CONTENTS:
1. Florilegium Societies - An introduction to Florilegium and the purpose of Florilegium Societies. 2. List of Florilegium Societies across the world (the most active societies are listed below)
3. Online Botanical Art Groups and Forums 4. Other Botanical Art Groups 5. Scientific Art groups covering Botanical Illustration To find out more about each Society or Group click the link to their website.
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FLORILEGIUM PUBLICATIONS
Publications associated with various Florilegium Societies are also highlighted on this page. Tell me about your Florilegium Project / Book If you have a name (and URL) for a group which is active and exhibiting and/or online please complete the form at the bottom of this page to have it added to the list. There's also a form for if you have a new book about your florilegium paintings. |
a Florilegium is a formal botanical illustration record of a collection of flowers and plants. It's typically been used in relation to the creation of a formal record of plants found in a garden of significance. |
Whereas the florilegia of the 17th Century were created to portray the beauty and novelty of those plants brought back from the colonies, the modern florilegium may be seen as a conservation tool, instrumental in recording for posterity collections of plants within a chosen garden’ |
Florilegium Societies aim to compile a record of all the living plants and flowers in a particular garden or place. Such records can be made in a variety of art media used for botanical art e.g. watercolour, pencil, pen and ink.
The History of the Florilegium: Florilegium is a latin word and the plural is Florilegia. You can read about the history of Florilegia in the History section. |
Is your Florilegium Society missing?
If you're a member of a Florilegium Art Society which ought to be included here please leave a note of the name and the URL of its website plus its purpose and activities in the form at the bottom of the page. |
The Florilegium Book: A developing tradition amongst contemporary Florilegium Societies is to produce a record of their work for posterity in the form of a book of their paintings. Below you will find examples of these.
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Are you planning to publish a book?
If your Society is planning a book please advise its title, planned publication date and other relevant details by leaving details in the form at the bottom of the page. |
ABOUT
Founded: 2005 RBG Sydney Website: No. of artists: 44 artist members Enquiries are welcome from Australian and international artists. The majority of the artists are Australian, as well as from the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, the USA, Canada, France and New Zealand. No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: This is the current list of paintings of plants by various member artists. Aim: A florilegium of contemporary botanical paintings of historically significant plants has been created and donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. This is the first collection of its kind in Australia. Funding: The society is a self-funded, voluntary organisation, endorsed by the Trust. The original paintings and their copyright are gifted by the artists to the Trust and held in the Daniel Solander Library in the National Herbarium of NSW. |
PROJECTS:
EXHIBITIONS: Florilegium: Sydney’s painted garden was
This exhibition celebrates the renaissance in the long tradition of botanic art and demonstrates the botanical and horticultural development of the Royal Botanic Garden and its links with domestic gardens and the public landscapes of New South Wales over 200 years from 1816 to 2016. This is a first class exhibition and one very definitely one not to be missed. It sets a very high international standard for a large exhibition of a Florilegium. |
The Florilegium, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Celebrating 200 years
by Colleen Morris and Louisa Murray Preface by Dr Shirley Sherwood READ my Book Review: "The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney: Celebrating 200 Years" The book documents the botanical and horticultural development of the garden and is being published to celebrate:
Each period of development within the Botanic Gardens is covered and plants will include
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AUTHOR
The book has been compiled by the Florilegium Society at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. it includes
The Florilegium Society is a self-funded, voluntary organisation, endorsed by the Trust. EXHIBITION The planned exhibition Botanic Endeavour has been postponed because of the Pandemic - but will be held at a future date. |
SCOPE
This book was produced to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage in HMB Endeavour and is the second project undertaken by the Florilegium Society. It links the herbarium specimens collected by Banks and Solander on their expedition to Australia to the living plants which can be seen as part of the Living Collection of the three Gardens which make up the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. The specimens are held in the National Herbarium of New South Wales. There are 45 paintings. Each double page spread has:
BASICS:
BUY THIS BOOK The book is limited to 600 copies. The book is available from the Society by mail order. Click [email protected] for further information. Click here to download order form |
The Grootbos Florilegium is the first contemporary African florilegium. Its intention is to celebrate and honor the Cape fynbos and the Cape Floral Kingdom in the southern Overberg, as a valuable botanical heritage of South Africa and as a record of the many rare, endemic and endangered plants of the region.
