NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Two new book reviews: 'Botany for the Artist' and 'Botanical Illustration'

21/12/2016

Today I've created two new pages on my website for in-depth book reviews of two books relevant to those who want to learn more about botany and the botanical illustrator - and highly recommended by me.

Both reviews were written some years ago shortly after the books were published - but the books haven't changed so nor has the value of the book reviews!

However it occurred to me that it would be much more helpful to those wanting to learn about how to draw plants - or develop their skills - if the book reviews were with the rest of the information I've compiled. So today I've moved them from my review blog to this website.

I'll also be moving more in-depth reviews between now and the end of the year.

The two books are as follows (click the links below the image to go to the dedicated page for each book and read the reviews)

Book Review: Botanical Illustration

Author: Valerie Oxley

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is an excellent manual for those who like their botanical art to lean towards illustration with a strong botanical slant.

This book differentiates itself by focusing on botany. It's very detailed and practical and consequently very helpful.

It provides lots of detailed facts, useful information, tips and techniques - doubtless derived from the author's many years of teaching botanical illustration and developing a diploma course.

For example, it includes

a very detailed chapter about collecting, transporting and preparing to draw plant material.
a chapter on finishing touches including tips about how to check for mistakes and tips about how to avoid making mistakes in the first place!

It's a sub-page of The Best Botanical Art Instruction Books in the Education Section.

Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants

Author: Sarah Simblet

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is the best rated book on the market for those who want to understand more about

botany for artists and
how to draw plants

The quality of the text and illustrations is first class and the whole book provides a fresh perspective on botany for the artist while losing none of the fundamental and enduring truths of what is required of botanical illustration.

The emphasis of this book is on:

understanding the botany of plants and their different parts - roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, cones and seeds - and
how to draw the botanical aspects of plants.

Its focus is on finding ways to unpick and illustrate the functionality of the plant - how it is constructed / how it works.

It's a sub-page of The Best Botany Books for Botanical Artists and Illustrators in the Botany section.

Interestingly both books highlight the value of learning through studying the botanical illustrators of the past.

If you'd like to check out some of the best botanical illustrators and artists in history check out my section on Botanical Art History and in particular Past Masters of Botanical Art & Illustration (1500-1900)

Note: The links above go direct to the page which hosts the book review. The book reviews include associate links to Amazon. This site uses the pennies raised via book sales via those links to finance this website - which is not cheap to run.

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Linnean Society - Open House

31/8/2016

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The Linnean Society is participating in Open House between 10:00–17:00 on Saturday 17 September 2016. Find out more about this event on their website.

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788, the Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829.

The entrance to The Linnean Society of London is located on the left inside the arch into Burlington Courtyard - at, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF, United Kingdom (better known to a lot of artists as also being home to the Royal Academy of Art)

Below is the main library - which I can highly recommend! Last time I was there it was displaying their copy of one of the three volumes of Banksias by Celia Rosser - and you don't get to see that very often!

The Library Reading Room of the Linnean Society

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RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 - the FAQS

3/8/2016

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This post is about how to find information about the RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 and the future - for all actual and aspiring future exhibitors.

In the past, many botanical artists have found it very difficult to find out about:

how to be selected for exhibition at an RHS Botanical Art Show
how to win an RHS Medal - particularly a Gold Medal.

Below you can find out about:

what facts are available from the RHS
what information is available on this websites - including tips from past Gold Medal winners!

Saturday at the RHS London Botanical Art Show in 2016

RHA Botanical Art & Photography Shows in 2017

The RHS now has a web page for information about the shows for artists and photographers. If you hope to exhibit in future or are planning to exhibit in 2017 you should bookmark this now. That's because it's not easy to find unless you know where to look!

The page has two sub-pages for:

Botanical Art
Botanical Photography (NOT to be confused with the RHS Photography competition)

Each of these provide information and links to more detailed information about

how to apply to exhibit
rules and regulations for exhibitors

Dates of RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017

In 2017 the RHS Botanical Illustration Shows are:

RHS London 24-25 February 2017
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 11-14th May 2017

All those selected to exhibit in the future:

should have had a letter listing these dates
will get another letter in the Autumn (date unspecified!) inviting them to apply to exhibit at one of these two shows.

