NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

NEW PAGE: About eBooks and digital guides to instruction in Botanical Art and Illustration

11/10/2021

One of the benefits of the last 18 months is how the constraints on face to face instruction have stimulated very many people to embrace "the digital dark side" - and find new digital ways of providing instruction - and learning - about Botanical Art and Illustration - without face to face interaction.

Lots of people are now familiar with seeing demonstrations via their screens and receiving online instruction or listening to Talks via Zoom (or similar).

It was perhaps inevitable that there would also be developments in how instruction could be delivered in digital format as a book or guide.

...and so my website now includes a NEW PAGE about e-Books, e-Booklets and Digital Guides
about Botanical Art and Illustration i.e. publications which are delivered online via the internet direct to your digital device. You can find it at https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/best-botanical-art-instruction-ebooks-and-pdfs.html and you can see it below.

a NEW PAGE about e-books, e-booklets and digital guide providing instruction in botanical art and illustration

What my NEW WEB PAGE aims to do is LIST and REVIEW the following:

e-booklets / downloadable digital guides relevant to botanical art and illustration i.e. anything shorter than a book which is:
- available as a PDF or an e-Book format
- can be read easily on a digital device
e-Books of existing print publications for botanical artists - available as digital download e.g, via Kindle. These can
- EITHER use e-book technology to be properly responsive to different sized screens and aid reading and navigation
- OR just be a digital replica of a printed book - with no e-book technology used

The page is not about providing a review of the content of ebooks per se. It's more about:

highlighting what's available and
commenting on how guide, ebooks and booklets read on a mobile device - such as a tablet/iPad or smartphone - or a computer screen.

e-Booklets and downloadable digital Guides

I'm limiting the section to digital publications that are available to everybody i.e. you don't have to sign up for a course to access them.

Rogerio Lupo led the way some time ago with his FREE TO DOWNLOAD PdF Guide to Graphite for Scientific Illustrations. This was produced in Portuguese and then translated into English and checked over by Bobbi Angell prior to being made available via Slideshare.

Margaret Best has now taken up the baton and has a brand new offering. She has started to convert her various Workshop Guides for her 'face to face' students into downloadable e-booklets - for anybody anywhere.

The booklets are a major feature of her new instruction focused website Botanical Art Education with Margaret Best
Her highly focused and very specific e-booklets are based on Guides originally produced for her 'face to face' students.
They are designed for those wanting tuition in botanical art and illustration - in both watercolour and coloured pencils.
Think of them as being rather like a major topic section in an art instruction book...

She has produced four to date - with many more on the way.
Her e-booklets are reasonably priced - and I gather they're selling like hotcakes!

PS Happy Birthday Margaret!

Have you produced an eBook or digital Guide?

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RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show - Pros, Cons and the Future

1/10/2021

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This is my final round-up of the RHS London Botanical Art and & Photography Show 2021 and some pondering on the pros and cons of this year's change of venue and staging. Plus
further thoughts on what I'd like see in 2022 and beyond in relation to:

Change of venue
Selection of exhibits
Horticulture & Botany
Presentation
Narrative & labels
Sales
Where to go from here?

Previous blog posts include:

Gallery 1 of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery

The first really big bonus was that at least we got a show this year, after the very sad cancellation of last year's show.

MANY THANKS and cheers for the effort must go to the Picture Committee, RHS staff and the Show Team for finding a venue and making it happen - in the context of the total unknown of how many more lockdowns we would have! Bear in mind many of these people have been on furlough and/or working from home for much of the time since the start of first lockdown in March 2020! So very done on pulling it off.

It's also good the the exhibition organisers thought about the implications of the exhibitor not being able to travel in person and consequently reorganised how the show worked and was hung to take account of this. On the whole this was probably the best compromise - and some of my 'gritty' comments relate to execution rather what very much seems like the best option in a difficult situation.

It was indeed very evident that a LOT of botanical artists and illustrators had pulled out from exhibiting.

A show all about scale. Firstly, the scale of the problem, two years delayed by the pandemic. This would normally be almost 600 works. The final tally came in at only 205. Now a new question of scale 91 botanical art works in two large rooms and 114 photographs in one room.

Quotations come direct from exhibitors or former exhibitors and/or people who have seen the Show. I'm very grateful for the feedback I've had - whether or not included in this post - as it has helped me write this post.

