NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Book Review: 'Roses' by Rosie Sanders

9/9/2019

I was expecting Rosie Sanders's new book about Roses to be very good - but wasn't expecting to be quite so bowled over by her watercolour paintings of roses which fill the pages of this large book.

Her botanical paintings are as as large on the page as they are on the walls of the gallery in Chelsea where her latest solo exhibition will be opening on the day it is published.

Rosie has been drawing, sketching and painting roses for this book and her latest exhibition (see the end for details) for the last three years.

She grows all her own roses and knows them all by name - even if she sometimes forgets where she has put them - until they flower!

She's also been making notes about her roses on a regular basis, what they have been getting up to and what colours they are displaying. Many artists find writing about their subjects helps to fix their image in their brains - and Rosie seems to be no exception. The notes are divided between facsimiles of her handwritten notes and typed up versions of the same. I rather assume the latter are the ones which might just have rings from her coffee mug on them as she sits in her garden in the morning with her cup of coffee surveying what has been happening to her roses in the last day or so.

This approach to the text helps make this book feel a lot more personal to Rosie and I really like it. More of the individual seems to come to the fore. Rosie's writing is graphic and excellent and I personally found it very readable. I do wonder however whether reading handwriting might make this book a little bit more of a challenge for those who don't use English as their first language.

Red Sensation

Shades of Red

What I particularly like about this book is there as a much clearer sense of the process - which should particularly appeal to those botanical artists who like her paintings.

On some double page spreads we also have preliminary drawings and colour charts of the colours used in the painting - with colours randomly noted either next to the colour boxes or in the text. She also includes some fast watercolour sketches recording habit and colour notes.

This is a timelapse video of Rosie Sanders painting a rose in watercolour.

Pierre-Joseph Redouté's book of paintings about Les roses is the pre-eminent tour de force in the "books about roses by botanical artists" category of artists' botanical art books. His roses are perfection and I doubt anybody will ever better it in terms of portraying perfect specimens.

However in terms of painting roses in reality - I think Rosie's book will also be seen as a tour de force and a standard. She paints roses as we see them in the garden - some new and fresh with both buds and blooms - while others are fading and past their best, In effect she has created a florilegium of roses growing in her garden - and has painted some on more than one occasion - notably her one yellow rose 'Celebration'.

She seems to have a particular affinity with the back of a rose and what happens behind or underneath the petals of the rose in question. It suggests an artist in love with all stages of the life cycle and the multiplicity of colours and shades they can go through from first bud to last breath.

Book cover only has the title on the front cover on the paper slip cover

The Introduction to the book provides a history of the rose in in the history of ancient times, middle ages and more recent time - as a symbol, in art, in war, in religion, as an emblem of love. It also comments on the different types of rose and where they hail from. I found it one of those introductions which is so packed full of information that it's probably best read in small chunks.

However there is no obvious connection between the Introduction and the paintings. It's almost as if we have two books in one cover.

What's missing from the book - and I do think this is worth noting - is any sort of introduction to Rosie and why she likes painting roses and what her project comprises. Instead we find bits out as we read her notes - and I do very much recommend you read all the notes!

The book has an interesting and unique index in which every rose in the book is presented by a thumbnail. Below you can see two of the tree pages which form the index.

An Index by rose (and name and size) at the end of the book

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This is a woman who likes BIG projects and has a track record of pulling them off in spectacular fashion!

Notwithstanding the bits which don't quite work for me, I think this is an excellent book which will be much appreciated by all rose lovers - who will doubtless appreciate that many of the roses were sourced from David Austin.

I also expect that very many botanical artists will be buying this book in order to study Rosie's approach - which - in short - is grounded in much time spent in intense observation and an awful lot of effort in creating hundreds of studies, sketches and paintings - of which these are the ones which deserve a public stage.

