NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

The SBA Distance Learning Diploma - DEADLINE tomorrow!

29/9/2023

Just a reminder that the deadline for the Distance Learning Diploma in Botanical Art offered by the Society of Botanical Artists is TOMORROW 30th September 2023.

Course 21 will commence in January 2024.

Who can do it? The SBA's Distance LearningDiploma Course (DDLC) is open to students anywhere in the world and there are currently students from Australia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
What are the dates? The Course lasts for 27 months and the fee includes a student subscription to the Society for the duration of the Course and Foundation membership of the Society for the year after Graduation. It starts in January each year.
Where can I find out more?
- This is the page dedicated to the DDLC https://www.soc-botanical-artists.org/education/distance-learning-diploma-course/
- An example of the prospectus, list of assignments, application form, fees and payment arrangements is available to download as a PDF here
How much does it cost? The cost of the entire course from January 2023 to June 2025 to be
- £4,155 for those living in the UK,
- £4,285 for those living in the EU and
- £4,430 for those living in the rest of the world (because of the different postage and courier rates).
Additional Notes:
- coursework has been updated and improved
- there are a number of new tutors starting in 2024. (I am still very much of the mind that ALL Diploma Courses should state the names of all the teachers - and provide some info about them - on their website)

You can also read about some of the DLDC assignments that students did in the past to get a sense of what's involved from a student perspective - on my page dedicated to Society of Botanical Art Diploma Course - commentary via blog posts

HOW TO DECIDE ON THE BEST COURSE FOR YOU

You can also check out alternative options for studying via a Diploma or Certificate on my page about Diploma and Certificate Courses in Botanical Art & Illustration in 2022-23 - which I will be updating in the near future.

This also includes a LOT of questions that I recommend every student should ask before making a decision as to which is the best course for them as an individual.

[PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME WITH INFORMATION ABOUT ANY NEW DIPLOMAS OR CERTIFICATES - please use the form at the bottom of the page to provide:

updated details
details of new courses]

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Review of 'Flora of South East Asia' Exhibition: Best in Show & Selected Artists

20/11/2022

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The Flora of South East Asia Exhibition opened at the Gallery at the Singapore Botanic Garden on 15th November. It includes 120 artworks featuring 115 plant species by 85 artists. Botanical Artworks for this open exhibition were submitted by artists coming from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, UK, USA, Japan, Denmark, UAE, and Canada. The exhibition continues until 15 February 2023 and admission is free.

This post highlights the:

Scope and presentation of the exhibition
Best in Show Awards
List of all participating artists - by each of the four botanical art societies in South East Asia - in Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that have collaborated to mount this exhibition.
Events associated with the exhibition
The Botanic Art Gallery at Singapore Botanic Garden

I'd like to thank Dianne Sutherland for her help in compiling this post and giving me a flavour of what the exhibition and associated activities has been like. You can see more images of the exhibition in her post on Facebook

Presentation of the Exhibition

The aims of the exhibition are to increase awareness of the diversity of plants in South East Asia and to promote botanical art as an activity.

Flora of Southeast Asia is an international botanical art exhibition celebrating the diversity of the native plants of Southeast Asia. It is organised by the Botanical Art Society (Singapore) and Singapore Botanic Gardens, in their first-ever collaboration with the Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists, Thai Botanical Artists and the Philippine Botanical Art Society.

The first thing I want to say, from all the various photographs I've seen, is I'm incredibly impressed by the overall hanging, labelling and general presentation and display of the artwork at the Gallery at the Singapore Botanic Garden. I especially appreciate the inclusion of sketchbooks in the exhibition.

There is also a Web Gallery of all the individual botanical paintings by botanical artist by botanical artist in the exhibition.

Looking more closely at the images of the exhibition, I'm also extremely impressed by the very high standard of the artwork selected for the exhibition. It's clear to me that botanical artists belonging to the four societies clearly recognised this to be a landmark exhibition and submitted their very best artwork.

I gather the VIP event associated with the opening of the exhibition was attended by the Ambassadors from each participating country. Around 150 people - invited guests plus artists and their families and friends - attended the Opening Reception.

The exhibition was curated by Michele Rodda who is the Botanist and Art exhibition Curator. The Judging Panel included botanists and award-winning botanical artists from every country.

Dianne told me how very impressed she has been with every aspect of the exhibition.

For a first exhibition it's off to a really great start and has set a VERY high bar for all subsequent exhibitions - and I'm sure there will be many!