2021 Show - Pros & Cons

CHANGE OF VENUE - Pros & Cons

The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea

PROS

The show moved from the RHS Lindley Hall in Victoria (great for connections to all the train stations) to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. The venue, while not in central London, was relatively easy to access by public transport.
People commented on how the show looked like a proper art exhibition in a proper art gallery - and I guess this is what the aim was.
For all those who like their viewing art in almost complete silence, it was a VERY quiet environment.

CONS

A Show in its own right?
- Others have suggested, and I agree, that by locating the Show in Chelsea at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show, this effectively made it subservient to the main event - and a bit of a sideshow.
- I don't think this ought to be the aim for this show. It's not an "add on". Given the numbers it has attracted in the past - without any other show running at the same time - it's already proved that it has become an important event in its own right (at least on the art side).
The light in the Galleries was absolutely awful in my opinion. Everything in the exhibition seemed very subdued.
- Exhibits were hung on light grey walls above a light grey floor and lit by lighting which was masked - but the luminance levels were far too low in every gallery. This then reduced the contrast and subdued all the colours and tones in the artwork and photos. Not quite a "grey show" but definitely heading in that direction.
- When I got my photos home and looked at them in Levels I couldn't quite believe just how much lightness and brightness was missing. I've photographed in art galleries all over London and this was the worst experience I've had for a very long time. (NOTE: None of the photos in my blog posts have been posted as taken - they'd just have looked very, very grey)
- The reality is that no artwork which is watercolour on paper is going to get hurt by two weeks in a decently lit gallery. We ought to be assuming that artists exhibiting at exhibitions like this are aware of archival issues and use lightfast paints.
As I found out, I don't think a lot of thought was given by the Gallery to disabled access - and none to proper signposting for those of us who have problems with changes in levels.

What I'd like to see in 2022 and beyond

I'd very much like to see

a return to a two day Winter Show - in February - in the RHS Lindley Hall when there's minimal competition for people's time and it's "offseason" for transport and accommodation
a two day show permits people to find the time to fly in to be with their exhibit. Which means visitors get to meet the artists who produce the work
the Lindley Hall is a venue which is even better for people who have long journeys.

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Review: RHS London Botanical Art Show

26/9/2021

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I visited the RHS London Botanical Art and Photography Show last week. It felt very odd to be visiting some four days after it opened when I'm normally be there from preview night to chucking out time on the second day of the exhibition in the Lindley Hall.

However the exhibition was cancelled in 2020. It then became clear that the 2021 exhibition might not be held as planned - and a decision was taken to move it to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea so it was held at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show nearby - which was being held much later in the year - in September instead of May.

I'm going to comment more about the changes in the exhibition and implications for both the art and photography show in the next post.

I've also written about:

the RHS Botanical Art Awards 2021
my Review: The RHS Botanical Photography Show AND
the Highgrove Florilegium Show - also held at the same time as the RHS Chelsea Show. See my blog post The Highgrove Florilegium on splendid display in Chelsea. I also saw this on Tuesday at The Garrison (Guards) Chapel, Chelsea Barracks (link to location on Google Maps)

THIS POST focuses on the 15 exhibits in the exhibition and my thoughts on them and their characteristics that earn them different coloured medals.

Four paintings from Francesca Ross's excellent Gold Medal winning exhibit of the development of the flower and fruits of Tomatoes

Facts about the RHS Botanical Art Show in London

First some facts.....

What's the same as usual

All exhibitors have applied to the Royal Horticultural Society to exhibit after

either a selection process to get approval to exhibit
or previously winning a medal in an exhibition.

Artists then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. You can read more about this on my page dedicated to RHS Botanical Art Shows.

Medals awarded for the artwork hung in the show are determined by a Panel of Judges (see #5 How botanical artwork is judged at the RHS Show on my dedicated page) who comprise experienced botanical artists, botanists and/or horticulturalists and RHS officers who aim to moderate standards across the RHS as a whole. I've known an artist in the past who found her exhibit being judged by a panel which included the UK's leading horticultural expert on her plant!

There are four types of Royal Horticultural Society Medal available for awards to exhibits. These are: Gold; Silver-Gilt; Silver and Bronze. It's not unknown for no award to be made - as has happened this year.

In general it is assumed that those approved to exhibit are ALL capable of submitting an exhibit which could at least win a silver medal.

When judging, exhibits of groups of drawings or paintings are assessed first and foremost as botanical illustration i.e. NOT just 'nice paintings of flowers'.

