NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

REVIEW: Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey

8/8/2018

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by botanical artist/illustrator and tutor Sarah Jane Humphrey is PACKED full of content relevant to the artist and illustrator who aspires to a professional career in botanical art and illustration - a lot of which is not covered in other books.

It will be getting a more in-depth review on Botanical Art and Artists in the near future - including a review of the ebook version!

Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey (Published by Crowood Press July 2018)

Overall, I'm impressed with this book. It very much comes across as the work of a full time professional botanical artist/illustrator/tutor who earns her keep from her work. Well worth a look for those who aspire to becoming a professional rather than just painting good botanical paintings.

This book was published on the first day of the RHS Botanical Art Show last month - at which Sarah Jane Humphrey, the author, won an RHS Gold Medal. Not a bad week! ;)

Sarah Jane Humphrey with part of her Gold Medal winning display of Medicinal Plants at the RHS Botanical Art Show (July 2018)

What distinguishes this book is that Sarah Jane has reconfigured the "what do you need to know to be a botanical artist" instruction book.

This is emphatically NOT a "how to paint" step by step book.
This is a book which is more suitable for all those who have acquired some skills and competence in drawing and painting - and now need to move up a gear. It's written in a conversational style which I think a lot of people will find very accessible.

Importantly, much of what she talks about

clearly comes from her academic training (she has a degree in illustration from a good art school) plus practical and in-depth experience and learning she has accumulated in her career to date - working for a wide variety of clients.
includes in-depth comment on topics often only mentioned in passing - or not covered at all - in other books written by people who are good at painting and/or drawing.

This book offers great value for money! It is very dense in terms of content - and will definitely reward more than one read. I'd expect aspiring botanical artists to reference it many times.

Chapters which impressed me included those which talked about matters which sometimes get too little attention. It's not so much she is saying anything completely novel so much as covering all the aspects that people need to think about in more depth than often happens.

Chapter 3: Materials and Equipment - particularly the technical equipment often not emphasised elsewhere
Chapter 4: The collection and choice of specimens - the chapter oddly missing from very many botanical art instruction books
Chapter 5: Drawing and the importance of sketchbooks - includes practical tips for working in the field and drawing strategies for working with specimens in the field
Chapter 6: Observation and perspective - tackles foreshortening and perspective drawing relative to shapes in nature; plus tips relating to anatomy and dissection
Chapter 7: The use of monochrome - included some sub-sections which I rarely see elsewhere - especially that relating to the use of charcoal and large-scale drawing
Chapter 9: Principles of Composition - I've written about composition elsewhere - but enjoyed her explanations of the laws and rules of composition. Again something often not explored in detail in some other books.
Chapter 11: Techniques - includes some very practical and useful advice about making digital records and framing and storing artwork
Chapter 12: Professional Practice - 29 pages, dense with practical tips about how to promote your artwork, develop your professional reputation, find clients for your work and work to a brief, price artwork and commissions, generate products from artwork and develop an online commerce store.

I'd recommend botanical artists wanting to make a career from their art to buy this book on the strength of Chapter 12 alone - about professional practice. I've not yet seen any other book which provides comprehensive cover of contemporary professional BUSINESS practice for the botanical artist and scientific illustrator - including how much time needs to be invested in a multitude of activities and the other knowledge and skills you need to learn - other than drawing and painting - in today's digital world. Success is not all down to being the best painter you can be!

I was really surprised to find that the publisher's description understates the real value of this book - within the context of what else is on offer. I suggest they have a rethink!

Incidentally, I queried with the Crowood Press why they had published two books about botanical art and illustration at more or less the same time (see yesterday's post REVIEW: Botanical Illustration - The Complete Guide by Leigh Ann Gale) - and they said they were very different books - and they were absolutely correct! Both are packed full of information and both are good but for different reasons.

I've taken a look at the ebook version - and read it using Adobe Digital Editions. I've not yet seen the Kindle version. I can confirm it's constructed as a proper ebook with the ability to navigate via the table of contents. My personal preference is for the paperback - but then I like 'proper' books!

Publication date: 11 Jun. 2018 (Launched at the RHS Botanical Art Show!)
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd; Illustrated edition
Format: Paperback: 176 pages | 429 colour illustrations
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1785004190
Retail Price: £18.99
E-Book Edition: £14.99 (incl. VAT)
Price on Amazon UK: various - around c.£14 for both paperback and Kindle
Price on Amazon.com: c.$38; Kindle $19

Note: I was sent a copy to review by the publishers, having talked to Sarah Jane about the book at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition.