See also my previous post EXHIBITION: Flora of Southeast Asia

Best in Show

First, a big thanks to Dianne Sutherland who has allowed me to use her photographs in relation to the Best In Show Winners and who has been telling me about the exhibition.

BEST IN SHOW Paintings (Courtesy of Dianne Sutherland)

Three artworks have been awarded Best in Show. These are pictured above and listed below

Sterculia oblongata R.Br. The Blooming Fruit II: Beneath the Canopy - by Deinitisa Amarawi, Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists
Stelechocarpus burahol (Blume) Hook.f. & Thompson by Dianne Sutherland, Botanical Art Society (Singapore)
Hydnophytum formicarum Jack Ant Plant no. 1. Teo Nam Siang, Botanical Art Society (Singapore)

Below you can see each of the artists with their artwork.

Deinitisa Amarawi, Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists (Courtesy of Dianne Sutherland)

Dianne Sutherland, Botanical Art Society (Singapore) (Courtesy of Dianne Sutherland)

Teo Nam Siang, Botanical Art Society (Singapore) (Courtesy of Dianne Sutherland)

Flora of Southeast Asia Exhibition - Artists

The artists participating in Flora of South East Asia come from the four main Botanical Art Societies which are:

Botanical Art Society (Singapore) (BASS)
Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists (IDSBA)
Philippine Botanical Art Society (PhilBAS) and
Thai Botanical Artists (THBA).

I've listed the participating artists below - alphabetically by first name and by Society

The Listing of Participating Artists in Flora of South East Asia Exhibition 2022

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SSBA Botanical Art Courses in Scotland 2022-24

25/7/2022

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The NEW SSBA Botanical Art Introductory and Intermediate courses in the south (Dumfries) and north (Aviemore) of Scotland are now available for

EITHER booking Introductory Courses being held in October 2022
OR to note interest in the April 2023, October 2023 and April 2024 courses.

The courses are open to both SSBA members, other individuals and art groups in the south and north of Scotland who are interested in learning and developing their botanical art skills. The aim of the support is to provide better tuition in areas where it has been a scarce resource in the past.

The courses are spread over two Academic Years: Year 1 2022-23 and Year 2 2023-24.

In Year 1 there will be 2 beginner courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
In Year 2 there will be 2 intermediate courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
There will be 12 places per course.

Funded by the Finnis Scott Foundation Botanical Art Prize 2022,

the SSBA course tutoring plus tea, coffee and lunch during the course is provided FREE OF CHARGE to attendees.
However Attendees will need to cover their own personal costs for travel, art materials and, where required, accommodation, breakfast and dinner.

You can find details - including venues and suggested accommodation on:

the SSBA website - see SSBA Botanical Art Courses Scotland AND the PDF file below
this website - see the Scotland Section of my page about UK: Botanical Art Courses Classes, Courses and Workshops in England, Scotland and Wales in 2022-23

ssba-botanical-art-training-courses-scotland-information.pdf
File Size:	282 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Scottish Society of Botanical Artists wins £10,000 Finnis Scott Foundation's Botanical Art Prize 2022

4/5/2022

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The winner of the £10,000 Botanical Art Prize 2022 - awarded by the Finnis Scott Foundation - is the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists, for their project ‘Botanical Art Training Scotland’.

The presentation of the £10,000 prize will take place in late May in Edinburgh.

Members of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists during one of their painting days

“We are delighted to have been awarded this year's botanical art prize. It will enable the SSBA to grow by introducing beginners and other artists in the north and south of Scotland to the joy in capturing the beauty of plants in the fine detail of botanical art, and hopefully inspire them to continue learning."
Anne Carlaw, Chair of the SSBA

SSBA Saughton Park Sketching Day

The Finnis Scott Botanical Art Prize 2022

I wrote about the Botanical Art Prize for 2022 back in November last year in Finnis Scott Foundation Botanical Art Award (£10,000). This explains the background of and purpose of the prize.

In summary, the Botanical Art Prize is

dedicated to the practice and promotion of botanical art; and
aimed at established botanical art groups.

Specifically the Award is:

intended to fund discrete and collaborative projects that promote and encourage the practice and appreciation of botanical painting in the UK and/or Ireland
awarded biennially i.e. every two years.
sponsored by The Finnis Scott Foundation - a charity that was established by the will of the late Valerie Finnis to support Horticulture and Art.

WHAT THE JUDGES THOUGHT!

