botanical illustration Archives - Page 4 of 7

Botanical Illustration of Rose Leaves

Posted on 1st May 202015th May 2020 in Botanical Illustration step by step

A recent job involved illustrating the Japanese Rose, Rosa rugosa. It’s not the first time this plant has been commissioned, and I’ve done blogs in the past on my approach to illustrating other roses and this very flower. It’s one of a series of invasive plants that were completed for FOR Sweden, and this week’s […] Read more

Jersey Post: Illustrating Thrift

Posted on 3rd April 2020 in Current projects and news, Illustration techniques

In February, my series of Coastal Flower postage stamps were published by Jersey Post. The presentation pack featured a cliff-top scene in amongst clouds of thrift. This blog explains how I did my best to capture both the flowers and the landscape behind. (All illustrations in this post are copyright Jersey Stamps 2020.) For more […] Read more

Jersey Post: Coastal Flowers Stamp issue

Posted on 20th March 202020th March 2020 in Current projects and news, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Jersey Post recently brought out their “Coastal Flowers: Post and Go” stamp issue, which I was lucky enough to have illustrated. (All illustrations in this blog are copyright Jersey Post 2020). Illustrating stamps Each stamp issue involves illustrating six stamps, a presentation pack, an envelope for the First Day Cover, and a date stamp. This […] Read more

halophytes Coastal seaside plant flowers

Halophytes: Salt Tolerant Plants

Posted on 6th March 202029th September 2022 in Biological terminology: Definitions, botanical terms

Halophytes: Salt Tolerant Plants Halophytes are plants that tolerate or thrive in salty conditions. I recently finished the illustrations for a chart of seaside flowers, and got to wondering how these plants can survive in these hostile habitats? Another job, illustrating stamps for a Seaside flowers issue, added to my interest. This blog had me […] Read more

Coastal Flowers: Illustrating a Flower Guide

Posted on 21st February 202016th March 2022 in Current projects and news

I’ve recently completed a series of thirty three botanical illustrations of coastal flowers for Field Studies Council Publications. What I love about these jobs is the enormous amount you learn about species you may never have noticed before. In this blog, I’m going to showcase a few of these lovely plants, and what seaside habitats […] Read more

Illustration and Packaging

Posted on 7th February 20207th February 2020 in Illustration techniques

Illustration and packaging have always gone hand in hand. By their very nature, paintings of animals and flowers are decorative as well as informative. This blog sets out to show some of the diversity of packaging my illustrations have appeared on. I also hope to show how clever the designers are, and the difference you […] Read more

Flora Margarine in Sweden

Posted on 3rd January 202023rd March 2020 in Current projects and news

Flora Margarine Repackaged Flora in Sweden have recently re-designed their packaging. And I’m more than excited to say that the new margarine tubs and associated products feature my illustrations of White and Red clover! The new designs have been done by Pond Design for Unilever, and I think they look really good. There’s a […] Read more

Pen and Ink Illustrations of Trees

Posted on 11th October 201924th February 2022 in Illustration techniques, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

The Living Wisdom of Trees: Commission In the summer, I completed more than a hundred pen and ink illustrations of trees for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder. The commission involved illustrating 54 species of fully grown tree, along with details such as blossom, leaves, or fruit. Illustrating the botanical details was […] Read more

Pen and Ink Illustrations of Tree Details

Posted on 11th October 201911th October 2019 in Illustration techniques, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

The Living Wisdom of Trees: Commission In the summer, I completed lots of pen and ink illustrations of trees and their details for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder. The commission involved illustrating fully grown trees, along with details specific to each species such as blossom, leaves, or fruit. I’ve written a […] Read more

Illustrating a Coastal Hay Meadow Landscape

Posted on 27th September 201914th October 2019 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a Hay Meadow: The Commission A recent commission to illustrate a hay meadow landscape down on the coast of Devon was a wonderful job. The client is North Devon Area of Natural Beauty (NDAONB) and the illustration will be used on an interpretation board on site. Currently, the area is scrub land; it’s over-grazed […] Read more

Foraging with Kids at Hay Festival

Posted on 28th August 2019 in Painting workshops

Foraging with Kids Workshop at Hay Festival: Setting up Back in May, Adele Nozedar and I ran a workshop at Hay Festival. We aimed the workshop at children and their parents, and included foraging and drawing activities. We were also there to promote out book, Foraging with kids, and had a lovely banner that […] Read more

Mixing Neutral Tints and Colours

Posted on 10th August 2019 in Illustration techniques, Uncategorised

What are Neutral Tints? Neutral tints (or colours) are grey hues which don’t carry any dominant shade. They are, as the name suggests, neutral. In 1887, a neutral tint was defined by Winsor & Newton as, “‘A compound shadow colour of a cool neutral character.” So a blue-grey or a grey with a pink […] Read more