About the author

Sarah Jane Humphrey is a botanical artist, a natural science illustrator, an author and a tutor. Graduated from Falmouth University with an Honours Degree in Illustration. In 2018 she was awarded a Gold Medal by the RHS for Medicinal Fruits and their symbiosis with Pollinators. She delivers workshops on Botanical Illustration in Cornwall . She is represented by the Wildlife Art Company for illustration work and has had a wide variety of clients for her illustration work.
Website: https://www.sarahjanehumphrey.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahjane.illustration/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahgalerie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahgalerie/

The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books

You can read more of my book reviews and find out which are the books I recommend in The Best Botanical Art & Illustration Instruction Books which covers:

The Society of Botanical Art Books developed for the SBA Diploma Course
Books about Botanical Art & Illustration - using Graphite and Coloured Pencils
Books about Scientific Botanical Illustration - and using pen and ink
Books by Leading British Botanical Artists & Illustrators and Educators

plus

in-depth reviews of various individual books
and seperate pages devoted to books by Billy Showell, Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan (Eden Project) and Bobbi Angell

a very small part of my book stacks!

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REVIEW: Botanical Illustration - The Complete Guide by Leigh Ann Gale

7/8/2018

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This week I'm doing brief book reviews of three recent publications about botanical art / illustration / painting.

Botanical Illustration - The Complete Guide by Leigh Ann Gale (see below)
Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey (tomorrow)
Botanical Painting by Margaret Stevens (with the SBA) (Thursday)

While you might expect them to be fairly similar, you'll note as you read the reviews that they are in fact three very different books.

Three recent publications - providing instruction in botanical art

In general, with new books, I tend to decide which gets an in-depth review or makes it on to the main page of RECOMMENDED BOOKS on my website The Best Botanical Art and Illustration Instruction Books after 6-12 months - which gives time for:

me to get hold of a copy and read it - and
you to all express your views on social media and in your own book reviews. I do take notice of what you say too!

In this instance, I've been doing a lot of reading in the last 24 hours!

Botanical Illustration - The Complete Guide

RECOMMENDED
Botanical Illustration - the Complete Guide by Leigh Ann Gale is a very thorough and well-structured manual of information about the process for producing botanical illustrations of a high quality.

It is possibly the most traditional of the books I'm reviewing. However it's also very traditional in being very thorough and well thought out. Methodical is a word which sprang to my mind - in a positive sense!

A large part of the book focuses on painting - preparing, developing and completing a watercolour painting - but it also includes sections on basic botany, other media and what follows on after a painting is completed - and also how guidance on to continue to develop your skills.

The botanical illustrations in this book are of the type found in a Florilegia rather than in the pages of scientific publications. I'd suggest this is a very relevant book for those who aspire to produce botanical paintings and illustrations for a Florilegium, given Leigh Anne's familiarity with the sort of expectations of the standards required.

Leigh Ann Gale with her painting in the RBG Sydney Florilegium Exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew (April 2018)

It's a very apt title - this is a comprehensive and COMPLETE Guide! In fact, the book is almost overflowing with content - which is the way I like books to be!

In my very firmly held view, books which are simplified too much and filled with oversized images do not impart as much knowledge or help develop learning and skills development. I'm all for those who want to dot 'i's and cross 't's when it comes to getting things right! However one of the consequences of having a lot of content in this instance is that the font size is quite small - which may not suit everybody.

The book also includes a lot of visual information / images covering different aspects of the process. The book is packed full of images - 391 in total! The illustrations are also of a very high standard and also include some by her students.

To be honest I think some of the process pics could have done with being a tad larger. This maybe suggests that a more ruthless edit might have improved the overall presentation in terms of upscaling the size of a few through the loss of some which were maybe of more minor importance. However it's not a major issue.

Speaking as an author myself, I well know the difficulties of balancing out words, images and white space on a double page spread. It's always REALLY difficult to get it right.

Writing and creating images is the easy bit.
Getting the book's structure and flow right and then editing to improve communication is the really difficult bit!
I particularly liked Leigh Ann's use of Checklists to punctuate the book and to remind people in a coherent way of "this is what I've just told you!"

