NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

REVIEW: Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey

8/8/2018

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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RHS Botanical Art Show #2: The Judges and Judging Process

25/6/2018

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This is the second three posts covering RHS Picture Panel responses to my questions about the assessment process relating to the RHS Botanical Art Shows.

The three posts are

Seeking approval to exhibit (24 June)
The Judges and the Judging Process (TODAY'S post)
How the colour of the medal and additional awards are decided + Feedback (Tuesday 26th June)

I asked an awful lot of questions and the answers run to five A4 pages - hence the three blog posts!

Exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 - summarising the purpose of the show and the assessment process

The Judges and the Judging Process

Below you can find the questions I asked and the responses I got from the RHS Picture Panel Secretary. I've edited the format of the latter slightly (e.g. paragraphs/bullet points) to make it more readable online.

Who is involved with the judging? What experience and expertise do they bring to assessment?

The judging Panel currently includes experienced practising botanical artists and teachers, botanists, an art collector, horticultural experts and garden writing editors.
We are always looking to make sure we have the right combination of skills.

Gillian Barlow has been the Chair of the Panel for over 10 years and continues to be a respected botanical artist. She brings a wealth of experience as a practicing artist, a previous gold medal winner and a judge.

Along with other members of the judging panel, Gillian is supported by Deborah Lambkin and Helen Allen, both of whom are also practicing artists and teachers.

How are standards and criteria defined by the RHS Picture Committee - for the guidance of those assessing each year?

The judges take into account the following criteria, which is a summary of the guidance, rules and regulations detailed in the Botanical Illustration Exhibitor Factsheet (557kB pdf) :

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Niki Simpson and Juliet Williamson win Jill Smythies Award 2018

31/5/2018

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Every year the The Jill Smythies Award is awarded to one or more botanical illustrators - for outstanding botancal illustrations in publications.

Last week, on 24th May 2018, the Annual Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society started with the presentation of annual medals, recognising outstanding contributions to the Natural Sciences by a variety of different people.

The Jill Smythies Award was founded in 1988 and awards a prize of £1000 to a botanical artist for outstanding illustrations.

I've now created a page about the The Jill Smythies Award which lists the people who have received the award to date and how nominations are made. The list includes some famous names in the world of contemporary botanical art have received the award plus a lot of very experienced botanical illustrators who work in Botanic Gardens across the world. It finishes with a summary biography of Jill Smythies.

I've checked and you don't have to be a fellow to nominate somebody for the Award!

Niki Simpson receive her Jill Smythies Award

Niki Simpson

Juliet Williamson

Juliet Williamson receiving her Jill Smythies Award

The Jill Smythies Award 2018

For 2018, the Council agreed to make two awards: to

Niki Simpson - who has developed a technique for digital botanical images similar to conventional botanical illustration plates.
Juliet Williamson - who illustrated The Kew Plant Glossary: An Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Identification Terms - which contains 700 of her line drawings.

Juliet seems to be quite a private person and there's very little about her online other. However my 'sources' say she's been producing botanical illustrations for Kew for years - dating back to 2002. (However I'm very happy to correct any inaccuracies).

Niki is pretty well known within the botanical illustration community for being the first person to recreate botanical illustration using digital imaging technology and software.

Niki with a display of her digital botanical illustrations for the viewing by the Fellows of the Linnean Society. Photo copyright Niki Simpson.

The aim is for scientific, reference-standard images. Each composite illustration is a comprehensive plant portrait of a single taxon or plant species, showing the diagnostic and, where space allows, the characteristic features of that plant. All parts and dissections are shown to scale by a metric scale bar, and where appropriate, the notable parts are colour referenced. In addition, each illustration contains a time bar showing the month/s of flowering, a title block and symbols indicating the plant's life form and sexual arrangement.
Visual Botany - Artist Statement

I've previously featured Niki's work on my page about Artists using Other Media which highlights her exhibition catalogue Niki Simpson: Digital Diversity | Exhibition Catalogue on Issuu. I spent a lovely afternoon in the Linnean Society when her book was published - looking at the way she manages to develop her plates. - which is a complex process.

Finally - the medallists from all the different categories have a group photo - and this is the one for 2018.

The Linnean Society Medallists 2018 (24 May 2018)

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Exhibition by Bobbi Angell and Beverley Duncan at the Arnold Arboretum

6/5/2018

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Impressions of Woody Plants: Disjunction, Two Artists, and the Arnold Arboretum is the title of a new botanical art exhibition which includes Copper Etchings by Bobbi Angell and Watercolor Paintings by Beverly Duncan

Impressions of Wood Plants Bobbi Angell Beverley Duncan

About the Exhibition

The word disjunction, defined as the relationship between two distinct alternatives, can be applied to botanical artists Bobbi Angell and Beverly Duncan: their media--copper and watercolor, their plant focuses--exotic and native, their backgrounds--botany and art. In the end though, as in this Arnold Arboretum exhibition, it is all about the wonder of woody plants, and the artists' approaches to creating images.