The production qualities of this large book are also excellent. The photography of both drawings and paintings is top notch and the printing is superb with a very robust cover and binding. (For those interested in such things the reproduction was done by Rival Colour Ltd. - who are based in Greenwich - and the printing was done in China (as happens to most books these days) by 1010 Printing International Ltd and is a company associated with books which have won British Book Design & Production Awards.

ORDER THIS BOOK

Rosie Sanders' Roses: A celebration in botanical art from Amazon UK
Rosie Sanders' Roses: A Celebration of Botanical Art from Amazon.com

Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Batsford Ltd - an imprint of Pavilion Books
Publication date: 26 Sept. 2019 - the date her exhibition opens in Chelsea
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1849945527
ISBN-13: 978-1849945523
Product Dimensions: 24.5 x 31.1 cm
RRP: £30

In effect, the book is the same size and format as her last book Rosie Sanders' Flowers: A Celebration of Botanical Art

The dark side of the moon

About the author and artist - Rosie Sanders

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Botanical Art and Artists: Summary of Contents

4/9/2019

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Botanical Art and Artists now has over 1,000 pages including blog posts. That's a LOT of content.

I've also been publishing some new pages (e.g. about Composition tips and techniques) without saying a lot about them as I tend to wait until they are rather more developed before formally announcing their existence.

One of those pages is one which acts as an INDEX to all the pages - excluding the blog posts - on Botanical Art and Artists. It summarises the content by broad topic and links to every page under that topic.

Melo vulgaris (Melon) from Volume 2 of the "Recueil des plantes dessinées et gravées par ordre du roi Louis XIV" - with plates organised by Nicholas Robert (1614-1685)

Think of the SUMMARY Page as being somewhat like a melon

a slice out of the whole is a Main Topic e.g. History
within that there are the very ordered sets of "seeds" - representing a number of much more specific topics e.g. 20th Century Botanical Artists
below that are yet more "seeds" - for one topic only e.g. About Rory McEwen (1932-1982)

If you take a look at the Index I think many of you may be

surprised how big the website actually is
find new topics you didn't know existed
observe that it has a Google Search facility which you can use when you cannot information that you want to know more about.

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I'm very conscious that this website will continue to grow over time. As such this page will be become more and more important over time.

It and the Home Page are also a good bookmarks to have if you want "one page for Botanical Art and Artists". Do please feel free to bookmark site either in your browser or on your website if you too have a resources section.

I hope you find the Index helpful - and that my "seed" webpages take you to new places and enhance your knowledge and awareness of botanical art and artists - both historical and contemporary

The banner image for the Index Page is from an engraving of Melo vulgaris (Melon) in Recueil des plantes dessinées et gravées par ordre du roi Louis XIV (Volume 2) - a collection of engravings of flowers and fruit. The contributors for the three volumes were:

Dodart, Denis, 1634-1707
Robert, Nicolas, 1614-1684 - organised the project and (I think) is responsible for plates in Volume 2
Bosse, Abraham, 1602-1676
Chastillon, Louis de, 1639-1734

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Botanical Art for the Medici

27/8/2019

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The National Gallery of Art in Washington has a very civilised arrangement where all the books and exhibitions catalogues they have produced in the past, which are now out of print, are reproduced in pdf format for personal/educational consumption online.

Which is how I can recommend all those with an interest in botanical art history take a look at The Flowering of Florence - Botanical Art for the Medici published by the National Gallery of Art, Washington in 2002 for an exhibition of the same name. The idea for the show emerged from Lucia Tongiori Tomasi's research and study at Bunny Mellon's Oak Spring Garden Library.