The Florilegium is a global collaboration, featuring carefully selected botanical artists.
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REFERENCE:
The Grootbos Florilegium has been headed up by lauded botanical artist Vicki Thomas, Grootbos resident botanical artist Chris Lochner and Sean Privett, the Grootbos Foundation Conservation Director. (Sibinelo) Chiliza and (Liberty) Shuro, along with other contributing artists, were taken out into the Grootbos Nature Reserve to select specimens of fynbos for painting with the assistance of Privett and Thomas. Their paintings, along with 40 other local and international artists, form the basis of the Grootbos Florilegium collection of over 120 individual works, which will soon be housed in a custom-built art gallery on the reserve. |
whereas the Florilegia of the 17th Century were created to portray the beauty and novelty of those plants brought back from the expanding colonies, the modern Florilegium may be seen as a conservation tool, instrumental in recording for posterity collections of plants within a chosen garden.
Anne-Marie Evans, Honorary President of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and an important promoter of the development of florilegia in the UK
This is the first Royal Florilegium in the UK.
Location: Gloucestershire Founded: The Highgrove Florilegium project started in 2000. No. of artists: 72 artists - see below for list of names No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: 120 watercolours in two volumes Publisher's website Aim: To provide a historical record of the plants in his garden at the private home of HRH The Prince of Wales in Gloucestershire and to mark the Prince's achievements in his garden. Painting and horticulture are two major interests of the Prince of Wales. The first volume was completed in his 60th birthday year. In published form it comprises 175 numbered sets of two volumes which together have 124 plates. |
AFRICA - NORTH
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NETHERLANDS
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Location: Chelsea Physic Garden, London)
Website: https://www.cpgfs.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cpgflorilegiumsociety/ Founded: 1995 - by Margaret King and Wendy Page No. of artists: ? No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: c. 500 watercolours and 150 drawings (all work is donated for the benefit of the garden) Aims:
It celebrated both its 10th and 20th anniversaries with the publication of a book - both of which you can find below.
This is the Facebook Page for Chelsea Physic Garden |
It holds periodic exhibitions of its work at the Chelsea Physic Garden - although these are not annual.
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Flower Paintings from the Apothecaries' Garden
Contemporary Botanical Illustrations from Chelsea Physic Garden by Andrew Brown
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Hardcover: 136 pages
Publisher: Antique Collectors' Club Ltd; illustrated edition (July 2005) BUY THIS BOOK IN THE UK Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 5 customer reviews (UK) Flower Paintings from the Apothecaries' Garden from Amazon UK
BUY THIS BOOK IN THE USA
Flower Paintings from the Apothecaries' Garden from Amazon.com
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Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden
by Andrew Brown and members of the Chelsea Physic Florilegium Society
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BUY IN THE UK
Hardcover: 176 pages Illustrations: 78 colour Publisher: (23 April 2015) Hardcover: Publisher: Antique Collectors' Club Publication date: UK - 10 March 2016 and USA - August 2, 2016 Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 5 customer reviews (UK) Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden from Amazon.co.uk
BUY IN THE USA
Hardcover: 136 pages Publisher: Antique Collectors Club Dist Publication date: USA - May 22, 2015 Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars by 5 customer reviews (UK) Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden from Amazon.com
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"When you view the works in the Florilegium, try to quell any impatience you might have and dwell a little time on each work. By looking closely you see into the wonder of living things, their complexity and their total fitness for purpose. Only by allowing yourself this luxury of time can you feel that tingling go up your spine which signals a glimpse of something very special." |
This book is a celebration of the work of the first 18 years of The Eden Project Florilegium Society, fondly called the ‘Flori’ by its members.
