NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Ask an expert: botanical art surgery - with Deborah Lambkin

11/2/2019

Don't forget - next Sunday is the third and final botanical art surgery with an expert in botanical illustration at Kew Gardens.

Expert: Deborah Lambkin
Venue: Main Gallery of the Shirley Sherwood Art Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Date: Sunday 17th February 2019
Time: 11am - 3pm

It's a great way of being able to ask questions about your own work and also about life as a professional botanical illustrator.

About Deborah Lambkin

Come and see me paint in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery @kewgardens on 17 Feb. I will be there to answer questions and to chat about my favourite subject- botanical illustration! #botanicalillustration #botanicaldrawing #art pic.twitter.com/3bZfzQD48j
— Deborah Lambkin (@DeborahLambkin) February 7, 2019

Some facts about Deborah Lambkin:

born in Ireland but now lives in London
trained at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin
official orchid artist for the RHS Orchid Committee since 2005 - and has painted over 200 different orchids
an artist member of the RHS Picture Panel which judges exhibits at the RHS Botanical Art Shows
One of only two Irish artists (to date) to win a gold medal at the RHS exhibition, the other being Wendy F. Walsh. She won an RHS Gold Medal for her collection of eight paintings of nerines in 1999.
Contributes paintings to Curtis's Botanical Magazine regularly.
This is an article she wrote about Dealing with plant specimens – Deborah Lambkin

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RHS Botanical Art: NEW archive for past shows and exhibit titles

6/2/2019

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RHS Botanical Art Shows can now be found in four different places on my website:

RHS Botanical Art Shows - all about how to enter
ARCHIVE: RHS Botanical Art Shows (2007-2018)
ARCHIVE: Exhibit Titles at RHS Botanical Art Shows

I had a reorganisation of content material at the weekend followed by creating TWO NEW PAGES for

the archive material relating to past shows
the titles chosen by botanical artists for their Gold Medal winning exhibits at RHS Botanical Art Show.

What's now where is summarised below.

RHS Botanical Art Shows

RHS Botanical Art Shows - How to Exhibit

I took the opportunity of moving content around to edit and reposition some of the content on this page. It's now better organised, less repetitive but still works through the process of how to win an RHS Medal - from submitting work for approval to exhibit to the practicalities of getting

It covers:

an overview of the page
RHS Botanical Art and Photography Shows 2019 - in London and Malvern
RHS Botanical Art Shows 2020-2025 - applying to exhibit

"How to Exhibit" is then analysed in terms of

#1. Selection for new exhibitors - submission to be "approved to exhibit"
#2 The Selection Meeting - the approval process by the RHS
#3 How to apply for a space at a SPECIFIC RHS Exhibition of Botanical Art
#4 What to exhibit
#5 How botanical artwork is judged at the RHS Show
#6 How to win an RHS Gold Medal

MOVED
ARCHIVE: RHS Botanical Art Shows (2007-2018)

ARCHIVE: RHS Botanical Art Shows 2007-2018

The content relating to past RHS Botanical Art Shows is now on an entirely NEW DEDICATED PAGE.

This

provides an overview of the RHS Botanical Art Shows in recent years (2007-2018).
Lists Best Painting and Best Exhibit winners and the names of all RHS Gold Medal winners + the titles of their exhibits
Includes images of the shows and the botanical art and illustration which won prestigious awards.

In future I plan to add in all those botanical artists (and the names of their exhibits) who won Gold Medals in previous years. I plan a visit to the Lindley Library!

I'm aware I've only included the shows I've visited in London. However I'm very happy to start including all those GM winners that I know already - with exhibit title and year. Please either comment below with the data or expect to receive an email nudge in the future!

Tap pic to check out my recommendations

The Best Books about Botanical Art History, Artists & Illustrators

The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books

NEW! Exhibit Titles

Exhibit Titles at RHS Botanical Art Shows

The aim of this page is to demonstrate the range of exhibits which have been seen in the Lindley Hall in the last few years.