The book is available in pdf format View PDF (41.29MB)

The Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art for the Medici
Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi and Gretchen A. Hirschauer
Published 2002
132 pages
Catalog of an exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Mar. 3-May 27, 2002

While the wonders of nature have long been an inspiration to artists, the birth of modern science in the 16th century provided a new way of seeing and interpreting the natural world. The Flowering of Florence celebrates the close ties linking the arts and the sciences in Tuscany between the 16th and 18th centuries. Pursuit of the natural sciences—in particular botany and horticulture—and passion for the arts were supported by the Medici grand dukes, following a Florentine tradition. The 68 works in this exhibition include paintings, works on vellum and paper, pietre dure (hardstone mosaics), manuscripts, printed books, and textiles. The catalog contains two essays focusing on botanical art for the Medici and the plants seen in Pietro Perugino’s altarpiece The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene.
National Gallery of Art

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The front cover is a detail crop of Chinese Plate with Cherries and Bean Pods, c. 1620, gouache on vellum by Giovanna Garzoni. She started with botanical illustration for the Medici Court but is best known as a still life painter, her paintings of flowers, fruit and vegetables are absolutely impeccable in terms of shape, form, colour and tone - a well as being exceedingly attractive to look at! You can see more of her artwork in:

The practice of botanical illustration constituted valuable training for Giovanna Garzoni, who gradually broadened her repertoire until she felt prepared to attempt her first still-life paintings, a genre that would win her fame at many of the most illustrious courts of Europe— Paris, Rome, Naples, and Turin. These works were almost always executed on vellum, never on canvas, and she became known as the "illustrious miniaturist." The important role played by botanical painting in her art can be seen in a series of four large works in gouache at the Uffizi and datable to the late 16405, three of which are included in this exhibition. In each work the plant is depicted with its roots and flowers, suspended in the center of the page, in accordance with the tradition of Ligozzi. However, the artist enlivens each composition by unobtrusively adding other elements such as small fruits, vegetables, insects, and reptiles; portrayed with minute precision, each casts a faint shadow against the page on which it seems to have been delicately posed.1

The book also includes artworks (in order) by

Leonardo da Vinci
Albrecht Durer
Pietro Andrea Mattioli
Jacopo Ligozzi (major chapter)
Georg Dyckmann
Daniel Froeschl
Filippo Napolitano
Gerolamo délia Valle
Giovanna Garzoni (major reference)
Bartolomeo Bimbi
Gaspare Lopez

I found the mosaic murals and table tops based on botanical paintings to be particularly interesting.

Yet another aspect of botanical art in other media!

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Roses by Rosie Sanders

14/8/2019

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Next month, in September 2019, the award-winning and best-selling artist Rosie Sanders has:

an exhibition opening of 20 new botanical paintings in watercolour at Jonathan Cooper's Park Walk Gallery in Chelsea
a book being published

Rosie Sanders has been awarded five Gold Medals for her botanical art by the Royal Horticultural Society, has been regularly exhibited in various exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens, and has exhibited at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University and has work in their collection of botanical art.

She is renowned for creating very large paintings of flowers in watercolour.

Rosie Sanders: By Any Other Name

Rosie Sanders: By Any Other Name
Venue: Jonathan Cooper, Park Walk Gallery, 20 Park Walk, London, SW10 0AQ
Dates: 26th September - 12th October 2019

Rosie has been exhibiting with Jonathan Cooper since 2002 and it is a mark of a very successful and best selling artist that in general she has a solo exhibition at his gallery every other year. Latterly these have coincided with the publication of a new book (see below)

This exhibition will include 20 new paintings - with most included in her new book. I'll be visiting this exhibition and writing a review - with images - late in September.

The exhibition will focus primarily on the beauty of the rose, and will feature many of the works included in the publication Rosie Sanders’ Roses: A celebration in botanical art, which will be released by Batsford in September 2019.

Gallery hours are 10 am – 6.30 pm (Monday to Friday) and 11 am – 4 pm on Saturdays.

You can see some of the images of her paintings which will be in the exhibition on her Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/rosiesanders.4apple/

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Rosie Sanders' Roses - a celebration in botanical art

Rosie Sanders' Roses: A celebration in botanical art is due to be published on 5 September 2019 by Batsford.