The judges thought that the entries were of a very high standard. However, they particularly liked the SSBA’s plan to

give groups or individuals the opportunity to learn, or develop their botanical art skills,
by running a number of free of charge, face-to-face courses in Inverness (the Highlands to the north) and Dumfries (the Southern Uplands)
which will be open to artists with some botanical painting experience as well as individuals are who are interested in learning.

In other words, a project which tackles the deficit in tuition outside the Central Lowlands 'Belt' where all the major cities lie and most of the population live.

“We are delighted to award the biennial Finnis Scott Botanical Art Prize to the Society of Scottish Botanical Artists, to help in their work enabling Scots outside the central belt to participate in the creation of botanical artworks, with all the benefits that come with that.

The Society won the prize against very stiff competition from other groups in the United Kingdom. We wish the SSBA good fortune in their endeavours."
Ursula Buchan, Chair of the Finnis Scott Foundation

The project proposes to

run 8 weekend courses over 2 years free of charge to participants. The only costs participants will need to pay are their own travel, accommodation and meals and recommended art materials.
Year 1 there will be 2 beginner courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
Year 2 there will be 2 intermediate courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
There will be 12 places per course.

I think this is an admirable project - and one which highlights the attention all botanical art societies should endeavour to outreach activities which embrace those living in less populated areas. Their costs are very much more significant when they have to travel long distances to more expensive places.

READ MORE NEWS ABOUT BOTANICAL ART AND ARTISTS

About the Finnis Scott Foundation

The charitable trust, the Finnis Scott Foundation, was founded in 2006, to provide money for charitable projects in the fields of gardening, plant sciences and art.

The Foundation was set up in memory of Sir David Scott, diplomat, art collector and passionate gardener (1887-1986), and his wife, Valerie Finnis (1924 -2006), the famous alpine gardener and photographer, with the proceeds of the sale of their extensive collection of Victorian and twentieth century British pictures.

The FSF Botanical Art Prize, worth £10,000, is awarded every two years, and is separate from the awards granted for applications to the general fund.

The FSF Botanical Art Prize was first awarded in 2018 and is the most valuable prize of its kind in the UK.

“The Prize is unique in that it offers the opportunity for dedicated botanical art societies and similar groups to apply for funding to develop projects they wouldn’t otherwise be able to carry out. The botanical artist often works alone, so the opportunity to work in collaboration as part of a group can be incredibly inspiring.”
Sandra Wall-Armitage (one of the Judges)

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

11/10/2021

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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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A Spring Clean for Education of Botanical Artists!

12/4/2021

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This weekend I gave the Education Section of the Botanical Art and Artists website a much needed "Spring Clean". My aim was to make

navigation of the education section a lot easier
increase awareness of the full range of information available in this section - for FREE.

To that end I've "made over" / revamped / revised two key "entry" pages on the topic of education on the website, namely:

Education - the entry page / portal for the topic as a whole
The Best Instruction Books about Botanical Art and Illustration - the entry page for all my information about botanical art instruction books for beginners and improvers.

The Education Page

The new layout of the Education Page makes it much easier to see:

the main topics covered by the Education Section
the range - breadth and depth - of the information on offer - for FREE!

CLICK THE BLUE LINKS (generally titles of pages) to go to each of the pages in the section

LEARNING OPTIONS are divided into:

self-directed learning - for those who like to learn on their own at their own pace
more formal instruction opportunities - in terms of structured courses, classes and workshops - both face to face and online .

SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

This section covers tuition and learning opportunities around the world and online for those who prefer to "go it alone".

BELOW is an image of part of the new Education Page and an example of two of the pages devoted to those wanting to learn on their own - where beginners and improvers have access to the internet.

Tips and Techniques is one of the most popular parts of the website - and hopefully now more people may appreciate bits they maybe "missed" before.

Two of the pages for self-directed learning

FORMAL INSTRUCTION

This section is for those who want to access formal / structured learning opportunities by:
* travelling to classes, courses and workshops where they live, in their own country or around the world
* OR access formal tuition either online - for those who can use digital technology - or via correspondence.

The next image covers an example of two of the pages related to formal instruction opportunities to learn more about how to create botanical art and illustration. There are more!

Two of the pages relating to more formal instruction opportunities - online and around the world

At the bottom of the EDUCATION page there is:

links to more resources to aid education
forms for eligible teachers to notify
- new courses in 2021-22
- updates to existing courses in 2021.