All the exhibit titles listed relate to the exhibits awarded an RHS Gold Medal at either London or Malvern.

I first listed all the titles and then tried to work out some categories for them - and came up with the list you see below. Exhibit titles are listed under one of the following categories:

Family or Genus Names
Exhibits related to specific locations/habitats
Habit / Lifecycle / Growth
Common and Generic Names
Medicinal Plants
Theme names related to botanical history
Unspecific Theme names
Unspecific / media related names
Mixed plant names

All the artists winning a Gold Medal are also identified by year and name.

I'm very happy to receive suggestions for how the categories might be improved. (Please comment below)

I intend to develop the page and also list the titles which were awarded different grades of medal. Speaking personally, I find it interesting to identify correlations between the exhibit title and the colour of the medal - and I've commented on this on this page.

The correlations will become more evident as I add in more exhibit titles.

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Marianne Hazlewood wins award at Visual Arts Scotland - Alight 2019

4/2/2019

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Marianne Hazlewood has two botanical artworks in the current Visual Arts Scotland open exhibition ALIGHT 2019 at the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh - and has won herself a solo exhibition.

Arisaema tortuosum (crop) by Marianne Hazlewood | Japanese ink paste on Lambeth Cartridge | 75 x 55 cm

The two pieces are part of her new ink Arisaema series, continuing her series of ink shoots which were inspired by Sarah Simblet teaching for a day during her RBGE Diploma Course. (See my Book review:Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants by Sarah Simblet)

Marianne has been awarded the Open Eye Gallery Exhibition Award at the show. Her prize is a Solo Exhibition in their contemporary private gallery in a former Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh’s New Town.

Visual Arts Scotland

provides an opportunity to showcase national and international contemporary fine and applied artists from graduates to those with a long established practice.
has an annual open exhibition in the RSA Edinburgh building where members and non members can show alongside invited artists and new graduates.
features a variety of paintings, drawings and print work alongside artists working in wood in association with Craft Scotland and jewellery makers and silversmiths working in innovative, ethical and sustainable practise

VAS ALIGHT 2019

Venue: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Dates: 26 Jan – 22 Feb 2019
Time: Mon-Sat: 10am – 5pm, Sun: 12pm – 5pm

Arisaema griffithii 1:1.3 and Arisaema tortuosum 1:1.3 by Marianne Hazlewood | Japanese ink paste on Lambeth Cartridge | 75 x 55 cm | float mounted (by Detail Framing Studio, Edinburgh)

Marianne Hazlewood also recently had two of her fern paintings in the Society of Scottish Artists Annual Open Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh.

It's very rewarding to see yet another contemporary botanical artist who

feels her artwork should NOT be limited to exhibitions of botanical art.
produces contemporary botanical art which meets the standards of and is selected for major open exhibitions by prominent arts organisations.

Having grown the number of botanical artists, we now need to grow the number of botanical art collectors! Having work selected for mainstream and prestigious / reputable open art exhibitions is an excellent way of exposing art collectors to botanical art - and increasing the number of botanical art collectors beyond those who are already committed to visiting existing botanical art exhibitions.

I'm always very happy to highlight the success of botanical artists who get their botanical artwork selected for mainstream art exhibitions - especially those held in prestigious open exhibitions in impressive art galleries! If this is you, you just need to contact me with the details.

Botanical art exhibitions in Scotland

You can view more details about botanical art exhibitions in Scotland on my dedicated page Botanical Art Exhibitions in Scotland which I updated this morning.

Current exhibitions include the following

Scottish Society of Botanical Artists Spring Exhibition 2019

Venue: Scottish Ornithological Centre, Donald Watson Art Gallery, Waterston House, Aberlady, East Lothian EH32 0PY
Dates: January 19th – Wednesday February 27th 2019
Hours: open daily from 10am to 4pm
Admission: FREE

The exhibition will include between 40 and 50 original paintings from our growing membership, almost all of which will be for sale.

Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile

Venue: Dawyck Studio @ Dawyck Botanic Garden
Dates: Monday 4th February 2019 - Monday 29th July 2019

The page also includes of exhibitions being held later in 2019.

At the bottom of the page is a form which can be used to provide updates about current and future exhibitions.

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Where can you find a botanical art course in England, Scotland and Wales in 2019?

21/1/2019

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My directory of short courses, classes and workshops in botanical art and/or illustration in England, Scotland and Wales has been updated to include all those being held in 2019 that have been:

notified to me and/or
are being venues which had courses last year.

The Miller's House at Flatford Mill - now a Field Centre offering workshops and short courses

Where can you find a botanical art course in 2019?

The list is organised geographically.
Each area is prefaced by a list of botanical art tutors listed in that section.
Each course is delisted after it has been held - hence now is the best time of year to get an insight into the short courses on offer.

Places with courses, classes or workshops in 2019 include include:

England

London
East Anglia - Cambridge, Essex, Suffolk
Midlands - Birmingham
North - Cheshire, Derbyshire, North Yorkshire
South and SE England - Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex
South West England - Bath, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Scotland - Edinburgh

Wales

Cardiff,
Gwynedd,
Powys,
Vale of Glamorgan,
West Glamorgan

Hassop Hall Hotel in Bakewell, Derbyshire

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For your information

I can only list what I'm told about or find about - hence I don't pretend that this list is comprehensive.

This page ONLY lists Botanical Art & Illustration workshops, classes and courses

by Organisations
and/or at Educational Centres in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
and NOT in a private home.

(i.e. it's a reasonably safe bet that they comply with all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements for having third parties on their premises). I'm much less sure of compliance by domestic premises - hence why they are typically excluded.

Tutors and tuition providers can tell me about their course (if it has not been included) by providing the information requested at the bottom of the page and using the dedicated form for UK Course Information.

Reputable UK-based tutors are listed in the International Directory: Botanical Art Tutors (along with tutors around the world)

West Dean College in West Sussex

For Tuition in Other Countries

I'm also updating the courses in other countries and would appreciate updates.
See separate pages for Botanical Art Tuition offered in:

North America - USA, Canada and Caribbean
Australasia - Australia
Europe and North Africa - Austria, France, Ireland, Italy, Morocco Netherlands, Romania and Spain

These also have a form at the bottom of the page for tuition updates.
Courses in Africa, Asia and South and Central America will be added on separate pages in due course

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Call for Entries: Society of Botanical Artists Annual Exhibition 2019

10/1/2019

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This is a guide to the OPEN Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists in 2019 and

who can enter,
what you enter
how to enter

In 2019, this exhibition is moving to a new time of year at a new venue

Venue: the Mall Galleries in The Mall in Central London. (Location) - the exhibition will be held in the Main Gallery, North Galleries and Threadneedle Space (i.e. the whole gallery)
Dates: 5 June 2019 to 9 June 2019 | Hours: 10am to 5pm (closes 1pm on final day).

Plantae is the exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists; exhibiting excellence in all art that is plant related. The Society brings together artists of national and international repute. As the forerunner of all other botanical societies its mission is to promote the skills of artists using a varied range of media who all excel in their ability to portray botanical forms in an accurate, unique or interesting way. (Mall Galleries)

READ my blog posts about the Society of Botanical Art: Exhibitions 2006-2016
previously held at Central Hall, Westminster if you're unfamiliar with the exhibition and the standard of work it attracts

Who can enter?

THIS IS AN OPEN EXHIBITION - Any visual artist, anywhere in the world, can enter if they produce botanical artwork in two or three dimensions - which meets the eligibility criteria (see below).

Botanical artists from other countries around the world frequently submit entries to this exhibition - and get selected for exhibition.

