NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

SBA's Plantae 2023: Exhibiting Excellence Awards

19/5/2023

The Exhibiting Excellence Awards at the Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition were introduced by SBA Council to highlight

excellent artworks in different media or
excellent artwork in relation to colour or composition.

The recipient receives a very attractive Certificate of Exhibiting Excellence for their work to frame and hang on their studio wall.

Below I provide:

an image of the artwork winning the award
a profile of the artist based on available information online.

(TIP: Always sort out your online presence and profile BEFORE you exhibit at a major exhibition and win a prize!)

I've chosen an image below for the Introduction of the two artworks which got an award for Exhibiting Excellent in Dry Media (Graphite) - hung next to one another.

They demonstrate what is possible.
The one (on the left) is by a recent graduate of the DLDC who is a first time exhibitor this year.
The other (on the right) is by a very experienced and very accomplished long time member who always draws in graphite.
That's the story of this exhibition..... (see Review: Plantae 23 - Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists)

Two Botanical Drawings in Graphite received Exhibiting Excellence Awards - one by a first time exhibitor and one by a long time member

Plantae 2023 Exhibiting Excellence Awards

The EXHIBITING EXCELLENCE at Plantae 2023 cover a variety of differentiating factors:

inspiring use of colour
innovation in composition
depiction of wild flora
contemporary botanical art
use of media:
- dry media (graphite)
- dry media(coloured pencils)
- wet media- watercolour
- wet media - oils
- wet media - ink
- artists chosen media

The numbers after the title of the artwork below refer to the number in the Catalogue for Plantae 2023.

Exhibiting Excellence: Colour & Composition

There were two awards for colour and one for composition.

EXHIBITING EXCELLENCE: Canna Lily (102) by Janice Gazetas

Inspiring Use of Colour
Canna Lily (102) by Janice Gazetas
(watercolour on paper)

Janice Gazetas BSc (hons) PGCE SBA Fellow has always loved drawing and painting. Born in 1951 and brought up in Lincolnshire. She studied Botany and Zoology at University before training to be a teacher. She has worked as a Research Scientist and after having two children, trained as a teacher. got her PGCE and specialising as a science teacher in a Primary School. Like many, she returned to painting only after she retired. She became a Fellow of the SBA in 2019.

I am interested in the complex and unexpected, both in structure and colour.

She has exhibited previously with the Society of Botanical Artists, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Society of Women Artists in the UK and the Botanical Art Agency Of Korea in Korea.

What I liked about her Canna is that it very much reminded me of those that I enjoy in the tropical Garden at Great Dixter which is a real challenge to walk through once they're full on in midsummer with the leaves twisting and turning.

Her botanical paintings are typically complex, bright and intense. However, I found one of her other paintings in the exhibition - a close cropped view of eucalyptus trees - caught my eye every time I walked past and insisted I looked at it - and yet this was relatively subdued compared to her normal botanical paintings.

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TOP TIPS from RHS Gold Medal Winners 2018

14/8/2018

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Today I have some of the Tips I received from my interviews with the RHS Gold Medal Winners at last month's RHS Botanical Art Show.

AND

Later this week you will also have tips from the RHS Gold Medal Winners in 2017 too! This is because although I drafted most of it last year for some reason I didn't finish the post and publish it!

This is a LONG POST with lots of content - so you might want to get a hot drink and a notebook before you start to read!

It's been my habit, for some years, to ask each of the Gold Medal Winners who speaks reasonable English to tell me what would be the three tips they'd like to pass on to people aspiring to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show. Some include ones I've heard before - but good tips are always worth repeating.

I have however omitted

tips relating to painting and art materials as these tend to become repetitive and have been covered in previous tips posts (see end for reference)
tips related to the actual transport of material and how to get your exhibit to stick to the display boards - see my two previous posts last month (listed at the end).

TIP: Focus on what you are passionate about

AGM Dryopteris: species and cultivars of Dryopteris ferns with an Award of Garden Merit - Laura Silburn GM (2013, 2014)

Recommended by Laura Silburn and various artists. More than one artist told me this - in various ways. Variations include:

Be yourself
Know your subject really well
Love your subject
Choose something that inspires you

It is so much easier to complete a major project - such as a portfolio for an RHS Botanical Art Show if you are in love with your subject matter.

TIP: Being a grower helps a lot!

Simon Williams - Nepenthes

Recommended by Simon Williams Nepenthes 
Simon Williams told me he has been growing carniverous plants since he was 16 - and loves them. He's invested in heated greenhouses. The advantages of being a grower are that you get to see your plants through a complete life cycle and can watch them through every season.

TIP: Keep a sketchbook

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