NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

ASBA's Botanical Art Techniques: first impressions + who contributed?

19/8/2020

This is an overview of Botanical Art Techniques - the new comprehensive instruction guide for botanical artists by the American Society of Botanical Artists, edited by Carol Woodin and Robin A Jess and published next month (29th September 2020) by Timber Press.

I only got it yesterday so this is

very much first impressions - from a quick flick through which took nearly 3 hours! I'll be doing a more detailed proper book review later.
PLUS I wanted to highlight the botanical artists who have contributed to the book - from the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and Netherlands - and demonstrate the scope and breadth of the book.

Initial Impressions - a summary

I'll be doing a detailed book review in due course - but it took me nearly 3 hours just to look at every page, so it will take a little longer to review the content properly!

Here's a summary of my initial impressions
- based on comments I jotted down as I looked through it this morning.

This is a "Best Botanical Art Instruction Book" and, in my opinion, the BRAND NEW STANDARD REFERENCE book for botanical art instruction - soon to be found on the bookshelf of everybody who wants to learn more about botanical art. It sets a very high standard - which means I either need a new recommendation grade or need to revise some of my previous recommendations - within the context of current publications!
Comprehensive in its scope - without question
- most frequent media get comprehensive attention (graphite, pen and ink, watercolour - on both paper and vellum)
- good coverage of media also used for botanical art (mixed media, egg tempera, gouache, casein, acrylics, metalpoint)
- includes good coverage of the topic of composition - which is so often omitted or receives cursory attention from so many botanical art instruction books (see my review of instruction books covering composition in botanical art on my Design and Composition - tips and techniques page on my website)
Great structure (see below) and well written content
- basics for each main medium followed by applied tutorials ("how to") and advanced tutorials (stepping up a level) - plus double page spreads for one topic features
- the narrative by authors of different sections have been edited together to create a book which flows very well and in places is extremely well written.
Emphatically not a "one size fits all" book. There is a strong emphasis on alternative perspectives and approaches to creating botanical art
- A major emphasis on process and how this varies for different plants and in different contexts - and how individual artists prefer to work i.e. the notion that there is "only one right way to work" is confounded by the techniques and approaches found within these pages.
- Only a botanical art society could draw on the expertise of so many leading artists and instructors
A strong emphasis on plants and botany - with accurate and precise descriptions of plant features
Provides something for everybody - no matter how accomplished they may be as artists already
- accessible for those new to botanical art - with excellent attention to "the basics" that all need to know
- advanced techniques for improvers
- new media for those who are already leading artists
- plus the number of hours are identified for every artwork which is displayed - which is a FIRST in any book of botanical art instruction I've seen
REQUIRED READING for EVERY instructor in botanical art and illustration - because your students are going to be reading it!
This is VERY BIG authoritative book with a quality feel which is going to last! It has 416 pages in total in a hard binding which feels very good quality. It avoids being too thick and too heavy due to the pages being printed on very thin high quality paper with a nice finish which means the colour reproduction is excellent. I've noted of late that not every publisher pays as much attention to colour reproduction as botanical artists do - so this book jumped my first production quality hurdle with ease!

In addition, words on the page kept jumping out at me as quotations I will want to add into my website. Here's an example - which introduces the book....

Botanical artists love plants. This is a simple, obvious truth, but one that explains the hours, days and weeks and often months spent taking an artwork from research sketch to completion. Botanical artists are fascinated by details and relish the exploration and accurate depiction of the intricacies of those details. This passion for detail is primarily what separate botanical artists from floral artists, or artists who depict plants in an impressionistic or expressionistic manner
Introduction page 10

List of Contents and Contributors

Foreword - with botanical watercolour painting of Rhubarb 'Rheum rhabarbarum "Glaskin's Perpetual" by Elaine Searle

What follows is "the contents" - everything after the Foreword (above) and Introduction to the book.

Contributors are highlighted by name (One point I'd like to highlight that each contributor has a brief bio at the end of the book.)
a link to their websites / reference page is embedded in first reference to their name.

Where there are no names then it's a joint effort by the Editors.

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Lizzie Sanders (1950 - 2020)

29/7/2020

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It has been announced that the renowned botanical artist and illustrator Lizzie Sanders GM passed away last week, age 70.

