Creating a drawing for a colouring book

To be honest, these illustrations are probably the swiftest and easiest that I get ask to complete.

You start, as always, by researching your subject and coming up with a composition that works.  Next, draw up a pencil rough and submit it to your client.

Bridge over a stream pencil rough

In most cases, this gets approval.  Once approved, I draw over the pencil lines using an 0.1mm nib Uni pin pen, with fade resistant and waterproof ink.  When I rub out the underlying pencil lines, the ink doesn’t shift.

Because the drawings are atonal, simple lines without shade, they are very quick to complete.

When pen and ink illustrations need tonality, it takes hours as this is built up with thousands of tiny dots.

Apple and half completed for Fernway

The flip side of this is that every line has to be perfect.  There is no room for wobbles, and errors are pretty much impossible to fix (although white gouache paint has saved the day on a few occasions).

Art for Mindfulness: Winter wonderland

The biggest colouring-in project I’ve worked on was completing 62 illustrations for HarperCollins’ Art for Mindfulness: Winter wonderland.

Cover of Winter wonderland

The elephant in the room was snow.  Unless you want to do some really subtle work with a pale blue coloured pencil, there’s not a great deal of colour in snow.  But time and again I’d have my roughs returned with the hopeful comment, “can we add more snow”?

It was a challenge to come up with 62 wintery subjects.  I drew up mammals and birds from Europe and the Americas.  There were landscapes, snowy trees, cityscapes, and a few cosy illustrations of fireplaces and Christmas trees.

Squirrel from Winter wonderland

Michael Peres graciously allowed me to work closely from his gorgeous snowflake photos, and those are amongst my favourite pages of the book.

Snowflakes from Winter wonderland

HarperCollins needed one of the pages to be half coloured in, and chose a Robin in a snowy garden as the subject.  Deciding what to colour and what to leave as a line drawing was tricky.  It also made my realise coloured pencil is not my preferred medium!

Part coloured robin from Winter wonderland

Despite being published back in 2015, the book still seems to be selling well.  For more on this project, check out my blog.

HarperCollins test illustrations

I also completed some test images for colouring-in books which ended up not getting commissioned.  These were fun.

Hibiscus with bumble bee

As with the Winter wonderland, these needed to be half coloured-in, so it was back to the coloured pencil box.  There was also some talk of a cat colouring in book, but again, this didn’t materialize.

American lady butterfly on Margeurite daisies

Foraging with kids

Another book I illustrated with colouring-in illustrations is Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar.

These images are botanical illustrations, reduced to line drawings.  It sounds simple, but trying to represent blackberries and shiny conkers with pen and ink, atonally, is a challenge.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum from Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar

Equally problematic was the puff-ball, such a big space with no details to break it up!  However, I enjoyed showing the cloud of spores by stippling the lines of the blades of grass behind it.

Giant puffball Calvatia gigantea

The conceit of the book appeals enormously.  Go out and forage for these wild foods with kids.  When you get home, get the children to colour-in the plates in the book, referring to what they gathered out of doors.

Raspberry Rubus idaeus from Foraging with Kids

I had already illustrated some of the featured species, so sometimes I’d simply trace the illustration using an ink pen.  There’s always room for improvement though, and I tend to make alterations as I draw.  You can see this in the dandelion below.

Dandelion Taxacum officinale watercolour and pen and ink from Foraging with Kids

For more on this project, read my blog.

Montserrat National Trust

The last client I’ve done lots of colouring-in drawings for is Montserrat National Trust and the UKOTCF.

Bush tea or Quickstick Gliricidia sepium

This is a lovely project.  My full colour watercolour illustrations of plants are also provided as line drawings for teachers and educators to use with their primary school classes.  It helps raise awareness of the unique ecosystems on the island, and gives the children an easy introduction to drawing their native flora.

Soursop Annona muricata

Not only have they provided these common edible and medicinal plants as colouring-in drawings, but they have done the same for the ten species of Montserrat grasses I’ve illustrated (for more on this see my blog).

Crab grass Digitaria ciliaris

I very much enjoyed working on these, possibly because I’m a bit obsessed with grasses, but also because I think they make great subjects for colouring-in.

Sour grass Digitaria insularis

Animals of Montserrat

There’s also a whole batch of animals of Montserrat, also for colouring-in.  It was such a treat to have lots of non European animals to research and draw!

Antillean crested hummingbird (male & female) Orthorhyncus cristatus

Montserrat ameiva (ground lizard) Pholidoscelis pluvianotatusn

Latest illustrations for HarperCollins

So what are these latest images?  Well, they’re all of butterflies.  Wing patterns are tricky at the best of times.  But trying to keep track of them as you flip from wing to wing and reduce areas of tonality to simpler shapes?  That was a massive challenge, but in such a good way.  I loved working on all three.

We left the wings blank on a couple of the blue butterflies.  That way people can try their hand at drawing, as well as adding colour.

Red admiral Vanessa atalanta & Spring azure Celastrina ladon

I like that the art editor added variety by asking for one of the images to show the top and underside of a butterfly, almost like a pinned museum specimen.

Painted lady top and underside Vanessa cardui

Conclusion

I am surprised at just how many of these line drawings I’ve completed, and for such a range of clients, both years ago and right up to the present day.  Creating pen and ink line drawings is something I really enjoy, so it’s great that there are clients out there who want to commission them!

It’s also worth remembering that fully tonal pen and ink illustrations, like those I’ve done for Fred Hageneder’s Living wisdom of Trees, can be great for colouring too.

Cherry Prunus avium

During lockdown I agreed with publishers to share some of my illustrations as colouring-in sheets.  It’s a resource that’s still available: Pinterest quarantine colouring in pages.  So if you want to get the coloured pencils out, be my guest!

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Family

Nasturtium are members of the Tropaeolaceae.  Members are succulent with alternate leaves and flowers borne singly on stems.  They’re climbing vines, originating in South America.  Other species seen in gardens include the clambering Flame nasturtium Tropaeolum speciosum, and the yellow flowered Canary creeper Tropaeolum peregrinum.  Both have lobed leaves, unlike T. majus.

Nasturtium flowers

Flowers are zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical) and have five petals.  They are between 2.5 and 6 cm across.  The upper two petals are similar, and differ in shape and size from the lower three.  These have distinctive fringes in the mouth of the corolla, possibly relating to pollinating and nectar guides.  They tend to be orange and yellow, although some are red or a dark crimson.

There is an immediately recognizable spur at the back of the flower which is where the nectar is stored.

Pollen is produced by 8 stamens.  There is one style with three stigma, and a three-celled ovary.

The calyx is made of five sepals which vary in size and shape like the petals.

Nasturtium seeds

Seeds are a three-celled schizocarp (for more on seed anatomy take a look at my blog).  These break into three succulent segments, each of which contains a seed.

Nasturtium seeds are really large, and germinate readily.  This makes them ideal for planting with young kids.

Leaves of the nasturtium

Instantly recognizable, nasturtium leaves are alternate, and round with a centrally attached stalk and radiating veins.  They are thin with smooth margins, and are waterproof, shining a beautiful silver when submerged in water.

Pollination

In their native South America, nasturtium are pollinated by hummingbirds as well as by insects.  This may explain the red (as well as yellow and orange) flowers, which are easier for birds to find than insects (for more on this fascinating topic, check out Miguel Rodriguez-Girones’ article in PLoS.

Here in the UK they’re pollinated by long-tongued bees such as the Common carder Bombus pascuorum and the Garden bumblebee Bombus hortensus.

Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum

Etymology

The Latin name was coined by Linneaus, amazing taxonomist and naturalist, when he introduced the plant to European gardens in the 18^th century.

He thought the helmet-shaped flowers and flat, shield-like leaves resembled trophies from Roman times. These were known as “Tropoeum”.  After a victory, legionaries would put these shields and helmets on poles for all to see.

The English name, nasturtium, derives from the Latin “nasus tortus” or “nose twister”.  The peppery flavour of the plant explains this.  It’s no coincidence that the Latin name for the equally fiery watercress is Nasturtium officinale.

The unrelated Watercress Nasturtium officinale

Other European countries, such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France, have common names based on “cappuccio”, the Latin for hood.  These relate to the flower shape.

Edibility

All parts of the plant are edible, with a fiery mustardy flavour.

