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Amicus Botanicus are currently exhibiting Floral Fireworks at Woburn Abbey at the Green & Stone Gallery in Chelsea The artwork by 23 botanical artists covers the colourful plants displayed in the height of summer within the living collection at Woburn Abbey’s splendid historical gardens in Bedfordshire. It also marks the restoration of the gardens originally inspired by Humphrey Repton. The exhibition of 50 artworks features full-size botanical artworks in watercolour alongside a collection of ‘affordable art’ miniature paintings by members Amicus Botanicus. The latter was selling particularly well - alongside sales of the larger works.  Cover of the Floral Fireworks catalogue  example of some of the full sized artwork in the exhibition  some of the smaller more affordable artworks I attended the Private View on Tuesday night - along with the Duchess of Bedford and Woburn Abbey’s Estate Garden Manager, Martin Towsey. I've put an album of my photographs I took on my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page. You can see all the artwork in the exhibition in an online exhibition on the Green & Stone Gallery website You can see the exhibition itself at the Green & Stone Gallery 251-253 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HY - but the last day is tomorrow! Hours are 10am - 5pm. A percentage of the artists’ sales is being donated to the 15th Duchess of Bedford’s chosen local charity, MKSNAP: Special Needs Advancement Placement (Milton Keynes). MKSNAP provides a leading programme of education, life skills, work preparation and opportunities for work for adults aged 18-plus with learning disabilities - which aims to equip them the skills to realise their potential.  Clematis armandii by Helen Allen Amicus Botanicus comprises artists who have completed the Botanical Painting Diploma Courses run at the Chelsea Physic Garden,
The members of Amicus Botanicus are listed below and those marked in bold with an asterisk have artwork in the exhibition.
 The daughters of Shirley Simon with her painting of Digitalis purpurea (Not for Sale) One artist, Shirley Simon, was not there because she passed away recently - but her daughters were. Shirley used to be the Professor of Science Education at University College London. She graduated from the Diploma Course run by the Chelsea School of Botanical Art in 2018 and joined the alumni group known as Amicus Botanicus. and finally.... Amicus Botanicus continues to thrive despite neither of the original diploma courses still being in existence. Groups are not created without a reason and are not held together without good organisers. These are two entirely "unposed" pics of two of the prime movers of the exhibition and the courses - Mary Ellen Taylor and Helen Allen.
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This post is all about some of the KEY THEMES of this year's exhibits in the RHS Botanical Art Show - particularly those which, relative to the judging criteria, displayed:
It should be emphasised that all those who get to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show have already met a high bar in being "approved to exhibit". So this post, to the extent that it considers weaknesses and aspects capable of improvement is very much focused on the tweaking and refining which is always a focus for those seeking to exhibit at the top level of this international exhibition. The only artists I name are those who won Gold Medals and the only images I show are those by Gold Medal winners. It's another of my VERY LONG posts and it's intended for all those artists who:
I'm bound to have forgotten something I meant to say, so this may well be revised and updated over the next couple of days. It will be added to my archive of posts about RHS Exhibits for the benefit of those who I'll be reviewing in future years.  Two paintings by Lynne Uptin from the RHS Best Exhibit 2024 Why write this post?One of the HUGE benefits of the RHS Botanical Art Show is that each Judge provides detailed feedback to artists individually. So each artist has already had the "official view" on why they got the colour of medal that they did. So why write this post? After all I'm not a Judge - but
As a result I've learned, over time, how to recognise a Gold Medal winner. Indeed I'm proud to say I used to be able to identify most of them before the medal certificates went up. I also like to work out
When we had the RHS Botanical Art Show for just two days in the Lindley Horticultural Hall in Victoria, lots of artists from all over the world were able to attend for the entire 2.5 days involved with the hang, private view, open to the public and take down. As a result I always made a point of interviewing all the Gold Medallists who were there and able to converse in English. In doing so, I identified what were their top tips for the benefit of future exhibitors. (See various posts in my Archive of my posts about the RHS Show) However I cannot do that any more given the very limited time to access those artists who do attend the opening of the exhibition. So, I decided to find another way of passing on what I think may well be useful tips for others who want to exhibit - or exhibit again. Hence this post! I'm happy for others to comment (below) on their views or what they've learned - but please be respectful of artists. I'd prefer you to highlight what you liked most! Judging CriteriaThis is about who was awarded what - in terms of awards and medals - at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2024 - which opened to the public at the Saatchi Gallery in London on Friday 14th July 2023. The exhibition continues until 7th July 2024 and I highly recommend you pay it a visit if you have any aspirations to being a better botanical artist.  The Three Award Winners at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2024 This is a VERY, VERY LONG post - with lots of images and lots of useful information and tips. Below is a list of all the 22 botanical artists and illustrators whose exhibits were
At the end, I highlight
My next post (this week) will focus on key themes around
Both will hopefully be helpful.