You do not have to be a member of the Society of Botanical Artists to submit an entry.
However, under its new rules, you can however apply to be an Open Member of the Society of Botanical Artists (at a cost of £65p.a.) if you want to reduce the level of commission paid on sales by 10%. The cost of membership pays for itself if you sell one artwork priced at £650 - and if you make more sales you can make even more savings on your expenses i.e. 10% of £100 = £10.

The new type of membership - the Open Member - will be available from mid-January so if you expect to sell and want to reduce commission, I'd advise waiting to submit your entry until after you have applied to be an Open Member.

What can you enter?

Eligible artwork will be work you are proud of AND

Predominantly of botanical content.
Botanically accurate.
Visually pleasing - with strong wall appeal.
Up to five artworks
For sale

In terms of type of artwork and size, artwork will be

Original Paintings - in any media
or Original Drawings - in any media
or Original Fine Art Prints (all prints must be hand pulled and NOT giclee)
or Original Ceramics
or Original Jewellery - in any media
Maximum dimension of all 2D and 3D arworks: 120cm on the longest side. (although they don't say framed or unframed re 2D art - and when they don't it's always safest to assume this means "framed")

Presented in:

simple plain mounts and wooden frames (which can accommodate mirror plate fixings)

Work that is NOT eligible for entry includes:

photography
other digital art forms
work using acrylic glass
work framed with clips

How do I price my artwork?

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The joy of a botanical art bibliography

3/1/2019

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Great Flower Books 1700-1900

My final Christmas present turned up today - Great Flower Books 1700-1900 came complete with its customs declaration as it came from the USA.

It's a comprehensive Bibliographical Record of two Centuries of finely-illustrated Flower Books by Sacheverell Sitwell & Wilfrid Blunt. It's the sort of book which will keep me occupied with more research of botanical art for YEARS! I'm guessing it's only other serious researchers who will appreciate why it gives me so much pleasure!

'Great Flowers Books 1700-1900' A Bibliographical Record of Two Centuries of Finely-Illustrated Flower Books by Sacheverell Sitwell and Wilfrid Blunt

I didn't know until just recently that there are two versions of the book.

The first edition was published by Collins in London in 1956.

The trade edition was composed of 1750 unnumbered copies printed on Gelderland white cartridge paper and bound by Mansells of London;
it was published simultaneously with a numbered limited edition of 295 specially-bound copies printed on Amstel paper.

The second edition was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in New York in 1990.
The bonus of the second one is that they very much improved the quality of the images included in the publication. However almost all copies are located in the USA - hence the need to import.

'Great Flower Books' is very much a collaborative endeavour with essays by

Handasyde Buchanan - a noted London book collector / bookseller, who wrote Nature into Art: Treasury of Great Natural History Books
Sacheverell Sitwell - an English writer and art critic who wrote Fine Bird Books 1700-1900 with Handasyde Buchanan before this book
Wilfrid Blunt - who wrote The Art of Botanical Illustration - which was published in 1950, just prior to this book - for which he was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society

It occurred to me that he must have consulted a fair few - of not very many - of the books listed in this volume in order to write that book.

Front and back covers of the book

The Title Page - with authors and credits

The Title and Contents pages identify who did what in this collaborative endeavour with

essays by Buchanan, Sitwell and Blunt
a Bibliography compiled by William Stearn, Sabine Wilson (who she?) and Handasyde Buchanan
which was then edited by Patrick M Synge - who was a plant hunter, an Editor of the Horticultural Journal and who was awarded the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society

So all in all, a top notch set of contributors to this book! That doesn't too often these days!

I'll be consulting and reading it with some reverence for those who put the book together.

The Contents Page

I have in fact got to the point with book-buying now where almost everything I buy is second hand -

In fact, the first thing I do when I get a 'new' book is to go straight to its bibliography to see what books it lists as resources - so as to see if I can find any new ones I've not read!

So the notion of buying a book, the bulk of which is essentially a bibliography does not strike me as too strange!

