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When you have a website like mine, lots of people tell me about things which are happening which need to be shared with a wider audience. Below I am going to highlight a specific example relating to copyright infringement which affects quite a lot of leading botanical artists. One such 'thing' is when the artwork of botanical artists is posted online by other people without the artists permission. I find artists are very protective of the artwork of other artists and are happy to highlight examples of individuals who post images they did not make and do not own on social media in an inappropriate way. This used to happen a lot on blogs in the past - and now it tends to happen on sites like Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest This is despite the fact that the community guidelines for the use of the site - which you must agree to before you become a member - make it clear that you should only upload images you own or have the right to share (eg image is in the public domain). So, for example, this is the guideline from Instagram. "Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share. People may post images they shouldn't be sharing online for one or more of three reasons:
My view is that we need to be aware of all those abuse the trust of others - in posting their artwork online - and should take appropriate action. Hence this post. What you do is entirely up to you - but I have a couple of suggestions below.
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Today I'm sharing the 20 most popular pages on Botanical Art and Artists (excluding specific artists) over 2018-19.
One of the ways I try to improve Botanical Art and Artists is by paying attention to what interests visitors to the site. That's why I regularly look at the website statistics. Periodically I pull a pdf file of Google Analytics and take a look at which pages which get the most traffic and which pages which get the lowest and the highest bounce rates. I've decided to limit the timeframe for the count to 2018 and 2019 as I've introduced quite a few new pages since it started, over 4.5 years ago, in April 2015. However sorting out the ranked order based on my Google Analytics data was not at all easy and I ended up using an Excel spreadsheet and sorting on two data sets! BELOW:
 1. Past Masters of Botanical Art & Illustration (1500-1900) This one is way out in front and has been ever since I created the site. It gets more hits than the home page! This particular page is really interesting as it highlights and summarises some of the famous botanical artists and illustrators and Past Masters - between 1500 and 1900 - from the UK, France, Netherlands / Flemish, Germany & Austria, Italy, Australasia, Africa - specifically South Africa, North and Central America and South America. Plus and other notable artists working within botanical art and illustration. (Note Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600 - 1500) from China, India and Japan are on a separate page - and I probably need to create a seperate page for Europe too) 2. NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists My News Blog started after the main site was created but has become very popular ever since. The number of subscribers also continues to climb 3. Tips and Techniques Extremely popular right from the beginning. A good tip for any botanical artist wanting to create traffic to their website is to provides tips and techniques - for free - on your website or blog or social media site. People love them. Next best tip is alert me to your tip and if it's good enough then I'll add it into this resource page and you'll get even more traffic!  4. Best Botanical Art Instruction Books A very popular page because I only list the books I rate and I also provide lots of reviews - and some of them are in-depth. This is a VERY long page with LOTS links to sub-pages which review books by specific people 5. What is Botanical Art? The perennial question - hence the ranking. I try to provide an answer by quoting others on this topic. I add to it when I find a great new comment or insight.  6. Scientific Botanical Illustration How to draw plants to scientific standards. This page includes basic instruction on what to do and what not to do when illustrating plants to scientific standards; drawing aids which promote accuracy in measurement and rendering in scientific illustration links to practical tips and techniques for botanical illustration from leading scientific botanical illustrators and organisations providing support for scientific illustration. Plus articles about the history of scientific botanical illustration and the development of contemporary Flora. 7. Botanical Artists and Illustrators UK This page highlights artists and illustrators creating contemporary botanical art and illustration of distinction who are based on or born in the UK - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This page which has way more artists than any other continent or country in terms of people who qualify for the listing.  8. Plant Names and Botanical Latin
When recording a plant name wrong can affect the colour of medal you receive at an RHS Botanical Art Show it's worth making an effort to understand how plant names are constructed and how to write them. (There's a few artists who wish growers made the same effort!). Plus it's a topic which does not get a lot of coverage online! 9. How to draw and paint leaves and trees I've been saying for a long time, botanical art is not just about painting flowers! The second thing I've remarked on more than a few times is there is a major market for the author who writes the definitive book on how to paint plants and trees. I get asked by publishers for names of artists I'd recommend for specific topics. If you're interested contact me. This page is the "top tips" page dedicated to tips and techniques for how to draw and paint botanically correct trees and leaves. Drawing and watercolour painting instruction includes step by step demonstrations, videos and books. I'm currently working my way through an analysis of every instruction book in terms of how good it is in providing instruction for leaves and/or trees. 10. Contemporary Botanical Artists and Illustrators This is the gateway to all the pages about the contemporary botanical artists and illustrators listed on this website who draw, paint and print plants and flowers AND have been recognised for their excellence and mastery of their individual approach to botanical art and illustration [Note Continent / country listings are not definitive. They're being updated all the time] The 10 most popular botanical artists and botanical illustrators from the past - with dedicated pages on my website - are ranked and listed below. To date the 18th and 20th centuries are doing very well. The spread across the centuries is as follows:
