RHS Lindley Collection)
The 1990s
Limited edition original print of Eucharis amazonica, by botanical artist Pandora Sellars (1990) - signed in pencil
1990
1991
- Glory Lily Gloriosa rothschildiana 1990 Watercolour on paper H: 280 , W: 370 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- Paphopedilum maudicae, 1990 275 x 215 - sold at Bonhams Oxford 1 December 2009
1991
- Christmas Rose and Holly 1991 Watercolour on paper, H: 192 , W: 170 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- Snake’s Head Fritillaries & Cowslips 1991 Watercolour on paper H: 280 , W: 320 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- Arisaeura canidissimum, 340 x 335mm., 1991 - sold at Bonhams Oxford 1 December 2009
- Blue Water Lily 1995 Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea Watercolour on paper H: 385 , W: 500 (Shirley Sherwood Collection - commissioned 1993) This was painted from specimens supplied by Wyld Court Nurseries (a rainforest conservatory)
- Arum lilies 1996 Arum italicum, Arum maculatum & Arisarum proboscideum Watercolour on paper H: 350 , W: 470 (Shirley Sherwood Collection - commissioned 1995)
- Pontederia cordata 1998 Watercolour on paper H: 340 , W: 205 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- Helleborus orientalis “pluto” with Cyclamen coum & a Bergenia hybrid 1999 Watercolour on paper H: 220 , W: 215 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
- Hippeastrum buds and seed capsule 1999 Watercolour on paper H: 170 , W: 225 (Shirley Sherwood Collection)
The 2000s
2007
- Tulip hybrid (red) Watercolour on Paper (Shirley Sherwood Collection - acquisition date)
- Tulip hybrid (white) Watercolour on Paper (Shirley Sherwood Collection - acquisition date)
This section is a work in progress and will be further developed
MORE Tributes to Pandora Sellars
Pandora Sellars and bluebells in 2008
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News of Pandora's death triggered a number of obituary articles and appreciations of her work.
Plus a LOT of memories and tributes by botanical artists who knew her or had met her or had been taught by her - or had just seen her paintings and been inspired by them. Below are the tributes I received on my article about her |
The lives and careers of many leading botanical |
Those who knew and/or met Pandora
Paddy, although I can no longer tell aspiring botanical artists that you are the greatest living botanical artist of our time, you will always be one of the most legendary. Your rich legacy lives on in your remarkable paintings. I am truly honoured to have known you for all those memorable years and I treasure the wonderful times spent with you. I first met her at the RHS, in 1978 when we were both first showing our work. Everyone who saw her amazing compositions was completely bowled over by the tremendously high standard which she achieved, together with her unique painterly approach. She has been an inspirational role model, both to me and my students ever since, and she and her exemplary work will be sadly missed. |
A remarkable and meticulous Botanical Artist who will remain an inspiration to all of us who aspire to becoming successful in our field of study. |
Those who own her work
Although I sadly never met her, I am the proud owner of one of her watercolours, which I treasure. Some years ago she had an exhibition at Kew. By the time I got there seemingly everything had been snapped up. I happened to look behind a door. My lucky day. A perfectly beautiful little painting of hazelnuts, and no red spot. It hangs in my bedroom, and gives me so much pleasure. A wonderful artist.
Jessica Tcherepnine (botanical artist and art collector)
Those taught by Pandora
"Well over a decade ago whilst a diploma student in botanical art at the English Gardening School, I received a couple of days tuition from Pandora Sellars. I recall her piercing blue eyes as she put me through my paces with composition exercises. Truly a ‘light bulb’ moment, which inspired me to put composition at the heart of every drawing and painting I create. Her meticulous draftsmanship shone out of the simple class notes she provided,. Just a couple of hand drawn and annotated photocopies, but with instructional drawings of unique precision and beauty. I have them still and treasure them. Thank you Pandora, you will be greatly missed" |
I first met Pandora when she came to teach us at the English Gardening School in 1996. As a group we had been to see the Shirley Sherwood Exhibition at Kew and were totally in awe of Pandora and her incredible work. |
I took a workshop with Pandora Sellars at an ASBA meeting back in 2008 in California. I was a bit in awe of her and very curious to see how she worked. She had misplaced her glasses so I loaned her my reading glasses. I remember looking over at her paintbox and being absolutely astonished -it was filthy! Dust, fluff, and I’m sure I saw cat hairs! Yet she cheerfully produced gorgeous sketches from it with a ratty old brush, borrowed glasses, in a sketchbook that looked like blotting paper from where I stood. When I catch myself fretting about materials, getting too precious about them, or getting bent out of shape over changes in paper or paint, I remind myself of that afternoon and remember how little it all has to do with how a great artist really makes art happen. |
I had the privilege to be taught by Pandora in 2002, at The Chelsea Physic Garden where she taught on the Diploma course. She taught us line drawing - beautiful studies of twigs; a whole page of grasses and linear leaves. She was inspirational... but I remember her most for three things - two I often share with my students |
