NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

The Winter Garden: Scented Sprigs and Feisty Flowers by Susan Christopher-Coulson

1/12/2019

About the Winter Banner for 2019/20

"The Winter Garden: Scented Sprigs and Feisty Flowers" by Susan Christopher-Coulson (Shirley Sherwood Collection) coloured pencil

The Winter Garden: Scented Sprigs and Feisty Flowers by Susan Christopher-Coulson - in a cropped format - is the new banner on the homepage of my website and my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page.

This is the first contemporary botanical image I've used since I created my website four and half years ago. There are two reasons for this change:

the routine one - I change the banner to try and suit the season every three months on the 1st December, 1st March, 1st June and 1st September.
Winter has always been a bit of a challenge - except when using images from the Southern Hemisphere!

However, I was very pleased to spot this image of "The Winter Garden: Scented Sprigs and Feisty Flowers" by Susan Christopher-Coulson when reviewing the artwork hung in the Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art exhibition at Kew. It seemed very appropriate to me to honour the exhibition in some way over these winter months. When I saw her at the private view I asked whether I could use the image for the winter banner for my website and she very kindly agreed.

About Susan Christopher Coulson

Susan Christopher Coulson at the PV for Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery - where "The Winter Garden: Scented Sprigs and Feisty Flowers" is currently hanging

Susan Christopher Coulson GM (1999) VPSBA is a very experienced botanical artist and teacher of botanical art whose chosen medium is coloured pencils.

Susan was born in Durham and trained as a fashion and textile designer, graduating with a degree in Fashion and Textiles from Kingston Polytechnic in 1977. She then lived in London for several years while working in the fashion industry as a designer / illustrator. She returned north with a young family and the subjects she drew began to change from fashion to plants.

The Botanical Artist

She'd become interested in the plant world while on country walks with her father during her childhood - which is also when drawing with coloured pencil also started as her preferred form of artistic expression. As an adult she expanded her techniques

She focused on developing drawings based on natural subjects, including botanical, and expanding her coloured pencil techniques, which have been her preferred medium since childhood. Their potential to create rich tonal depths as well as subtle transitions and translucent colours is a constant fascination as are the infinite possibilities offered by the botanical subjects, which she prefers to draw directly from live subjects.

Awards

Her work has received a variety of awards

She was awarded two Royal Horticultural Society gold medals in 1999 and 2001.
At annual exhibitions of both the Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Floral Painters (now defunct)

Collections and other notable information

Her artwork is in the Shirley Sherwood Collection, the RHS Lindley Library Collection and The Florilegium archive at Sheffield Botanical Gardens, as well as numerous private collections in the UK and abroad.
She has also produced commissions for a number of clients (and this is how to contact Susan if you're interested in commissioning her or asking her to teach)
Her artwork has also featured in a number of books about botanical art, notably those associated with the Society of Botanical Artists.
She was one of the two Vice Presidents of the Society of Botanical Artists between 2010 and 2018.
She continues to teach botanical art - using coloured pencils around the UK (see below)

Group of coloured pencil drawings by Susan Christopher Coulson exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists in 2015. (top left) Cures from the Potager; (top right) Bean Counting: In Pursuit of Diversity; (bottom left ) Medieval Medicinals, from an Apothcary's Garden; (bottom right) Winter Greens: In pursuit of Form and Colour in the Winter Garden

The Teacher

Susan is a well known and experienced teacher of botanical art using coloured pencils.
Her Teaching page on her website details those venues in the UK where Susan will be teaching workshops. You'll also find her listed as both a teacher on my Teachers Page and her courses and workshops on my Courses Page for the UK

Susan Christopher Coulson demonstrating how to use coloured pencils for botanical art at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2016

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Future Banners

In future, I'm minded to use more CONTEMPORARY botanical artwork for the seasonal banner image. If botanical artists want to contact me with suggestions as to appropriate images - whether their own or ones by other contemporary botanical artists - I'd be very happy to receive and consider all suggestions.

I have two constraints:

the artist must be listed on my website (or eligible to list on my website)
The image needs to lend itself to a panoramic format for the banner - via cropping if required - whatever format it is created in. So verticals in a portrait format with wide empty spaces either side won't work - but a landscape or square format with horizontals (such as in Winter Flowers) does work.

