NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

RIP Margaret Stones and Jessica Tcherepnine

6/1/2019

This is way of a notice, to those who have not already heard, that we lost two outstanding botanical artists at the turn of the year.

Margaret Stones AM MBE GM passed away on 26th December in Epworth, Australia
Jessica Tcherepnine GM died on New Year's Eve in New York.

I'm doing a brief biography/appreciation of Margaret Stones today (see below)
I'm also in the process of constructing a web page for Margaret Stones for my section about Famous and/or Notable Botanical Artists in the 20th Century - chronicling her artwork and significant contribution to botanical illustration and will be highlighting this at a later date

Tomorrow I have a post about Jessica Tcherepnine.

Margaret Stones AM OBE GM (1920-2018)

Margaret Stones is a Botanical Artist renowned for her taxonomical accuracy.
Encyclopedia of Australian Science

Margaret Stones has died, age 98, in Australia, on 26 December 2018.
She was a very distinguished Australian botanical artist who provided a significant contribution to botanical art and illustration during the 20th century.

Some highlights of career included

one of the longest serving botanical illustrators for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Working on a freelance basis, she produced over 400 watercolour drawings of plants for Curtis's Botanical Magazine over a period of 25 years between 1958 and 1983
participated in some major projects - providing 254 drawings for a six-volume work (1967-78) for The Endemic Flora of Tasmania, and also illustrating the Flora of Louisiana commissioned in 1976 - which grew to over 200 exquisite watercolor drawings
received very many awards recognising her distinction in her field - including the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and the Order of Australia (AM) plus a Gold and Silver Veitch Memorial Medals and Gold Medals from the Royal Horticultural Society. She also held honorary degrees from both the University of Melbourne and Louisiana State University
taught and inspired very many botanical artists and talent spotted others - including Pandora Sellars.

Pandora enjoyed a great relationship with her and shared with me how incredible she was. An inspiration to botanical artists everywhere.
Margaret Best

Margaret Stones - pictured on 13 March 2003 at the "Imperial Honours" Exhibition at Melbourne University, just after her return to Australia | Courtesy of The Australian Women's Register

Early life in Australia

She was born at Colac, Australia, southwest of Melbourne, on August 28, 1920. Her father was a farmer and her early years were blighted by the difficulties associated with the aftermath of the Great War and the Depression.

Her artistic talents were evident early on and her family supported her in her endeavours to train in art.

She attended Swinburne Girls Junior Technical School (the first Technical School for Girls in Victoria) where she obtained a three-year scholarship to study industrial art at Swinburne Technical College, Victoria (1936-1938). Unfortunately her parents were unable to keep her on for the fourth year which would have given her a Diploma. However she did attend night classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School for 18 months during 1940-41, while earning a living doing commercial art jobs during the day.

War work then interrupted her work as a commercial artist and she trained and worked as a nurse during the Second World War.

Her real involvement in botanical illustration began after she contracted pulmonary tuberculosis shortly after she completed her final nursing exams. She was hospitalised and confined to bed for 18 months - at Epworth to begin with and then later at Glenelg Hospital at Box Hill.

What might seem like a turn for the worse, in fact influenced her career for the rest of her life.

After complaining of going mad with the sheer boredom of enforced recuperation associated with her stay in hospital, she started to spend her time drawing .wild flowers. These were brought to her by her friends - some of whom brought plants to her from the Grampians, a range of mountains in western Victoria.

After she recovered from tuberculosis, she was invited to join the University of Melbourne Botany school summer expeditions to the Bogong High Plains, Victoria.

In 1951 she left Australia for London to further her botanical knowledge.

A new career and a new life at Kew Gardens

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Lucy Smith filmed by BBC News

22/12/2018

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Botanical Illustrator Lucy Smith was telling me earlier in the week about how exciting it was to be filmed creating one of her botanical illustrations for the Kew Herbarium Archive by a BBC News crew who came to Kew Gardens. (This is part of a wider filming project by the BBC at Kew)>

Her item was due to run on yesterday's news.

...and so:

the good news - the title given to the piece is The woman who draws the world's plants
the good news - you can still see the video on the BBC website - just click the blue link above. In it she describes how she draws a NEW species and what she has to do to dry botanical material in order to see its features properly - and how long it takes her to produce an illustration
the bad news - the piece about her got bumped by a drone! BBC News needed extra time for the impact caused by the awful men who closed down Gatwick by flying drones with a view to causing maximum disruption!