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The Best Instruction Books
about Botanical Art and Illustration

One of the more important topics in Education is about the instruction books I recommend.

Some of my botanical art instruction books

I've adopted the same approach for the section about The Best Instruction Books about Botanical Art and Illustration.

After a short introduction, the page now has a set of QUICK LINKS to the various pages in this very important sub-section of the main Education topic. This summary lists the contributors to the books recommended on each page.

For example here's a SUMMARY of two of the pages in this section. Click the blue title below the image to go to those pages.

The Best Instruction Books by Botanical Artists and botanical art societies

COMMENTS WELCOME

I trust you find this new arrangement makes it easier to see what information is available on the website - and that you find something new and interesting to view/read!

If you have any suggestions for any other improvements, please let me know via comments on this post or contacting me direct

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Exploring the Future of Botanical Image Making with Laurence Hill

24/1/2021

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Yesterday I sat down in front of my television - switched to YouTube, found the Linnean Society YouTube Channel - and watched an excellent video about "Exploring the Future of Botanical Image Making | Laurence Hill" - which you also can see below. It's

a slideshow video with LOTS of images and commentary by Laurence
followed by a discussion via Zoom with questions asked by those who watched it in real time.
one of their Lunchtime Lectures series

Below you can find out

why I'm highly recommending this video
where you can find out more about botanical photography
where you can find out more about the work and botanical images of Laurence Hill

Our digitally connected world is profoundly image led yet the practice of botanical image making, and types of image commissioned is little changed in several hundred years. Laurence Hill uses examples from the Fritillaria Icones Project, to look at structuring images for online use and wider uses within botanical science and science communication.

I've known Laurence for some time - having first met him at the RHS Show in 2014 where he was exhibiting his botanical photography about Fritillaria. He is a botanical researcher who happens to take photographs to reveal different ways of recording plants. (see below)

He is always pushing the boundaries and thinking about new ways in which botanical images can tell stories and be more accessible to help others tell their stories.

The reason I'm highly recommending this video to botanical artists is that some of the things Laurence has to say will, I know, stimulate some artists into rethinking what they are doing in terms of drawing / painting / displaying / sharing images of plants. It's that basic. Laurence challenges the traditional and asks us to consider ways in which the effort employed might be made informative and useful and tell stories and help people understand the world we live in rather better. I'd be very surprised if there was no change in practice as a result of all the botanical artists watching this video.

Note: One of the good things about the Linnean Society is they've been recording lectures via video for some time. I also recommend a meander through the content on their YouTube Channel

Subscribe to this news blog to find out more
about artists producing botanical art and illustration
Blog posts are emailed to you when you
Subscribe to Botanical Art & Artists - News by Email
(Don't forget to confirm your subscription!)
You can also follow Botanical Art and Artists on Twitter

More about botanical photography

You can read more about botanical photography on the following pages on my Botanical Art and Artists website

HISTORY: Famous Botanical Photographers
CONTEMPORARY: You can find Notable contemporary botanical photographers on my page about people working on other media - Botanical Printmakers, Photographers, Sculptors and Digital Illustrators

More about Laurence Hill

In simple terms I photograph plants and share them with others but by applying a set of carefully considered rules these photographs have a value which goes beyond this unassuming act. For more than a decade I have used digital technologies to explore new ways of recording and presenting botanical science and I am particularly interested in how a systematic photographic approach can produce new insights. Similarly how digital image ‘sets’ as voucher specimens will enhance and extend the value of research. We need to consider how we present, link and verify digital data and the Fritillaria Icones website is my contribution to this emerging field.

Laurence Hill with his intensely botanical and extremely well presented exhibit of Fritillaria affinis and a discussion and demonstration of plant variability relative to the agreed taxonomic description of one species of a wild plant

You can read more about Laurence Hill and his digital photography as follows

website: http://www.fritillariaicones.com/ - his photographic botanical database to help with the identification, research and conservation of Fritillaria. This is an Open Access web based resource, available to anyone anywhere regardless of means and without the need to travel to various libraries and herbaria.
Laurence Hill has won RHS Gold Medals for Botanical Photography as follows:
- 2014 - Kobaimo - Japanese Endemic Fritillaria - Reflections on the RHS Botanical Art Show Autumn 2014
- 2017 - Deconstructed Fritillaria (Click to download PDF (19.2MB) of images) - see RHS Awards for Botanical Photography 2017
- 2018- Species Boundaries: Fritillaria affinis - see RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners

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