Obviously all contemporary botanical artwork is subject to copyright when used in this way and the artist must agree to the use of the image for a banner.

By way of credit I always create a link on the home page to the source of the image e.g. the artist's own website. (Try clicking the small image on the home page to see what I mean)

Do leave a comment below if you're interested in providing an image and/or would like to suggest a suitable image for future banners.

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Janie Pirie's Life in Roses - book and exhibition

3/11/2019

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Next week, gold-medal winning botanical artist Janie Pirie is having a solo exhibition at the Mall Galleries of illustrations of roses - which has taken three years to develop - and launching her new book.

Rosa is an exhibition of roses illustrated by RHS gold medallist Janie Pirie. This is a new body of botanical art to coincide with the launch of a book of the same name. "Rosa - a Life in Roses" | Mall Galleries

Exhibition: Rosa - a life in Roses

Rosa - A Life in Roses - the exhibition - comprises 36 drawings in coloured pencils of different varieties of roses. It's on display at the Mall Galleries in London and I'll be visiting later this week. It's taken three years to develop.

Venue: the North Gallery, the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, SW1
Dates: between Tuesday 5th and Sunday 10th November 2019
Hours: 10 am to 5pm daily except 10th November when the exhibition closes at 1pm.
Sales: All work is for sale (unless previously purchased. Copies of the book will be on sale as well as the originals.

Janie Pirie or a colleague will be on hand during the exhibition to answer the questions of any visitors or purchasers.

"Rosa - A Life In Roses": some of the images by Janie Pirie - in the exhibition AND in the book

Book: 'Rosa - A Life in Roses'

Only 1,000 copies of Janie Pirie's new book are being printed.

I've not seen it yet but understand that

it's a limited edition coffee-table book measuring approx. 29cm / 11 inches square with a "lay flat" binding.
The linen-bound hardback book is presented in a slipcase with the same linen covering as the book and finished to a high quality.
almost all the roses are shown one to a double page spread.

The first edition of ROSA is a limited edition of 500 copies, priced at £100.00.
The Special Collectors' Edition will be numbered and signed by the artist and comprise the first 250 copies of the First Edition. It's priced at £120.00 however it also includes an A4 print of one of Janie's favourite rose portraits; 'Comte de Champagne'.
You can find out more here
It will be on sale at the exhibition.

About Janie Pirie

Janie Pirie has two RHS Gold Medals for her botanical illustrations.

In 2009, at RHS Malvern Show, she was awarded the accolade of ‘Best Botanical Artist in Show' and a Gold Medal for her series of paintings of orchard fruits.
She was awarded a second Gold Medal, also at Malvern, in 2014.
Janie has also exhibited at the 13th International Exhibition of the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, USA.

Janie is:

a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and is also a tutor on their Distance Learning Course.
a member of the UK Coloured Pencil Society and shows her work at their annual exhibitions where she has been awarded "Best In Show", "Runner-up Best in Show" and "Best Botanical".

She studied illustration at the Colchester School of Art before combining a career in illustration with one involved with public relations and marketing for a leading seed company. She has worked as a professional artist for some years and also runs art workshops in her garden studio at her home in the Dedham Vale on the Essex/Suffolk borders and at other venues around the UK.

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RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019 - Awards and Medal Winners

24/7/2019

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This post is about who won which award and which colour of medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019.

Below you can read about

which 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

There are:

10 Gold Medals ( UK x 5; Japan x 4; Russia x 1;)
8 Silver Gilt Medals
10 Silver Medals
2 Bronze Medals

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

If you'd like to read more bout the individual artists, please refer to Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

Awards for outstanding botanical artwork

There are three Awards this year - which were awarded as follows:

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019): P.Tectorius ‘En Khelen’ - Mariko is developing an excellent track record. She won Best Exhibit in her first exhibit and Best Painting this time.
Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion Naomi's art extends well beyond her botanical painting - see the video below (in the Gold Medal section) of her dance associated with her exhibit.
Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox: Exploring the Seasons at Beckley Bog - This was awarded because of the significant educational value about plants growing in a specific environment of Betsy's images.