In her book The Garden Forager (which I was lucky enough to illustrate), Adele Nozedar suggests adding the flowers to salads.  Or stuffing them with cream cheese and mint.  Or even with vanilla ice cream!  She also includes a recipe for Nasturtium-leaf soup from President Eisenhower, and tells how to pickle the seeds in white-wine vinegar.

Medicinal nasturtiums?

All of the nasturtium is rich in vitamin C, so the plant was used to prevent scurvy.  It was also used to prevent hair loss, as a paste of the fiery follicles was thought to stimulate the hair follicles.

Pests

Despite being easy to grow and hardy up ’til the first frost, nasturtium are beset with pests.

Aphid congregate at the apex of stalk and leaf.

Aphid (with rose leaves)

Cabbage white butterfly caterpillars (also known as Large white Pieris brassicae) devour the leaves, leading some gardeners to suggest planting nasturtium as a “trap crop” to deter pests from vegetables like kale and cabbage (Horticulture magazine) , while others argue that companion planting may actually attract more pests (The Spruce).

Compost bin with nasturtium growing in and over it

Conclusion

It’s common to have favourite plants and flowers, and no surprise that the nasturtium is one of mine.  With its’ grow-ability, draw-abilty, and edibility…what’s not to love?

https://youtu.be/XGeSNvRmhBM

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The first featured crop is Ginseng, Panax ginseng.

Ginseng: Description

Ginseng is a member of the Apiaceae, or carrot family.  It has three to six palmate leaves with serrated leaflets; each leaf has 3 to 5 leaflets.  Clusters of 30 to 50 small red flowers are borne on long peduncles, and produces bright red berries, with white kidney-shaped seeds.  The plant reaches up to 60cm in height.  However, it’s not the leaves, flowers, or berries that are the focus of ginseng use.  It is the root, which tends to be cylindrical and have 2 branches.

Leaf of ginseng plant

Ginseng: Distribution and History of use

The ginseng is native to temperate mountainous woodland zones in Korea, NE China, and the far east of Russia.  It is now cultivated in many other countries where growing conditions can be met; including Canada, Japan, and the USA.

The first written mention of ginseng is from 2,000 years ago, although there is evidence is was used as far back as 4,500 years ago (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013).  It’s Latin name, Panax ginseng, contains the etymological root “Panax” meaning all-healing.  This is also the same root as the word for a cure-all, a panacea.

Ginseng: Preparation and cookery

Ginseng root can be used fresh or dried.  In its’ fresh form, raw ginseng, it is 75% water, so can’t be stored for long.  It is used in traditional Chinese and Korean recipes, often in soups.

There are two dry forms. White ginseng is sun-dried from raw, and thinly peeled.  It can be straight, curved, or semi-curved. Red ginseng is steamed before being dried, and can last up to 20 years.  This red ginseng makes up the majority of health food supplements and nutritional additives which are sold in many forms.  It can be eaten in teas, drinks, as tablets, in candy, as powder, and as extracts.

Ginseng: Medicinal uses

As a cure-all, the ailments treated with ginseng are wide-ranging.  They include kidney, liver, reproductive and cardiovascular ailments; as well as a tonic for general well being.  It’s also been claimed it is a cure for alopecia; and a preventative for flu, diabetes, and cancer.  In ancient China and Korea, it was used as a love potion, and more recently it has been used to treat erectile dysfunction (“Red ginseng for treating erectile dysfunction: a systematic review” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2008).  For more on the history of Ginseng use, click here.

Ginseng root contains antioxidants and vitamins (such as B1, B2, B3, B5, and B12).  Trace elements found in ginseng include zinc, copper, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, vanadium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus; along with volatile oil polysaccharides, pectins, and sterols. (Journal of Ginseng Research 2023).  They also contain ginsenocides which may be useful in combating disorders due to old age. ( “Panax ginseng and aging related disorders: A systematic review” de Oliveira Zanuso et al Experimental Gerontology 2022)

Ginseng root

There is little clinical proof of the medicinal benefits of ginseng use (“Panax ginseng”. MedlinePlus, 2024), although it may have some effect on general health and in reducing stress levels.  It can react unfavourably with other drugs such as anticoagulants like Warfarin, with diabetic medicines, and over 100 drugs are known to interact with it (Drugs.com).

 As with many established folk medicines, the fact that it has been in constant use for over 2,000 years carries some weight.

Ginseng berries

Ginseng: Commercial considerations

Four countries produce 99% of the world’s ginseng.  In 2013 this was 80,080 tons, with a value of $2,084 million.  Canada, the USA, and South Korea run second to South China where roughly half of the world’s ginseng is produced.

As the Journal of Ginseng Research puts it, over ten years ago, “Since the interests in alternative medicine and healthy food is increasing globally, the consumer market of ginseng…is expected to expand continuously.” (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013)

Conclusion

Before illustrating this plant, I knew little about it.  I know you can get ginseng tea, and that it is important in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine.  The wide ranging cures and effects attributed to it amaze me, as does the commercial importance of this crop.  I am equally surprised by the appearance of the plant, with those stunning scarlet berries!

Botanical illustration is full of surprises, and doing the Ginseng illustration for the Crops Trust is another example of just that.  Keep an eye out for blogs on the other three crops illustrated; namely Pearl millet, the Date palm, and the Olive.

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Third page of the FSC guide to Socttish Urban plants

Why a guide to urban plants?

Plants are incredibly resilient, and many species have managed to carve out a niche despite all the tarmac and concrete in our towns and cities.  We often overlook these plants, or disregard them as “weeds”.  But there is an enormous amount of variety in the plants of urban spaces, and they’re well worth examining closer.

As the guide points out, “Although urban plants are easy to dismiss as ‘weeds’, they have many fascinating adaptations that are worthy of a second look. Some have a fast lifecycle, tolerating limited space, not much soil, and highly fluctuating temperatures and moisture. Others spread quickly through stolons and rhizomes to form large stands. Old walls have specialist plants all of their own, especially where there is soft lime mortar.” (FSC publications 2025)

Wall rue Asplenium ruta-muraria

What makes a plant an Urban species?

As the write up on FSC’s site states, “Since 2015 the Botanical Society of Scotland has been recording urban plants in Scotland, defined as settlements with at least 1000 inhabitants. Volunteer recorders have searched streets, car parks, golf courses, cemeteries, waste ground and many other places. Anything deliberately planted was excluded, but anything that had spread by itself was included.

Currently there are nearly 80,000 records, with over 1200 vascular plant species found so far. This guide covers the most common non-woody species among these records.” (FSC publications 2025)

FSC broke the urban plants featured into categories depending on their habitat and provenance.

Chinese bramble Rubus tricolor

Urban plants: Walls and Buildings

Every one of the species in this section grows on the churchyard wall opposite my house.  This makes life very much easier as I can get fresh material to work with both when drawing up roughs, and when adding colour.  It also shows something of the geographical spread of these plants.

Common polypody Polypodium vulgare

There are several similar species of Polypody fern in the UK, and I struggled to be certain which one I was drawing.  The BSBI produce “crib sheets”, pdfs comparing and contrasting similar species.  The one on Polypody ferns proved very useful.  There’s also a good video from the Botanical Society of the British Isles on these ferns if you’d like to learn more.

Wall lettuce Lactuca muralis grows at the base of the churchyard wall, and was just coming into flower.  I recognized it immediately, but had never stopped to i.d. it before.  One of the many things my job gives me is a reason to stop and look at plants differently and closer than before.

Wall lettuce Lactuca muralis

Growing on the wall in my garden is the Wall bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana.  In late May, the whole of the front garden wall is blue with it.  I was surprised to find there are two similar bell flower species.  Again, time was needed to untangle them and ensure I was illustrating the correct species.  Online resources such as the Botany in Scotland blog proved very helpful.

Wall or Dalmatian bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Walls & buildings, and Garden escapes

Urban plants: Garden escapes

Many of the plants seen in urban settings are garden escapes.  This isn’t surprising.  However, it does mean lots of urban plants are quite blousy.  One example is the Opium poppy Papaver somniferum.

This is a plant I’ve been wanting to paint for a long time, but never had the opportunity.  I was surprised to find the commonest colour of the bloom is mauve, not a deep red.  Like many plants, the Opium poppy has glaucous, waxy leaves.  This means using lots of Cobalt Blue and even some white when it comes to colour mixing.