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Do take a look at the video - it's only short but packed full of information!

There's also an article about Lucy Smith on the Kew Gardens website
RECOMMENDED READ: Meet award-winning botanical illustrator Lucy Smith & discover her line drawings

You can also read more about Lucy and what she does on:

her website http://www.lucytsmith.com
her Facebook Page - Lucy T Smith Botanical Artist
her Twitter account - Lucy Smith at https://twitter.com/palmsmithy

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Sarah Jane Humphrey - being a botanical illustrator

13/12/2018

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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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Scientific Illustration Instruction by Rogério Lupo

26/11/2018

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Rogério Lupo is a Brazilian scientific illustrator who 1st Prize in the Margaret Flockton Award in 2010 and 2013. He is also a teacher who has very generously provided a FREE guidebook and a FREE 48 minute video online providing pointers on how to draw scientific illustrations using graphite.

He also makes the effort to make sure his tuition is accessible to those who speak/read English rather than Portuguese.

This post is about:

his FREE 48 minute Video (with English subtitles) and Guidebook (translated into English) - about using Graphite for Scientific Illustration (I previously wrote about the Guidebook in Guide to Botanical Illustration using Pen and Ink - in Portuguese)
his work and artwork online
Rogério's Workshop Tour of the USA in 2019 - providing workshops in the use of graphite and pen and ink for botanical illustration.

The NEW Video

The 48 minute YouTube Video "Graphite for Scientific Illustrations - Supplement to the free Guidebook with English subtitles is a FREE lesson providing complementary demonstrations to support the study and practices of the Guidebook: Graphite and its Possibilities Applied to Scientific Illustrations. also FREE - SEE BELOW

It now has ENGLISH SUBTITLES which have been reviewed by Bobbi Angell, American Botanical Illustrator.

The YouTube icons bottom right of the video

To enable the subtitles follow the instructions below:

Select the captions icon in the bottom right hand corner . It's on the extreme left, to the left of the cog wheel icon.
Click the icon - so a red line appears beneath it
You have now switched on the subtitles
This will stay on for whatever video you watch next - until you switch it off.

You can also read the transcript for the video. If you select the three dots below the video - on the extreme right - and select "open transcript" - the transcript opens up in the top right of the screen and you can read what is being said continuously without referencing the screen. It's a long video and you might find this useful!

The Guidebook

Graphite and its Possibilities Applied to Scientific Illustrations is a FREE Guidebook with English subtitles. Please note that Rogério Lupo has asserted his copyright and any SALE of this Guidebook is strictly prohibited

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Call for Entries - Margaret Flockton Award 2019

25/11/2018

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The Call for Entries for the 2019 Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration has been published by The Margaret Flockton Award Committee

The deadline for digital online entry is 29 January 2019.

Images from Margaret Flockton Award prizewinners and highly commended 2016-2018 - on Flickr

The Margaret Flockton Award

The Margaret Flockton Award is a prestigious international award for contemporary scientific botanical illustration which

celebrates the best scientific botanical illustration completed by botanical illustrators from around the world today
commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton (1861-1953) made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

In particular , the Award focuses on:

both traditional and digital techniques that best illustrate the botanical world
a range of plants from new or renamed species, to rare, vulnerable or endangered plants, as well as common native or exotic subjects.

The Award is run by Catherine Wardrop and Lesley Elkan, the botanical illustrators at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia where Margaret Flockton worked in the Herbarium - on behalf of the Margaret Flockton Award Committee.

The Prizes are as follows

First prize: AU$5000;
second prize: AU$2000;
3 x Highly Commended.

However the best prize is probably the career development benefit of being identified as one of the best scientific botanical illustrators in the world.

This is an OPEN COMPETITION and the Award always welcomes new and talented illustrators. Those interested should first review the entries in the exhibition in 2018 - as exhibited on Flickr

How to enter

You can read about how to enter on:

The RBGS website - see The Margaret Flockton Award Register for updates with the enquiries email on this page.
This website - see The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

You can send in an entry between Mon 14 January and Tues 29 January 2019. Note this is earlier than last year when the submission was in February.

