NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Linnean Society - Open House

31/8/2016

The Linnean Society is participating in Open House between 10:00–17:00 on Saturday 17 September 2016. Find out more about this event on their website.

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788, the Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829.

The entrance to The Linnean Society of London is located on the left inside the arch into Burlington Courtyard - at, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF, United Kingdom (better known to a lot of artists as also being home to the Royal Academy of Art)

Below is the main library - which I can highly recommend! Last time I was there it was displaying their copy of one of the three volumes of Banksias by Celia Rosser - and you don't get to see that very often!

The Library Reading Room of the Linnean Society

0 Comments

Botanicalartandartists now has an Instagram account

26/8/2016

0 Comments

Just to let you know that I've set up an Instagram account for Botanical Art and Artists and the address is https://www.instagram.com/botanicalartandartists/

I'll be uploading images related to gardens worth visiting, plants and botanical art exhibition and my own artwork.

That's a cropped shot of my coloured pencil drawing of Massonia bifolia for Florum below.

Do let me know what your Instragram account is you want me to follow you.

0 Comments

The Best Books about Botanical Art History, Artists and Illustrators

14/8/2016

0 Comments

My resource for all those interested in the best books about art history and important and/or famous botanical artists and illustrators of the past had a major makeover today. (I'm something of a bookaholic when it comes to botanical art history books!)

The page has been up on my website for some time but needed much better navigation and listings as to what's on my website.

So it now lists all the important botanical art history books and where they can be found on Botanical Art and Artists. The general principles are that:

1) Generic botanical art history books can be found on the page about The Best Books about Botanical Art History, Artists & Illustrators - PLUS links to the pages listed below.

2) Books about specific aspects of botanical art history can be found on the summary pages about:

3) Books about specific famous and/or important artists can be found on their Feature Page:

0 Comments

Botanical art tips and techniques video by Julia Trickey

11/8/2016

0 Comments

Botanical artist and tutor Julia Trickey GM SBA has produced a 5 minute video which has lots of tips and techniques.

It's based on a recent commission to produce small artworks for a display board showing which plants can be found in a rockery.

More Video Tips about Botanical Art

You can find more videos relevant to botanical artists (including ones by Julia) on my website page about Video Tips for botanical art. This has additional pages about:

You can see more videos by Julia on her YouTube Channel - Julia Trickey: short adventures in botanicalart

0 Comments

'The Beauty of Orchids' exhibition in China

8/8/2016

0 Comments

The Beauty of Orchids exhibition came about because of a collaborative conservation project between

Xishaungbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) in China; and
the Conservation Science department of the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography at Bangor University in North Wales - led by Dr Sophie Williams.

The art side of the project

aims to protect endangered orchid species in China
focuses on orchid conservation by using art to communicate science
generated over 40 botanical illustrations of endangered orchids in China
led to an exhibition and a book about the project and exhibition.

Exhibition

The exhibition is currently travelling around botanical gardens in China. It has already visited Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS, Wuhan Botanical Garden, CAS and South China Botanical Garden at Guangzhou.

The next two exhibitions are:

August 13-21 Xiamen Botanical Garden
August 27 –Sep. 4 Beijing Botanical Garden

Botanical Illustrators

The botanical illustrators participating in the project are:

Ms Isik Guner, a botanical artist from Turkey,
Ms Yan Lan of China and Mr He Ruihua (何瑞华) of Xishaungbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG)

You can see images of the artwork contributed by Isik Guner in 'The Beauty of Orchids' Gallery on her website.

You can also see images (below) of the contribution of Chinese botanical illustrator He Ruihua 何瑞华 who prepared 20 illustrations for the exhibition 'The Beauty of Orchids'. Isik has included these in The Beauty of Orchids album on her Facebook Page Işık Güner - Botanical Art and Such.

It's interesting to compare the two different styles of botanical illustration.