Opium poppy Papaver somniferum

Another garden escape is the Hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana.  This is a cross between the UK’s native bluebell, and the Spanish bluebell which is often grown in gardens from bulb.  Telling your Spanish bluebell from your native species, and figuring out whether or not you’re looking at a hybrid is mighty confusing.  I did a blog a few years back, trying to untangle them.

Hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana

It was interesting to see that the Welsh poppy Meconopsis cambrica appears in this section.  Where I live, on the border between England and Wales, the Welsh poppy is a wild flower, not a garden escape.

Welsh poppy Meconopsis cambrica

Urban plants: Pavements

The species in this habitat were also a bit tough to untangle as superficially Thale cress, Hairy bitter-cress, and Shepherd’s purse look alike.  It doesn’t take long with a botany bible like Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles and the gorgeous line drawings of Stella Ross-craig to be able to tell them apart with no trouble. Two of them grow, by chance, in pots in my garden.  Thale cress I had to look for a little harder.  It’s an important plant as it’s used as a model in genetics research.  The genome of Thale cress was the first plant genome to be sequenced.  A small weed with a big impact.

Thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana Hairy bittercress Cardamine hirsuta and Sherherds purse Capsella bursa-pastoris

Annual meadow grass was one of only 4 grass species on the whole list.  I can’t believe I’ve not illustrated it before, it’s very common and very pretty!  I started on these illustrations in the depth of winter, and as Annual meadow grass is the only UK grass species to flower year round, it made identification super-easy.  The crinkled leaf blade is another useful diagnostic.

Annual meadow grass Poa annua

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Pavements

Some of the pavement species are ones I’ve illustrated before.  This includes the Pineapple weed Matricaria discoidea, Broad-leaf Willow-herb Epilobium montanum, and Chickweed Stellaria media.  I know I always go on about it, but an illustrator gets paid for each illustration used, whether or not it already exists.  Hang onto your copyright, illustrators!  Re-use fees make the notoriously low-paid job of an illustrator (almost) a viable career.

Pineapple mayweed Matricaria discoidea

Urban plants: Grassy places & parkland

Some of the prettiest species featured in the guide grow in this ecological niche.  I’d completed all but one of the plants featured in this section for other jobs; it was a pleasure to re-assess them and make sure they still pass muster. One of my favourite wildflowers, Fox and Cubs Pilosella aurantiaca, makes an appearance.  After years of cajoling, I finally have a flourishing population of these flowers in my garden.

Orange hawkbit Fox and Cubs Pilosella aurantiaca

Likewise, with some careful neglect, I now have a healthy amount of Self heal Prunella vulgaris and White clover Trifolium repens growing in my lawn.  It makes me happy, helps protect the grass from drought, and is good for the pollinators.

Self heal Prunella vulgaris

The species in this section that I’d not yet painted is the common Daisy, Bellis perennis.  It’s odd, with the species I get asked to illustrate, sometimes the most ubiquitous plants fall through the cracks.  I’ve been illustrating plants for 25 years, and this is the first time I’ve been asked to illustrate a daisy.  It was a real joy to find the perfect specimen on the lawn and rectify the situation. The illustration takes the basal rosette of one plant and the flowering heads of another.  The benefits of illustrations instead of photography (for more about my feelings on this, check out my FAQ section, but be prepared for a balanced view.  Both are vital tools.).

Daisy Bellis perennis

Urban plants of Grassland and parks: In defence of Ragwort

I wish I’d been able to add the caterpillar of the Cinnibar moth Tyria javobaeae when I illustrated Common ragwort Jacobeae vulgaris.

Ragwort Jacobeae vulgaris or Senecio jacobaea

They’re black and yellow striped, and are really common on the plant.  I know there is a lot of anger towards Ragwort, as the plants can be toxic to livestock.  Sadly, this has been massively over-emphasized, and the mass clearance of this plant has had dreadful effects on the beautiful black and red Cinnibar moth.

Cinnibar moth Tyria jacobaeae

As the Botanic Gardens of Wales say, “Butterfly Conservation’s 2006 report on the state of Britain’s larger moths showed that the cinnabar had declined by 83%, classing it as ‘Vulnerable’.  While this dramatic change is likely due to many reasons, there is little doubt that misconception surrounding the toxicity of ragwort to livestock is a contributing factor to its decline. Farmers and landowners have been encouraged to eradicate the plant to minimise the risks of poisoning. However, ragwort poses little threat to livestock or humans unless considerable amounts are consumed daily, and the only real risk is posed when dried in hay, where it loses its acrid taste. As cinnabar caterpillars feed exclusively on ragwort and groundsel their slow eradication from our countryside poses a major threat to the survival of this species.”

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Grassy places and parklands pages

Conclusion

What surprised me as I worked on this guide, was just how many of the Urban plants noted in Scotland were equally common here in mid Wales, and down in London.  It’s a testament to the incredible adaptability of some of our plants.  They are filling niches that didn’t exist 150 years ago, and thriving.  Many more species can not make the transition, however, and become rarer and rarer as the urban sprawl continues to eat into the countryside.  Even more reason to care for the wild flower species we do still have, and to celebrate those that we get to see in our cities as well as in the countryside.  And to stop labelling them all as weeds, and trying to eradicate them from our pavements, walls, brownfield sites, and parkland.

Purple toadflax Linaria purpurea

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Roselyn seeds logo, (featuring my Common blue butterfly)

I have also created the artwork for their Wildlife Garden seed mix, and am working on designs for their Meadow cranesbill, Corn chamomile, Borage, and Sunflower packets.

Seed packet designs completed for Roselyn seeds

Design constraints

When working for packaging, there are always things to consider as well as the depiction of a flower species.  In this case, it’s the position of the hole at the packet top (so it can hang up on a display unit), logos relating to the credentials of the seeds, and the name of the seeds along with the Roselyn Seeds logo.

Logos which appear on the left side of the seed packets

Initial thumbnail roughs

The first thing to do is share ideas with the client.  I often submit these thumbnail sketches as pencil drawings, but because colour is so crucial to this design, I roughly added colour to the images, using photoshop.  There were about six options submitted, and once we agree on one or two, the process of fine-tuning the design can begin.

Initial colour thumbnail roughs

Working up roughs

We decided on elements of  two of the colour roughs.  The next step is to decide on a more precise composition, establishing where the flower heads should be, and how zoomed into the meadow the viewer should be.

Working on initial pencil roughs

After feedback on this stage, I worked up a more detailed pencil rough, showing all the elements in the correct position.  We also decide which pollinators to use in the illustration, and where to place them.  The blue circle on the drawing below dictates the position of a honey bee.

Detailed pencil rough

Final pencil rough and layout

Once this gets the go-ahead, it’s time to draw it up in detail and to overlay the design constraints on top of the drawing.  This ensures that the artwork won’t bump into logos or text, and that the logo can still be seen clearly.  The details of the foliage in the background is added.

Final rough in layout

I do this with an acetate overlay.  I use this same overlay for all the designs, hence the wording not being correct.  It’s good enough to prove there will be no stark colour contrasts between flowers and leaves in critical parts of the layout.

Adding the background

I work from background to foreground when I illustrate.  This helps ensure the areas of highest contrast are right at the front, which gives a sense of depth to the illustration.  For more on illustrating landscapes, see my blogs on illustrating a coastal hay meadow and illustrating a water meadow landscape.

The sky is added first.  This is a very watery mix of Cerulean blue and Cobalt blue.  I extend it half way over the meadow so there will be a smoother transition between sky and plants.

At the base of the sky, while the paint is still wet, I add a very pale green wash.  This does not cover the main flowers, but unites all the other elements at the base of the design.

Adding foliage

Next, I outline the leaves.  This is a basic re-draw of each blade of grass and leaf, using a variety of greens.  I add details like veins and accurate leaf margins.  I’ll also put in some suggestions of shadow to give the leaves depth.

Detail of the foliage

The flowers are left as white paper, for now, but will receive similar treatment in due course.  The reason for doing the leaves and grass first and the flowers later is simple.  The flowers are more exciting and fun!

Illustration with background completed and foliage plotted in

Adding the insects

Before getting into the details and darker tones of the leaves and flowers, I add the insects.  This ensures I don’t paint over them by mistake, and that I can calibrate the tonality of the landscape and be certain they’ll show up.