I've come across all sorts of small joys by studying the bibliographies in books and academic journals

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Botanical Art and Artists: looking back, looking forward

1/1/2019

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Today seems a good day to

look back at the momentous year for botanical art in 2018 and
look forward to what's happening in 2019 for botanical art and artists around the world

First I'd like extend all my readers my very best wishes for your botanical art and travels in 2019.

May your paper work properly, your brushes not drop hairs, your paints behave as they're supposed to, your pencils sharpen and keep their points, the frames arrive on time, your artwork not get lost on its travels post - and for you to discover new plants and tutors who inspire you to do more superb botanical artwork!

Botanical Art and Artists in 2018

I must confess I absolutely and totally ran out of steam re. covering botanical art towards the end of 2018 and had a very quiet few weeks towards the end of the year - despite a pile of books to review (which will now be reviewed this month - for all of you with money to spend from Christmas)!

Botanical Art Exhibitions

So much had been happening during the course of the year in relation to botanical art exhibitions around the world that I had to race to keep up - metaphorically speaking - for most of the year. (More literally, there was a point during the year when I could barely walk!). There were exhibitions I wanted to see that I just couldn't get to and ones which I've seen which I still need to write about....

Some of the Catalogues from the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art currently on display at Kew

One of the main reasons for all this was the HUGELY successful Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art in 2018.

I LOVED seeing all the photos and videos about their exhibitions that people posted to Facebook and their websites. It really felt like a huge community effort by the botanical art community across the world.
I also loved writing the blog posts about all the exhibitors in the exhibitions (for which I had information). It was great to make contact with so many new groups (for me). I also learned so much about botanical artists worldwide - and all those who were listed in a blog post got a link to their website from mine!
In addition, it helped me write about a lot more artists across the world for my leading artist pages on the website

Decals decorate the exterior of the Gallery to mark the decade since it opened in April 2008.

Four other highlights were:

the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew and its one millionth visitor - see One millionth visitor to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art!
the visit by the Florilegium of RBG Sydney artists in April - for the exhibition of their work at Kew. See"The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney" exhibition at Kew Gardens and List of artists exhibited in "Down Under II: Works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection". It was a simply stunning exhibition and I met some lovely ladies for the first time - and I very much enjoyed what I now call "Australia Day" (which reminds me I still need to upload all those photos of the artists and Herbarium visit to Dropbox for you!)
the largest ever RHS Botanical Art Show in July - at which 16 GOLD MEDALS were awarded(!!!) - see RHS London Botanical Art Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners. Hye Woo Shin went one better than her previous Best Exhibit Award and received a Judges Special Award for her exhibit of "Plants of Dokdu Island"

Hye Woo Shin and her Special Judges Award for her RHS exhibit "Plants of Dokdu Island"

New Pages in 2018

There were a number of new pages on the website in 2018 - and there are lot more in draft. Probably the new pages are of most interest to students of botanical art are the ones about

Online Botanical Art Courses. I'll be looking to developing this further in 2019.
NEW Books about Botanical Art and Illustration - new Instruction books will remain on this page for 12 months after publication

Traffic growth

Growth in traffic to my website has been exponential in 2018.
Traffic has been on a marked upward trend since the website started in 2015. However, traffic is now three times more than that in 2016.

Botanical Art And Artists Traffic in 2018: No. of unique visitors (blue) and pageviews (green) per month

In 2018 my website received (see chart below)

654,354 pageviews (green column)
469,482 unique visitors (blue column) to my website

At one point this summer, I started to think I might make it to 1,000,000 visitors to my website by the end of the year! However although this didn't quite happen - it will be happening very soon - probably end of February/March! (you can see my counter in the right hand column). I must think of some way of celebrating!

This year I need to get into training so I don't run out of steam!

Botanical Art and Artists in 2019

I'm looking forward to some more great things for botanical art and from botanical artists in 2019. I'm going to say a few words below about

my plans for my website in 2019
exhibitions in 2019

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