Brazilian scientific illustrator Natanael Nascimento has won the Margaret Flockton Award 2018. 

​This Award and Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is very prestigious and attracts submissions from scientific botanical illustrators from all over the world - as demonstrated by the prizewinners below.

This is very much an award for the professional botanical illustrator since it is very much focused on the plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

What happens is that illustrators from around the world

• digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
• i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
• that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
• with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

It's a VERY big weekend for celebrating botanical art exhibited in botanical gardens!
One botanical art exhibition opens today Friday 30th March and three open tomorrow, Saturday 31 March. These are listed below by location and venue. 

​The first two exhibitions are associated with the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative and are at

• the Auckland Botanic Gardens in New Zealand and
• the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland respectively.

Plus there are two exhibitions opening at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew - one of which has come all the way to Kew from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia! (Plus a further exhibition about the refurbished Temperate House which is relevant to both the botanical art exhibitions)

Exhibition​: Flora Scotia

• Venue: John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
• Dates: 31st March - 3rd June 2018

​​Selected artworks: See my blog post Selected Scottish artists for 'Flora Scotia' (Botanical Art Worldwide #5)

DO READ: There are a number of splendid stories about how the plants were chosen and painted by the different artists on the Scottish Botanical Art Collective website.

All three exhibitions relate to Australian flora and can be seen in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Tulipa Tulipae opened yesterday in the Villanueva Pavilion at the Real Jardín Botánico (RJB) in Madrid. The exhibition comprises:

• a review of the techniques used for drawing, painting and printing tulips over the centuries - drawing on the archives and library of the RJB and drawing with images of the RJB Archive and Library
• 85 original artworks portraying a variety of tulips by 47 botanical artist members of The Society of Botanical Artists.
• the blooms of 21,000 bulbs that have been planted at the entrance of the Botanical Garden, in the Terrace of Paintings.

The exhibition continues until the 20 May 2018. Opening hours vary by month. 

​You can see a video of a television segment on the local news about the exhibition - which includes an interview with Marta Chirino who has organised the exhibition and contains views of the exhibition.

There is a rather wonderful catalogue in Spanish and English and I hope to be able to find out more about how this will become accessible and/or available in the next few days.

I've been promised some pics from exhibition after the excitement of the launch activities - so there'll be another blog post

There are also a wide range of educational and outreach activities, including workshops, guided tours and live demonstrations during the next two months.

Some of the activities are art-related. For the student of botanical illustration these include:

• Botanical watercolor illustration with Diane Sutherland 12 - April 14, 2018
• Botanical illustration with gouache and watercolor on dark background Shevaun Doherty 19 - 21 April 2018
• Botanical drawing course Marta Chirino 3 - 5 May 2018
• Children's workshop: We draw a flower 6 - 16 years old Marta Chirino May 13 2018

​There are also a couple of opportunities to meet some of the artists participating in the show.

• Meet the artist: Shevaun Doherty and Marta Chirino April 22, 2018
• Meet the artist: Sylvia Balch, Christine Flintham, Pamela Taylor and Marta Chirino29 April 2018

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 The judges have chosen paintings of 48 native plants - indigenous to Ireland - painted by 43 artists for the upcoming Éireannach exhibition organised by the Irish Society of Botanical Artists - and part of the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative taking place in May 2018. (For more details of this initiative see the note at the end of this post)

The names of artists whose work has been selected are listed below along with the names of the plant they have illustrated in terms of:

• the English common name
• the Latin name
• the Gaeilge Planda

The images included are scanned and cropped from the artists' paintings and are provided with their permission. Many thanks to the ISBA for their co-operation with this blog post.  

In addition

• the website of the artist is embedded in the name (if available)
• a short profile is provided (if available online). 
• Botanical artists who also contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition are indicated by an asterisk *

Exhibition details are as follows:

• Venue: National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland 
• Dates: May 5 @ 10:00 am - May 27 @ 5:00 pm
• Admission: Free

An open day is being held on the 18th May which will feature painting demos, a ‘tour’ of the wildflower paintings by Zoe Devlin, renowned wildflower expert and the mentor for the Irish project, and a chance to meet the participating artists.