Adding the bee pollinators to the illustration

Each of the seed packets features one or more common pollinators.  For this wildflower mix, we could take our pick from any number of bees, beetles, wasps and butterflies.  This is the Red-tailed bumblebee.

Adding flowers: Yellows

Next, I take on the flowers.  I do this colour by colour.  If you only have yellows on your palette, you’re far less likely to mix some random muddy colour by adding red or blue by mistake.  I delineate each petal, and then the centre of the flowers.  For the white flowers, it’s only the central area of each inflorescence that gets colour added.

Once this is done, I add a more dilute yellow top wash to the marigolds.  The corn chamomile and corn marigolds are more or less finished.

Painting the yellow flowers

Adding flowers: pinks and reds

I repeat the process for the pink Corncockle flowers.  These only have colour at the edges of the petals, the centres are white.  They’re one of my favourite meadow flowers, so I was glad they featured.

Adding the pink flowers

You can see I’ve started adding the red poppies too.  Paint water is changed and the palette is given a wipe, even between painting colours as similar as reds and pinks.  I also add the poppy stamens, making sure they’re a purple hue rather than plain black.

Illustration with Pink, red and yellow flowers completed.

Again, once the poppies have been painted, it’s time to get fresh painting water and to clean the palette.

Adding flowers: Blues

The Cornflowers are such a lovely shade of blue.  It’s a surprisingly easy colour to mix.  Just Cobalt blue and Opera rose.  I have practise in painting these, having done the Cornflower seed packet illustration eatrlier.  It’s useful being able to cross reference your work.

Blue cornflowers are added

A pale diluted blue is added to the top of the cornflower petals, and the central florets are picked out in a darker blue.

Finishing touches, and reflection

To make the colours of the flowers more intense, I add further glazes or top washes.  More distant flowers are kept paler to try and give a sense of depth.

As we need to leave the background behind where the words appear clear enough to allow text to be legible, there’s no scope for adding much in the way of tonal depth to the leaves and grass.  The result is a flattening of the illustration which I’m not entirely happy with.

The flower colours are correct, but because of the lack on nuance in the leaves, the illustration appears both slightly washed out and simultaneously super saturated.

Completed illustration

Illustration with Layout guides

The acid test is to lay the acetate with the design elements over the top of the completed illustration.  It’s a moment of truth, and I am always very relieved when no crucial element is overlapped by bright colour, and no important flower is obliterated by text or logos.

Completed illustration with design overlay

I like many elements of this illustration.  I’m fond of the bumble bee and the poppies.  The composition works.  But the disconnect between the tonality and saturation of the flowers, and the less shadowed leaves feels a little jarring.  This will be reduced once the illustration appears on the seed packet, some of the intensity of colour gets washed out in the printing process.

Other seed packet designs

The seed packet below is for a wildflower garden mix.  It features an idealised garden, complete with pollinators, a bee hive, and a well-visited bird table. (Not to mention a ridiculously clean shed).  I like the way this image works on the packet label.

Wildflower garden seed mix

Below are some of the individual species’ seed packets.  I think they show how the colours are slightly less saturated as a result of the printing process.

The ones I’m currently working on include borage (one of my favourite flowers) and the sunflower.  These seed packet designs are an ongoing job, and one I’m enjoying.

Meadow buttercup and Cornflower seed packet designs

Ox-eye daisy and Red campion seed packet designs.

Roselyn seeds haven’t yet rolled out these designs across all of their products, but will do so soon.  In the meantime, feel free to order their (excellent) wildflower seeds.  And maybe have a go at illustrating them yourself?

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Drawing plants you’ve never seen

I am often asked to illustrate species which I have never seen in the flesh.  It’s harder than drawing from life, but with photo and online reference it is possible.  For more on this see my blog on working from photo reference).

Many of the plants illustrated for the booklet were new to me, or fruits that I had never seen growing in situ.  One of the things I was keen to do whilst on the island was to find as many of these plants as I could, and compare them to my illustrations.  It’s nerve wracking, but important.  If there are big discrepancies then the illustrations need to be done again and improved.

Fruit trees: Soursop Annona muricata

It didn’t take long to recognize some of the plants I’d illustrated.  On a guided nature hike, I was shown the soursop fruit.

Soursop fruit

I recognized it from my illustration, which is always a good sign.  Having struggled with the pattern of the spines on the fruit’s skin, it was a relief to see that the geometry was similar to my illustration.  I couldn’t reach the fruit, but was glad when our guide told me that yes, the flesh was indeed a creamy white colour.

Detail: Fruit of the Soursop

The tree wasn’t in flower, so I have to hope that the photos I amassed and worked from were accurate.

Soursop leaves are gratifyingly similar to those I’d illustrated, and to many other leaves from the list.  Smooth, glossy, dark green with simple margins.

Soursop

Fruit trees: Guava Psidium guajava

I found my Guava tree in Elvis Gerald’s garden (click here for more on this extraordinary Caribbean garden).  I have seen and eaten guava before, but never noticed the tree it grows on.

Guava growing in Elvis’s garden

The fruit is the same colours as my illustration, if a touch rounder.  I didn’t cut open the fruit to see if the flesh is the same pink colour I showed, that would have been rude.

The distinctive lateral veins on the leaves are clear.  I intentionally toned them down a little when I added colour to my painting, I now wish I’d kept them starker.

My illustration of Guava

The blossom is a bit less convincing.  Although the basic colour and shape is right, in reality there are a lot more stamens than I included in my illustration.  The flower is passable, but not a good representation.

Guava flower

Trees: Trumpet bush Cecropia peltata

Another plant we were shown by our natural history guide was the Trumpet bush.  The leaves are the right shape, and the way they grow from the trunk feels right too.

Trumpet bush on the Dry Waterfall trail

What amazes me is the sheer size of each leaf.  They are enormous!  Luckily the scale doesn’t matter in my illustrations, but I am sure I have drawn them too small.

My illustration of the Trumpet bush

The other surprise is how very white the underside of each leaf is.  Yes, I illustrated the leaves as pale below.  But if I were to repeat the illustration I would make them closer to white than to pale green.

Underside of Trumpet bush leaf

Pung Coolie Momordica charantia

In the car park near our trail head, our guide Loydie pointed out the Pung coolie, growing in the grass.

This plant surprised me by being far smaller than I’d imagined.

The tendrils and pale yellow petals are the same, but I’d envisioned it as having flowers the size of courgette flowers, not these far smaller blossoms, only a few cm across.

Pung coolie or Bitter melon

It looks very similar to my illustration, irrelevant of size.  Saying that, the specimen I saw wasn’t bearing fruit, so I can only hope these are depicted correctly.

My illustration of Pung coolie

Blue vervain or porterweed Stachytarpheta jamaicensis

Driving back from the walk, I spied some spindly blue flowers.  I was really pleased to see them, all along the roadside verges were lots of Blue porterweed plants.

Photo of Blue porterweed

Flowers fell from the spikes almost as soon as I picked them, but they stayed long enough for me to realise the shapes I’d drawn were correct, even if the shade of blue I used was not quite purple enough.  I think my leaves should have been a touch smaller and a little shinier.

My illustration of Blue vervain

Aloe vera

This plant grows everywhere in Montserrat, along road sides, and more prolifically where it’s a bit drier.

I know the illustration is more or less ok because I have an Aloe vera in a pot here at home.  However, it’s good to see that the shade of green is pretty well matched to the wild plant.  As I didn’t see one in flower, I have to keep my fingers crossed that the inflorescence is correct.

My Aloe vera

Love vine

Driving up Jack Boy Hill, about a mile up the road, suddenly everything seems to be strewn with orange tangles of thread.

Love vine on an Acacia

I’m afraid I shouted out in joy when I realised I was driving past thick nests of Love vine.  This was particularly satisfying as I’d struggled to understand the nature of the plant and the colour scheme when illustrating it.

My illustration of Love vine

Seeing it grow, I realise it grows like Dodder Cuscata in the UK.  And looking closely, the colours on individual tendrils do indeed fade from light green through yellow to a rich orange.  This plant was my happiest comparison.

Resurrection fern Pleopeltis or Polypodium polypodioides

The last plant I saw growing that I remembered to take a photo of was the Resurrection fern.