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019)

Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion

Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox

RHS Gold Medals 2019

There are ten Gold Medals. It's important to also note that

Four previous GM winners repeated their GM from their last exhibition and
Four previous GM winners did not win a GM this time.

Just because you have won a GM before there is no guarantee you can repeat this. The medal is awarded for a specific exhibit not the botanical Artist per se.

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How RHS medals for Botanical Art are assessed

23/7/2019

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For those coming to the RHS London Botanical Art Show this week - and those watching social media and reading online - you may be interested in how a botanical art exhibit at an RHS Botanical Art Show is assessed for

whether it should receive a medal and
what sort of medal it should get.

Gold Medals are only given for exhibits of outstanding quality, whatever their diversity of approach, or visual impact
Gillian Barlow, Chair of the RHS Picture Panel (in RHS Botanical Illustration - the Gold Medal Winners)

Candidates who have been approved to exhibit must submit at least six works - preferably on a theme.

You can earn extra marks if you illustrate a plant family.

ASSESSMENT: KEY POINTS are:

very high standards are essential
the emphasis should be on botanical accuracy with aesthetic appeal

The Picture Panel Judges always:

assess as botanical illustration
review botanical content and accuracy
review artistic and aesthetic effect
assess overall impression and how this has been achieved
assess the whole exhibit; marks are awarded for presentation of the exhibit as well as accuracy and quality of the artwork

The best botanical illustration successfully combines scientific accuracy with visual appeal. It must portray a plant with the precision and level of detail for it to be recognised and distinguished from another species.

Two of the botanical illustrations by Hye Woo Shin (RHS Botanical Art Show 2018) - which resulted in a Judges’ Special Award 2018 for ‘ Plants in Dokdo Island’

As a technical discipline, botanical illustration emphasizes the depiction of accurate information, documenting the anatomical and functional aspect of a plant throughout its life cycle.

Judges want to see.....

My suggestions of things you need to do to deliver on what judges are looking for are indicated in bullet points below.

This summary is based on discussions over time with both Judges and artists who have had feedback from Judges - and highlights some of the frequent problem areas which I hear about again and again. (I'll be updating and amending after this week's show!)

All quotes in green (except for the first above) are drawn from the Exhibitor Fact Sheet

Artwork should be life size and if not, a scale must be evident.

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Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

14/7/2019

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Below you an find a list of the 30 artists exhibiting at least 180 botanical paintings and/or botanical illustrations at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019 at the RHS London Art & Photography Show at the Lindley Hall in London later this month.

There has been an ever-increasing number of artists applying to exhibit. This year the artists are sharing the Lindley Hall with the Portfolio Photographers also competing for medals. It appears to me that an informed but arbitrary limit has been determined with 30 stands going to the artists and 10 to the photographers.

In reviewing the list of exhibitors I noted in particular that apart from those artists who have never exhibited before, the remainder of the artists exhibiting are those who have previously won either a Gold or a Silver Gilt Medal.

I wonder if this is the new standard for returning artists? If it is I'm not surprised - I've been expecting it for some time given that the walls of the Hall are not going to expand to fit all those who want to exhibit! (I found the relevant text in the Fact Sheet)

It may not be possible to accommodate all of the artists who apply for space. If this is the case a selection criteria will be employed taking into consideration previous exhibition and medal history.
Botanical Illustration 2019: Exhibitor Fact Sheet

View of the RHS Botanical Art Show in July 2018

All exhibitors have applied to exhibit after

either a selection process to get approval to exhibit
or previously winning a medal in an exhibition.

Both then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. Interestingly we have two Gold Medal Winners from the 2014 exhibiting this year.

The list of selected/invited artists is organised by the continent/country where they live.
In total there are

30 artists (35 in 2016, 29 in 217 and 37 in 2018) )
from 10+ different countries (10 in 2016 and 12 in 2018).

The number per country is as follows:

14 x UK (England)
3 x Japan
2 x South Korea
1 x Australia
1 x Italy
1 x Hong Kong (China)
1 x New Zealand
1 x Switzerland
1 x UK (Scotland)
1 x USA
4 x Other

The link in the name of the artist is to their own website or a website which is representative of their work.