Applications for space for exhibits of paintings and drawings should be made on forms sent out by the RHS Shows Department. Contact details for eligible artists are automatically sent to the RHS Shows Department, following acceptance by the Picture Panel, however artists should ensure that the RHS Shows Department is kept informed of any changes to their contact details

RHS Botanical Illustration - Exhibitor Factsheet

The RHS have published their Exhibitor Fact Sheet for Botanical Illustration in 2017. Download this and save it and then print it out and start highlighting all the things you need to remember! (Note: Rather annoyingly the print is in green ink (!) which means that it does not reproduce well when printing in greyscale)

Interestingly although the shows have always been described at Botanical Art Shows in the past, the Factsheet emphasises that it is about "Botanical Illustration".

The RHS has always been very clear that these shows are for works that are primarily of botanical interest. I'm assuming the change of name is because the RHS wants to continue to emphasise the botanical emphasis of its exhibitions when compared to some of the other botanical art exhibitions around the world and the range of works that they include.

I am however going to try and find out if there is anything more behind this change in name.

The heading of the FACTSHEET for RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017

This is what it covers:

a definition of botanical illustration - you need to make sure that what you propose to exhibit conforms to this definition.
contacts - although oddly it omits the key contact for artists which is the email address for the Picture Panel. You can find this on page 3 in the next section
Selection: New Exhibitors - describes the process used to people who want to exhibit with the RHS. You are already too late to apply to be approved to exhibit for 2017. However if you apply now you can start the process for being approved to exhibit in 2018 and beyond. The closing date for applications for approval is usually June each year - with the selection meeting of the Picture Panel being held in July. This section provides precise guidelines and criteria for approval to exhibit.

Only exhibitors that have been accepted by the Picture Panel are eligible to apply for space.

Rules and Regulations for Exhibiting - This section details all the rules for presentation and conduct while exhibiting (which I will review in a future post)
Labelling - Botanical names are sacrosanct to the RHS! This is a very big section and that's a very big clue to how important this aspect is to the judges. I've known people in the past lose out on a good medal because they did something wrong when writing out their labels. Knowing how to name your plant and when to use italics and capitals is VERY important! This page recommends the use of latest edition of The RHS Plant Finder in relation to the use of cultivar names.
Staging - As many people know new display boards were used for the RHS london Botanical Art Show in 2016. These will continue to be used in future. Note the STRONG recommendations as to the use of conservation grade polyester film such as Melinix or Mylar to protect the artwork. (I'll be writing more about these and how to get hold of them in future)
Judging and awards - this stipulates what medals are available and how they are awarded. It highlights in particular the judging criteria used which are listed within three categories: Quality of Botanical Illustration; Quality of Presentations and Overall Impression
Terms and Conditions - The normal sort of 'small print' which MUST be read thoroughly. Don't make any assumptions! Note the need for insurance.

More information

In addition, on this Botanical Art and Artists website you can find:

a whole page devoted to RHS Botanical Exhibitions - for Artists and Photographers. It's in the Exhibitions section and covers the Regulation and Guidance and dates and downloads when identified. This includes links to my past reviews of the exhibitions, interviews with Gold Medal Winners and posts about selected artists.
Tips from RHS Gold Medal winning botanical artists - culled from my interviews with many past Gold Medal Winners. These can be found on the Tips and Techniques Page in the Education section.
The Botany section of this website has a section on Plant Names and Botanical Latin which some artists may find very useful. It includes the summary of the advice the RHS provides relating to botanical names.
listings for artists who have won an RHS Gold Medal in the past in the Artists section (with pages for different countries/geographical areas) . They are identified by GM after their name (with the year where this has been indicated). Where I've met them, the listings also include images of them with their work.

As indicated I'll be writing more on this topic. Please let me know if you have any queries not otherwise answered by the Exhibition Fact Sheet.

This post was stimulated by somebody who wrote to me asking about a particular fact relating to the 2017 exhibitions. So I'd really appreciate it if you would please share this post with artists who might be interested in exhibiting at the RHS. Thanks!

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J.W. Fike's Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent

22/5/2016

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From time to time I like to feature botanical photographers who aim to follow in the tradition of botanical illustration by being both accurate and informative as well as having a visual aesthetic.

Last week I added Anna Atkins (1799-1871) to the list of Past Masters. She was an English botanist who developed photography as a medium for recording images of plants. Her use of cyanotope impressions is noteworthy.

