NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Video Interview with Kathy Pickles

19/8/2018

Between 1991 and 1996, Kathy Pickles exhibited every year at the RHS Botanical Art Show. Each year she won a Gold Medal for her exhibit.

In 2015, after nearly 20 years, she returned for a sixth time - and won a sixth Gold Medal. This time she managed to display 16 paintings - eight of Fritillaries and eight of Hellebores.

I've been sorting out my videos of interviews with botanical artists and realised that I'd never made a video of an interview with Kathy in 2015 into a 'proper' published video.

So below you can find my video interview with Kathy Pickles on 27 February 2015 at the RHS Botanical Art Show in the Lindley Hall Westminster - which has now been uploaded to my new Botanical Art and Artists Video Channel on YouTube

In it she advises on why it's always a good idea to go and view botanical art in person - especially at the top shows.

In 2017, Kathy returned for a seventh time and won her seventh Gold Medal for her display of paintings of Clematis. The Judging Panel happened to include the renowned clematis grower Raymond Evison!

Kathy Pickles with her seventh Gold Medal in 2017

Three of Kathy Pickles's paintings of clematis in 2017

To find out more about Kathy Pickles - or even ask her a question you can find her at:

her website http://www.kathypickles.co.uk
her Facebook Page: Kathy Pickles Botanical Art
as a regular participant in the Botanical Artists Facebook Group

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TOP TIPS from RHS Gold Medal Winners 2017

14/8/2018

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When I interview the botanical artists who have just won an RHS Gold Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show, I always ask them for tips for those aspiring to do the same.

In 2017 I was rewarded - more than I can say - by hearing from Mariko Ikeda who won the Best Exhibit prize at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017. She wanted to thank me profusely for everything I've written before as it really helped her with preparing her exhibit!

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda - Gold Medal and Best Exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Then Kate Barling, another exhibitor, found me to thank me for the tip about how to mount the work - and I collected another tip from her which you'll find below!

So the bottom line is what goes around comes around.

You can benefit from the tips I've identified to date and...
...in future I might be asking you what's your top tip!

Note: Unfortunately last year I started this post but forgot finish it. But it's never too late to pass on a few more tips!
READ ON for my very belated post about the top tips from the RHS Gold Medallists in 2017 - which is now complete!

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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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RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners

13/7/2018

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The names and exhibit titles of the medal winners and best portfolio award winner at the RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 are listed below.

You can see much better images of the portfolios of six images on the RHS website than you can in this post and I recommend any aspiring entrant to do so - PLUS do study the descriptions as well as the images.

Laurence Hill with his intensely botanical and extremely well presented exhibit of Fritillaria affinis and a discussion and demonstration of plant variability relative to the agreed taxonomic description of one species of a wild plant

Photographs at RHS Shows will be assessed for their botanical and horticultural content and for their photographic quality. Judges take account of the overall impression of an exhibit, including details of presentation such as mounting, labelling and framing.

I was struggling to find either botanical or horticultural content in some of the exhibits and I'm personally very much not in favour of Bronze medals being handed out simply for turning up and presenting an exhibit.

I'd very much recommend that ALL those entering work in this competition in future read up on the Guidelines for Botanical Photo Exhibitors which I also think the RHS could make a great deal more prominent on their website!! (see notes at end)

Best Portfolio Photography Exhibit

Polina Plotnikova - Dancing Flowers
I would normally place this exhibit as the feature at the top. However the amount of reflection generated by the exhibit meant that it was difficult to see in the hall and very difficult to photograph

"Dancing Flowers" by Polina Plotnikova

Gold Medals

"Botanical Prints: Where Art Meets Science" - Eleanor Coate

Nigel Chapman GM (2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014) - Abstract Images RHS Garden Wisley
Eleanor Coate - Botanical Prints: Where Art Meets Science
Laurence Hill (GM 2014, 2017) - Species Boundaries: Fritillaria affinis
Polina Plotnikova GM (2014, 2015, 2017) - Dancing Flowers

My favourite exhibit was the one by Laurence Hill - and not just because he'd taken on board my comments about exhibit notes at a previous exhibition! His exhibit displayed six precise and different "versions" of the same plant species - at life size - at different locations inland from the Pacific coast of the USA. The latter was indicated by a fine line drawing of the coast line (relative to Mount Hood in Oregon to Point Reyes in California) towards the bottom of 'plate'. Each exhibit was also identified in terms of the specific location and height where it was collected and by whom. The point of the exhibit was to demonstrate the extent of variability in the taxonomic description of the same species with a when found in the wild. He also tracked and documented the extent to which this gets reflected in the synonyms for the taxonomy of names over time - before everybody agrees it is in fact the same plant!

NOTE: It was very difficult to photograph some of the exhibits for this post. Exhibition requirements are that exhibits should be protected by NON-REFLECTIVE acetate sheets.

It was very noticeable that Laurence Hill, Nigel Chapmen and Jan Cassidy who have previously won Gold Medals and previously exhibited in the Horticultural Halls all chose to exhibit images with an unprotected matt surface to reduce the bounce from some extremely bright light overhead.

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RHS London Botanical Art Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners

12/7/2018

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This post is about who won which award and which colour of medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2018.