What I also liked was the sense of who the author is - and of her not being hide-bound by publishers who tried to limit her too much in terms of what she was trying to achieve.

It serves to create a book which, while treading some "extremely well trod" ground, still manages to deliver a LOT of content which, in turn, I am sure will add a LOT of value to the experience of those who buy it. Not least because of the scope and extent of the content.

UK Publication date: 26th June 2018
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd; Illustrated edition
Format: Paperback: 208 pages | 391 colour images
Size: 280 x 220 mm (the largest of the three books)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1785004271
ISBN-13: 978-1785004278
Retail Price: £25
E-Book Edition: £20.00 (incl. VAT)
Amazon price (UK): various c. £18 for hardback; and £13 for Kindle
Amazon.com price (USA): $45; and $16.90 for Kindle (publication November 2018)

Note: I was sent a copy to review by the publishers.
I'm also a MAJOR fan of the Crowood Press publications which I think set a very high standard in terms of content and a refusal to "dumb down".

NOTE: I'll also be reviewing the ebook version in due course - along with the ebook version of tomorrow's instruction book from the same publishers. I'd be very interested to receive any comments from those who prefer buying their books this way.

About the author

Leigh Ann Gale has an honours degree in Graphic Design. She completed the diploma in botanical illustration at the English Gardening School, (now the Chelsea School of Botanical Art). She is a member of the Florilegium Societies for Hampton Court Palace, the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney and Nymans. Her work is held in the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation. She mentors students on botanical illustration diploma and certificate courses.

The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books

You can read more of my book reviews and find out which are the books I recommend in The Best Botanical Art & Illustration Instruction Books which covers:

The Society of Botanical Art Books developed for the SBA Diploma Course
Books about Botanical Art & Illustration - using Graphite and Coloured Pencils
Books about Scientific Botanical Illustration - and using pen and ink
Books by Leading British Botanical Artists & Illustrators and Educators

A while back - before the stacks grew....

The main problem for students of botanical art is that there is a considerable range in the quality of the content in books about botanical art.

What I'm trying to do with this website is guide readers/artists/students towards those books that I consider are written by those who:

have experience in both botanical art and teaching and
understand how best to communicate what students of botanical art 'need to know'

This section also includes In-Depth Reviews of the following books (with more to come!)

SBA Books - in-depth reviews

Books by popular botanical art tutors

Botany books for botanical artists

Botany for the Artist

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Book Review: In Ruskin's Footsteps

5/6/2018

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The catalogue for In Ruskin's Footsteps - the England and Wales contribution to the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative is considerably smaller than the last BAW book I reviewed (see Book Review: 'Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland').

That said, it is also packed full of content.

The back and front cover of the exhibition catalogue

Its creation was organised by the Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA) and supported by the Dawn Joliffe Botanical Art Bursary awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The catalogue format is an A5 sized paperback with a glossy and very colourful cover.
Within that cover there are 64 pages which comprise:
Committee and Judges

details of those who sat on the Association of British Botanical Artists Committee that organised the exhibition and associated events
the names and credentials of those who acted as jurors for this open exhibition

Background:

an explanation of the purpose of the exhibition together with background about of ABBA - which was created to organise the exhibition for artists living in England and Wales
a very brief summary of Native Plants in England and Wales and some examples. I thought it unfortunate that this omitted the precise meaning of "native indigenous plants" and exactly how these vary from those that grow in the country now - after very many imports of plants from overseas. It assumes people know and yet visitors may well be people who are not botanists or botanical artists and/or do not NOT properly understand the terms 'native' or 'indigenous' within the context of plant life - and consequently why this exhibition is different from other exhibitions they may have seen.
the role of the Peter Scott Gallery within Lancaster University - and an explanation of the connection between the name of the exhibition and the venue as a home for the work of Ruskin.
statements about Partnership conservation organisations

A page about the Plant - Example is March helleborine painted by Claire Kathleen Ward