Today I want to highlight J.W. Fike (Jimmy Fike) who I've been aware of for some time.

Fike has embarked on a major and very ambitious project to record the wild edible botanicals found on the North American continent. In doing so he is having annual exhibitions around the USA of place-specific plants related to the area in which the exhibition is held.

Recording wild edible botanicals

J.W. Fike’s Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent - images from his blog highlighting his photographic technique

Fike's approach to recording wild plants is to highlight the parts which are edible in colour while rendering the rest of the plants less emphatically. It very neatly highlights the edible parts without any need for labelling. His resulting images are also reminiscent of the cynatope impressions used by the early photographers such as Anna Atkins.

Within my system the plant is excavated, arranged in the studio, photographed, then illustrated digitally in such a way as to render the edible parts in color while the remaining parts, less emphatically, read as contact prints.

Current Exhibition in California

California Poppy, 50"x28", 2015, Photographed in Miramonte, CA. Copyright J.W. Fike

The current exhibition is of J.W. Fike’s Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of California. It opened last week at the Art Gallery at Soka University in Aliso Viejo, CA. The exhibition focuses on wild edible plants relevant to California.

Date: 19th May 2016 - 26th August 2016 (Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m - admission free.)
Location: Founders Hall Art Gallery 2nd Floor, Soka University, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Map and directions

Last week his exhibition earned him coverage by the Los Angeles Times with this article Haunting flowers: The eerily beautiful California botanical art of J.W. Fike

Currently, I’ve photographed over ninety plants in seven different states and plan to continue the survey until I’ve created a collection that spans the continental United States.

You can see what his exhibitions look like in reality in this post about the past exhibition at the The University of Mary Washington Galleries in 2015.

Filaree (also known as Stork's Bill), 34"x30", 2015, Photographed in Miramonte, CA. Copyright J.W. Fike

About J W Fike

Education: BA in Art from Auburn University; MFA in Photography from the Cranbrook Academy of Art under the tutelage of Carl Toth.
Employment: taught art at Wake Forest and Ohio Universities and is currently an Art Faculty Member at Estrella Mountain College in Avondale, Arizona.
Photography: His photographic work endeavors to find creative, contemporary ways to approach landscape by incorporating place, identity, ecology, and mythology.
Exhibitions: Fike's series on wild edible plants has been exhibited in various shows across the county

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Kew Workshop: Botany for Botanical Illustrators

15/3/2016

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A Botany workshop for people who draw and paint plants and flowers is a fairly rare event.

On 9-10th July 2016 Anne Bebbington, who is one of the leading tutors on this topic (see below), is delivering a weekend Botany for Botanical Illustrators Workshop at Kew Gardens.

The thing is it's not on the website, it's not in the Short Courses List and it's not on the Calendar!

In fact, the only place you can find out that it exists is Kew's spring/summer talks and courses brochure and which can be downloaded from their website (click the link above to download the brochure and find out the course fee)

As featured in Kew's Spring/Summer Short Courses Brochure

A two-day course for botanical artists who want to know more about their subjects. The practical sessions will demonstrate how the study of a plant can be a fascinating journey of discovery, informing your artwork by helping you to understand its structure and how it works....The emphasis in these workshops will be on practical botanical work. There will an opportunity to do some drawing, so please bring sketchbooks and pencils.

About Anne Bebbington

Dr. Anne Bebbington is the author of Understanding the Flowering Plants: A Practical Guide for Botanical Illustrators which was published in March 2015. Her qualifications are that as follows:

she trained as a botanist
worked for over 30 years for the Field Studies Council and as an environmental educator.
became a botanical illustrator, and
she is a past President of the Institute of Analytical Plant Illustration.

More about Botany

If you're interested in finding out more about Botany but can't attend the course, you can try:

the Botany Section of this website - where you can see the range of botanical topics covered by this website
The Best Botany Books for Botanical Artists and Illustrators page - where you will find out more about Anne's book and others on the same topic.

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Botany for Artists

12/1/2016

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News about Botany for Artists and Illustrators - and students:

a new page for the best books about botany for artists
a new assignment on Botanical Understanding for the SBA's DLDC students
a course in Botanical Drawing taught by Dr. Sarah Simblet, author of Botany for the Artist

Botany Books for Artists & Illustrators

I've published a new page The Best Botany Books for Botanical Artists & Illustrators in the website section devoted to Botany.