What you need to know about why this exhibition is different

Gallery 1 of the RHS Botanical Art Show at the Saatchi Gallery

This year there has been

a change of venue - from the RHS Lindley Hall to the Saatchi Gallery
a change of process for presenting the exhibit and hanging the show. This was based on the fact that a number of exhibitors might not be able to travel. So the Saatchi Gallery have organised framing and text label and the hang - which has not been without problems. I'll comment more on this tomorrow.
the dates of the exhibition have been extended. It's now open for three weeks until Saturday 9th October 2021

However.....

All aspects of the the display are considered, including the technical skill of the artist, the botanical and horticultural content of the picture and the nature and scale of the project as a whole. Only an artist who has excelled in all areas is awarded a Gold Medal.
Panel explaining the process in the exhibition

So, in effect, the scaled marking system for the exhibits MUST have changed this year since artists did not have control over or the final say on

how their exhibit was presented and hung and
what words accompanied it.

Of which more in the next post.

A Commentary (Part 3)

Exhibits which impressed me

Exhibits can impress at different levels:

as a unique exhibit of a type not presented before;
from a distance OR up close and with a magnifier out AND/OR both!
the content from a botanical or horticultural perspective;
the ambition of the project;
innovation e.g. new plant, new way of presenting a plant in artwork;
when you find out about the background to the exhibit - and the years / work which has gone into it.

In this instance, this last aspect will receive further comment in my final post due to the extraordinarily BRIEF narrative accompanying each exhibit. Background to an exhibit was noticeable by its almost complete and total absence.

How easy it is to tell what is an RHS Gold Medal exhibit?

ALL the Gold Medal winning exhibits stood out from the rest. Some of the reasons are:

Mainly due to the amount of botanical / horticultural content - matched by excellent artistic skills.
They also often read well as a project on the wall (i.e. never ever lose sight of what your exhibit looks like as a whole).
It's not uncommon for them to include a lot of leaves which have NOT been painted in a formulaic way using only one or two greens!

The way to develop an eye for an RHS Gold medal winning exhibit is to look at them without knowledge of the medal result - and try and work it out for yourself.

What I normally like to do when reviewing exhibits at the Preview (in the Lindley Hall) before medals have been announced (in the normal way of things) is to try and second guess which exhibits will get a Gold. My track record is about 90% correct. This time I knew some of the results before I visited the exhibition. Nevertheless I stood in the middle of the two galleries and looked around at the exhibits - without looking at the medal certificates. What proved to be very interesting this year was working out why some very impressive Silver Gilt exhibits had NOT got a Gold Medal.

RHS GOLD MEDAL EXHIBITS

Kimiko Miyahara's exhibit Endemic Plants of Japan's Ogasawara Islands, A Unesco World Heritage Site (below) was simply stunning and very worthy of a Gold Medal and the Best Botanical Art Exhibit.

She has painted six different plants in one location - thus portraying habitat / flora in the traditional botanical sense of some of the greats of the past. A number of her paintings are also identified as vulnerable on International Red Lists - so each is a botanical record in the tradition of the best botanical art i.e. creating a record of a plant which is rare or might disappear.

Her paintings are hugely complex and are also positively stuffed full of detail - but still read extremely well - see one example below. They are, for me, the type of painting which you can spend a very long time looking at.

I also really liked her somewhat stylised way of painting. I've no problems whatsoever with style so long as the painting is botanically accurate.

RHS BEST BOTANICAL ART EXHIBIT AND GOLD MEDAL: 'Endemic Plants of Japan's Ogasawara Islands, A Unesco World Heritage Site' by Kimiko Miyahara

Part of RHS Gold Medal Exhibit by Kimiko Miyahara "Clinostigma savoryanum" (Rehd. et Wills) Moore et Fosberg IUCN Red List (Vulnerable) August 2018 Watercolour on paper

When I think back to the 2021 exhibition in years to come, I think the exhibit that I will remember most - and in some detail is Francesca Ross's exhibit Tomatoes: Flower and Fruit Development.