Plants

Wvery artwork is given one A5 page for an image, name of the plant in terms of latin and common name and the name of the artist and the media used - plus an explanation about the painting
Overall, the quality of the image reproduction is very good but I was left wanting bigger images. The images are not untypical of many small catalogues (i.e. typically around 4x3inches). The quality of the scanning and printing appears to have captured a lot of detail.
The text is the artist's explanation of the plant. The voice of each artist is clear and present and each talk about similar points e.g. reasons for choosing the plant, how they sourced it and what is known about it in terms of its habit and uses past and present. However I tended to very much prefer the text of those like Kew illustrator Christobel King who focus on the plant alone and the challenges it presents for presentation and how she tackled this in her artwork
(Note: The website also provides images of the artwork)

Artists Profiles

each artist gets a profile. I'm afraid with my 'adviser on artist statements' hat on I dearly wanted to edit some of the profiles. I felt this was a section which would have benefited from an edit to make it much more succinct when read as a whole.
While it was good to see the domain names of the artists websites included, they weren't obvious and I'd have liked to have seen these more easily (eg underlined or italicised maybe)

End Pages

the end pages provide a good visual insight into some of the kit and working processes of botanical artists in terms of studies done prior to the final work. It was good to see the sketchbook work and the notes.

In my desire for bigger images, I did try working out whether this might have been possible. It occurred to me that maybe a landscape format in A5 might have worked better in terms of enlarging images and constraining the number of words allowed,

Distribution
Very sensibly ABBA has decided to sell the catalogue around the world. I know a lot of botanical artists and organisations involved with the Botanical Worldwide initiative are very keen to see what other people have produced - and it's great to see an organisation that is making this possible. I suspect the size of the catalogue was determined in part by the need to make postage easier and I commend ABBA for doing this.

It's very nice to have large books but they can cost a lot to send as well as produce. In this case keeping the publication compact makes the price more reasonable. I particularly liked the fact that the price includes all postage and packing so you know straight away when looking at prices what buying a copy is going to cost you. In terms of pricing, I suggest you click the links as the catalogue has three different prices depending on whether you are located in the UK, Europe or the rest of the world. There's also a discount for buying more than one copy.

Conclusion
In summary, the catalogue is a little slow in 'arriving' in terms of its content. In essence the catalogue content is the wrong way round.

For the visitor who knows nothing about the background to the exhibition, what they need from this particular exhibition catalogue is a very brief introduction about 'Botanical Art Worldwide', the reason for the focus on native and indigenous plants - with an explanation of what these are - and a brief explanation about the exhibition title. Followed by the explanation about the artwork, plants and artists up front. The rest is interesting - but is not what the exhibition is primarily about.

Naturally for a one-off exhibition like this, I recognise that it's important to create a record of the 'workings' i.e. how it came about, who was involved and who did what in terms of both people and organisations. However this is a historical record and in my opinion, the explanations about the Committee and Judges and the organisations that were involved and supported could have come at the end and not lost any value as a record - while very much enhancing the exhibition experience via the catalogue for visitors - and for those buying the catalogue even if they have not seen the exhibition.

Special event 9th June 2018

There is to be a second special event at the Peter Scott Gallery on the 9th June. No booking is required and all events are free entry. The events are:

11am – 12 noon - a tour of the exhibition by Martin Allen who works in native plant conservation and is also an RHS Gold Medal winning botanical artist.
2pm – 3pm and will be led by Sarah Morrish. The theme of the talk is ‘Fieldwork and Research Techniques for Botanical Art’. This will give aspiring and more experienced botanical artists an overview of how best work to in the field and how you can then research your subject further, through direct investigation of the subject and additional research techniques - from botany to paper. Sarah's working background is in ecology / conservation and she is an experienced tutor, botanical and natural science artist.

Book reviews of other exhibition catalogues

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Book Review: 'Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland'

30/5/2018

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The Irish Society of Botanical Artists organised the Irish exhibition Botanical Art Worldwide – Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland. This was held at the National Botanic Gardens, 9 Glasnevin Hill in Dublin between 6-27 May 2018.

However the exhibition lives on in its catalogue and for all of us who were unable to get to the exhibition, this is a wonderful document to have for all sorts of reasons.

This is a review of that book Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland in which I endeavour the count the ways in which it is VERY IMPRESSIVE!

I don't often rave about a book - but this is one of those occasions!

No small achievement

I've been impressed with the way that the Irish Society of Botanical Artists - which was formed just over four years ago, in March 2014, has produced a book for every one of its three exhibitions to date.