The Steering Committee for the exhibition comprise: Zoë Devlin, Yanny Petters, Jane Stark and Lynn Stringer. They have received assistance from a number of the other participating artists.

Hazel Beehan

• Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre, Feochadán corraigh

Janet Bockett *

• Marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris Lus Buí Bealtaine

Developed a strong appreciation of the natural world as a child and was encouraged to paint plants. More recently and since retirement, has been inspired by the botanical art of Patricia Jorgensen and has pursued her studies with her. Contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition.

Fionnuala Broughan *

• Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, Sceach gheal

Background in botany and geology and writing about nature. Fionnuala began drawing plants, trees in recent times.

Ann Burn

• Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa, Lus na gaoithe

Heather Byers

• Cowslip, Primula veris, Bainne bó bleachtáin

Contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition.

Marcella Campbell

• Great Willowherb, Epilobium hirsutum, Lus na Tríonóide

Michael Campbell *

• Bloody Crane's-bill Geranium versicolor Crobh stríocach

BFA (1976) Southern Illinois University. Certificate and Diploma in Botanical Art from the School of Botanical Art at Denver Botanic Garden. Participated in a number of botanical exhibitions in the USA. Member of the Irish Watercolour Society and the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society

Giulia Canevari (Facebook)

• Hazel Corylus avellana Coll

Born in 1986 in Milan. Diploma in Illustration and Multimedia Animation, IED Milano and subsequently worked as a graphic designer. Came to Ireland in 2012; based in Dublin and inspired by nature, environment and ecology. Studied botanical art with leading Irish botanical artists in recent years. Involved with NCAD Community Garden in Dublin 8 

Grainne Carr

• Elder Sambucus nigra Trom

Betty Christie *

• Wild Carrot Daucus carota Mealbhacán

Graduated with First Class Honours from the Belfast College of Art and Design in 1975, followed by an Art Teachers’ Diploma in 1976. Taught art. Lived in Belfast for over 40 years, but her work is still influenced by her rural upbringing, in Limavady, Co Derry. Also a member of the Arts’ Society of Ulster, the Pastel Society of Ireland, the Water Colour Society of Ireland, the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club. Exhibited extensively and internationally and won many awards for her art.

Janet Colgan *

• Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia Lus an dá phingin
• Navelwort Umbilicus rupestris Cornán caisil

Jo Cummins (Facebook)

• Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris Lus an sparáin

Diane Davison

• Ash Fraxinus excelsior Fuinseog

Sally de Bromhead

• Red Clover Trifolium pratense Seamair dhearg

Marie de Lacy Clancy

• Crab Apple Malus sylvestris Crann fia-úll

Mary Dillon *

• Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum Féithleann

Diploma with Distinction, Society of Botanical Artists, 2014. Founding Chairperson of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists 2014. Elected member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland. Elected Associate Member of the Society of Botanical Artists, UK. Has exhibited her botanical art internationally, most recently in San Francisco, Madrid, Frankfurt and London. Teaches botanical art. Awarded Gold Medal and Best in Show in Botanical and Floral Art at Bloom, Dublin, 2016, and a Gold at Bloom, 2017.

Shevaun Doherty * (Facebook)

• Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra Mínscoth

Diploma with Distinction, Society of Botanical Artists 2012. Works as a Botanical Artist, Natural History Illustrator and Art Tutor. Founder member of ‘The Irish Society of Botanical Artists. Also a full member of the Society of Botanical Artists and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Has exhibited her botanical art in Ireland UK, Egypt and at the Botanic Gardens in Frankfurt and Madrid. Taught internationally including a workshop at the American Society of Botanical Artists National Conference. Designed the cover image and logo for The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. Won Gold Medals for her botanical artwork on vellum in the Botanical category at Bloom Botanical Art in Dublin (2014, 2015, 2016). Won Gold Medal and Best Painting in Show (Botanical category) at Bloom 2017.

Noeleen Frain *

• Ragged Robin Silene flos-cuculi Lus síoda
• Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis Magairlín na stuaice

An Irish artist and Calligrapher based in Dublin covering a wide variety of subject matter.