I've highlighted previous Gold Medal Winners by 'GM' after their names. The number relates to the year they won it. I've also commented on those I know and those where I was able to find some information about them. Help would be appreciated with respect to anybody who knows those listed at the end under "other".

DETAILS OF THE RHS LONDON ART & PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

The RHS London Art and Photography Show includes 30 artists and 10 photographers.
Venue: RHS Lindley Hall Elverton St, London SW1P 2PB
Dates:

opens with a Preview Evening on Tuesday 23rd July 6-9pm. All tickets £5. Note medal certificates may not be published until the Wednesday morning - as happened last year.
Two full days on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th (10am-5pm).

Tickets: This is the link to buy tickets in advance: £5 to the public for each day if purchased in advance and £8 on the day. FREE ENTRY to all RHS Members producing their membership cards and ID (No ticket required)

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

VISIT THIS EXHIBITION if you are at all serious about botanical art as a botanical artist or botanical art collector. It will include some of the best botanical art exhibited anywhere in the world this year.

My strong recommendation to Artists planning to apply to the RHS to exhibit in the future has always been to

Ideally visit the exhibition to get a proper sense of the standard and what's involved in putting together an exhibit
If you can't visit (because you live outside the UK) review my archive of blog posts and videos about previous shows to get a sense of the standard and presentation
Study the exhibits and think about why some work better than others as exhibits. Think long and hard about your exhibit theme. Avoid popular / much repeated themes and remember this is a Horticultural Society which values botanical accuracy!
study the background and paintings of those selected for this exhibition - in particular those who have previously been awarded a Gold Medal by the RHS. Note the length of time it takes to prepare before starting to paint.
Make the most of the tips offered by previous Gold Medal Winners
Delay exhibiting until you have the very best exhibit you can possibly produce. I've known people very much regret they rushed an exhibit.
ALWAYS bear in mind that the weakest element/painting is very influential in determining the medal awarded. Eliminate all weaknesses!
Aim for Silver Gilt or better - to stand a better chance of being able to exhibit more than once.

EUROPE (17 exhibitors)

United Kingdom - England (14)

This year's exhibitors include 5 Gold Medallists, 2 Silver Gilt Medallists and 7 artists who are NEW to exhibiting at the RHS (as an individual).

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RHS Portfolio Photography Show 2019 - Selected Exhibits

13/7/2019

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Every year the RHS Photographic Competition has a special category for the Portfolio Exhibit - which replaces what used to be known as the Botanical Photography Show (i.e. the photographic counterpart of the Botanical Art Show)

This is the only RHS competitive exhibition for photographers which is eligible for RHS Medals.

Species Boundaries Fritillaria affines - won a Gold Medal for RHS Veteran Photographer Laurence Hill - who is not exhibiting in 2019

I'm very much hoping for a higher standard than last year. In my view, the 2018 exhibition included some very weak exhibits as well as some excellent (see above) exhibits when compared to the medal winners in previous exhibitions. There were also some really awful problems with reflections due to the strong sunlight and glass roof - and no exhibitor should assume a neutral and shadowless north light!

This exhibit should in my opinion be UNIQUE and should NEVER ever be mistaken for a landscape photography nor a still life 'arty farty' photography competition.

It's entirely possible that the change in the quality of the exhibits on display changed because of a change in the method of selecting exhibitors. The inconsistency between the Art and the Photography Exhibitions makes absolutely no sense to me since the value of all the Medals awarded should always be equivalent. That suggests to me that process and criteria - and application of same - should be very similar too.

For the 2019 Exhibition Selections Process

those submitting did NOT have to go through a pre-selection stage as Botanical Artist still do.
the entries are now submitted online
a number are selected anonymously for the show - which if course allows in the generic photographer with no specific experience, knowledge or expertise in either botanical or horticultural photography.