Maybe that's because they have regarded each exhibition and each book as the outcome of a very specific project. What is even more laudable is that every project has focused on Irish plants

Aibítir: The Irish Alphabet in Botanical Art - focused on illustrating the variety of plant forms and habitats in native plants on the whole island of Ireland. The project used the Celtic uncial script as a structure on which to 'hang' the plants. The first book was small - but perfectly formed - and it sits on my bookshelves!
Plandaí Oidhreachta - Heritage Irish Plants - the second project celebrated the the wealth of good Irish Garden Plants within the context of botanical illustration.
Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland - the third project is intended as a celebration of Irish Native Plants

The Plants and the Botanical Art

One of the double page spreads in the book - and one of my favourites. The plant is Pinguicula gradiflora and the painting is by Holly Somerville

Every single plant in the exhibition has:

at least a single (large) page to itself - while some enjoy a double page spread
the latin name, the common name, the Celtic name and the Genus and family
the name of the artist
the story of the plant - which includes where the plant was found, what the name means - in terms for example of history or habitat or growth features. Plus a detailed description of the botanical features of importance and finally any interesting facts or stories associated with the plant
the image of the botanical art. Some also have a photo of the plant and/or an enlargement of part of the plant of interest - such as the flowers of the Sundew.

What impresses me about the ISBA projects is that they are "rooted" literally and metaphorically in the plants and the botany and getting to know the plant each artist is painting. It's a marvellous practice and an excellent standard for a botanical art society to set as a challenge to members wanting to participate in its projects.

I'd go so far as to say it is a practice I'd commend to other botanical art societies. From a standing start in 2014 ISBA have well and truly demonstrated what can be accomplished - and this book is the evidence of that.

In terms of the botanical art - the standard is excellent and I think some excellent decisions were made as to which merited a double page spread.

Not just about Ireland!

The aspect I was really surprised about is that every other exhibition has also contributed to the book. That means for me it's much more like a celebration of the complete initiative and global excellence in terms of botanical art.

One full page is devoted to each country and includes an image from the exhibition - all of which are excellent and some of which are simply STUNNING!

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Book Review: The Illustrated College Herbal. Plants from the Pharmacopoea Londinensis of 1618

11/5/2018

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Today sees the book launch of The Illustrated College Herbal: Plants from the Pharmacopoea Londinensis of 1618 at the Royal College of Physicians. I'll be there this afternoon!

This new illustrated herbal features watercolour paintings and woodcuts of nearly 200 plants from the Pharmacopoea Londinensis beds in the RCP’s Medicinal Garden at its home on the edge of Regent's Park.

The book has an interesting history and this book review precedes comments on its contents with a short history of its antecedents and the reasons why it has been published this year.

I recommend this book to all those interested in the history of medicinal plants and herbals in particular. In addition to the high quality content and production it also contains a lot of information about the plants identified for medicinal use

The Pharmacopoea Londinensis (1618) and the Royal College of Physicians

Title Page of the Pharmacopoea Londinensis 1618

The Pharmacopoea Londinensis was Britain’s first Pharmacopoeia. That is, an official publication containing a list of medicinal drugs with their effects and directions for their use. It was first published in 1618. (You can read a digital copy on the Wellcome Library website). It contained:

430 compound medicines
a list of the plants, minerals and animal ingredients which were used to make them
of the 774 ingredients listed, 634 are plants and 140 are minerals or animal products.

The aim of publishing this new Pharmacopoeia was to provide the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries, newly formed in November 1617, with a standard set of guidelines on the formulation and administration of medicines and was intended for use across the kingdom.

The Royal College of Physicians is an older institution and was founded in 1518. In 2018 it celebrates its 500th anniversary; marked in February by an official visit by HM The Queen and the publication of a modern day RCP500 charter.

The publication of the Illustrated College Herbal in turn marks:

the 500th anniversary of the Royal College of Physicians
the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Pharmacopoea Londinensis by the College.

About The Illustrated College Herbal

Tamus communis (Bryonia) by Beth Phillip

This book results from a collaboration between:

the Garden Fellows of the RCP
the Gardeners who look after the Medicinal Garden - where about 200 plants listed in the Pharmacopoea Londinensis are now grown.
the botanical artists and illustrators commissioned to contribute to the book - who were mainly members of the Chelsea Physic Florilegium Society (founded 1995), the Hampton Court Florilegium Society (founded 2004) and others.