It's very interesting that the top three female botanical artists are all people that I would think of as being part of the great "exploration" heritage of botanical art. They used their own initiative to decide where to go, what to paint and how to present it in terms of contemporary ways of exhibiting and publicising their work. Some food for thought maybe as people compile their "to do" lists for next year? Links to the dedicated web pages for each artist are embedded in the names of the botanical artists listed below. The ranked order is based on the Google Analytics data for my website for the last four years.  1. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717) Her popularity is, in part, influenced by all the events and celebrations of her life generated by the 300th anniversary of her death in 2017. There was a lot of interest in her life during that period - and since. 2. Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840) Probably one of the most popular botanical artists with the general public. Due in no small part to the considerable reproduction of his paintings for wall decorations. However his achievements in terms of "series" paintings were considerable and varied - particularly Les Liliacees (1802 - 15) and Les Roses (1817 - 21). He also has the unique distinction of painting on commission for both Queen Marie Antoinette and the Empress Josephine Bonaparte!  3. Margaret Mee (1909 - 1998) A lot of her paintings of plants in the Amazon Rainforest were exhibited in the "Brazil - a Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens in 2016. Her focus on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has also seen her much referenced in recent times 4. Marianne North (1830 - 1890) There are not many artists who can say they've travelled to and painted plants in
 5. Rory McEwen (1932 - 1982) Probably the best known and most popular of more recent contemporary artists. As 'The Colours of Reality' Retrospective Exhibition in 2013 at Kew demonstrated, this is an artist who has been a considerable influence on many of the most talented leading botanical artists of today 6. Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758) A lady botanical artist with a fascinating backstory who painted plants growing in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Blackwell compiled and published her hand drawn, engraved and coloured "A Curious Herbal" (1737-1739) in order to raise funds to free her husband from debtors prison. Blog posts are emailed to you when you Subscribe to Botanical Art & Artists - News by Email Emails are only sent to you AFTER you have activated the link you will receive.  7. Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771) The botanical artist who sailed on the Endeavour, with Captain Cook, to South America, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia - and died on the way back. He's well known in connection to the development of his drawings and paintings for Banks Florilegium. 8. Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) The leading botanical artist in Europe in 1750! This German born artist was a prodigious artist who produced an enormous number of high quality illustrations on commission for various botanical publications and plant collectors. He was one of the most influential botanical artists of all time due to his development of the Linnaean style of botanical illustration. He is also one of my favourites!  9. Arthur Harry Church (1865-1937) A botanist who focused on the morphology and structure of plants and began to illustrate to demonstrate his findings. He has since earned a reputation as a scientific botanical illustrator of note. 10. Pandora Sellars (1936 - 2017) The youngest of the botanical artists in this list and the one who died most recently. She is widely considered to be a contemporary equivalent to the botanical masters of the past and one of the top botanical painters of all time. Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) - a retrospective exhibition of her paintings on display at Kew demonstrated that for those who were fortunate enough to be able to visit and see her work  Tomorrow - for the last blog post of the decade, I'll be reviewing the Top 20 Pages on my Botanical Art & Artists website based on the number of pageviews they've enjoyed since they were created.
The exhibit of contemporary botanical art from Latin America can be seen in Gallery 2 within Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. The exhibition continues until 15 March 2020.  It covers botanical art by contemporary botanical artists past and present working in Brazil and Mexico . You can read more about the artists in my earlier blog post Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #2: North and Latin American Artists. They include Margaret Mee, who was born in England but did most of her work while living in Brazil. BELOW you can see
 Three paintings using pencil and gouache by Margaret Mee occupy one wall. They demonstrate the variation in the paintings she produced. Her work is in included in the section due her dedication to painting the plants in the Amazon rainforest basin. Her work also stimulated the Margaret Mee Fellowship Programme at Kew. Her paintings in the exhibition are:
 Paintings by Margaret Mee | Left to right: Neoglaziovia variegate 1964; Philodendron and Clusia grandiflora 1987 (pencil and Gouache on paper)  The Call for Entries for Plantae 2020 - the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists has been published. Below you will find a summary of:
Call for Entries |
AuthorKatherine Tyrrell writes about botanical art and artists and has followers all over the world. BAA Visitors so far....Subscribe to BAA NewsBlog posts are emailed to you when you
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Unauthorised use or duplication of ANY material on this blog without written permission is strictly prohibited. Please also respect the copyright of all artists featured here. What's your news?This blog highlights news - in brief - about botanical art exhibitions around the world.
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