Below you can read about

which three artists won Awards for outstanding botanical artwork
the names of artists and exhibits which won different colour medals - and some images of the Gold Medal winners

Links in the names of artists are to their websites where you can see more about their botanical artwork.

A small part of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 - on the Preview evening

Awards for outstanding botanical artwork

Laura Silburn with her "Best Botanical Painting in Show'

There were just two Awards - Best Painting in Show and Best Exhibit in Show - and now there are three! These were awarded as follows:

Best Botanical Painting 2018: Laura Silburn, Fern ‘No 6’
Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2018: Michie Yamada ‘Wild Roses in Japan’
Judges’ Special Award 2018: Hye-Woo Shin ‘Plants in Dokdo Island’

Best Botanical Art Exhibit: Michie Yamada ‘Wild Roses in Japan’

Judges’ Special Award: Hye-Woo Shin ‘Plants in Dokdo Island’

Gold Medals

SIXTEEN Gold Medals have been awarded in this year's Botanical Art Show

I predicted a lot of them - but the overall number was unexpected. I'm inclined to say that there is beginning to be a considerable range that "meet the criteria" of the Gold Medal Standard. I'll comment more in the overall review of the show later.

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Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS

8/7/2018

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Worth a Thousand Words is the new exhibition at the RHS Lindley Library of RHS Gold Medal winning paintings in the botanical art collection.

It's timed to coincide with the Botanical Art Show which is part of the Plant and Art Fair on 10th - 12th July 2018, at which the very latest RHS Gold Medals will be handed out to the worthy winners.

What you can see

This exhibition features original artworks by artists who have excelled in all areas in order to achieve the Gold-medal standard.

You can see:

artwork in watercolour, watercolour and pencil, coloured pencils, gouache, pen and ink
a selection of recent acquisitions and some of the finest contemporary botanical artworks in the RHS Lindley Collections
the very different ways that contemporary artists portray plants and flowers while raising the standards and pushing the boundaries of botanical illustration.

Two of the works also include the supplementary studies done in preparation for the painting - plus there is a slideshow of the process of creating one of the works.

IMPORTANT! The exhibits are on both sides of the white partition display walls - so don't imadvertently miss any of the paintings!

The Participating Artists

The participating artists are listed below and next to the view of their work in the exhibition. The labels beneath the artwork explain:

the latin and common name of the plant and
which RHS Botanical Art Shows they have exhibited at
what medals were awarded at each show

All artists are from England unless otherwise indicated.
The majority of artists are multiple Gold Medal Winners.

"Worth a Thousand Words" - paintings and preparatory studies

Left to right the above artwork is by:

Kimoyo Maruyama (Japan) Gold Medals 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010 (+ Best Exhibit), 2015
Samantha Cook - Gold Medal 2006
(top) Sandra Sanger (Australia) Gold Medals 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 She has also received the 'The Celia Rosser Award' for an outstanding painting.
(Bottom) Clare McGhee (Scotland) Gold Medal 2010 This is her Facebook Page
Norma Gregory - Gold Medals 2006, 2009, 2011 - The Rheum in the exhibition is from her third series in 2011. It was great to see it again - see below for a photo of Norma and the first time I saw it.
Janet Dyer - Gold Medal and Best Botanical Painting 2013. Interestingly her painting is of a plant which is now outlawed in the UK due to its invasive and destructive nature - the Giant Hogweed

In addition (and initially omitted accidentally due to my photography) is Ann Swan Gold medals in 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 (Joint) - who also has a coloured pencil drawing of an Opuntia in the show to the left of the fir by Kimoyo Maruyama. Ann is now a very popular botanical art tutor in coloured pencils.

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RHS Photography 2018 and 2019

7/7/2018

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The RHS Plant and Art Fair (10-12 July 2018) includes two photographic displays

The RHS Botanical Photography Show - you can find the list of exhibitors below - and also find out something about the ones I know about
The RHS Photographer of the Year 2018 is a competition run by the RHS - more details below

The main difference between the two is that:

the first is the photographic equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Show i.e. emphasis on the botanical
The second is a photographic competition for garden lovers, horticulturists and photographers alike and has more generic appeal.

BOTH ARE INTERNATIONAL - and have entries and displays from people from all over the world

The photographic displays are in the Lawrence Hall, Greycoat Street, Westminster (just around the corner from the Lindley Hall where the Botanical Art Show will be held - your admission ticket gets you into both).

The RHS Botanical Photography Show

Flora of the Silk Road: Gentiana arethause copyright Chris Gardner

The RHS Botanical (Portfolio) Photography Show is the photographic equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Show.

Each photographer is required to exhibit a portfolio of photographs on a botanical theme (plants and/or habitats)
Each photographer is eligible to win a Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver or Bronze RHS Medal.
Entries are submitted by Photographers of international standing
Photographs can be taken anywhere in the world

The 2018 Exhibitors include a number of previous Gold Medal (GM) winners and the years in which they won a medal is indicated after their name. I've met three of the exhibitors previously (Nigel Chapman, Laurence Hill and Polina Plotnikova and seen exhibits by four) - see photos below.

The display this year is just beyond the RHS Photographer of the Year display in the Lawrence Hall.

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