This was on trees and tree trunks in the Mezoic wet forest areas.  The sori do indeed leave prominent marginal bumps on the leaves, and the central stem is almost as hairy as I showed it (but less purple).

Photo of Resurrection fern

What I got wrong is that on the plants I saw growing, very few had mature sori pointing upward.  This could have been chance, or perhaps it’s the way the plant grows.  I think the leaves I illustrated could have been a richer and shinier green.  Saying that, the plant is recognisable and that’s the acid test.

My illustration of the fern

Other plants I saw…and failed to photograph

Unfortunately, I failed to take photos of the Sensitive plant Mimosa pudica, West Indian Bay leaf Pimenta racemosa, or Lemongrass.  I ate leaves of the latter two in Elvis’s garden, so it’s not as if I didn’t have the chance to examine the plant where it grew.

Mimosa

My biggest regret is not taking photos of the very beautiful Bush tea or Quickstick Gliricidia sepium tree.  These were in full bloom, dotting the wooded hillside with delicate pink tree crowns.  I picked some of the flowers, and even had them in a jar on the table.  But I failed to draw them from life or to photograph them.

Bush tea tree

Ah well, I’ll just have to go back next year….

Conclusion

On the whole, I’m pleased with how closely my illustrations tally with the plants I saw growing in the wild in Montserrat.  Inevitably there’s some discrepancy of scale.  Luckily this doesn’t matter in drawings.  Colours are occasionally slightly different.  I didn’t get to see every plant I’ve illustrated, nor see every life stage of each plant.

What I really love is being able to touch the growing plants, rotate them, smell their leaves and flowers.  Yes, I can work from photographs and picture reference.  But the experience is much more exciting and far easier if you’re able to hold the plant in your hand as you paint.

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Some months ago I worked on a diagram of an idealised garden which grew flowers, fruit, herbs, and vegetables all year round.  The most unusual thing about this job is that the garden was on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean.

As I drew up my pencil rough, including all the species listed as growing on this plot of land, I wondered how on earth anyone could ever be expected to have such a wide variety of plants in one garden.  Little did I know then, I was soon to see the garden in real life.

Annotated pencil rough of the Montserrat Garden plan

Elvis Gerald’s Garden

One of the many highlights of my recent work trip to Montserrat (take a look at my blog Montserrat – Working in Paradise for more) was visiting Elvis’s garden.

Elvis Gerald is a remarkable and extremely knowledgeable man.  Working in Montserrat’s Department of Agriculture, for RSPB, liaising with Montserrat National Trust and responsible for ensuring imported fruit and vegetables don’t carry harmful invasive species; he is also a very busy man.  Which is why it was all the more wonderful to meet him at his home and get a tour of his amazing garden plot.

Elvis Gerald’s garden with entomologist Wolfgang, Catherine Wensink, Jodey Peyton, and Rebecca Machin

Caribbean garden: Temperate orchard

The very first thing I clocked about Elvis’s garden was that it’s on a slope.  I had not even considered this when I was drawing it, and was wondering about the layout.  It made the whole enterprise even more remarkable.  The first area we saw was on a gentle gradient.  The same is not true of areas round the back of the house.

Apple and pear trees aren’t commonly grown in the Caribbean.  They are temperate fruit.  So imagine our surprise to see several varieties of apple, pear and even nectarines thriving.  Elvis shields the tree trunks from scalding by the sun with white paint, and mulches the base of the trees with shredded paper.

Mulching around apple trees with shredded paper

The fruits are protected from pests by being individually bagged, and tinsel and tin foil festoon the trees to dissuade hungry birds.

Pears protected in bags

Between the trees, Elvis grows peppers and chillis.  Pots of herbs and squash plants are dotted around.

Pepper growing in the orchard area.

Grass is allowed to grow to protect the soil, and carefully placed irrigation pipes provide water during drought.  In my diagram I put these in a corner, in reality irrigation tubes stretch the width of the plot.

Diagram of the garden in progress.  Irrigation systems in the bottom right.

Guava, Banana and Papaya

I was thrilled to see a Guava tree growing, complete with blossom.  Although I was pretty happy with the illustration of the guava fruit I did for one of my Montserratian medicinal fruits, I’d been anxious about the blossom.  The flower was not perfect, somewhat lacking in stamens, but it was close enough to earn a small sigh of relief.

Guava Psidium guajava photo and my illustration of blossom

Other tropical fruit trees grew alongside.  There were bananas and plantains.

Elvis’s banana palms, and my diagrammatic ones.

Lots of Papaya grew, with fruits still green.  The lobed leaves, and the way they grow out from the trunk is instantly recognizable.  These trees grow throughout the garden, often on very steep areas.  Some grew alongside pomegranates.

Papaya tree alongside my diagram

As suggested in my species list, there were also Dragon fruit, Figs, Mulberry, and Barbados cherry.

Native species growing in amongst include the Rainfall bush, Gumbo limbo, Noni, Broadleaf and Bay leaf.  The Bay was fascinating.  It’s far larger than our European Bay and has shiny, leathery leaves.  Although the smell is similar, it’s more nuanced.  Elvis uses the leaves for tea and to flavour porridge.

There is also a hedge of Pribby, an endemic species used for hedging.  I hope to do a brief blog on Pribby soon.

West Indian Bay leaf Pimenta racemosa

Cabbages

I love a beautiful cabbage as much as the next person, and have delighted in illustrating them in the past.

Savoy cabbage completed for Rodale Publishing’s “Vegetable Garden Problem Solver”

However, I was not expecting to see some of the most perfect cabbages I’ve ever encountered growing on a steep hill in Montserrat.  Elvis says slugs and snails are not a problem, so the cabbages thrive.  As do the lettuces, salad leaves, seedlings, and other low-lying plants.

Cabbage growing and diagrammatic cabbages

As with the diagram, amongst the cabbage beds, Elvis grows peppers and other plants.  This shields the earth from the hot drying sun, a concept my illustration has failed to capture.

Companion planting is part of Elvis’s armoury.  There are French marigolds and plenty of Tridax daisy Tridax procumbens.  This pretty little plant provides ground cover and is important for pollinators.

Pests

I was grateful that there was netting underfoot in amongst the sweet potatoes, squash and cabbages.  I assumed it was there to stop Elvis from sliding down the hillside as he gardened.  The slope below the house is quite extreme.

No.  It’s there to deter iguana.  These lizards grow to massive sizes, and are the bane of many gardeners on Montserrat.  Tinsel scares off the birds.  Netting shields vegetables from iguana.  Companion planting encourages natural predators of insect pests.  And these are only the pest deterrents I noticed!  I have no doubt that many more are also at play.

Herbs and Spices

Tucked amongst the trees and vegetables are lots of pots of herbs.  Chocolate mint, Cinnamon and Lemon basil, Coriander and Rosemary, thyme and tarragon.

Elvis also grows ginger and turmeric.  I’d not seen turmeric growing before, and was surprised to see how close to the surface the root is.  It reminded me of an iris.

Pots of herbs, Turmeric; and my diagram of coriander, thyme, and ginger growing in pots

Earlier in the day, Elvis has harvested some cucumbers, so we got him to pose outside his back door with one.

Elvis Gerald with home grown cucumber

Dry Garden

It came as something of a surprise when Elvis pointed out that he had a second garden too, further down the hill.  Luckily for us, he was willing to show us around there too.

This garden was flatter, and much drier.  It was rich in fig trees, avocado, and limes.  Montserrat used to be known for its’ lime juice, until scale insects wiped out many of the citrus orchards.  It was sad to see some evidence of these insects on Elvis’s trees, too, although the fruit looked healthy.

Lime

There were lots of sweet potatoes growing.  I was relieved that the unlikely purple trumpet-shaped flowers I’d found in research were indeed the right flowers for a Sweet potato plant.

Sweet potato flowers alongside diagram of the plants growing

Conclusion

We left Elvis’s gardens in awe.  That someone holding down several jobs and no small level of responsibility could also maintain two beautiful and productive gardens was almost alarming.  So much produce, year round.  Unencumbered by long European winters, and only fettered by droughts and animal pests, Elvis has created the sort of garden anyone would be jealous of.

It is also the only time in my life that I have seen reality being more organised and perfect than my idealised diagrams.  Elvis Gerald, I salute you.