RHS GOLD MEDAL: "Tomatoes: Flower and Fruit Development" by Francesca Ross

It' a unique exhibit - I don't think I've ever seen an exhibit about tomatoes before and certainly not one which approached the topic in this way. It positively bounced off the wall at me and shouted "GOLD!". It's also just one of those exhibits which you keep coming back to. I loved:

the development of the Tomato in size
the consistency of treatment within in each painting which lent unity to the exhibit across the six artworks - despite the differing sizes
the fact each had a profile, a top down view, dissections and a series re. flower development providing a complete botanical picture not just of each exhibit but how tomatoes have developed over time as they migrated and mutations developed.
the painting of the dissected tomatoes was splendid (see below)
the painting of the small dissections of the flowers (see below) reminded me very much of Francis Bauer's style and format. It's an excellent one to emulate.

Such a very great pity that

the text for this exhibit was edited - about which more in the next post and
two of the paintings have been hung out of order. (Francesca commented on an earlier post) I'm guessing it's the last two as I know the story of the whole exhibit is about mutations caused the tomato to grow over time - which is somewhat lost when they're not in the right order and the overarching theme is not mentioned in the text.

Francesca wrote a very good article about her previous RHS Exhibit and no doubt will do the same again for her excellent tomatoes - and the real story behind the exhibit.

Part of Solanum lycopersicum 'Gigantomo' - one of the six paintings in Francesca Ross's RHS Gold medal winning exhibit of tomatoes

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The Highgrove Florilegium on splendid display in Chelsea

23/9/2021

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“The Highgrove Florilegium:
Watercolours Depicting Plants Grown in The Garden at Highgrove”

Paintings are organised according to the different parts and rooms within the garden at Highgrove

After visiting the RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show in Chelsea on Tuesday (of which more later), I walked down to Chelsea Barracks to see what I think might be the first display in London of all the paintings completed for the Highgrove Florilegium (Volumes 1 and 2) since 2009.

“The Highgrove Florilegium: Watercolours Depicting Plants Grown in The Garden at Highgrove” is only on until Sunday 26th September. It's also very easy to access for those visiting the Chelsea Show. The paintings are hung in the former Guards Chapel in the former Chelsea Barracks - now known as the Garrison Chapel - which is now owned by The Prince's Foundation Trust - hence the location of the exhibit.

I cannot recommend this exhibition too much. The quality of the paintings is excellent.
In fact, this is a much better exhibition of contemporary botanical art than the current RHS Botanical Art Show.

The Cottage Garden

To my mind, it's also a much better exhibition than the original one twelve years ago, which was in a very small space in the Garden Museum at Lambeth Palace. (See my original review of the exhibition Exhibition Review: The Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum (14th July 2009)

This time there's much more focus on the paintings and much less on the book - which is nowhere to be seen!

The big bonus of this exhibition is that the space is large and the paintings have been hung according to the different "rooms" of the garden where the subject plants were located. As such, it's a much better representation of the garden at Highgrove - which, of course, is what a florilegium is intended to do.

The paintings also look excellent on the green walls and they benefit from both natural light and additional lighting but both are up high so there's some reflection but not too much.

The Kitchen Garden and The Nursery

The Highgrove Florilegium is the first Royal Florilegium in the UK. It contains botanically accurate watercolour paintings of the plants grown in the garden of Highgrove near Tetbury in Gloucestershire - which has been the country home of the Prince of Wales since 1980.

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Botanical Art Exhibitions (Autumn 2021) in London

16/9/2021

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RHS | London Botanical Art and Photography Show

The RHS's London Botanical Art and Photography Show opens at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea on Saturday 18th September 2021.

This is the link to the exhibition page on the Saatchi Gallery website.

Features of this exhibition are that it

runs for two weeks for the first time
AND is on at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show (21-26th September 2021)

I now understand why it was decided to try and hold it at the Saatchi Gallery. This is a hop skip and longish jump from the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea where the Chelsea Show is always held.

Participants in the 2021 show include portfolios exhibits by:

15 botanical artists and illustrators
19 botanical photographers portfolio collections

RHS Medals
The RHS medals awarded to each exhibitor - Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver or Bronze - have been announced today (Friday 17 September) and the award winners will be listed in a future blog post.

The Saatchi Gallery

Tickets

Details of booking and prices are on the Saatchi Gallery website
Admission to this ticketed show is free for Saatchi Gallery Members and RHS Members.
RHS Members only:
- Note that the code required which enables RHS members to enter for free is included in the notice about the exhibition in "Your Gardening" update from the RHS date 2nd September 2021.
- Note also that getting the code and including it your booking is NOT enough. You will also need to present your RHS membership card to gain entry.
- I found booking the ticket using the code to be confusing. You need to enter the code BEFORE you start to select date and time because the free RHS option is only generated when the code has been inserted. Be careful you select the right one!
- My recommendation - take it slow and if you need to try more than once I won't be surprised!

