Here are the blogs I’ve written over the years.  Subjects range from step by step painting tutorials, to botanical anatomy, to current projects.

They appear in the order they’ve been written.  However, if you scroll down the page you’ll find they have also been organised into categories to make browsing a little more focused.

There are even some guest blogs in amongst.  I hope you enjoy them, and do please feel free to leave a comment.

Flower Anatomy workshop

Posted on in Painting workshops
Why learn botany? I recently taught a workshop at the wonderful Walled Garden in Treberfydd on flower anatomy.  I think it’s vital for botanical illustrations to be well-informed about their subject matter.  To this end I think botanical illustrators need to learn some of the basics of how flowering plants are put together.  One of the best […] Read more

Natural History Illustration of a Chironomid Midge

Posted on in Current projects and news
I recently was commissioned to complete a natural history entomological illustration for an expert in fossilized midges at the Natural History Museum in London, as a surprise retirement present. Studying Chironomid midges The recipient is Steve Brooks, who examines the fossilized heads of non-biting midges (Chironomids) to examine climate change through time.  For an overview of his […] Read more
hot press stonehenge

Botanical Illustration: Comparing HP Watercolour Papers 2

Posted on in Illustration Equipment, Illustration techniques
This is the second of three reviews of watercolour Hot Press papers for botanical illustration.  Please check out the first and third in this series for more tests and results! As a botanical illustrator, having a good hot press watercolour paper to work on is really important.  Unfortunately, recently the paper I used to use, Fabriano […] Read more
wheat

Fungal Diseases of Wheat Crops

Posted on in Current projects and news
I was recently commissioned by Farmer’s Weekly Magazine to do some botanical illustrations of both Wheat (Triticum aestivum) and three common diseases of wheat crops. Common wheat plant (Triticum aestivum), free of disease. The first one is the fungus Septoria, the other two are rusts. Septoria Septoria triitici is a fungus that affects the leaves and stems of wheat […] Read more

Step by step Great Willowherb

Posted on in Botanical Illustration step by step
One of the botanical illustrations I was recently commissioned to complete for the Field Studies Council is the Great willowherb, Epilobium hirstutum. This will feature in an upcoming leaflet on Wayside wild flowers. Here is an explanation of the steps involved in creating a botanically accurate illustration which is also visually appealing.  It needs to allow a novice to identify […] Read more
red clover

Botanical Illustration of Red Clover- step by step

Posted on in Botanical Illustration step by step
This botanical illustration of Red clover Trifolium pratense was completed recently for the Field Studies Council who are producing a leaflet on identifying plants and wild flowers of the wayside and hedgerows.  You’ll see the same basic approach is taken with all my step by step blogs; it’s only the details and colours that very. Gathering reference […] Read more
leaves

Botanical Illustration: Step by step painting of leaves

Posted on in Botanical Illustration step by step, Illustration techniques
I recently taught a workshop of botanical illustration of leaves.  I broke down the process of painting a leaf into incremental steps.  these were shown on a demonstration painting of a blackberry leaf. Demonstration illustration showing different steps involved in painting a blackberry leaf.  There’s also a breakdown of the colours used to mix the greens […] Read more

Botanical Illustration Live: Hawthorn

Posted on in Scientific Illustrator out and about
I recently did botanical illustration live for an audience at the Metripole Hotel in Llandrindod.  The event was the annual Barnes lecture,  It’s organised as a fundraiser for Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (RWT), and is open to members and non-members. The success of “The Hedgerow Handbook” and “The Garden Forager” means Adele Nozedar (the author) and I (the illustrator) have […] Read more
mosses

Botanical Illustrations of Mosses

Posted on in Current projects and news
Sometimes a botanical illustration commission appears that calls for something totally new.  In all my days of natural history illustration, I’d never been asked to do a whole lot of mosses before. The closest I’ve been was illustrating two mosses for the FSC Churchyard Plants leaflet Moss: Grimmia pulvinata and Tortula muralis The commission came from the Field Studies Council’s […] Read more
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