NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

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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RBGE Botanical Illustration Diploma Graduation Show 2018

22/9/2018

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You've got one more day to visit the botanical art exhibits at the RBGE Graduation Show at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh by the international students who have just completed their RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration this summer.

(This would have been earlier but for my recent computer woes/hard drive failure - I only got my photoshop software working again this morning!)

Fortunately Elaine Searle was visiting earlier this month for the Graduation ceremony and took photos and sent them to me - so below is a record of the graduates, what they chose to do for their portfolios and pics of their exhibit.

Constanza (Coco) Obach with her exhibit of "Plants of the Coastal Mountain Range (Chile)"

The Diploma show is a showcase of work from the RBGE Diplomas in Botanical Illustration, Herbology and Plantsmanship courses.

Graduate Show - RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration (2017/18)

Venue: Fletcher Building, Botanic Garden Edinburgh (accessed by the ramp to the right of the Cacti House.)
Dates: Saturday 22nd September 2018 - Sunday 23rd September 2018
Hours: Open daily from 10:30 - 16:00
Admission: Free

RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration:
Graduation Show

The Diploma in Botanical Illustration at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is ideal for those who want to take botanical illustration to a professional level. Designed for those with a background or some experience in art, design or illustration, this three year RBGE diploma develops skills across a complete range of watercolour, pencil and pen.

The graduating students this summer come from various countries around the world - including:

Chile
France
Japan: Tokyo
Netherlands
Switzerland: Geneva
UK: The Wirral in Cheshire; Melrose in the Scotland Borders
USA: New Mexico and Southern California

Click RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration for more details about the three year course using online instruction.

Wren M Allen - Native Plants of the American Desert South West and their Traditional Uses

Wren lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and discovered botanical illustration while living in Brazil. Her plants are those found near her home.

Jenny Bache-Usher - Five Plants from SSSI Red Rock Marsh, Hoylake

The marsh local to her home is a site of special scientific interest and exhibits different habitats within its boundary. Her plants are the very rare Wirral Horsetail and the Sea Holly, Flag Iris, Salad Burnet and Sea Radish.

A course with headlines and tasks concentrates the mind wonderfully!

Julia Blower - Hosta Cultivars

Julia started to paint after many years of working as a lawyer and then in management roles. She had grown Hostas in her woodland garden for many years and regarded the portfolio assignment as a great excuse to buy and plant more hostas!

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ASBA 21st International Exhibitions - best in show and profiles of participating artists

8/9/2018

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The 21st International Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists opens to the public today in a new venue - at Wave Hill.

It's great to know that if you can't make it to the exhibition, you can still see all the artwork on the ASBA website (click the "The Art" Tab on https://www.asba-art.org/exhibitions/21st-annual-international. An illustrated catalogue, which includes all of the works in the show, as well as an essay by Ken Druse, is also available in Wave Hill’s Shop.

The “Artists’ Stories Behind the Art” can all be accessed via the link in the names of the artists below. This takes you to the relevant page on the ASBA website.

Thumbnail Images from the 21st International Exhibition

This collaboration celebrates art that inspires gardeners and the vibrant, burgeoning horticulture at Wave Hill that inspires artists.

Venue: Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street, Bronx, NY (30 minutes from midtown Manhattan)
Dates: 8 September - 2nd December 2018
Note: The elevator in Glyndor Gallery is currently out of service for major repairs and the Gallery and restroom are not accessible by wheelchair.

Founded in 1965, Wave Hill is a public garden which which overlooks the Hudson River and Palisades. It also provides an urban oasis, a cultural centre and a community resource with innovative programs in horticulture, education and the arts.

It's now also providing a home to ASBA's international exhibition in 2018 and 2020. Having changed location for the 21st Annual International, the exhibition is now much longer than the previous exhibitions - and it will be interesting to see the impact this has on overall sales.

The artworks in the exhibition are also available through The Shop at Wave Hill.

Below I'm highlighting

Best in Show Award
Profiles of participating artists + websites
Workshops and talks during the show

Best in Show Award

Best in Show: Double Poppy © Jean Emmons

The "Best in Show" was awarded to the Double Poppy painting painted by Jean Emmons. I'm guessing this is painted in watercolour on vellum as most of her botanical artwork is. Her paintings on vellum are luminous.

Jean’s technique is based on medieval manuscript illumination. She learned it from the late Kevin Nicolay, a plantsman and self-taught botanical artist. It’s a difficult and time-consuming watercolor method, but an excellent way to suggest light moving through layers of plant tissue
Jean Emmons | About the Artist

Participating Artists

Jurors selected 48 artworks from an extremely competitive field of about 190 entries (that's a success rate of 25%)

This is very much an International Exhibition with 15 exhibiting artists coming from outside the US - from Australia (2), Canada (1), France (1), Japan (2), Russia (5), Slovenia (1), and the UK (3).

Fourteen artists have never before been included in an ASBA exhibition.

The jurors were

Ken Druse Garden lecturer, author, and photographer
Karen Kluglein Botanical artist
Eileen Jeng Lynch Curator of Visual Arts, Wave Hill

The Artists whose artwork was selected for the exhibition are listed below. The link in their name is to the page on the ASBA website which provides the story behind their specimen and artwork. Their website address is also provided where available.

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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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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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Nataneal Nascimento wins Margaret Flockton Award 2018

24/4/2018

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Brazilian scientific illustrator Natanael Nascimento has won the Margaret Flockton Award 2018.

This Award and Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is very prestigious and attracts submissions from scientific botanical illustrators from all over the world - as demonstrated by the prizewinners below.

Margaret Flockton Award 2018
for Scientific Botanical Illustration

This is very much an award for the professional botanical illustrator since it is very much focused on the plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

What happens is that illustrators from around the world

digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

The Criteria used to judge the Award are listed below:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of the plant characters and diagnostic features highlighted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Artistic merit
Composition
Reproducibility

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

First Prize $5,000 (AUS)

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