Lizzie Sanders in her studio

Born in London on 4 January 1950, she had lived in Edinburgh since 1983 - near to the Botanic Garden where she also taught botanical illustration to very many students. Anne Carlaw, the Chairperson of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists announced her death via an email to members today.

In it she described Lizzie and her work as both an artist and as a teacher.

"many of us were fortunate to have been taught by Lizzie at the Botanics and even more of you will have been familiar with her stunning work.

Lizzy was the doyenne of dry brush work. To watch her in action was a joy, to try and replicate her technique took considerable practice, time and a shed load of patience. "

It seemed appropriate to use as an example of her stunning botanical artwork, her painting of Sutherland Kale - produced for Flora Scotia and published - as a feature image - in Scottish Plant Lore

Sutherland Kale © Lizzie Sanders - painted for Flora Scotia in 2018 and featured in the introduction to the Catalogue "Scottish Plant Lore"

Favourites are always bold, structural plants which themselves make a grand statement and which lead to careful, sometimes unconventional, composition.
from her website

Lizzie Sanders Timeline

1950: Lizzie Sanders was born in London on 4 January 1950.
1967-71: Lizzie studied for a Diploma in Art, Graphic Design and Typography at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee
1981-82: She left Scotland to study Strategic Advertising and Television Production at the Visual Arts School in New York
She then pursued a career in Design and spent many years working as a Designer for advertising companies in Italy (1975-80) and as an Art Director in New York (1981-1982).
1983 - she finally returned to Scotland and spent seven years as an Art Director or Design Director at two companies in Edinburgh.
1988: awarded Scottish Designer of the Year.
1990-2000 - she was a Founding Partner of a firm of Design Consultants
1990: Lizzie was a keen gardener, she took some classes in botanical illustration at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh between 1991 and 1996. She also took short courses with Annie Farrer (Kew); Pauline Dean (RHS Wisley) and Claire Dalby (Cambridge Botanic Garden). She never looked back, eventually giving up her design career to concentrate on botanical illustration.
As well as creating impressive botanical illustrations she also started teaching art students about how to improve their art and design
She lived in Edinburgh, near the Royal Botanic Gardens, where she found many of the natural specimens she painted
She died in July 2020.

Artwork by Lizzie Sanders

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Profiles of Selected Artists for ASBA 23rd Annual International Exhibition

20/7/2020

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ASBA's 23rd Annual International Exhibition of Botanical Art at Wave Hill includes 13 artists who have never exhibited in an ABA International Exhibition before.

A total of 46 two-dimensional, original, botanical artworks - out of 178 entries have been selected. The international botanical artists come from the US (33), Australia (1), Canada (3), Germany (2), Japan (2), Netherlands (1), Russia (2) and the UK (2). Entries are down on last year - but this may be due to the Pandemic.

It's hoped that the exhibition can be held as planned in September.

Selected Artists

Botanical Artists whose botanical drawing, painting, print or illustration was selected for the exhibition are listed BELOW

Names are organised by country.
Profiles include bio information available online.
Embedded in their name is a link to their website or ASBA Member Gallery Page.
Images are from my photos (or as credited) or links to social media posts.

I confess I gave myself a memory check and sorted them - from memory - before checking each individual artist's bio! I got 27 of the 46 sorted without the need for more information!

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Seongweon Ahn (New Jersey) - member of both Member of ASBA(USA) & KBAC(Korea). She is a a Korean Botanical Artist currently living in New Jersey, USA. She majored in Oriental Painting for Undergraduate studies but now works mainly in coloured pencils. She has participated in multiple exhibitions in Korea and Taiwan and her previous awards include: Gold medal winner at Botanical Art Society of Korea Open exhibition 2019 and Prize winner at the 2019 International Botanical Art Show in Seoul. (SEE BELOW)

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Claudia Campazzo (California) - Born in Chile to an Italian family, she has lived all of her adult life in the United States. Currently lives in Fairfax, California. Lost her hearing in 2016 and began painting as a creative alternative to her career as a violist.
Mary Crabtree (Colorado) - Born and raised in the US midwest. Currently living in Colorado. 30-year career as a research virologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Began studying botanical illustration after retirement at the Denver Botanic Gardens (School of Botanical Art and Illustration and at several international botanical art workshops. Her work has been exhibited at the DBG and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Additionally, her illustrations are in use in interpretive signs and publications by the Denver Mountain Parks Division, Denver, CO.
Jessica Daigle (Connecticut). An Illustrator and Designer who has also worked as a scientific illustrator. Started her own business in 2019 and uses a technique known as 'indirect' oil painting.

