NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Sarah Jane Humphrey - being a botanical illustrator

13/12/2018

Sarah Jane Humphrey in her studio

In this video, Sarah Jane Humphrey is interviewed by Melanie Chadwick about her career and how she found her way into a career in illustration and her own botanical illustration niche.

Sarah Jane Humphrey GM is a botanical and natural science illustrator, author, tutor and now shopkeeper.

2018 has been a big year for Sarah Jane

in June 2018, her book Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration was published. READ my REVIEW: Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey for more details
in July 2018, she won her first RHS Bold Medal Gold Medal by the RHS for Medicinal Fruits and their symbiosis with Pollinators (after a previous Silver and then Silver Gilt).
in November 2018, she opened her own shop in Falmouth called Botanical Atelier at 19A Arwenack St. Falmouth. TR11 4AS where she is delivering botanically oriented events and workshops.

To date her career has involved

graduating from Falmouth University with an Honours Degree in Illustration.
becoming represented by the Wildlife Art Company for illustration work. She was their very first female Scientific and Natural History Illustrator.
securing contracts for botanical, natural history and scientific illustration work from a variety of clients and publishers
delivering workshops on Botanical Illustration in Cornwall

View the video to find out more about how she developed her career to date.

Websites:

Portfolio https://www.sarahjanehumphrey.com/
Botanical Atelier https://botanicalatelier.co.uk/

Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey

The video is part of Melanie Chadwick's series of interviews called Creative Conversations on YouTube.

Each episode we chat about running a business, struggles and successes as well as sharing tips and advice which may be helpful to others working in the creative world. Pull up a chair and enjoy!

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NEW Guide to Online Botanical Art Courses & Tuition

27/11/2018

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A NEW GUIDE to Online Botanical Art Courses

Today I'm announcing the launch of my BRAND NEW WEB PAGE Guide to Online Botanical Art Courses and Tuition

Before today, there was nowhere on the internet that offered a comparative analysis and evaluation of the available online tuition and tutorials for those wanting to learn more about botanical art and illustration - in different art media - but now there is!

Online tuition for botanical art is a growing marketplace because

people are becoming more used to using technology routinely in their daily lives
it's possible for a tutor anywhere in the world to deliver tuition to a student living the other side of the world.
it's very often cheaper than some of the alternative courses available - which is really good news for students!
some online courses also allow people to have more control over the pace of a course - and to stop and start when life has a habit of getting in the way

This page covers:

OVERVIEW of Online Botanical Art Courses - indicating different types of tuition and course and providers
CHECKLIST of questions for prospective students - to be used when evaluating alternative options. It's really important to know what you're buying before you hand over the money - and to know whether you can get your money back if it doesn't suit you.
LIST of Online Providers of Botanical Art Tuition - a summary of information about the course tutor, course delivery and pricing. This is based on the information provided on the various websites.

The online providers of botanical art tuition and courses are split into THREE GROUPS:

Recognised Institutions - providing distance learning courses using web-based instruction. They vary enormously in terms of levels and sophistication of teaching delivery.
Online Tuition via Video Tutorials - these are essentially subscription based step by step video based courses with support materials (and a support group). The providers have generated a LOT of videos. Note that access to these videos is almost always for streaming i.e. you do got get to download and keep them. Access lasts for as long as you pay your subscription.
Online Tuition via individual tutors - these are more course based with more emphasis on written guides and/or worksheets/ebooks with videos used as support for learning - and the use of Skype for feedback. Generally it's a more individualised and personal approach

It's important to say that all courses - although similar - are also different.
One of the main purposes of my new page is to try and tease out those differences.

There is a Stage Two Development planned for this page where I assess each website and public information provided and cost against a standard set of questions - but that's for 2019. There's a lot of new websites for online tuition planned for a launch in 2019 so better to do it after these have bedded down!

At the present time, I'm still tweaking the context so if you spot any typos and mistakes please give me a shout-out!

Your Feedback

Your feedback is very important to me. Many of you helped me build this page - by telling me what you wanted to know about the courses and how they are provided. I've tried to develop the page based on that feedback.

I'd now very much appreciate if it you can help me develop it further by telling me how it can be improved. Let me know what you think.

Does it satisfy your needs?
Do you need to know more?

Anything you like - just leave a comment or contact me

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Botanical Art Diploma Course Announcements

9/11/2018

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Below are a couple of announcements about the Botanical Art Diploma Courses run by the Society of Botanical Artists and the Chelsea School of Botanical Art.

SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course

Simon Williams, Director of the Distance Learning Diploma Course run by the Society of Botanical Artists has asked me to remind those interested in the course that the application deadline for the SBA/DLDC Course 16 is 30 November 2018

Work by the Final Year Diploma students is exhibited every year at the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists

The application date for the Distance Learning Diploma Course is fast approaching.

If you are inspired by botanical painting and would like the opportunity to learn the disciplines of botanical art through a wide range of course assignments, download and send in your application now.

The Course covers many exciting aspects of botanical painting from initial graphite drawing, line and wash (new to Course 16), botany, plant portraits and fruit studies. It also includes assignments on working from photographs and mixed studies to open up a learner’s skill set into the commercial avenue of botanical art.

Please make your application to the Course Director - details on the application form

Course 16 commences on 1 January 2019

The Course is open to students anywhere in the world and there are currently students from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Canada and the USA as well as Europe and the UK. The Course lasts for 27 months and the fee includes a student subscription to the Society for the duration of the Course.