Botanical illustrations of endangered orchids by He Ruihua (何瑞华) of Xishaungbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG)

A booklet for the exhibition has been published. Contact Isik for further details about this.

0 Comments

'The Artist & the Botanical Collector' at the Museum of Sydney

7/8/2016

0 Comments

The Artist & the Botanical Collector: the Lost Works of Lovegrove & Bäuerlen - opens at the Museum of Sydney on 13 August 2016 until 20 November 2016.

The Artist & the Botanical Collector explores the partnership between

amateur Shoalhaven based artist Gertrude Lovegrove (1859-1961) and
botanical collector William Bäuerlen (1840- 1917)

Their joint endeavour was ambitious. They had ambitious plans to produce a multi-part publication in the late 19th century covering the native flora of New South Wales.

Kennedia prostrata, watercolour by Gertrude Lovegrove, c1891

Part 1 of the book Wildflowers of New South Wales by William Baeuerlen and Gertrude Lovegrove was published in Sydney by Angus & Robertson in January 1891. However it was only 12 pages long.

The link in the title of the book (and the image) is to the digitised version of the book in the Digital Collection of the National Library of Australia

The digitised version of "Wild Flowers of New South Wales" in the National Library of Australia

It has been intended that The Wild Flowers of New South Wales it would comprise 25 parts, part 1 of was published in Sydney. However further parts never came to fruition and there are now only a handful of copies of the first part are known to be held in Australian public collections.

The exhibition will feature

a collection of over 30 original wild flower watercolours by Lovegrove, that she prepared as illustrations for the lost Bäuerlen publication. These paintings are now held in Sydney Living Museums’ Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection at The Mint.
a brief survey of the range of wild flower publishing in colonial Australia.
an exploration of the connections of Lovegrove and Bäuerlen to Meroogal, a Sydney Living Museums property at Nowra on the NSW south coast.

NOTE: A substantial part of Bäuerlen's collections are held at:

Links: Encyclopedia of Australian Science - Biographical Entry: Baeuerlen, William (1840 - 1917)

Visit the Exhibition:

Where: Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House (Cnr Bridge and Phillip streets, Sydney)
Admission: Free with Museum of Sydney entry (Adult $10 | Concession/child (under 15) $5 | Family $20 | Members free)
Transport: Public transport recommended. Museum of Sydney is one block back from Circular Quay which is serviced by trains, buses and ferries.

More Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australia

You can see more about other botanical art exhibitions in Australia on this page on this website Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand

0 Comments

RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 - the FAQS

3/8/2016

1 Comment

This post is about how to find information about the RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 and the future - for all actual and aspiring future exhibitors.

In the past, many botanical artists have found it very difficult to find out about:

how to be selected for exhibition at an RHS Botanical Art Show
how to win an RHS Medal - particularly a Gold Medal.

Below you can find out about:

what facts are available from the RHS
what information is available on this websites - including tips from past Gold Medal winners!

Saturday at the RHS London Botanical Art Show in 2016

RHA Botanical Art & Photography Shows in 2017

The RHS now has a web page for information about the shows for artists and photographers. If you hope to exhibit in future or are planning to exhibit in 2017 you should bookmark this now. That's because it's not easy to find unless you know where to look!

The page has two sub-pages for:

Botanical Art
Botanical Photography (NOT to be confused with the RHS Photography competition)

Each of these provide information and links to more detailed information about

how to apply to exhibit
rules and regulations for exhibitors

Dates of RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017

In 2017 the RHS Botanical Illustration Shows are:

RHS London 24-25 February 2017
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 11-14th May 2017

All those selected to exhibit in the future:

should have had a letter listing these dates
will get another letter in the Autumn (date unspecified!) inviting them to apply to exhibit at one of these two shows.