Desk with finished botanical illustration, sweet peas, and paint box

Step by Step Everlasting Sweet pea botanical illustration

Posted on 26th July 201924th January 2023 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Sweet peas are beautiful flowers, and a joy to paint. This blog is a step by step guide to painting the Two-flowered Everlasting Sweet Pea Lathyrus grandiflorus. About Sweet peas Members of the legume family; Sweet peas are classed alongside peas, gorse, beans and lupins. Lots of food crops are members of this family; alfalfa, […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Rosehips

Posted on 31st May 201927th August 2024 in botanical terms

This brief blog is due to my my awe on discovering that Rosehips are not, as I’d always assumed, true fruits. In autumn, roses produce hips. These come in a wide variety of shapes and colours, some showy and some much more discrete. The basic anatomy of all these varied rosehips is the same. […] Read more

Invasive & Japanese Knotweeds: Telling species apart

Posted on 3rd May 20193rd May 2019 in Botany: Telling species apart

Invasive and Japanese knotweeds are incredibly successful plants. Originally from Japan, China and Taiwan, they escaped from ornamental gardens, and have become established across the UK. They’re especially common in urban and brown-field habitats, and love railway embankments and the damp soils of water ways. One of the most difficult aspects of controlling them is […] Read more

Step by Step Rowan berry

Posted on 10th February 201912th February 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

If you’re doing a botanical illustration of a cluster of fruit, the first thing to do is figure out how to tackle one lone berry. In this case, it’s the beautiful bright orange Rowan berry that’s under the spotlight. I have a Rowan, or Mountain ash tree in my garden. Not only do the clusters […] Read more

Japanese Knotweed: Botanical illustrations and diagrams

Posted on 14th January 201921st February 2019 in botanical terms, Current projects and news

My botanical illustrations and diagrams have recently been published in a book all about Japanese knotweed. It’s called “Japanese Knotweed: Unearthing the Truth” by Nicolas Seal , and is rather a fascinating tome. It was a fun job to work on, with a wide range of illustrations needing completing. The author saw a sketchbook study I’d done of […] Read more

Drawing for beginners: Learning plants

Posted on 5th October 201814th January 2019 in Illustration techniques

I was recently asked to write a few words about how drawing plants helps you to learn about them for a lovely new book I’ve illustrated, and how even if you’re not confident, or have never tried drawing from life before, turning your hand to a bit of basic botanical illustration can be very worthwhile. […] Read more

Gardening: An Eco-Friendly Lawn by Gus Stewart

Posted on 21st September 20187th May 2019 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

This blog is guest-written by Gus Stewart, who generously wrote another blog on the importance of bees recently. In light of the hot, dry weather we had here in the UK at the start of the summer, here are his tips for the garden for the next time the weather burns hot. All illustrations by me, Lizzie. Maintaining […] Read more

Rushes: An Introduction

Posted on 19th July 201814th January 2019 in Biological terminology: Definitions

Having recently written blogs about the anatomy of grasses and sedges; this week I’ll be examining rushes. As with the Cyperaceae and Graminaceae, these common and beautiful plants are frequently overlooked. Many seem to favour of wild flowers with florid petals and bright colours. However, rushes deserve a closer look. Hairy Wood rush Luzula pilosa Anatomy of Rushes: Overview […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Cheating doesn’t exist

Posted on 10th May 201811th January 2019 in Illustration techniques

Cheating When I chat to people who are just beginning botanical illustration, I quite often get questions about whether or not certain things are “cheating”. This annoys and upsets me. Everyone should be encouraged to draw and paint, and to use whatever tools are available to them. There seems to be a strange idea that […] Read more

Pansy step by step sketchbook study

Posted on 10th May 201811th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Pansies and violas are one of the loveliest garden plants to study through botanical illustration; they’re also common, affordable, and quite easy to paint. This blog will talk you through the basic steps in completing a sketchbook study of a viola or pansy. For lots more of my botanical illustration step by steps, click here. […] Read more

Step by step Botanical illustration of an orange

Posted on 2nd March 201811th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Choosing a subject to paint in winter: Why an orange? In the middle of winter it can be hard for a botanical illustrator to find good subjects to paint; so for my Monday Botanical illustration drop-in class in Hay on Wye I chose to work on a sliced orange as a subject. The process of […] Read more

Step by Step illustration of Tupelo & Sweet orange

Posted on 19th January 201810th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

A recent natural history illustration commission was to complete two botanical illustrations for labels on jars of honey. The plants in question were Sweet orange Citrus sinensis and Tupelo Nyssa ogeche. Neither plant grows wild here in the UK, and there was quite a tight deadline so I needed to work from other illustrations and photos. For more […] Read more