Catherine Wensink (UKOTCF), Elvis Gerald, and ecologist Jodey Peyton

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Arriving

You arrive in Montserrat airport via a little plane from Antigua, skimming low over the volcanic island.  Catherine Wensink from the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF) met me at the airport, with biologist and educator Rebecca Machin.

There was quite a team of us working on different aspects of Montserrat biodiversity; over the week I met ecologist Jodey Peyton, entomologist Wolfgang Rabitsch, and botanists Sophie Meeus and Quentin Groom.  We all got to liaise with government ministers as well as the Montserrat National Trust.

First impressions of Montserrat

Montserrat is vertiginous, a volcanic isle swathed in lush vegetation.  Roads are steep.  Mangoes drop their fruit to the ground where you can gather and eat them.  Stalls sell coconuts, bananas, and eggs.  Wild agouti and incredibly well-fed feral chickens, goats, and donkeys stray about.  The sun is hot and the breezes warm.  Short violent rain showers accompanied by wild winds pass swiftly and mostly happen at night.  Wild iguanas lie in the sun and zenaida doves waddle along the roadside.  The Souffrière hills, site of the volcano that erupted from 1997 – 2010, tower above the island.  The active volcanic peak is mostly swaddled in cloud.

The Souffrière hills – active volcano.  Photo taken from the exclusion zone.

The houses dot the hillside, painted absurdly pretty bright colours.  They’re interspersed with snack bars and tiny cafes.  People wave and honk their horns at each other in friendly salutation.

View of Look-out village from Jack Boy Hill

Visiting Elvis Gerald’s Garden

My first full day included a trip to garden I was very keen to see.  Having worked with Elvis Gerald on an idealised plan of his garden, it was a treat to see the spaces in real life, burgeoning with fruit, vegetables, and flowers.  I’ll write a separate blog about his gardens as they were truly impressive.

Visiting Elvis Gerald’s garden with Catherine Wensink, Jodey Peyton, and Rebecca Machin

Montserrat National Trust: Monty’s Messengers & Ambassadors

Much of the conservation work being done is supported by the Montserrat National Trust, a very active organisation headed by Sarita Francis.

As well as hosting my illustration workshops, they had a session on preserving herbarium specimens with Quentin and Sofie.

Sarita Francis OBE and me – presenting MNT with original illustrations

The MNT hold scientific conferences and run the Botanical Gardens, and are also very involved in promoting the importance of cherishing the biodiversity of the island; to visitors, residents, and especially to children.

Not only do they promote wildlife and nature on the island, they also have a gift shop which sells, amongst other things, tea towels and mugs featuring some of my Medicinal Plants of Montserrat illustrations.  I was delighted to receive a mug featuring my botanical illustration and a tote bag from Mrs. Francis.

Teaching at Montserrat National Trust

My contact is Chris Sealys, Conservation officer at MNT. Chris engages with local kids and young adults through Monty’s Messengers (for youngsters) and Monty’s Ambassadors.  Activities focus on teaching all aspects of natural history through fun activities, in the hope that prioritising the biodiversity of Montserrat will remain a life-long passion.

Monty’s messengers teaching workshop in the Botanic gardens’ pagoda

Monty’s messengers came and drew with me; I’d brought resin encapsulated insects to inspire them, but also offered them native flowers from the gardens.  They did some terrific work, despite never having used watercolours before and some being really quite young.

Rebecca took them on a biodiversity rainbow hunt, and was amazed and how much they knew about the plants in the gardens and their local uses.  Sadly, this is something we seem to have lost a long time ago in the UK.

Praying mantis and beetle illustrations by Monty’s messengers

Monty’s Ambassadors did some beautiful work too, really concentrating and working with flowers and the insects.  They were so engaged, enthusiastic, and polite.

Monty’s Ambassadors at work

All I have to do as a teacher is provide encouragement and a few pointers if they get stuck.  Seeing people enjoy drawing is such a thrill, their enthusiasm for combining art and the natural world gives me a lot of joy.

Detailed pencil drawing by one of Monty’s Ambassadors

Working alongside Chris was great, he sees that you can embrace nature even if you’re not academically strong, and understands how art should stand alongside exams and school work as another way of getting youngsters involved in promoting and committing to Montserrat’s natural world.  He brought these ideas to the meetings we had with the Montserrat Government, and no doubt inspired both the arts council and education minister.

Teaching at Montserrat National Trust: Adult session

On Sunday I got to teach adults for a longer session called Nature meets Artistry.  We worked with the native and ornamental species form the botanical gardens and some of the roadside flowers I’d picked.

Nature meets Artistry session

I never know what plants people will choose to draw, and not only did the beautiful Plumbago auriculata get chosen, but one student took on the overlooked native Tridax daisy, Tridax procumbens.

As with the younger artists, my students applied themselves whole-heartedly and produced some lovely work.  I really enjoy seeing people learn more about plants by drawing them, and this was no exception.

Students’ pencil and watercolour illustrations of Plumbago and the Tridax daisy

Meeting the Arts Council and the Department of Education

I spend most of my life in my studio, illustrating plants and animals in splendid isolation.  For me, working alongside the MNT and the scientists and UKOTCF was novel, and a treat.  Spending time with people who care about the same things you do; and will tell you when fruit bats are eating mangoes, or go up sheer rock faces questing for unusual plants, or get over-excited about seeing a Tarantula hawk wasp…it was refreshing and inspiring.

These were the people who I joined for meetings with Montserrat’s Arts Council and Education department.

Logo of Montserrat’s Art Council

As well as not usually working in a team, I have very little experience of official meetings.  Although I felt a little intimidated, it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to share some of the benefits I feel come from drawing wildlife and plants.

Seeing Chris, Sarita, Catherine and Rebecca encouraging links between the government, education, arts council and Montserrat National Trust; and promoting the biodiversity of Montserrat was fascinating.  I hope the meetings will bear fruit.

Wildlife Walk

One of the fascinating things we did when I wasn’t teaching was to join Loydie on a nature walk up the Dry Waterfall Trail.   Loydie is one of the excellent and highly knowledgeable guides working with Scribers Adventures.  These trails are well maintained by the MNT; within moments you feel enveloped in the jungle but the route was easy to negotiate.

Loydie explaining epiphytic plants and vines to us on Dry Waterfall trail

We learnt an enormous amount about the trees, ferns, birds, and insects all around us.  We even saw the endemic Montserrat oriole amongst foliage, and saw wild heliconia in bloom.

Tour of the exclusion zone

After visiting Montserrat Volcanic observatory, a state of the art monitoring site keeping an eye on the still-active volcano, we joined the fabulous Norman Cassell of Namcas Tours for a visit to Montserrat’s exclusion zone.

After the volcano erupted in 1995, it continued to throw ash and pyroclastic flows across wide expanses of the island.  Areas smothered included most of Montserrat’s agricultural land, its main port, the capital city of Plymouth, and the airport.

Half buried, view of the Secondary school Norman attended, in Plymouth’s exclusion zone

Norman brought his friendly enthusiasm, an immense knowledge, and memories of growing up as well as living through the eruptions to our tour.  It was a joy and a privilege to spend time with him, and also incredibly moving to be allowed to see some small part of what has been lost to volcanic activity.  The resilience of the Montserratians as they continue to reconstruct their future is extraordinary.

Teaching at Montserrat Secondary School (MSS)

There’s one secondary school on Montserrat, and I got to teach some of the art students for an hour.  Thanks is due to the head of art, Mr. Kelvin ‘Tabu’ Duberry (a fine artist as well as a teacher), for allowing me to hijack his classroom.

Teaching at MSS

Again, the students used pencil and watercolour and chose resin-encapsulated insects and plants as subjects.  These teenagers are already very able, so seeing them tackling observational drawing and the new medium of watercolours was fascinating.  They did some beautiful work, and managed to capture intricate details as well as some of the nuances of shine and iridescence on the elytra of the beetles.

Two beetles painted by MSS high school students

Chatting to Mr. Duberry was interesting too, the amount of excellent work he manages to produce with limited resources is quite remarkable.  At the end of the session I was touched and very pleased to be presented with a beautiful linocut done by one of the art students.

Me talking to Kelvin Duberry and holding the lino-cut I’ve been given.