Jean Emmons with her painting which won Best Painting in Show as well as a Gold Medal back in 2011 at the RHS Botanical Art Show

Jean Emmons (Vashon Island, Washington) - an award winning botanical artist whose technique for watercolour painting on vellum is based on medieval manuscript illumination. Lives on Vashon Island, WA, USA. Her work is included in numerous collections including the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library, and the Shirley Sherwood Collection. She has won many prestigious awards.
Ingrid Finnan (New York) - Consistent exhibitor at this exhibition (9th through 23rd). Born in 1944 in Poland, now lives in Riverdale, New York City, Took up botanical art in 2005, after retiring from a career of 30 years working as a designer of decorative textiles. She admires the Dutch Golden Age floral painters and paints in oils (on gesso prepared 600 gsm Fabriano Artistico). Since 2006, she has shown annually in the International American Society of Botanical Artists Exhibitions and other exhibitions, including those associated with the Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew. Recipient of the Horticultural Society of New York Best in Show Award, 2013
Jane Fisher (Minnesota) - Studied botanical art at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. Works in graphite.

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ASBA also holding Virtual Conference - in October

18/7/2020

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Another Virtual Conference! This time it's the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) who are holding a Virtual Annual Meeting and Conference in October 2020.

What happened to the proper Conference?

Normally, ASBA members can enjoy three days of workshops, lectures, demonstrations, tours, exhibitions, portfolio sharing, personal and professional interaction and social events at their annual conference. (I gave a lecture last year at the one in Pittsburgh!)

BUT, as announced earlier in the year, the original planned Conference in Mobile Alabama was cancelled because of the Pandemic.

Due to uncertainties stemming from COVID-19 affecting the viability of hosting a conference this fall, the Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to postpone the Mobile Conference until October 2023. (Conferences for 2021 and 2022 remain scheduled for Pasadena, California and New York)

ASBA's NEW VIRTUAL 26th Annual Meeting and Conference

However it was announced yesterday that ASBA's 26th Annual Meeting & Conference has been resurrected in a virtual format!

Yesterday ASBA announced that:

they will be hosting an alternative event live online
on Wednesday, October 14 - Sunday, October 18 (so book out your calendar with these dates if, like me, you are an ASBA member)

We are making "lemonade from lemons" as they say, and putting a new virtual twist on some of our favorite conference programming.

Details are to be

despatched soon via email to members
posted on the ASBA website describing our exciting program offerings
AND providing information on how to register for the event.

It might very well be the first opportunity for all members to participate - which will make it a landmark event in the organisation's history!

The American Society of Botanical Artists now have members all across the USA and in number of other countries. You can find out more on their ASBA Membership Page

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The Business of Botanical Art - The Lecture Notes

2/12/2019

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Those attending my lecture at the ASBA Conference in Pittsburgh in October may remember I promised that:

you didn't need to make notes
because as I'd make a copy of the lecture available to you.

A few of you have written to me requesting a copy of the presentation - and I apologise for keeping you waiting.

You can NOW get a copy of the presentation slides PLUS my notes of 'what to say' which amplify the points on each slide - in a digital file of the presentation in the Powerpoint "Notes" View saved as a PDF file (6MB)

The scope of the lecture - in terms of sections

What I've done

I've ironed out the small matter of a few language difficulties (who knew "tuition" means something completely different in the USA? Not me!) i.e. changed words.
I've also revised my notes to make them more accessible to a wider audience.
Plus converted the Powerpoint Presentation into a PDF file of the "Notes" View of the presentation (see a crop of an example page below)

crop of a page of the "Notes" view of one of the slides in the presentation

If If

Copy of the Business of Botanical Art Lecture

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ASBA 22nd Annual International - Awards

24/9/2019

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The American Society of Botanical Artists have now been announced the Awards for artwork in the 22nd Annual International Exhibition at the Marin Art & Garden Center in California.

