Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) 2017 - Medal Winners

Billy Showell GM - Best in Show Painting at BISCOT 2017

Billy Showell was awarded the Best in Show Award for her painting of "Tulip Queen of Night" at the BISCOT Exhibition at Gardening Scotland (2nd-4th June 2017). The exhibition is organised by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society in liaison with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Billy was also awarded a Gold Medal for her exhibit - the rest of which you can see below.

She's been having quite a week, having been announced as the new President Elect for the Society of Botanical Artists at the AGM three days earlier!

Gold Medal Winning Exhibit: Black flowers and cultivars; an exploration into mixing colours to create black - by Billy Showell

Below are details of: 

• the medals awarded to botanical artists from Austria, New Zealand the USA as well as the UK. There are links in their names to their websites where you can see more of their work.
• the venue for the exhibition when it moves from Gardening Scotland to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

Gold Medal

• Billy Showell (UK) - Black flowers and cultivars; an exploration into mixing colours to create black
• ​Fran Thomas (UK) - Native plants of the coasts and islands of the Firth of Forth. ​Fran Thomas was also awarded The Mary Mendum Medal for the outstanding exhibit (see below)

Fran Thomas GM - awarded the Mary Mendum Medal for exceptional quality in an exhibit

Billy Showell is a very popular botanical art tutor and author as well as a best selling botanical artist. She's based in Tunbridge Wells in Kent.  She graduated from St Martins School of Art with a degree in Fashion design and illustration. However she changed direction when she fell in love with watercolour painting and started painting flowers. She has been pursuing a career in painting, illustration and tuition for some years and is the author of four books. She has been awarded a number of prestigious awards over the years.

I first met Fran Thomas at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2014 when she was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal for Native Scottish marginal pond plants (Rumex aquaticus, Menyanthes trifoliata, Iris pseudacorus, Caltha palustris, Lythrum salicaria & Petasites hybridus). It seems Fran has a particular affection for plants associated with water!

Silver-Gilt Medal

• Lyn Campbell (UK) - Trilliums
• ​​Jenny Haslimeier (New Zealand) - Native tree flowers of New Zealand​

Trilliums by Lyn Campbell

Lyn used to work as a physiotherapist and took up botanical painting at RBGR. She graduated with a Diploma in Botanical Illustration in 2011 - and was graded Higher Merit.

Jenny is an experienced graphic/book designer and illustrator who comes from New Zealand but now lives in Edinburgh. She started studying botanical art in 2014 and in 2016, she graduated from the RGBE Diploma Course and was awarded a Distinction. Less than a year after graduation she has achieved a Silver Gilt Medal at BISCOT!

Native tree flowers of New Zealand by ​​Jenny Haslimeier

Silver Medal

• Karyn Dalrymple (UK) - Colour and pattern within the garden
• ​Dany Denzel (Austria) - Amaryllis (Hippeastrum)  
• ​Regina Gardner Milan (USA) - The Fibonacci series

Karyn is a member of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists - which is the Alumni group for those who have completed the RBGE's Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration.

Dany is an architect who lives and works in Vienna in Austria and in Arles in France. She studied with Annie Farrer at Kew and earned her Certificate in Botanical Illustration. More recently she has been completing the RBGE Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration.

Regina is a visiting lecturer in graphic design at the University of Massachusetts. She received the President’s Award for the highest achieving student when she graduated with her Diploma from the Society of Botanical Artists in 2007.

Hippeastrum by Dany Denzel

Bronze Medal

• Jeffrey Banks (UK) - Alpine Plants
• Jan Miller (UK) - Plants of the genus Geraniaceae 

​Jan Miller is the Secretary of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists

​How to see the BISCOT Exhibition 2017

You can see the exhibition today at the Gardening Scotland Show, at the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston between 10am and 5pm until Sunday 4th June 2016. (The exhibition opened on Friday).

Next week, the exhibition will transfer to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway Building, for a period of about three weeks (7th June - 22nd June).