Key points to note are:

All entries must be submitted digitally.

All original illustrations must be scanned or photographed at high resolution and then submitted via approved large-file transfer sites.
No original artworks will require sending or receiving.
Digital submission - forms
Digital submission - artwork
Permissions

Fully digitally rendered, printable illustrations are now eligible for entry.

but NOT animated or 3D works

Entries must comply with a range of technical requirements

these are explained in full on the website in addition to A Guide to Scientific Illustration

No artworks will be offered for sale by RBGS

BUT direct email or website details will be made available, with the consent of the artist for sales to be arranged direct with the relevant artist.

Assessment

Judging: Entries will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:

accurate interpretation and portrayal of plant characters and diagnostic features;
technical merit;
reproducibility;
composition;
artistic merit.

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration on the RBGS page for more information on judging criteria.

Further Information

Exhibition

The botanical illustrations in the Exhibition can be seen at three different locations.

Works for sale - selected works will be available for sale direct from the artist
The exhibition details for the three locations are as follows:

VENUE 1:

Venue: Joseph Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - enter via Woolloomooloo Gate on Mrs Macquaries Road
Dates: Sat 30 March – Sun 14 April 2019 daily 10 am - 4 pm.
Cost: Entry to the exhibition is free

VENUE 2:

Venue: The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Dates: Saturday 8 June – Sunday 28 July 2019, Mon – Fri 10 am – 4 pm and selected weekends

VENUE 3:

Venue: Visitor Centre at The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah
Dates: Friday 9 August – Sunday 15 September 2019, daily 9.30 am – 4.30 pm

More Information:

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RHS Botanical Art Show: 2019 dates and deadlines for 2020 submissions

11/10/2018

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This is an update on "need to know" facts relating to the 2019 and 2020 RHS Botanical Art Shows.

The RHS website has been updated with key facts about the 2019 and 2020 Botanical Art Shows
I've summarised these below.
Read the details in the Botanical Illustration Exhibitor Factsheet (557kB pdf)

View of part of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018

Facts about the RHS Botanical Art Show

The RHS Botanical Art Show is an OPEN and INTERNATIONAL exhibition
It's the longest running and TOP juried botanical art show in the world.
No other show juries a minimum portfolio of six botanical artworks for every exhibit
It's the LARGEST juried international art show in the world.
It receives submissions and exhibits from botanical artists and botanical illustrators from around the world. Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe contribute most international artists from outside the UK.

It would be great to see more artists from North, South and Central America!

RHS Botanical Art Show 2019 - show dates

Make a note for your diaries!
The dates for the RHS London Art & Photography Show in 2019 are

Wednesday 24–Thursday 25 July 2019.
Plus a late event on Tuesday 23 July 2019.

My understanding is that the 2019 show will be in the RHS Lindley Hall.

RHS Botanical Art Show 2020
- application for approval to exhibit

If you want to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2020, you must first submit your work for approval to exhibit. I'll be updating my page about RHS Botanical Art Shows but I've summarised key facts below

This is how the submission process works to be ELIGIBLE to apply for space to display work at an RHS Show in 2020:

IF YOU HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY EXHIBITED you must first submit a sample of four pieces of work to the RHS Picture Panel for assessment and approval at the May Submission Selection Meeting.
Artists based outside the UK can submit rolled prints of the same (value £0) rather than original art. This enables them to get through Customs without problems. (Prints are not returned)
The above requirement relates to both individual artists and groups
The artwork does NOT need to be related to your proposed exhibit. However all pieces must demonstrate that you can produce a very high standard of botanical illustration. (You can view my previous blog posts for images of exhibits displayed at previous shows)
If submitting as a Group, you must submit at least one artwork by each artist
The next Submission Selection Meeting is on Thursday 9 May 2019
Artwork - for assessment and approval - at this meeting can be submitted to the Lindley Library in London between Tuesday 23 April and Thursday 2 May
Please contact the Picture Panel Secretary before sending any work. It's recommended that you hand deliver artworks.

The RHS Lindley Library and Headquarters of the RHS at 80 Vincent Square, London

Dawn Jolliffe Botanical Art Bursary

If the cost of exhibiting is likely to prevent you from exhibiting then you can apply for funding support.