This NEW BOOK is a follow up to her very popular and successful book Rosie Sanders' Flowers: A Celebration of Botanical Art, also published by Batsford in late 2016 (UK) and early 2017 (USA).

I predict this one will be every bit as popular - if not more so - than the last. One of the most popular "how to" query about flower painting on Google is "how to paint a rose in watercolour" which generates over 90 MILLION responses.

This book focuses just on roses - however it's not a "how to" book.

It's introduced by an introduced by an extended essay on the resonance of the rose as a timeless motif - all across the world - in our art, literature, poetry, folklore and gardens.
it contains over 80 stunning paintings and sketches are shown for the first time
the text sitting next to the image of her painting includes the text from the personal letter which explains the creative and emotional process she went through to create it.

I've not seen a copy yet but I've no reason to suppose it won't be just as good as the last one which was very highly rated.

ORDER THIS BOOK

Rosie Sanders' Roses: A celebration in botanical art from Amazon UK
Rosie Sanders' Roses: A Celebration of Botanical Art from Amazon.com

These are affiliate links if you order using these links to help me pay for the cost of this website.

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Call for Entries: Botanical Artists in Residence Program at the Oak Spring Foundation

3/8/2019

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The inaugural Botanical Artists in Residence Program (BAiR) offered by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation is now accepting applications - as part of its Artists Awards program

The opportunities offered by BAiR and the requirements for applications are detailed below, followed by

information about other artists awards made by OGSF and
how to find out more about the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and its gardens, library and botanical art.

What's on offer

a $1,500 award
stay at the Oak Spring estate in Upperville, Virginia - with accommodation and 24-hour access to studio space.
for a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of four weeks sometime during the period April 1 – May 22, 2020.
ground transportation to/from Oak Spring (from either Dulles Airport or Union Station).
This is a copy of the 2020 OSGF Residency Handbook
This is a link to the Oak Spring Foundation's page on Google Arts and Culture which demonstrates some of the artwork in the Library.

Transportation to/from Washington, D.C. is the responsibility of the applicant.

The aim of this program is to extend our support for artists to practitioners of botanical illustration

The Oak Spring Estate - home to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation - from above (House and gardens bottom left and Library top left) in Upperville, Virginia

What's required

Artists must choose from plants in Oak Spring’s living collection, during the period of residency. in order to maintain the integrity of The Oak Spring Florilegium
Artists must submit at least one original artwork produced as a result of the residency to The Oak Spring Florilegium and assign all copyright in the artwork to the Florilegium.

The award is contingent upon the awardee submitting one original work that Oak Spring obtains full copyright to, and which will become part of The Oak Spring Florilegium.

Artists will also be asked to provide digital submissions of other works started or completed on-site for an archive held at Oak Spring. However, the artists may keep their original sketches and any additional original works produced as part of the residency.

Who can apply?

Botanical artists who:

demonstrate artistic excellence in botanical art over time
have been selected to exhibit in international juried exhibitions of botanical art.
are available for a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of four weeks during April 1 – May 22, 2020 for a residency on the Oak Spring estate in Upperville, Virginia
have a visa to visit the USA if a non-resident/citizen
can finance getting and from Washington DC (Dulles Airport or Union Station)

What you have to do to apply

First READ the flyer about the Botanical Artists in Residence Program (BAiR)

Next

create a profile and login to our OSGF Applicant Portal at osgf.force.com/grantee/.
Log in and select “Explore Grant Opportunities” in the upper left
Select “2020 Botanical Artists Application.”

You may encounter errors in creating an application profile if you use Safari as your web browser. Please try using a different web browser, and if you continue to encounter issues, try clearing your cache.