There are over 140 paintings in the archives donated by 31 different artists, many of whom exhibit nationally and internationally and hold RHS Gold medals for their work. Author: Ros Franklin is the current Chair of the Eden Florilegium Society. Hardcover: 120 pages
Publisher: Two Rivers Press Publication date: 1 May 2018 BUY IN UK BUY IN USA
“Each artist donates their time and their paintings generously to The Archives and The Trustees of The Eden Project. In gratitude and in order to acknowledge their generosity, skill and talent, this book has been written and compiled to help bring their work to a wider audience and demonstrate the quality of botanical illustration held by the Trustees. I hope it inspires our current members (of which there are 22 actively painting) to continue to paint and document this inspirational collection of plants, and others to join. This is my gift to these very special people.” |
Location: Sheffield
Website: www.florilegiumsheffield.org.uk Founded: April 2002 No. of artists: c. 45 active Associate Members, Full Members and Fellows. No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: 151 Aim: The Florilegium Society was established to
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These are the archive pages for work completed each year
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A Florilegium: Sheffield’s Hidden Garden
by Valerie Oxley and members of the Sheffield Botanic Garden Florilegium Society
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BUY IN THE UK
Pages: 160 pages Images: 100 colour Illustrations Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd Format:
Weight: 843 g Dimensions: 280 x 220 x 17 mm Also available in Kindle edition A Florilegium: Sheffield's Hidden Garden from Amazon UK
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Location: Hampton Court Palace
Website: www.florilegium-at-hamptoncourtpalace.co.uk Founded: 2004 No. of artists (past and present): ? No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: 198 artworks in the Florilegium collection at the end of 2015. There are Galleries of Images on the website of all the artwork are organised by the year in which it was added to the collection Aim: To produce botanically correct paintings and drawings of the plants growing in the gardens and glasshouses of Hampton Court Palace where plants include the famous ‘Great Vine’ planted in the 18th Century and the historic 17th Century Queen Mary II Exotiks Collection. This is a link to the past and current member artists who have contributed work to the Florilegium. Members meet at the Palace once a month, in order to paint, research plant material and to enjoy a variety of speakers and workshops. Full Members must submit one painting in October every year to be considered for inclusion in the HCP Florilegium Archive. The group exhibited their botanical paintings of the Queen Mary Exotics Collection grown at Hampton Court Palace at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2009 and were awarded an RHS Silver Medal. The website provides galleries of the paintings of plants produced each year. |
Location: West Sussex
Nymans, Handcross, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 6EB Website: reference on the National Trust page https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nymans/features/the-gallery-at-nymans Founded: 2006 No. of artists: ? No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: Continue the work Ludwig Messel began 100 years ago by recording Nymans’ plant collection in botanical drawings. Nymans has copies in its collection of: |
Location: Kent
Website: None. (Info page on Forestry England) Founded: c.2010 (?) founder member / Chair: Pearl Bostock No. of artists: 10 No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: To:
Exhibitions:
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Location: Oxford Botanic Garden | Harcourt Arboretum
Website: None Facebook Page: None Founded: founded in 2016 No. of artists: ? No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: To produce botanical illustrations, either line drawings or paintings, of a high standard, for archival purposes. Botanical illustrations will further the documentation of the living collections at the Garden and Arboretum, providing Oxford University Botanic Garden and Arboretum with an invaluable resource for the future. Projects:
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Location: Wiltshire
Website: http://www.salisburyflorilegium.org Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/Salisbury-Florilegium-Society-301163820254209/ Founded: founded in 2016 No. of artists: https://www.salisburyflorilegium.org/sfs-members No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: 120+ Aim: It focuses on creating original botanical artwork of plants in the private gardens of Salisbury Cathedral Close Currently planning to publish a book of 120 paintings in October 2019. |
In order to ensure that the Illustrations Collection continues to develop and grow, RBGE is currently exploring the idea of establishing a Florilegium Society, with associated funding, to produce a visual record of its living collection and to reflect its scientific and horticultural interests. You can find out more about the plans to develop an RBGE Florilegium and an exhibition planned for this summer on the RBGE website
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Location: No Florilegium Society as such. This was a project.