The Dawn Joliffe Botanical Art Bursary is available to support botanical artists in their endeavours to prepare an exhibit and then display it at the show.

Funding is available to help support artists with

the costs of staging an exhibit at one of the RHS Shows
towards the costs of travelling to paint plants in their natural habitat.

For more information and to apply see Apply for an RHS Bursary

Tips for exhibiting at the RHS Botanical Art Show

For more about RHS Botanical Art and Photography Exhibitions see the following dedicated pages on this website:

PLUS In the Tips and Techniques area of the EDUCATION section you can find Tips from RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners - these provide tips around

an outline of the process from application to exhibit through to the exhibition
includes several articles about tips about how to be successful at an RHS Botanical Art Show by RHS Gold Medal-winning artists. Every year they come up with new tips!
how to mount the display
how to transport your exhibit

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Botanical Art: "Ask an Expert" events at Kew

7/10/2018

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Kew Gardens has three botanical art surgeries set up over the Autumn and Winter for budding botanical artists to:

view how a professional botanical artist works - and see examples of their completed work
ask technical questions about aspects of botanical art and illustration - and
receive practical tips and advice about developing their own work.

Below are

the dates/times of the three drop-in sessions in October (starting next Sunday), December and February
profiles of the three artists who will be hosting the sessions.

The events are free i.e. included with the price of admission to the Gardens.

Sunday 14th October, drop in session 11am - 3pm

Masumi Yamanaka GM (2010)
Masumi was in Nara, Japan but has lived in the UK since 1987. She studied botanical art with Pandora Sellers.

She has been a freelance botanical artist based at the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since 2007In 2010, she won an RHS Gold Medal for her illustrations of Aesculus indica 'Sydney Pearce'. She has exhibited at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew as follows:

‘Trees’ - Winter 2009,
‘Bulbmania’- Summer 2010
‘Kew Artists’- Spring 2011.
In 2015, her exhibition of 'Kew's Heritage Trees' was held in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. It portrayed the oldest and iconic trees in the garden and the paintings now form part of Kew's permanent collection.
In 2016 she co-ordinated and organised the Flora Japonica exhibition (2015) at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery and was one of the authors (with Martin Rix) of the book about Flora Japonica

Masumi Yamanaka with one of the paintings she did for her exhibition of Kew's Heritage Trees at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery

Sunday 9th December, drop-in session 11am - 3pm

Lucy T Smith GM was born in Sydney but now lives and works in London. She works in pen and ink and watercolour.

Lucy has been worked as a botanical illustrator for the Palms of New Guinea project based at Kew for very many years. She also illustrates new species for Kew and is documenting a number of the waterlilies growing at Kew - including the world's largest and smallest. As well as freelancing as a botanical artist for Kew, Lucy also produces paintings for private commissions and exhibitions and teaches botanical illustration. She leads the Kew Certificate in Botanical Illustration and runs short courses in botanical illustration for Kew Gardens and Chelsea Physic Gardens

Lucy has also received a number of prestigious awards

She was won two RHS Gold Medals
In 2004, she was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in Scientific Illustration from the Linnean Society of London.
In 2014 and again in 2017, She won the Margaret Flockton Award for Scientific Illustration - against professional botanical illustrators from all over the world.

On the Kew website there are two articles about her work -

Lucy T Smith with some of her own botanical illustrations in pen and ink - in the Library at Kew Gardens (April 2018)

Sunday 17th Feb 2019, drop-in session 11am - 3pm

Deborah Lambkin GM (1999) has been the official 'Orchid Artist' to the Royal Horticultural Society Orchid Committee since 2005. In 1999 she was awarded an RHS Gold Medal for her collection of eight paintings of Nerines in 1999. To date she has contributed more than 400 orchid paintings to the Royal Horticultural Society's Orchid Painting Collection. She has also exhibited at the World Orchid Conference Botanical Art Exhibition 2014 and published in Curtis Botanical Magazine

Deborah was born in Ireland and lives in London. She trained at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin and is a Member of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists and the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society. . She also has work in the collection of the National Botanical Gardens. Dublin.

In 2014 she joined RHS Picture Advisory Panel which includes judging at the RHS Botanical Art shows.

Four orchid paintings by Deborah Lambkin at the RHS Spring Show 2016

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