Those influenced by Pandora - and who saw her work in person
The great thing about Pandora's work was that she elevated the art of botanical illustration to such a great height that it superseded any categorization. Quite simply she was the best, and she was also completely original. |
I was heavily influenced by Pandora work back in 2010 when I hung some of her work in one in the exhibitions at Kew, The Waterlilies and Arums. I remember being really impressed by her brush technique as well as her incredibly modern approach to composition. For me it was on par with Rory McEwen. It was probably Pandora's influence that got me to start chopping things off along straight edges. She's in my top ten most influential artists. Like many artists of my age, Pandora Sellars was one of the very few truly inspirational Botanical artists. Masterful composition, colour and technique, but with that extra something, the undefinable quality, which can't be taught and sets her apart as one of the greats. For me she was the complete package of what a botanical artist should be - rolled into one! 25 years ago the work of Pandora Sellars inspired me to venture further into botanical art. Her paintings have such a rich botanical narrative, composition of the highest standard and the ability to totally absorb you and also inspire you further A great loss, she was truly original and a visionary, apart from being technically brilliant. |
Those influenced by Pandora - and who first saw her work in a book
Many years ago when I set out to try a career in fashion, I immediately began to dream of a life less stressful, that would offer me the chance to get back to drawing and painting, Pandora's work gave me that solution. I found the inspirational work of Pandora Sellers by chance; I discovered a fig growing wild in a piece of waste land near where I lived in London and painted it with such enthusiasm that my boyfriend (now husband) bought me a book by Shirley Sherwood to celebrate my new found painting passion. In this book I saw Pandora's art and fell head over heels in love with the precision and artistry. Pandora was the queen of composition even her signature displayed her creativity; I fell in love with her work and it set me on a path to seek my own style of botanical painting.
I shall be forever grateful. Dear Pandora rest in peace, you were an inspiration to so many.
Billy Showell
Publications
Articles and blog posts
- Opening Pandora's Paintbox by Ursula Buchan | The Plantsman September 2005 p. 146-151
- Pandora Sellars - an appreciation of a great botanical artist | News about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists 16th May 2017
- Kew Commemoration of Pandora Sellars at Herbarium | News about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists 1st October 2017
- Remembering Pandora Sellars | Traditional Botanicals Gallery
- Pandora Sellars 1936 - 2017 | The Botanical Art Society of Australia Inc. Newsletter Winter 2017
Books typically included her illustrations and those of other people too.
Books about Botany
- ‘Flora of Jersey’ by Frances Le Sueur. Published by Société Jersiaise 1984. 18 Colour Plates by Pandora Sellars
- The Genus Paphiopedilum By Cribb, Phillip The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Timber Press, 1987. Hardcover. 222 p. 24 cm. 56 colour plates of orchids, 71 sets of b&w line drawings and 15 maps. Green cloth hardcover in pictorial dustjacket.
- The Genus Arum by Boyce, P. RBGKew Monograph 1993, 8vo, 196 pages, colour plates by Pandora Sellars and Ann Farrer, line drawings and distribution maps
- The Genus Cypripedium By Cribb, Phillip 1998 Kew Magazine Monograph
- The Genus Cyclamen: In Science, Cultivation, Art and Culture (2012) by Brian Mathew, plant taxonomist and former editor of Curtis’s Magazine.
Books about Botanical Art
See also The Best Books about Botanical Art History for more details
- Flower Painting, (1986) Clare Sydney Oxford, Phaidon
- A Celebration of Flowers - Two Hundred Years of Curtis's Botanical Magazine by Ray Desmond (1986) (Kew Publishers)
- The Flowering of Kew (1988) Richard Mabey
- Flowers from the Royal Gardens of Kew - Two Centuries of Curtis's Botanical Magazine by Ruth L A Stiff (1988) University Press of New England
- The Art of Botanical Illustration (1989) Lys de Bray
- Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson; Paperback: 240 pages; (First edition: 1996)
- A Passion for Plants (2001) Shirley Sherwood - a 6 page profile
- A New Flowering: 1000 Years of Botanical Art by Shirley Sherwood Paperback: 264 pages; Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (11 July 2002) Shirley Sherwood, Stephen Harris & Barrie Edward Juniper. She has 3 paintings in this exhibition catalogue - for the Ashmolean Exhibition in 2005
- Fine Botanical Paintings - Contemporary Botanical Paintings from the Gordon-Craig Gallery (Published London Gordon-Craig Publications 2000) - her painting is on the cover
This section is a work in progress and will be further developed
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The History of Botanical Art and Illustration
- Past Masters - organised by countries and timeline plus individual pages for leading botanical artists of the past (see below for "Past Masters with a page on this website")
- Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)
- 20th Century Botanical Artists