The book has been created by Jane Knowles (Head Gardener) and Henry Oakeley FRCP (Garden Fellow) who wrote the text. Gillian Barlow (artist in residence at the Medicinal Garden in 2012-13) commissioned the paintings - and created the painting for the front cover. Naturally a lot of people also contributed to the creation of the book - not least the botanical artists

The contents include:

a preface regarding the reason for its production
a brief history of the Pharmacopoea Londinensis
Illustrations and brief details of the plants currently grown in the Medicinal Garden which were included in the original herbal
a Glossary of long forgotten medical terms
a Catalogus Simplicium - which matches the name in the Pharmacopoea Londinensis with the Current name - according to the way they were listed in the former eg Roots; Barks and Peels; Woods; Herbs; Flowers etc
an Artist's Directory - which includes with a mini profile of both career and contact details which was very gratifying to see! I'd like to see this happening more in books about botanical art where the art has been donated.
Bibliography - which provides a great list for those researching Herbals from the past! (Although I was a little surprised not to see the seminal works about Herbals by Arber, Blunt and Rohde on the list)

The one thing that's missing is an Index or a cross-reference from artist profile to pages on which their artwork appears. It's only after a while it dawned on me that artists other than Gillian Barlow had made a significant contribution - although I'm guessing this in part relates to which of the artists have also been previous artists in residence e.g. Mayumi Hashi in 2010.

Next more detailed comments on my real interest - the illustrations!

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Book Review: Tulipa Tulipae - El tulipan ilustrado

2/5/2018

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Tulipa Tulipae - El tulipa ilustrado (Tulipa, Tulipae - the illustated tulip) is a book about botanical art relating to tulips.

It's also the catalogue (in Spanish) for an exhibition at the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid which is all about how tulips have been represented by botanical art from the 600 years - by botanical artists past and present.

Fortunately for those of us who don't read Spanish it also has an English translation at the end - which is very welcome for a book which is a jolly good read. I've learned a few things while reading it.

The Cover of Tulipa Tulipae

The Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid has joined forces with the oldest botanical art society in the world, the Society of Botanical Artists to develop a comprehensive exhibition about the botanical art of tulips covering 89 different varieties.

The objective of the exhibition is to show the distinct botanical aspects of the tulip - in terms of its anatomy, taxonomy and classification groups of the genus Tulipa - alongside exhibitions which demonstrate how the tulip has evolved in terms of botanical art over time.

It comprises:

an historical overview of the tulip in various important botanical art publications
an exhibition of contemporary plant portraits of a wide variety of tulips by members of the Society of Botanical Artists

The exhibition is in the at Villanueave Pavilion in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid until 20 May. However the tulip paintings will live on in this book for a long time afterwards.

Unusually for a catalogue of an art exhibition, Tulipa Tulipae is both comprehensive and a jolly good read - if you like botanical art history as I do.

I learned about

why it is called a tulip
the geographical travels of the tulip bulbs
who identified the genus Tulipa
the number of original wild tulips (somewhere between 78 and 150) and the number of hybrids and cultivars today (c.5,000)
the fact that there are 15 different classification groups within the genus
the curious stories associated with the bubble known as Tulipomania which gripped the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age
which books have featured tulips in the past
how the image and portrayal of the tulip has evolved over time

The book has been written by

Marta Chirino Argenta, a botanical artist and scientific illustrator for the Royal Botanical Garden-CSIC (Madrid) and other institutions; and
Esther García Guillén, curator of collections at the Royal Botanical Garden-CSI.

The book covers

Introductions to the garden, the exhibition and the SBA by the Garden's Director Jesús Muñoz and Sandra Armitage, Director of the Society of Botanical Artists
examples of drawings, fine art prints and paintings from the archives of the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
images of contemporary botanical portraits of a variety of tulips by members of the Society of Botanical Artists
Various articles covering the development of the tulip and the associated development of botanical art and illustration associated with the tulip

It also includes:

short biographies of all the participating artists (in both Spanish and English) - covering their art education and achievements to date
an index of works
a bibliography

In terms of the artists whose work is included, first of all I'd like to say it is wonderful to be able to see the entire exhibition from my home in London.