Website: None Founded: ? No. of artists: ? No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: The project produced a book 'Le Florilège du Jardin de Brécy' (35 €). This was launched at La Fête des Plantes, Château de Saint-Jean de Beauregard in September 2018 - with an exhibition, botanical painting demonstrations and a conference. |
Le Florilège du Jardin de Brécy relates to the garden of Château de Brécy in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brécy, near Bayeux in Normandy. It is one of the few Italian gardens designed in France in the second half of the 17th century and still in existence.
Barbara and Didier Wirth bought the Château in 1992 and set about restoring its garden. The Florilège pays tribute to the work carried out by the Wirths, and in particular to the memory of Barbara Wirth, who died in 2013. |
Le Florilège du Jardin de Brécy was conceived and directed by Béatrice Saalburg and Catherine Watters. It is the first florilegium of the 21st Century to be developed in France.
For seven years a group of European and American artists selected and painted the plants of the garden which are reproduced in this work. The book follows the practice of portraying the anatomy, form and life cycle of the plants in the garden. Hardcover: ?? pages
Publisher: ?? Book size: 29cm x 19cm. Price: 35 € incl. Publication date: 1 May 2018 |
Location: Based in Transylvania
Website: None Founded: ? No. of artists: 35 No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: 124 - from a list compiled by the botanist Dr John Akeroyd FLS, an authority on European plants who has been working on Transylvanian flora for over fifteen years. Aim: to record in a permanent way the flora of Transylvania. This invitation only project aims to document and record all the wild plants and flowers in a specific part of Transylvania. Notable botanical artists used to working in the field are invited to stay at the project set up by Prince Charles in Transylvania. The project was initiated via the Prince’s School of Traditional Art, a charitable and educational body set up by the HRH the Prince of Wales. It's now associated with Prince of Wales's Foundation Romania which was set up in 2015. |
REFERENCE
The following record the existence of the project and how it works.
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The project was unique in many ways, particularly highlighting the importance of conservation of wild flowers with regard to farming methods. As a botanical artist I feel our work has an important role to play in portraying biodiversity. Images are a powerful means of communication.
Vicki Thomas
UK - ENGLAND
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AFRICA - SOUTH
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The Flora Japonica exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens was supported by the JEC Fund, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Japanese Embassy.
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REFERENCE:
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Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Kew Publishing Publication date (UK): 1 Sept. 2016 Publication date (USA) November 15, 2016 Authors:
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RECOMMENDED: This is MUST BUY for the library of any serious collector of books about botanical art.
I've much admired the paintings of native flora by Japanese artists that I've seen at various exhibitions in recent years. This book enables you to learn more about the artists and have a permanent record of the excellence of their work. This splendid NEW book is about the native flora of Japan and how this is depicted in contemporary botanical art. Kew Publishing produced it to coincide with the excellent Flora Japonica exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew (2016). This unique book commemorates the Japanese contemporary artists and images of all the paintings in the exhibition in Kew Gardens The 80 specially commissioned botanical paintings of Japanese wild plants have been contributed by 30 of the Japan’s best contemporary artists. The images of the painting are full page and are accompanied by:
Rated an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars by 13 reviewers Flora Japonica
available from Amazon UK
Flora Japonica available from Amazon.com
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Founded: ?