BELOW you can click on:

the title of the artwork - to read the story behind its creation on the ASBA website
the artist's name - to go to her website - if one exists. (Plus Facebook Page if they have one)

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum by Linda Medved Lufkin

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum (Watercolor and gouache on paper, 28-1/2 X 20 inches) - copyright Linda Medved Lufkin 2018

Marin Art and Garden Center Best in Show Award ($500)

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum
Linda Medved Lufkin
Facebook Page: Linda Medved Lufkin Botanical Art

I have to say I was hugely impressed by this painting when I saw it online for the first time and it seems a very worthy winner of Best in Show to me. I always think of this plant as a bit of a drama queen whenever I see it in gardens and Linda has caught that flavour and colour with her dynamic composition and very controlled colour palette. I also really loved her 'bad hair day' analogy about the complexity and structure of the leaves in her back story!

Her backstory provides a wonderful insight into how she approached painting a plant such as the Eryngium alpinum.

In 2018 I was shopping with Marilyn Garber at our flower wholesaler for the subject of the next class I was to teach at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. It was entitled Enlarging Scale & Format. I was to teach my students to use a gridding system and enlarge a small subject by three times, which would use most of a full sheet of paper. I was looking for a plant that would offer my students enough complexity and detail that they would need to be very diligent in ‘mapping’ out the placement of their lines within each grid space and achieve a complex, but obtainable challenge. When I found the bouquets of Sea Holly, Eryngium alpinum, I knew that I found something that would work beautifully for our purposes. READ MORE

Linda uses the traditional technique of developing layers of transparent washes, then using a very small brush to develop detail, colour and form using the drybrush technique. She's been working as an Instructor at The Minnesota School of Botanical Art since 2016. Prior to this she worked for many years creating customised murals for clients. Linda has previously had work in and was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Portland School of Art, ME. in 1982. She has a strong exhibition record with ASBA in recent years.

ASBA's 19th and 20th International Annual Exhibitions
won The Richmond and Lili Bates Award in 2017 and The Helen Gray Garber Award in 2016
Also was selected for an exhibited in the Botanical Art World Wide: America’s Flora’ and ‘Out of the Woods: Trees in Public Gardens’ exhibitions.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Award for Print or Drawing ($500)

Fascinator Paeonia lactiflora (Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 13.5 x 19 inches) - copyright Patricia Luppino

Fascinator Paeonia lactiflora (Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 13.5 x 19 inches)
Patricia Luppino

Born in Brooklyn, New York and a lifelong resident of Long Island. Now retired from a long career as an IT professional. She started studying botanical art in 2005 and earned the SBA Diploma in Botanical Painting with Distinction in 2008. Since then she's exhibited in various juried and group exhibitions of botanical art - including (prior to this exhibition) the 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st ASBA Annual International Botanical Art Exhibitions with the Horticultural Society of New York, the 1st Triennial Botanical Art Exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden. This year Patricia is also exhibiting in the 16th International Exhibition at the Hunt.

Patricia and I were emailing backwards and forwards yesterday about another matter and she never said a word about her award!

ASBA Eleanor Wunderlich Award ($500)

Physalis Physalis peruviana (Watercolor on paper, 11-5/8 x 8-3/8 inches)
Svetlana Lanse (Vinnikova) (
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/svetlanawatercolor

Svetlana Lanse is a professional artist and art teacher living in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from Higher School of Folk Arts (institute) where she learned about botanical art by copying artwork by Pierre Joseph Redouté and Maria Sibylla Merian. She is currently trying to popularise botanical art in Russia using Instagram (@botanical_watercolor) and has more than 85,000 followers. In May 2018 she was juror of Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition (Russia) with Alexander Viazmensky, Natalia Alatortseva, Yaroslav Bazanova and Darya Fomicheva.