Beaches and wildlife

There was plenty of free time to explore the island’s beautiful volcanic beaches.  Snorkelling revealed pristine coral reefs, purple sea fans, shoals of large pale blue fish, sea turtles, saffron corals, angel fish, tiny fish like glittering sapphires, long-spined sea urchins, and spotted box fish.

One of the beautiful volcanic beaches on Montserrat

The sea was warm, the sun was hot, the breeze was cooling but tropical.  And the sunsets were glorious.

Wild animals on the island seemed pretty tame; we saw hosts of birds including the notoriously bold Pearly-eyed thrasher Margarops fuscatus and American kestrel Falco sparverius.

Pearly-eyed thrasher looking for crumbs.  Bold as you like.

Above the ever-changing blues of the Caribbean sea we saw Brown pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis, Royal terns Thalasseus maximus, Tropicbirds Phaethon aethereus with their eerie cries, and Frigate birds Fregata magnificens.

Magnificent Frigate bird Fregata magnificens in flight over Marguerita bay

These were easy to identify thanks to a handy wildlife guide to Montserrat, co-written by some of the people I was working with during my trip.  However, I am well aware that there are many many more birds to spot on Montserrat.  No wonder the guide is titled, “Birding in Paradise”!

Birding in Paradise – authors include Catherine Wensink and Sarita Francis

Conclusion

This trip was one of the most wonderful weeks of my professional life.  Everyone I met was committed and working incredibly hard to promote the biodiversity of Montserrat.  They were friendly and fun, inspirational and enthusiastic.  Montserrat itself is simply stunning, somehow retaining its’ sense of self and its friendliness as well as being abundantly generous to tourists.  The plants are awe-inspiring, the volcano is beautiful and terrifying, the wildlife is accessible and jewel-like.

Will I be back?  If I am useful enough to be invited back, I would commit to another week of teaching botanical illustration and nature drawing on Montserrat in a heart-beat.  Birding in Paradise, yes.  Illustrating in Paradise?  I’d take that offer any day.

Gazebo at Montserrat national trust, site of my workshops.

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Completed Autumn fruits guide

Species to illustrate

As I had already completed some of the illustrations, I didn’t need to paint all 42 species featured.  However, there were a lot that either needed doing fresh, required a new illustration, weren’t in full watercolour, or had to have more details provided.  This gave me a healthy list of 18 illustrations to do.  the Guelder rose below is fine, but is in pencil so could not be used on a full colour guide.

Autumn fruit in the spring

My main problem with this job was the timing.  I was commissioned in January with all the illustrations needing completing by the end of April.  There aren’t many fruits and berries around in springtime!  However, there are plenty of pine cones, so I began by illustrating those.  Literally, the low-hanging fruit.  And the easiest of these was the Spruce.

Norway spruce Picea abies cone

Working out of season is by no means unusual, and there is plenty of online reference.  Websites such as Kew’s Online flora, Naturespot, iNaturalist, and old illustrations dating back centuries are invaluable.  (It’s vital not to simply copy photos or illustrations, as this is infringing copyright and is also illegal).  I refer to my sketchbooks.  Many years ago I worked on some sketchbook tree sketches for a series of postage stamps.  Species like the the Sweet chestnut, ash, and lime proved mighty helpful for this job.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa sketchbook study

I also have boxes of stuff in the attic, including ash keys and conkers.  Very handy.

Ash Fraxinus excelsior keys

Leaves

As well as the fruit, leaves needing illustrating.  This was much simpler, although I avoided choosing the freshest of leaves as they tend to be a brighter shade of green.  There is almost nothing that gives me greater pleasure than spending a day illustrating a leaf from life.

Small-leaved Lime leaf Tilia cordata illustration in progress

I got my hands on Field maple, Lime, Wych elm, Sweet chestnut, and Sycamore leaves.  The Elm involved some acrobatic clambering, and it took me three or four days to find a local Sweet chestnut tree.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa illustration in progress

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Horse chestnut

The trickiest species were those with unusual seed cases.  The spines of the Horse-chestnut, combined with the need to capture that rich, shiny mahogany conker colour was a case in point.  Having to figure out the geometry of the spines was key.  Which ones pointed in what direction, and where would the shadows fall?  Much easier if you have a conker case in hand.  (For more on this, see my blog on working from photo reference).  Because I couldn’t be totally certain of the play of light and shadows, I kept them muted which always reduces the impact of an illustration.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum

The conkers themselves were easier, once I decided how to approach them.  Laying down lines which were then topped with concentric circles of paler colours proved to be a satisfactory approach.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum conkers

The final illustration is something I’m pleased with, especially considering the bits of it that I invented!

Horse chestnut conker completed

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Spindle

The spindle is a thoroughly extraordinary tree.  Its’ leaves go an astonishing shade in autumn, and the fruit are bright orange within hot pink seed cases.  Sadly, this is a species I had not got a sketchbook study for, so I was working from an amalgamation of about 30 different photos and old engravings.

The geometry was a challenge, figuring out how the berries were held by the pods.  But it was the colours that were hardest to capture, as they varied a great deal between photographs.

Spindle Euonymus europaeus  berries detail

Some of the reference showed the leaves as a rich crimson, others seemed to suggest they were bright orange, or hot pink.  Obviously, leaf colour varies from plant to plant and leaf to leaf.  But finding a happy medium here was tough!  I ended up giving details of venation in reds and pinks and uniting the leaf with an orange top wash.

Spindle Euonymus europaeus leaf detail

I must have done something right, the original illustration has been sold and now graces a wall in London.

Completed illustration with my paint box

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Sweet chestnut

I liked painting the leaf of the Sweet chestnut as I had my sketchbook to work from, and living leaves.  I wish I could say the same for the seed case.  Although I had a few old seed cases in the attic, they had all dried and turned brown years before.  The geometry of the prickles is really hard to untangle, so I ended up working closely from photos.  I worked from the outside in, then added depth to the shadows between the spines.

Sweet chestnut in progress

I found myself wishing that FSC had been able to use my pen and ink with top colour illustration, done a couple of years ago.  The medium looks very different though, and they were right to ask for a new pure watercolour image.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa pen and ink illustration

The chestnut itself was fine as I’ve got plenty of sketchbook notes on this.  It is also a lot easier to capture than that nest of bright green prickles.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa

Easy species to illustrate: The Alder

Marvellously, some species hang onto their fruit.  This is true of the Alder.

Alder illustration in progress

Yes, the woody cones have long since shed their seeds, but there they are, still in place on a branch.  It was extremely easy to pick a few sprigs and work closely from life on this one.

Alder Alder glutinosa

Easy species to illustrate: The Field maple

The field maple gave me everything.  Not only were the leaves out in abundance, but for some reason a lot of the winged seeds were already pretty well developed.  This made my job very simple, (although it did concern me in terms of climate change.)  Field maple grow in hedgerows, so I could reach my reference without stretching and clambering up onto fence posts.

The pinky red flush on the stems and outermost edge of the young winged seeds is a real joy to paint.

Field maple Acer campestre sprig

Easy species to illustrate: The Sycamore

I already had most of the elements of the Sycamore completed.  All we needed was the seeds.  The angle of the paired seeds is less horizontal than the Field maple, and this is one of the species specific traits that needed recording.   I chose to illustrate a fresh pair of winged seeds, and a much older, dark brown seed.  The latter has been sat on the windowsill in my studio for about three years, slowly degrading, so I was glad to finally get around to illustrating it.

Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus

This leaf was done for FOR Sweden last year.  In Scandinavia, Sycamore is considered an invasive species.  It was only introduced to Britain in the late 1500s.  For more on Sycamore, look at my tree blog.  There’s also a step by step blog explaining how to paint a leaf in autumn and an accompanying film, and another on illustrating a Sycamore tree.   No wonder I didn’t find illustrating this species tough, it’s clearly one I’ve been drawing and studying for ages!  I hadn’t even realised until I wrote this blog.