Awards for Outstanding Botanical ArtworkThere are three awards which, in the context of the show, are all of relatively recent origin. However as the numbers of exhibitors have grown and the standard of art exhibited has improved significantly, it was felt that there was a need to recognise all those who had particularly impressed the Judges. (More about the Judges at the end!) It's notable that all three Gold Medal winners - who also won an Award - are ALL First Time Exhibitors. This is VERY impressive - but it must be acknowledged that it is actually becoming more normal. That's because very many artists, after becoming approved to exhibit, do not apply to exhibit at a specific exhibition UNTIL they have an excellent exhibit to submit. Best Botanical Art Exhibit LYNNE UPTIN The Genus Richea: A Relic of Gondwana.  The Genus Richea: A Relic of Gondwana This is a classic example of an artist who chose to do a very unusual and highly scientific project - and then produced paintings which are very complex and yet explain everything and are also very attractive. A number of them were painted from herbaria specimens - and we see examples of these in the slideshow in the gallery. Lynne has been painting the Genus Richea since 2020. Richea is a genus of 11 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. Nine of the species are endemic to Tasmania - where she lives - and the other two are endemic to the south-east of the Australian mainland. It's also associated with the split up of the supercontinent of Gondwana as Tasmania was the last region of the continental plates to split from Antartica. I think we can expect a second exhibit of Genus Richea from Lynne! In 2023/24 Lynne has focussed on developing a body of works for this exhibition which is a study of 6 of the species of the genus Richea, a plant with ancient and fascinating origins. The majority of the species are endemic to Tasmania’s World Heritage temperate rainforests.  Charlotte Brooks (left) presents Lynne Uptin with her Crystal Vase for Best Exhibit Lynne Uptin was the Director of Arts Tasmania for 20 years. She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2010 for her services to arts administration. Prior to that she worked as an illustrator and owned two art galleries. What's really interesting is that Lynne is relatively new to botanical art. However she has started exhibiting, became a Fellow of SBA and has won awards for her artwork.
Judge’s Special Award There's a second award for an entire exhibit called the Judges Special Award which was introduced in 2018. This was after Dr. Hye Woo Shin GM (2013,2014,2018,2022) came back for the third time to win another Gold Medal, after she had also previously won the Best Exhibit (2013 and 2014). It's not an award which automatically goes to a Gold Medal Winner. However it is an award which is often more related to new ideas or subjects for botanical art and/or the scale of the endeavour - and exhibits which the Judges really like! SUNANDA VERMA WIDEL Ornamental Bananas from Southeast Asia.  Ornamental bananas are very much associated with South East Asia and these particular bananas grow in Singapore Botanical Gardens which is a UNESCO Heritage Site. Her exhibit demonstrates the morphological diversity found in the Musaceae genus in Singapore. This was a project which clearly exemplified the scale of her endeavour to record this genus. Her aim was to demonstrate their upright habit and the variety of the flower forms, the fruit and the amazing array of colours of different species. Her artwork also includes a neat row of dissections to illustrate parts of the plant. Overall she has more than succeeded, as her exhibit has great impact within the Gallery. Her fieldwork, over several years, involved making accurate measurements, detailed drawings and colour swatches throughout the year - all while sat in the tropical heat of Singapore - and there are photographs of her doing this in the slideshow opposite her exhibit in the gallery.  Sunanda Verma Widel - with three of the paintings in her exhibit Sunanda, who lives in Singapore, only took up botanical art after she retired from her teaching career in international schools around the world. She has a background in art and a degree in Printmaking. On retirement from teaching, she began to study botanical art with the Society of Botanical Art's 2-year Distance Learning Diploma Course (DLDC). In 2018, she graduated with distinction. Sunanda is a Fellow of the SBA and a member of the ASBA and a founder member of the Botanical Art Society of Singapore (BASS). She has exhibited internationally and her artwork is held in the archive collections at both the RBG Edinburgh and the SBG. She will also be exhibiting in the 17th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration at the Hunt Institute in Pittsburgh this autumn. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of Sunada's artwork in future! Best Botanical Artwork
DALEEN ROODT Eulophia horsfallii & Dissotis princeps with carpenter bees (Xylocopa flavorufa).  This year the Society of Botanical Artists have opted to have an ONLINE EXHIBITION in place of an annual exhibition in a gallery. This post is about how you can see it - by thumbnail, artwork or artist! ABOUT PLANTAE 2024Plantae 2024 is now available to view online - until 30th June 2024. To view the artworks you need to click the link in the TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER of the website. I found it takes rather a long time to load - but that's doubtless due to the very many images of artwork which you can see online! You have the option to:
You can also view the artworks created by the students and graduates of our Distance Learning Diploma Course - on a completely seperate page on this link DLDC Plantae Gallery 2024 If you are interested in purchasing any of the artwork on display, you need to contact the artist direct via the "Enquire about this artwork" button. Note that there are variations in what's on offer:
 Thumbnail images of some of the artwork being exhibited in SBA Plantae 2024 Participating ArtistsThe names of the participating artists are listed below - in alphabetic order of their (last) surname. I've taken the liberty of changing the order of some of the names (currently out of sync with the alphabetical order) so they can be found more easily You will see that:
PLUS I've spotted a number of names of artists who are participating in this year's RHS Show which opens next week (see my last post Artists exhibiting at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2024) A
This post is about:
Some of the exhibiting artists at RHS Botanical Art Show 2024
Facts about the RHS Botanical Art Show 2024
This is how to see the exhibition.