The new page focuses on:

books about botany for artists - these compendiums have been specifically designed and written for botanical artists and illustrators.
specialised books about botany which are also relevant - also listed on this site on various pages eg Plant Names and Botanical Latin

I'd love to hear if there are any other botany books specifically written for artists. Those I have listed include:

Botany for the Artist by Sarah Simblet
Understanding the Flowering Plants: A Practical Guide for Botanical Illustrators by Anne Bebbington
Botany for Artists by Lizbeth Leech

Botanical Book for Artists: Understanding the Flowering Plants

Understanding the Flowering Plants - by the tutor for the new SBA DLDC assignment re. Botanical Understanding

SBA Diploma: a new module about Botanical Understanding

Course 13 of the Society of Botanical Artist's Distance Learning Diploma will have a new Assignment (no.7) dedicated to Botanical Understanding.

Anne Bebbington, the author of Understanding the Flowering Plant, already assesses Botanical Accuracy in relation to Diploma Work done at the end of course. In future she will also be the tutor for the new assignment. Doubtless students will also find her book to be a great aid to their studies.

This assignment has been designed and set out to help the students gain good botanical knowledge and observe important diagnostic features of their specimens.

Botanical Drawing

Dr. Sarah Simblet is repeating her intensive course on Botanical Drawing - based on her very popular book Botany for the Artist. It's based at the Ruskin School of Art and the Oxford Botanical Garden.

The five day course places the emphasis on learning skills relevant to both Fine Art practice and botanical illustration and comprises:Day 1 : Drawing to See
Day 2 : Elements of Drawing, Part I
Day 3 : Elements of Drawing, Part II
Day 4 : Understanding light, tone, optical illusions and linear perspective.
Day 5 : Botanical Drawing with a Dip Pen and Japanese Ink

The course has been added into the page for Courses in the UK & Ireland in 2016

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Recording Heritage Plants #1: The Fortingall Yew

14/12/2015

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One very important aspect of botanical illustration is making a record of important heritage plants and trees.

This is the first in a series of posts I intend to write about important botanical paintings - or opportunities to paint plants to record an important event or a transformation.

Last month it became apparent that an important opportunity may exist in Scotland for those who might like to record an ancient tree that is apparently changing gender - from male to female. This October it grew three red berries!

The Fortingall Yew

The Fortingall Yew is an ancient heritage tree (Taxus baccata) of international importance. It's believed to be one of the oldest trees in Europe and is almost certainly the oldest tree in the UK.

It's estimated to be around 2,000 years old but could be as old as 5,000 years. It can't be aged on the basis of tree rings as the trunk has changed over time. The trunk was measured as being 56 feet by Thomas Pennent in 1769. However the centre has rotted and it has now split into several separate stems or offshoots.

The markers in the ground mark the original girth of the trunk. The divided upright trunk is what remains after the bulk of it has rotted away. Via Wikimedia Commons | By Mogens Engelund (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The tree is rooted in Fortingall churchyard between Killin and Aberfeldy in Perthshire.

A tree that is changing sex

The reason the tree has been getting a lot of coverage across the world of late is that it's apparently changing sex!

An article Oldest Yew changes sex (23 October 2015) in the Botanic Stories blog of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh triggered the interest. As it indicates

....the Fortingall Yew is a male tree. Yews are normally either male or female and in autumn and winter sexing yews is generally easy. Males have small spherical structures that release clouds of pollen when they mature. Females hold bright red berries from autumn into winter. It was, therefore, quite a surprise to me to find a group of three ripe red berries on the Fortingal yew this October when the rest of the tree was clearly male.
Oldest Yew changes sex

Apparently gender morphing by yews and other conifers is not unheard of but tends to be associated with the crown - although there are a few species which routinely grow both male and female parts.

In this species gender change is rare. In this particular instance just one branch has decided to be female - and grow three bright red berries in October - while the rest of the tree continues to be a traditional male!

It'll be interesting to see what happens next Autumn and whether the berries appear again.

I suggest botanical artists form an orderly queue next October to paint it!

Links:
BBC | Berries show ancient Fortingall yew tree is 'changing sex' (2 November 2015)
Visit Scotland: How to get there

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