You must submit

a resume/curriculum vitae (not to exceed 3 pages);
a short description of your creative practice and how you would benefit from a residency at Oak Spring;
five images of your best works (required). All images submitted must be of art executed by hand in two-dimensional media including watercolor, pencil, pen and ink, colored pencil, mixed media, oil, acrylic, gouache, egg tempera, and original prints (aquatints, etchings, etc.).
any and relevant links/uploads to/of an online portfolio of work (optional);
references who can speak to your artistic practice and suitability as a resident. (Successfully completed residencies at other arts organizations or botanical institutions will be an asset.)

Deadline for receipt of applications: November 8, 2019 at midnight EST.

The aim is to notify all applicants on the status of our selections by mid-December 2019.

Other Artists Awards

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RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019 - Awards and Medal Winners

24/7/2019

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This post is about who won which award and which colour of medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019.

Below you can read about

which artists won Awards for outstanding botanical artwork
the names of artists and exhibits which won different colour medals - and some images of the Gold Medal winners

There are:

10 Gold Medals ( UK x 5; Japan x 4; Russia x 1;)
8 Silver Gilt Medals
10 Silver Medals
2 Bronze Medals

Links in the names of artists are generally to their websites where you can see more about their botanical artwork.

If you'd like to read more bout the individual artists, please refer to Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

Awards for outstanding botanical artwork

There are three Awards this year - which were awarded as follows:

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019): P.Tectorius ‘En Khelen’ - Mariko is developing an excellent track record. She won Best Exhibit in her first exhibit and Best Painting this time.
Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion Naomi's art extends well beyond her botanical painting - see the video below (in the Gold Medal section) of her dance associated with her exhibit.
Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox: Exploring the Seasons at Beckley Bog - This was awarded because of the significant educational value about plants growing in a specific environment of Betsy's images.

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019)

Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion

Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox

RHS Gold Medals 2019

There are ten Gold Medals. It's important to also note that

Four previous GM winners repeated their GM from their last exhibition and
Four previous GM winners did not win a GM this time.

Just because you have won a GM before there is no guarantee you can repeat this. The medal is awarded for a specific exhibit not the botanical Artist per se.

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How RHS medals for Botanical Art are assessed

23/7/2019

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For those coming to the RHS London Botanical Art Show this week - and those watching social media and reading online - you may be interested in how a botanical art exhibit at an RHS Botanical Art Show is assessed for

whether it should receive a medal and
what sort of medal it should get.

Gold Medals are only given for exhibits of outstanding quality, whatever their diversity of approach, or visual impact
Gillian Barlow, Chair of the RHS Picture Panel (in RHS Botanical Illustration - the Gold Medal Winners)

Candidates who have been approved to exhibit must submit at least six works - preferably on a theme.

You can earn extra marks if you illustrate a plant family.

ASSESSMENT: KEY POINTS are:

very high standards are essential
the emphasis should be on botanical accuracy with aesthetic appeal

The Picture Panel Judges always:

assess as botanical illustration
review botanical content and accuracy
review artistic and aesthetic effect
assess overall impression and how this has been achieved
assess the whole exhibit; marks are awarded for presentation of the exhibit as well as accuracy and quality of the artwork

The best botanical illustration successfully combines scientific accuracy with visual appeal. It must portray a plant with the precision and level of detail for it to be recognised and distinguished from another species.

Two of the botanical illustrations by Hye Woo Shin (RHS Botanical Art Show 2018) - which resulted in a Judges’ Special Award 2018 for ‘ Plants in Dokdo Island’

As a technical discipline, botanical illustration emphasizes the depiction of accurate information, documenting the anatomical and functional aspect of a plant throughout its life cycle.

Judges want to see.....

My suggestions of things you need to do to deliver on what judges are looking for are indicated in bullet points below.

This summary is based on discussions over time with both Judges and artists who have had feedback from Judges - and highlights some of the frequent problem areas which I hear about again and again. (I'll be updating and amending after this week's show!)

All quotes in green (except for the first above) are drawn from the Exhibitor Fact Sheet

Artwork should be life size and if not, a scale must be evident.

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