Sloane Square station top centre; Saatchi Gallery top left; RHS Chelsea Flower Show in the grounds of the Royal Hospital / Ranelagh Gardens bottom centre/right

The Highgrove Florilegium at The Guards Chapel, Chelsea

“The Highgrove Florilegium: Watercolours Depicting Plants Grown in The Garden at Highgrove” will also be on view to those attending the Chelsea Flower Show.

This is not an opportunity which comes along very often - so definitely one not to miss. It features:

original watercolours by Florilegium artists painted for The Highgrove Florilegium, a two-volume set of botanical prints depicting the plants, vegetables, fruit and trees grown in the garden at Highgrove.
work by 72 artists from around the world

Venue: The Garrison (Guards) Chapel, Chelsea Barracks (link to location on Google Maps)
Dates: 21st - 26th September 2021
Hours 11am - 4pm daily
Booking not required
Organisers: The Prince's Foundation
Below is a video of the gardens and the range of plants which can be found there.

Exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens

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Deadline for ABBA Online Exhibition is 1st September

27/8/2021

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The deadline for entries for ‘ReflectionS’, no plants-no planet’ - the Online Exhibition by the Association of British Botanical Artists is Wednesday 1st September

BELOW is a summary of the key "need to know" points

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The aim of the exhibition is to stimulate discussion about biodiversity and the impact of climate change using the medium of botanical art to tell a story through imagery which is visually appealing and immediately accessible to a wide audience.

This exhibition was inspired by COP26 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. COP26 has six major themes and the theme that is relevant to this exhibition is:

“ Nature - to safeguard and restore natural habitats and ecosystems to preserve the planet’s biodiversity “

The exhibition will comprise a juried and digital collection of botanical art by ABBA members that reflects the pivotal role that plants play in preserving the planet's biodiversity.

This digital exhibition will be displayed as follows:

Dates: 16th October 2021 and 27th March 2022
Viewing:
- On a large screen at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, between - for viewing by visitors to the Gallery
- AND simultaneously exhibited in the ABBA Online Gallery on its website - for an international audience.

ABOUT THE CALL TO ENTRIES

Who can enter: Members of the Association of British Botanical Artists.

Despite the name this means entries can come from artists based anywhere in the world.
ABBA have a very reasonable subscription fee.

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Dates and venue for the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021

20/7/2021

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Artists participating in the next RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show now have the dates and venue. These are:

VENUE: to be formally announced this week (when I shall do a new blog post)
DATES:
- Judging: Thursday 16 September
- Preview evening Friday 17 September (which I assume means the medals will be posted next to the artwork)
- Exhibition: Saturday 18 September – Sunday 3 October 2021 (just over two weeks)

Watch out for an update on this page laster this week.

I shall miss the intensity of the 2.5 days of the usual show - with all the artists in attendance - because it's only 3 days for them. Hopefully as many a possible will be there for the Preview evening and to pick up there Medal Certificate! I'm perplexed at the moment as to how I'm going to be able to interview all the Gold Medal Winners.

Given the extended period of the show it's very unlikely that all the artists who attend will be there for the duration - and hence the scope to talk to them (which I know aspiring botanical artists much enjoy doing) will be diminished.

On the plus side, as it's going to be hung for much longer there's a much greater chance it will be seen my more people given existing commitments often ruled out attendance for some on previous occasions. (I well remember one year scooting from the show to Euston for a train up north for a big birthday celebration!)

I'm unclear what's happening about the sale of cards and prints which are sold by individual artists at the show in the past and often help to subsidise the costs of artists attending the exhibition. London is after all not a cheap place to stay!

CHANGE IN EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Watch out for a blog post this week about a CHANGE in the email subscription service. You may be asked to resubscribe to the new service
(due to the demise of the Feedburner service provided by Google)

SELECTION MEETING FOR 2022 EXHIBITION

The Selection Meeting for the 2022 Exhibition took place on 8th July. I'd love to know who's going to be showing next year.....

It's unclear at the moment whether the exhibition will change dates again in 2022 or whether it will be in:

April - as originally planned for 2020
September - as now planned for 2021

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