The paintings I particularly liked included:

some wonderful individual paintings by Janet Pope, Ros Franklin, Billy Showell, Sue J Williams, Marion Perkins and Penny Brown
an amazing contribution in terms of number of paintings by Susan Christopher-Coulson

I only have one small gripe about the book - and that is the English Translation is at the back and hence the words that go with the images are not next to them. It's OK for the most part. However I personally would have preferred to have what I think of as the Taschen version i.e. two columns of text on each page - for the two languages - and then images opposite. That's the way it works for the biographies and it would have been a really super book if it had been like that throughout.

In terms of getting hold of the book it's available

at the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
in the online store
it's available on Amazon - but not for shipping to the UK

I also understand that the Society of Botanical Artists are trying to make arrangements for it to be available in the UK - although I'm not sure what's happening on this (but I'll update when I find out)

Hopefully in future we can get the various Botanical Gardens collaborating so they can each supply the books by the others! They already have so many existing connections - it would be good if their various publishers and stores could also collaborate! :)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - for anybody who likes tulips and art history. I'm one such so for me it's just perfect!

Longer term, I can only recommend that more botanical art societies do projects like this and become involved in the creation of books which record the output of their members. Exhibitions are wonderful to visit - but you can keep coming back to a favourite book.

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The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books - UPDATED

13/9/2017

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The Best Botanical Art and Illustration Instruction Books is the section on my website which I've devoted to developing a guide to the best instruction / "how to" books available for students and practitioners of botanical art and illustration.

There's an awful lot of books out there.

Some are well known. Others are not.
There are brand new books available at a bargain and out of print books which can only be obtained second hand at a very significant cost
Some new books have overtaken old standards.
Some older books still hold up well against newer ones that challenge their reputation.
Different books will interest different folks.

I hope you'll find my guide useful. Maybe bookmark it for later - or even link to it?

There's more below explaining how this guide to the best instruction books for botanical art and illustration actually works.

A guide to the best "how to" books for creating botanical art and illustration for students of botanical art and and those wishing to develop their knowledge and skills

What does this guide have to offer?

What I've tried to do is:

identify all the main books worth taking a look at - but I've not finished yet.
group these into areas of specific interest (see below)
provide in-depth reviews for some of the books - but I've got more to do!

As a guide I've also included the average ratings out of 5 stars for each book (in the UK and USA). Plus a guide to how to interpret these ratings as they are various factors - detailed in my guide - that influence how many ratings a book has got to date.

Some of my "how to" instruction books

These are the sections on the main page

The Society of Botanical Art Books developed by Margaret Stevens for the Diploma Course students. The three main ones each also have a detailed review on a seperate page - just click the teal coloured button to access this.
Books about botanical art and illustration - using Graphite and Coloured Pencils - four books by Ann Swan, Wendy Hollander, Sue Vize and Katie Lee
Books about Scientific Illustration - and using pen and ink - including the book considered to be the scientific illustration bible; the first book about botanical illustration ever published by Kew - which sets out how to draw for Curtis's and an old but very comprehensive and authoritative handbook
Books by leading Botanical Artists and Educators - including books by Anne-Marie Evans and Coral Guest
Books by Billy Showell - see dedicated page
Books By Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan (the Eden Project) - see dedicated page
Books about Botanical Painting in Goauche

I've still to develop sections for books by American Artists and Australian Artists (not otherwise included above).

These are the books or groups of books with a dedicated seperate page
for more detailed reviews

The Art of Botanical Painting by Margaret Stevens
The Botanical Palette by Margaret Stevens
Botanical Sketchbook by Mary Ann Scott and Margaret Stevens
Books by Billy Showell - four very popular books of relevance to botanical artists
Books with the Eden Project (Martin & Thurstan)
Botanical Illustration (Oxley) by Valerie Oxley
Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils by Ann Swan
Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet (also see note below re. botany books)

The Best Botany Books for Botanical Artists and Illustrators can be found in the Botany section of the website. These are books written specifically to help educate artists about botany and include:

Understanding the Flowering Plants: A Practical Guide for Botanical Illustrators by Anne Bebington
Botany for Artists by Lizbeth Leech
A Botanist's Vocabulary by Susan K. Pell and Bobbi Angell

Some of my 'botany for artists' and botanical illustration books

More Books

Books also relevant to those wanting to learn more about botanical art and illustration can also be found in The Best Books about Botanical Art History, Artists & Illustrators.

Besides the dedicated pages, I've also included books about botanical art and illustration - including "how to" books - with appropriate related content on various pages of my website.

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