Applications for space for exhibits of paintings and drawings should be made on forms sent out by the RHS Shows Department. Contact details for eligible artists are automatically sent to the RHS Shows Department, following acceptance by the Picture Panel, however artists should ensure that the RHS Shows Department is kept informed of any changes to their contact details

RHS Botanical Illustration - Exhibitor Factsheet

The RHS have published their Exhibitor Fact Sheet for Botanical Illustration in 2017. Download this and save it and then print it out and start highlighting all the things you need to remember! (Note: Rather annoyingly the print is in green ink (!) which means that it does not reproduce well when printing in greyscale)

Interestingly although the shows have always been described at Botanical Art Shows in the past, the Factsheet emphasises that it is about "Botanical Illustration".

The RHS has always been very clear that these shows are for works that are primarily of botanical interest. I'm assuming the change of name is because the RHS wants to continue to emphasise the botanical emphasis of its exhibitions when compared to some of the other botanical art exhibitions around the world and the range of works that they include.

I am however going to try and find out if there is anything more behind this change in name.

The heading of the FACTSHEET for RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017

This is what it covers:

a definition of botanical illustration - you need to make sure that what you propose to exhibit conforms to this definition.
contacts - although oddly it omits the key contact for artists which is the email address for the Picture Panel. You can find this on page 3 in the next section
Selection: New Exhibitors - describes the process used to people who want to exhibit with the RHS. You are already too late to apply to be approved to exhibit for 2017. However if you apply now you can start the process for being approved to exhibit in 2018 and beyond. The closing date for applications for approval is usually June each year - with the selection meeting of the Picture Panel being held in July. This section provides precise guidelines and criteria for approval to exhibit.

Only exhibitors that have been accepted by the Picture Panel are eligible to apply for space.

Rules and Regulations for Exhibiting - This section details all the rules for presentation and conduct while exhibiting (which I will review in a future post)
Labelling - Botanical names are sacrosanct to the RHS! This is a very big section and that's a very big clue to how important this aspect is to the judges. I've known people in the past lose out on a good medal because they did something wrong when writing out their labels. Knowing how to name your plant and when to use italics and capitals is VERY important! This page recommends the use of latest edition of The RHS Plant Finder in relation to the use of cultivar names.
Staging - As many people know new display boards were used for the RHS london Botanical Art Show in 2016. These will continue to be used in future. Note the STRONG recommendations as to the use of conservation grade polyester film such as Melinix or Mylar to protect the artwork. (I'll be writing more about these and how to get hold of them in future)
Judging and awards - this stipulates what medals are available and how they are awarded. It highlights in particular the judging criteria used which are listed within three categories: Quality of Botanical Illustration; Quality of Presentations and Overall Impression
Terms and Conditions - The normal sort of 'small print' which MUST be read thoroughly. Don't make any assumptions! Note the need for insurance.

More information

In addition, on this Botanical Art and Artists website you can find:

a whole page devoted to RHS Botanical Exhibitions - for Artists and Photographers. It's in the Exhibitions section and covers the Regulation and Guidance and dates and downloads when identified. This includes links to my past reviews of the exhibitions, interviews with Gold Medal Winners and posts about selected artists.
Tips from RHS Gold Medal winning botanical artists - culled from my interviews with many past Gold Medal Winners. These can be found on the Tips and Techniques Page in the Education section.
The Botany section of this website has a section on Plant Names and Botanical Latin which some artists may find very useful. It includes the summary of the advice the RHS provides relating to botanical names.
listings for artists who have won an RHS Gold Medal in the past in the Artists section (with pages for different countries/geographical areas) . They are identified by GM after their name (with the year where this has been indicated). Where I've met them, the listings also include images of them with their work.

As indicated I'll be writing more on this topic. Please let me know if you have any queries not otherwise answered by the Exhibition Fact Sheet.

This post was stimulated by somebody who wrote to me asking about a particular fact relating to the 2017 exhibitions. So I'd really appreciate it if you would please share this post with artists who might be interested in exhibiting at the RHS. Thanks!

1 Comment