In my opinion, to be a proper RHS Portfolio Photography exhibition - which equals the current standard of the Botanical Art Show - and, at the same time, is distinctively different from the other categories within RHS Photographic Exhibition, it needs to be VERY firmly located in "botanical" or "horticultural". Pretty or clever or "mood" or "I love nature" photos alone do not cut it. What is important is that the exhibit includes:

proper labelling of plant names in latin
photographs that are useful to botanists or horticulturalists in terms of (1) identifying key distinguishing plant features and/or (2) habitats where they grow and/or (3) recording gardens
an excellent presentation of the story of the exhibit.

Art over horticultural or botanical content simply does not make the grade for me. There are LOTS of other photographic competitions for those types of photos. However there is only one RHS Show and medals!

I'll be very interested to see what gets exhibited. I'm currently not optimistic that the current selection process is doing a good job. If there is not a big improvement in the standard of exhibit in 2019, then I may well stop covering it.

Selected Exhibitors

The Titles of the Selected Photography Exhibits - and associated Photographers are listed below.

I'm guessing (because of people being away at the RHS) that all the following are exhibitors in the Portfolio Category. Please note

Exhibitors are categorised by country.
Links in their names are to their websites or photo site (Aside, I'm somewhat surprised at the number of photographers who still have their photographs on an insecure site - as identified by Google. It's not difficult to create a secure site.)
If their website has a unique page for their project I link to it
ARPS means Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

Having reviewed websites, I know whose work I'm looking forward to seeing.....

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Book Review: RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners

26/6/2019

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: For all botanical artists aspiring to enter the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition and win a Gold Medal - and for all botanical art lovers everywhere. This book makes a major contribution to both

the recording of contemporary botanical art
learning about how to produce top quality botanical art.

RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners is a book I've been waiting for, for a long time - not least because I proposed to the RHS Publications a while back that there really should be a book about the RHS Gold Medal Winners for Botanical Art.

I think the difference between the book I had in mind and that which has been produced is that this one largely

provides a historical account of the RHS Art Collection and how it developed over time
celebrates a selection of the artists who have worked in the latter half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century
highlights some 60 of those whose artwork is in the RHS Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art and Illustrations

Hence no Pandora Sellars (whose career took off after being seen at the RHS Botanical Art Shows in 1977) - although the book does include Mary Grierson.

I'm especially pleased we now have a list of all those who have won an RHS Gold Medal in the past - going all the way back to 1930! This was, as I anticipated it might be, a MAJOR exercise in terms of compiling a list from various Minutes of Committee meetings and other records of medals awarded. I know this is the first time ever a complete list has been published! As a result I now have a list of artists whose names need adding into my lists of top botanical artists in the world. That's because any artist who creates a suite of 6 or 9 botanical paintings or illustrations and wins an RHS Gold Medal has always been right up there for me in terms of determining what makes a good artist excellent.

Below is my review of the book - and at the end I tell you the techie details and how to get a copy.

It's also a bit of a "pat on the back" to those artists whose work made it into the book. Hence my photographs of artists are my own taken at the various RHS Botanical Art Shows - as the book very much focuses on the paintings and there are no photos of the artists. Personally I like to see both - not least for scale purposes!

Annie Hughes - who created the painting on the cover - with her Best Painting in Show of an Astrophytum in 2012.

About the book

The book comprises:

an introduction covering (1) the Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art; and (2) the development of medals for botanical art - and notable awards made by the RHS
commentary by the Chair of the RHS Picture Panel on the current process for aspiring botanical artists to achieve medals at the show
profiles of a selection of 60 RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Artists, from all over the world who ALSO have work in the Lindley Library Collection - because it was purchased or commissioned by the Lindley Library Collection or because it was donated to the Library by a Gold Medallist. These profiles include accounts of how some of them approached their work.
the Historical List of ALL the RHS Gold Medal Winners (who total a lot more than the 60 in the book) - which runs to six pages and 168 RHS Shows!
a detailed list of all the illustrations in the book - by their botanical latin name

The introduction to the book documents the history of botanical illustration for the RHS, including the commissioning process and the collection developed by the RHS Lindley Library - some of which I knew but some of which came as a complete surprise.

More interesting, for me, was the notion of how botanical art should also be recognised in terms of medals awarded and how this has developed over time.

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