CSBA: Botanical Illustration and Painting Diploma 2019

The Botanical Illustration and Painting Diploma run by The Chelsea School of Botanical Art is currently being overhauled (the page is currently offline) and rescheduled.

It will restart in September 2019 (in line with the academic year) and is based at the Chelsea Physic Garden

More about Diploma & Certificate Courses in Botanical Art & Illustration

The Diploma & Certificate Page on this website contains:

Guidelines on how to assess and choose a course from available options; and
Listings of Diploma and Certificate courses in Botanical Art - in the UK and USA.

The best course for YOU is the one that best meets your interests and needs. I recommend you use the Guideline checklists of questions to work out which one you want to pursue.

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REVIEW: Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey

8/8/2018

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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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Diploma and Certificate Courses in Botanical Art and Illustration

1/8/2018

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This morning I updated the page on my website devoted to Diploma and Certificate Courses in Botanical Art and Illustration. This covers:

Guidelines on how to assess and choose a course from available options; and
Listings of Diploma and Certificate courses

This year I've developed the listings and am now including information relating to:

scope of the course - in terms of topics covered - with links to where more information is supplied by the course provider
teaching staff / tutors - with links to the course page about teaching staff and/or their personal websites PLUS mentions for any prestigious awards they have received
method of assessment
course fees - which is, of course, a topic of much interest to prospective students.

BELOW you can find out about:

info. about the course listings - and how to help me update them
what Diploma and Certificate Courses cost in the UK
what sort of guidance is available e.g. what questions you should ask before handing over the money! Ideally - this is available on the website or via downloads provided!

Course Listings

The course listings currently cover the UK and USA - but the listings can easily be extended to other continents and countries if such courses exist elsewhere - and have a website which allows me to check the content and the tutors. (I use Chrome's translate function to check listings in other languages)

There is a form at the bottom of the page to notify me of any Diploma or Certificate Courses (i.e. NOT short courses - which are on other pages)

I also note that more and more education providers are looking to provide tuition suitable for those who would like to pursue a diploma course but do not have the knowledge or basic skills required.

For example, the Society of Botanical Artists will be delivering a Distance Learning Foundation Certificate as from March 2019 - with information available about content, tuition and course fees from this September.

SBA DLDC student work at the Annual Exhibition in 2012

How much do Courses cost - in the UK?

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Trade Stand Exhibitors at the RHS Plant and Art Fair (July 2018)

2/7/2018

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The Trade Stand Exhibitors at the 2018 RHS Plant and Art Fair in the two Horticultural Halls in Westminster, London are listed below.

Note that

There are a significant number of NEW exhibitors
the vast majority of the trade stands will be in the RHS Lawrence Hall i.e. NOT the Lindley Hall where the Botanical Art Show will be held. (see UPDATE)
a number of regular exhibitors of recent years are NOT exhibiting this year. Examples include: various botanical art societies - including the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA), the Diploma Courses (i.e. Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh and SBA) and Susan Christopher-Coulson.
The website links are not live as Google is not a big fan of lots of commercial links! However copy and insert the url into your browser and the website should come up.

UPDATE: I understand the serious dislocation of botanical art exhibition and botanical artists/organisations has now been remedied by the Show management.

Consequently I've revised the listing below and the exhibitors closely related to botanical art who have been relocated back to the Lindley Hall are now marked with an asterisk * e.g. Ann Swan is back in her usual place!

You can find a PDF Exhibitors List on the RHS webpage However this may well need updating to agree with the revised trade stand plan.

RHS Lindley Hall

This is the Hall where the Botanical Art Show is to be held.

Chelsea Botanical Art School at the 2017 Show: Helen Allen and Mary Ellen Taylor

ART: Botanical Artists / Tutors / Education

The Chelsea School of Botanical Art (CSBA) http://www.chelseaschoolofbotanicalart.co.uk - The CSBA classroom will pop up at the show with a free Botanical Art workshop, see Workshops for details
* Julia Trickey www.juliatrickey.co.uk - professional botanical artist / tutor with an online tuition website and classes
* Ann Swan www.annswan.co.uk - professional botanical artist / tutor with an online tuition website and botanical art holidays

Ann Swan - providing guidance on coloured pencils at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017

Botanical Art Organisations

* Association of British Botanical Artists - ABBA www.abba2018.wordpress.com - the new body that organised the Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition for England and Wales.

The Association of British Botanical Artists at the 2017 Botanical Art Show

Botanical Organisations

* South London Botanical Institute www.slbi.org.uk - botanical garden in Tulse Hillwhich with wide range of courses, workshops, school visits and events for all ages.

RHS Lawrence Hall

Other contemporary artists / designers with garden/botanical themes

Susan Entwistle Art www.susanentwistle.com - acrylic paintings of gardens in pointillist style
Brie Harrison www.brieharrison.com - designer and illustrator with botanical artworld themes
Hannah McVicar www.hannahmcvicar.com - illustrator, printmaker and mural painter using botanical themes and multi-media printmaking
Zoe Zoe www.annemckenzie.com - paints botanical themes in acrylic paint on unbleached Japanese Kozo paper

Botanical Art and Plant Publications

Addison Publications Ltd www.addisonpublications.com - publishers of the Highgrove and Transylvania Florilegium
RHS Bookshop - A selection of RHS books and gifts, book signings will also be taking place
Two Rivers Press Ltd www.tworiverspress.com - varied list of individually designed books

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