The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea
Some of you may be aware I've been interviewing Gold Medal Winners for years and years.
RHS Botanical Art Show 2024: List of Exhibiting Botanical Artists & Illustrators
Charlotte Brooks and the RHS have gone to a lot of trouble this year to improve the scope and quality of the information about the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show and the exhibitors on the RHS Website.
Every artist has their work featured with a profile and links to their websites and social media. The exhibition will showcase exquisite botanical art and photography, featuring a rich variety of subjects from medicinal desert flowers to ornamental bananas, and from images of forest slime moulds to urban street plants. It will showcase the new work of leading botanical artists and photographers representing the UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania, USA, South Africa, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Japan. Saatchi Gallery
As usual, the two countries dominating the show are the UK and Japan - with four artists each.
Unusually, the majority of the artists are first time exhibitors - and only two artists (Linda Pitkin and Toni Dade) are previous RHS Gold Medal Winners. It's been apparent in recent years, how much the calibre of entrant has improved and it's now not at all unusual for first time exhibitors to achieve a Gold Medal the first time they exhibit. As a number of the artists have demonstrated their ability to excel in other countries and other exhibitions, I'm expecting the same will happen this year. (I am already making my list of those who look to me like possible GMs!) ​So it will be interesting to see what the medal table looks like after the exhibits have all been assessed and the medals and prizes awarded. I'm looking forward to meeting as many as possible of the artists listed below as possible. I'll be there on the 13th for the Press View and Private View in the evening.... 
Botanical artists and illustrators from England, Scotland, Wales, Australia and the USA - exhibiting at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2024
Below, I'm listing the names of the various botanical artists and illustrators, ordered by country - starting with the UK and then going alphabetically for the remaining countries.
Each of the names - on this page - provides
UK (4 artists)
England
 At long last, the good news is that BISCOT is coming back to Scotland! It's been a very long time since I wrote on this website about BISCOT. My last post BISCOT 2019 & RBGE Florilegium at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was in pre-pandemic in June 2019. I've been waiting ever since to see if it was going to be resurrected. Which is why it gives me great pleasure to share the news that BISCOT is to resume holding exhibitions. This post tells you about:
About Upcoming BISCOT Exhibitions There is to be:
About Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT)
This is about the newly published Call for Entries for the Margaret Flockton Award in 2024.
Named after Margaret Flockton who was the Botanic Gardens of Sydney’s first botanical illustrator, the purpose of the award is to highlight the very best of international scientific botanical illustration. There are with five prizes:
READ MORE about the award and see who has won it in the past on my dedicated to The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration on this website. 
Wedelia sp.nov. by Gustavo Surlo, Winner Margaret Flockton Award 2023
Summary: What you need to know
Last year 37 artists from 18 countries were selected for the 2023 exhibition. Check out the quality of the illustrations selected for the exhibition can be seen in the Margaret Flockton Award 2023 album on Flickr
For full details about the Award and Exhibition, plus updates to entry requirements, please visit Margaret Flockton Award 2024 at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney website. Below is an abbreviated summary of what you need to know and do. ​What you need to submit All illustrations and paperwork must be submitted digitally via Dropbox.
You also need to complete the Entry Form - which stipulates additional information you MUST also provide. There are no entry fees. Digital Image requirements |
Botanical Art & Artists
WINTER 2023
AuthorKatherine Tyrrell writes about botanical art and artists and has followers all over the world. You can also find her at linktr.ee BAA Visitors so far....Subscribe to BAA NewsBlog posts are emailed to you when you SUBSCRIBE to "Botanical Art and Artists - News" by Email
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Unauthorised use or duplication of ANY material on this blog without written permission is strictly prohibited. Please also respect the copyright of all artists featured here. What's your news?This blog highlights news - in brief - about botanical art exhibitions around the world.
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