Richmond and Lili Bates Award for Excellence
in recognition of an Artist by a Fellow Artist ($300)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Samba Dancer' (Watercolor on paper, 15-1/2 x 11-½ inches)
Mitsuko Schultz (no website)

Mitsuko Schultz moved to Los Angeles from Kyoto, Japan in 1996. Her passion for plants and flowers saw her working at the UCLA Botanical Garden where she began her horticulture studies when then led to her becoming a floral designer in Los Angeles - and then eventually to her taking up botanical art.. Her work has been included in the Hunt's 16th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration, Filoli’s Annual Botanical Art Exhibitions (Roth Award recipient in 2018), ASBA Annual Internationals (received an Honorable mention in 2017, catalogue cover in 2018), Out of the Woods, Botanical Art Worldwide America’s Flora and numerous other shows in California since 2011. She is also a member of the Botanical Artist Guild of Southern California.

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Honourable Mentions

This year there are two Honourable Mentions.

Karen Kluglein has a marvellous bunch of grapes - Joie de Vivre Vitis vinifera (Watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 inches)
Tammy McEntee's very lovely coloured pencil drawing is of an Ornamental Gourd Cucurbita pepo (Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 12 x 12 inches)

The Back Stories

You can see the remaining artworks and read about their back stories by clicking the links on this list of artists selected for the exhibition (click the artists tab and then click the link in each artist's name to read the story)

The exhibition is at The Studio, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Frances Drake Blvd, Ross, CA 94957. It opened last Sunday and continues until 17th November 2019.

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American Society of Botanical Artists: 22nd Annual International Exhibition and Events

21/9/2019

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The 22nd Annual International Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists is taking place on the West Coast for the first time. It opens to the public tomorrow - on Sunday, September 22, 2019 - with:

a Reception between 3pm-6pm
Artist demos from 3:00 - 4:00 by Catherine Dellor, Kristin Jakob, Lucy Martin, Deborah Shaw, and Nancy Wheeler Klippert, who will demonstrate in five different media.

I LOVE the cover of the Exhibition Catalogue! The cover art is by Kristin Jacob who has produced a lot of illustrations of Californian native plants in her botanical art career.

22nd Annual International Exhibition - details

American Society of Botanical Artists: 22nd Annual International
Organised by: American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art & Garden Center
Venue: The Studio, Marin Art & Garden Center,
Address: 30 Sir Frances Drake Blvd, Ross, CA 94957
Dates: September 22 - November 17, 2019 (Thursdays to Sindays only)
Gallery Hours: Thurs–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 12–4pm

This juried exhibition comprises 48 two-dimensional, original, botanical art. These were selected from a competitive field of 230 entries.

On the 22nd Annual International Exhibition link you can find

a tab for all the artists - those with a green link in their name go to their story about their paintings. Very much a recommended read - lots to learn about plants, artists and their approaches to creating their botanical art
a tab for thumbnails of all the artwork - click the pics to view larger versions of the artwork

You can also refer to my blog post: for links profiles of and links to the websites of the Selected Artists: ASBA 22nd Annual International

Some of the artwork selected for the Exhibition

The Jurors for the exhibition were:

Frank Almeda, Curator Emeritus, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences
Julie Bly DeVere, Head Curator and Collections Manager, Historic Filoli Estate
Martha Kemp, Botanical Artist

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25th ANNIVERSARY - NCalSBA exhibition

2019 is the 25th anniversary of The American Society of Botanical Artists.

A full-size catalog titled “Celebrating Silver" has been published”. The art submitted echoes the silver theme with plants that either have a sliver quality or ’silver’ in the name of the plant.

The Northern California Society of Botanical Artists (NCalSBA) is exhibiting 42 images by its members who are featured in the catalog. This exhibition will run concurrently with the ASBA 22nd Annual International Exhibition.

EVENTS DURING THE EXHIBITION

The Exhibition will also include a number of events - and details of these will be posted to the MAGC venue website. All events are 10am-3pm unless otherwise stated

They include:

The History of Botanical Art - Lecture by Catherine Watters 26 September 2019 (6-8pm)
Autumn Leaves in Colored Pencil with Nina Antze 4th October 2019
Painting an Oak Branch and Oak Galls with Gouache October 5, 2019
ASBA: Pen & Ink Workshop with Kristin Jakob October 11, 2019
Painting from the Garden: An introduction to Botanical Art November 1, 2019
Exploring Plants through Sketching with Lee McCaffree November 16, 2019

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