Venue: Hunnewell Building (Visitor Centre), 125 Arborway, Boston, MA 02130
in the The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University (click link for how to get there)
Dates: May 11 – July 22, 2018
Hours: 10am - 5pm
Admission: Free - but limited (Note - The Hunnewell lecture hall is used for programs, classes, and other events. Please call 617 384-5209 for accessibility.)
Opening Reception: Saturday 19th May (1:00-3:00pm)
Information: Details of the show can be found here
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/news-events/art-shows/

The show also includes a Workshop with the artists (Location: Hunnewell Building)
Saturday 9th June 2018 (1-3pm) Free, no registration required

About Bobbi Angell

Bobbi Angell is attracted to unusual, cultivated specimens due to her long history working with botanists and horticulturalists.

Her subjects, all Asian natives, several of which were introduced into cultivation by the Arboretum, represent the remarkable history of plant collecting around the world.
All can be found in the collections of the Arboretum.
Her drawings are developed into finely crafted copper etchings, which are then printed in limited editions.

Angell has been drawing plants since 1978, illustrating floras, monographs, and new species for botanists at The New York Botanical Garden, Harvard University, and Smithsonian Institution. Drawing herbarium specimens has been the focus of her work. Angell's copper plate etchings reflect her interest in fine detail. They have allowed her a satisfying and natural extension of her compositional style.

See also my recent blog post Botanical Illustration - Books by Bobbi Angell

About Beverly Duncan

Beverly Duncan is drawn to the familiarity of native plants.

She translates the common and recognisable into intimate portraits in detailed watercolor paintings.
Her sketches capture the various stages in the life of a native plant.
For this exhibition, Duncan focused on paintings of seedlings, the delicate early life of a tree or shrub.
All her subjects can also be found as mature trees on the grounds of the Arnold Arboretum.

Duncan is an award-winning botanical artist, the first to receive Best in Show at the annual exhibition of the Horticultural Society in New York and the American Society of Botanical Artists. Her work is in corporate and private collections around the world. Duncan exhibited and received recognition at the 2014 royal Horticultural Exhibit in London. She teaches botanical drawing and painting classes, and has illustrated commissions for numerous books and magazines.

About the Arnold Arboretum

The Arnold Arboretum

Established in 1872 and founded as a public-private partnership between the City of Boston and Harvard University
281 acres hosting the Arboretum’s living collection of trees, shrubs, and woody vines

Planned and designed in collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted; it is a National Historic Landmark and one of the best preserved of Olmsted’s landscapes.
An international center for the study of plants - with a a 43,000-square-foot state-of-the-art research center and a herbaria containing more than 1.3 million specimens
Free and open to the public every day of the year

Find out about more botanical art exhibitions

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3rd Birthday and 600,000 Visitors

28/4/2018

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Botanical Art and Artists started three years ago on 16 April 2015.

This week, this compendium about Botanical Art and Illustration for Botanical Artists and fans received its 600,000th visitor.

Home Page (crop) of Botanical Art and Artists as it passes 3rd birthday and tops 600,000 visitors

ABOUT
botanical art and illustration past and present
FOR
botanical artists & illustrators of today & tomorrow
around the world

It sounds like it's been 200,000 each year whereas in fact it's been a steady - and ever increasing - upward trend as more and more people and groups have found out about it. Each month BA&A currently gets between 35,000-40,000 visits and 50-55,000 page views.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all those individuals and organisations that have

found enjoyment and/or value in the website,
provided an awful lot of content for me through your own achievements
inspire me to keep going!

There's lots more still to come.
This is a major retirement project for me - which will keep me happy and fulfilled for a long time - and I have a very long "to do" list!

The website Home Page on the Launch Day.

Your suggestions for content are, as always, most welcome - particularly in relation to any new content or new pages.

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Blog posts are emailed to you when you
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NOTE:

The image on the Launch Page is Fritillaria imperialis by Alexander Marshal
The image on the current Home Page is Studies of Peonies Paoenia officinalis (c.1472-3) by Martin Schongauer (1450-1491) Gouache and watercolour; 25.7 × 33 cm (10 1/8 × 13 in.) One of the earliest surviving northern European botanical studies drawn from life which now lives at The Getty.

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