Sycamore leaf Acer pseudoplatanus

Easy species to illustrate: The Scots pine

In truth this was in no way easy.  the easy part was having access to both the pine needles, past illustrations, and pine cones.  The geometry of the pine cone is a thing of genius.  Until you want to draw it.  It’s all very well channelling your inner Fibonacci spiral, the fact that each facet of the cone projects outwards makes it a beastly subject to draw.  There’s a good blog on the geometry of pine cones from Awkward Botany.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris completed with cones, paintbrush, and reference

Below is a close up of the cones.  I wanted to show how the scales open wider with age, releasing the seeds, and what a high level of variation there is between individual pine cones.  For more on the Scot’s pine, check out my blog.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris

My favourite Autumn fruit illustration: The Guelder rose

The most fun of all the illustrations was the Guelder rose.  I had plenty of reference to work from and I know how to paint glossy red berries.  I love capturing the shines and highlights.  The green of the leaf is a bright colour, easier to work with than the blue green of a pine needle or muted green of a Field maple.

Detail of Guelder rose Viburnum opulus berries

I was also really pleased with the finished painting, which is never guaranteed.

Guelder rose Viburnum opulus leaf and fruit

Autumn Fruit: Conclusion

This was a great project to work on.  Yes, had I been commissioned in autumn it would have been easier, but despite it being the wrong end of the year I still enjoyed it.  I look forward to seeing the finished fold out guide over the next few months.  And to not having to paint chestnut seed cases or pine cones again anytime soon!

London plane Platanus × acerifolia leaf and seeds

…and here it is, the finished FSC Autumn fruits guide, available to buy direct from the FSC online shop.

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Varieties of Potato

There are hundreds of different potato cultivars.  Some bear potatoes early in the year, others not until autumn.  Some are short and bushy plants, others stand tall with far fewer leaves.  The potatoes themselves vary in colour of flesh and skin, in size, in texture.  Flowers of the potato plant are equally variable in colour, with the added complication of fading with age.  As a mere amateur, I’m not going to try and untangle or name-check different potato cultivars.  This blog is a basic overview of the humble potato plant.

Potato variety

Solanaceae: The potato’s family

The Solanaceae family consists of 102 genera and a slew of economically important plants.  Now grown across the world, Solanaceae food crops include the Capsicum or pepper family; tomatoes Solanum lycopersicum; aubergines Solanum melongena, and potatoes Solanum tuberosum.  Economically enormous, tobacco Nicotiana tabacum is a member of the Solanaceae.

Many of our ornamental garden plants belong to this family too; Petunia, Datura, Brugmansia and Lycium spring to mind.

So too do some highly toxic plants including Deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna, Henbane Hyoscyamus niger, and Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara.  Some of these are used to make sedatives, stimulants, and antispasmodics.

Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara

Solanaceae, Potatoes, and poison

This toxicity isn’t limited to the Nightshades.  It’s easily forgotten that the potato becomes toxic when it becomes green or sprouts.  The toxicity comes from the alkaloid alpha-solanine which the tuber produces.  According to Wikipedia, solanine poisoning causes, “nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, nightmares, headache, dizziness, itching, eczema, thyroid problems, and inflammation and pain in the joints.”

Toxic effects from plants like Deadly nightshade include dilated pupils, laboured breathing, and renal failure; in livestock as well as humans.  Still, this notoriously never stopped ladies of the Italian court from putting drops of Belladonna in their eyes to dilate the pupils, thus making them seem more lustful and attractive.  And even today, optician’s eyedrops contain deadly nightshade. (For more on this, look at Healthline’s article).

Deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna

However, there’s no reason to be poisoned by nightshades or potatoes, just be aware that the family has a dark side.

Potato Plant: Growing a potato plant

Potato plants grown up to 1m tall, and although they can grow from seed it’s commoner to have them sprouting from sprouting (or “chitting”) potatoes.

This is easy to achieve.  Either forget about your potatoes in the back of a cupboard, or intentionally leave some in the light.  They are likely to sprout.  Generally, there’s one main sprout at the far or bud end of the tuber.  Other sprouts may be present, as may lateral leaf scales.  You may prefer to buy seed potatoes.  Place each potato, “eyes” up, in an egg box and keep them somewhere cool and light.  If you’re using a sprouting potato, cut your potato and let each bit with a sprout on grow.  Once the sprouts are about 2cm long, they can be planted out in the ground.  The RHS has more on this, as does Grower Expert.

Chitted potatoes

Sprouts may be greenish, pink, white or purplish.  They produce little rootlets at their base, which is how the plants start growing.

Potato Leaves

Leaves of the potato are paired leaflets, borne either side of a stem.  This arrangement is known as “irregularly pinnate”.  There’s one terminal leaflet present.  There are also secondary and sometimes tertiary leaflets running along the midrib edge.  These grow irregularly.  Leaves tend to be slightly hairy and a dark green, although there is variation between cultivars.

Potato leaf

The potato leaf is attached to the stem with a petiole.

Potato stems

Hollow between branches, the stem is ridged.  Often wings will grow along its edges.  These can be straight or wavy, depending on what potato you’re growing

Generally, potato plant stems are a fresh pale green; in some cultivars this may be flushed red, especially toward the flowers.

Potato stem

Potato flowers

There’s a lot of colour variety between different potato flowers.  Some are white, some purple, some mauve or pink.  Colours can change if the flowers fade over time.  All have 5 petals, and 5 golden anthers formed into a central cone.

White Potato flower

Depending on type, the flowers appear May through August.  Being self-pollinators, there’s no need for the plant to attract bees, butterflies or other pollinators.  The pollen is released from the anther and either travels down the stigma of that same flower, or of a neighbouring bloom.

Cross section of flower

The flowering stem, or peduncle, has an abscission ring.  This lets the flower break off easily at maturity.  Peduncles may be coloured in reds and purples, or speckled with crimson; and if not then the scar left from the abscission is often coloured.  This can help in identifying what potato cultivar you’re growing.

Purple potato flowers

Potato fruit

Yes, potatoes produce fruit.  These look a lot like green tomatoes, both as berries and in cross section.  However, they are green, becoming black when ripe.  And are poisonous.

Potato fruit

Potato tuber and roots

The tuber is the part of the potato that we eat.  It grows underground, on the end of of subterranean stems which bear these tubers.  The last joint of the underground stem will swell and thicken, and turn into our potato. They continue to swell with age, so older potatoes tend to be larger than little “new” potatoes.  There are roots present too.  Normal branched, fibrous roots provide water and nutrients and grow as deep as 140cm (Acta Agriculturae Scandinavicae Vol 65).  Rhizomes (or stolons) grow just below the surface, putting out scale-like leaves and growing adventitiously.  For more on root variety, check out my blog.

Potato roots

The tubers have a stem end, where they join to the underground stem, and a bud end, which is distal to the stem junction.  It’s at this far end that you find the potato eyes.  these are actually little dents from which new potato plants can sprout and grow.  The birth places of the sprouts we mentioned before.  Often they have ridges above them, which are known as “eyebrows”.

Potato with green sprout (eye) and eyebrow above

The skin colour can be white, like a Maris piper, or a deep pink, like a Rooster potato.  Some heritage cultivars are a deep purple.  Flesh colour varies too, depending on what type you’re growing, as does colour of sprout and the texture of the tuber.  However, when exposed to light, all potato tubers will go green!

Harvesting potatoes

If you’re growing potatoes at home, a good rule of thumb is to harvest your potatoes when the lower leaves begin to yellow and become limp.  This takes between 70 and 120 days.  There are few gardening jobs more enjoyable than digging up potatoes, and shaking the tubers free of the roots.

Eating Potatoes!

So once you’ve learned about your potato plant, and perhaps taken a harvest, you’ll want to know what to do with the tubers.

The options are as varied as the potato types available.  You can mash them.  Boil them.  Roast them.  Bake them and serve with grated cheese or baked beans.  Cut them into french fries (chips) and serve with them with vinegar, mayo, or ketchup.  Hack them into wedges and roast them.  Thinly slice them and layer them to make an elegant dauphinoise.  Ambitious folk may want to cut them excceding thin and fry them into crisps (chips in you’re in the US).

Potatoes care eaten in any number of forms!

Alternatively, leave some exposed to the light, to sprout.  And start the whole cycle again.

More on Potatoes

There are endless rabbit holes down which you can plunge when it comes to researching potatoes.  From the horrors of the Irish Potato famine which is thought to have killed over a hundred thousand (and which was caused by the potato blight Phytopthera infestens and appalling British governance), to the perils caused by the Colorado Potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (a notifiable pest here in the UK), and the first recorded cultivation of the potato in Peru over 8,000 years ago.

We’ve lived with the humble potato a mighty long time, and I relish having this opportunity to look a little closer at such an important plant.

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