Website: Only for the Flora (i.e. botany) floranorthamerica.org (i.e. none for the botanical art contributors - but they do have an art sponsorship page) No. of artists: No information at all as to numbers or who is involved No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: To record and publish the Flora - online and in print (30 volumes) |
This is a florilegium covering the entire flora of North America. When finished, the aim is it will comprise 30 volumes information on the names, taxonomic relationships, continent-wide distributions, and morphological characteristics of all plants native and naturalised found in North America north of Mexico
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The Filoli Florilegium
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The Gardens of Alcatraz Florilegium
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MOUNTAIN
ARIZONA / CALIFORNIA / MEXICO The Sonoran Desert Florilegium
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CENTRAL
MINNESOTA The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium
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EASTERN
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Location: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York
Website: None. It has a page on the BBG website Founded: 2000 No. of artists: 50 No. of paintings in Florilegium Collection: ? Aim: to document Brooklyn Botanic Garden's living collections through botanical art. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society comprises a group of the country's most accomplished botanical artists. The botanical artist members are: |
American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic
Edited by Bonnie S Diggers Rated 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com by 14 reviewers This book has won two awards
The book took three years to create and includes:
The BAEE kindly sent me a copy of this book to review and this summary precedes a proper and more in-depth review. The quality of the publication is excellent with good colour reproduction |
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Lydia Inglett Publishing, Ltd./Starbooks.biz Publication date: 2014 BUY from Amazon.com American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic
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A Hawaiian Florilegium
by Peter S. Green (Author), Mary Grierson (Illustrator) The book covers Polynesian Herbal Medicine and Plants of the Canoe People. The watercolour paintings range from the indigenous plants of Hawaii to those which have been introduced to the islands. The watercolour paintings by Irish botanical artist Mary Grierson are much admired. Words come from Peter Green, former deputy director, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: National Tropical Botanical Garden; First edition (December 31, 1996) |
A Hawaiian Florilegium: Botanical Portraits from Paradise from Amazon.com
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Amicus Botanicus | botanical painters
Former students of the English Gardening School's Botanical painting course at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, have established themselves as a group named Amicus Botanicus. They have periodic exhibitions as a group. Participating members are: Helen Allen, Christine Battle, Pearl Bostock, Marissa Bright, Jeanne Debons, Pamela Golden, Carol Hartley, Helen Hiorns, Tracy Howell, Carolyn Jenkins, Rui Jiang, Fiona Kane, Bindy Kent, Eun Joo Lee, Anna Lu, Gaye Willcox Norman, Sally Pond, Elaine Searle, Shirley Slocock, Julie Spyropoulos, Lyn Sykes, Mary Ellen Taylor, Eriko Tosaki, Louise Young |
Reed-Tuner Woodland Botanical Artists Circle
The Reed-Turner Group is an 'Artists’ Circle’ of loosely connected, dedicated and enthusiastic avocational botanical artists many of whom have been or are associated with the botanical art classes of the Chicago Botanic Garden. It subscribes to the ASBA ethos and exhibits regularly. |
UK
Florum Florum has now wound down. It was neither an Art Society nor an Open Exhibition. Essentially it was a very popular and well established exhibition of botanical and floral art for sale at the Kent Wildlife Reserve in Sevenoaks which celebrates plant life and helps raise funds for Kent Wildlife Trust. Each year the committee invites new artists to join those who have exhibited in the past with a view to achieving a good mix of styles and prices. It moved the location of the exhibition and then closed as an organisation. |
Places where you can go online to meet other botanical artists
Facebook Groups for Botanical Artists See my NEW PAGE: Botanical Art Groups on Facebook You need to have a personal Facebook account to participate in these groups - and then you need to apply for membership. These are NOT groups for flower painters per se. A Closed Group just means that the images and comments posted in the group cannot be seen by the public. It's a relatively safe place to show your work to fellow enthusiasts.
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Other Online Groups
For sites like Flickr you first need an account before you can join a group
Offline Groups on Facebook
You can also see Facebook Pages for offline botanical art groups on Botanical Artists on Facebook. |
This group emerged from two factors
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REFERENCE:
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NEW GROUPS
I'm interested in adding new groups to this page. To be added, they need to have BOTH a website and a record of exhibitions of botanical art. |
NEW BOOK
If your established Group/Society is planning a book, contact me with the details so these can be added to this page and shared with those who may be interested. |
NEWS
News Blog about artists, awards, exhibitions etc. |
EXHIBITIONS
- Calls for Entries - Exhibitions around the world - Online Exhibitions - RHS Exhibitions - Hunt Exhibitions ORGANISATIONS
- Botanical Art Societies - national / regional / local - Florilegium & Groups - Botanical Art Groups on Facebook |
EDUCATION
- Tips and Techniques - Best Botanical Art Instruction Books - Directory of Teachers - Directory of Courses - Online Botanical Art Courses - Diplomas and Certificates - Talks, Lectures and Tours ART MATERIALS (Paper / Vellum) BOTANY FOR ARTISTS - Scientific Botanical Illustration - Best Botany Books for Artists - Plant Names & Botanical Latin BOTANIC GARDENS & Herbaria |
FEEDBACK
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