botanical illustration Archives - Page 5 of 8

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

Autumn Illustration workshop at Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Posted on 2nd January 201810th January 2019 in Painting workshops

In the autumn I was lucky enough to do two day’s teaching at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens teaching a botanical illustration course with a focus on drawing autumn fruits, berries, and leaves, to a class of twelve adults who varied from quite experienced to complete beginners. The first day we looked at leaves, and collected a wonderful assortment from […] Read more

Step by step Painting Bloom on a Fruit

Posted on 30th November 20179th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

In this blog, I’ll go through the steps involved in creating a life like botanical illustration of a fruit with a “bloom” or cloudiness on its skin, such as these Sloes (Prunus spinosa). These feature on a series of stamps completed for Jersey Post in their Fruit and Berries issue, out now. (Click here for a […] Read more

Hereford Art Week

Posted on 17th November 20179th January 2019 in Current projects and news

Back in September, I took part in Hereford Art Week for the first time. Hereford Art Week logo Going under the name of Beautiful Botanicals , Lea Gregory (another botanical illustrator) and I set up in her gorgeous hill-top studio. We opened our doors to whoever chose to visit. Busy working desk during Hereford Art week Preparing for Hereford Art week […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Comparing HP Watercolour Papers 3

Posted on 20th October 201715th December 2020 in Illustration Equipment, Illustration techniques

Introduction to the watercolour paper quest This is the third of three reviews of Watercolour Hot Press papers for botanical illustration. This time, I find the holy grail…a replacement! Please check out the first and second in this series for more tests and results. As a natural history illustrator and someone who does plenty of botanical illustration, […] Read more

Step by step: Blackberry

Posted on 4th October 20179th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

I love doing botanical illustrations of blackberries. So I was thrilled when Jersey Post commissioned an illustration of the Jersey Bramble Rubus caesarius as one of the postage stamps on their “Fruits and Berries” issue. I thought I’d break down the steps involved in painting a ripe juicy blackberry in watercolour, and write a step by step blog. All illustrations […] Read more

Botanical Illustrations of Fruit for Jersey Post

Posted on 22nd September 20179th January 2019 in Current projects and news

I love doing botanical illustrations of fruit, so when Jersey Post commissioned a series of “Fruits and Berries” for a postage stamp issue I was delighted. The fruits and berries that needed illustrating were the Dewberry Rubus caesius, the Elderberry Sambucus nigra, the Wild strawberry Fragaria vesca, the Jersey bramble Rubus caesarius, Sloes Prunus spinosa, and Black bryony Dioscorea communis. All the botanical illustrations in […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Comparing HP Watercolour Papers 2

Posted on 21st June 201715th December 2020 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

Botanical Illustration: Comparing HP Watercolour Papers 1

Posted on 5th May 201715th December 2020 in Illustration Equipment, Illustration techniques

Hot press water colour papers and botanical illustration This is the first of three reviews of Watercolour Hot Press papers for botanical illustration. Please check out the second and third in this series for more tests and results! As some of you may know, there’s been a bit of a panic in the Botanical illustration […] Read more

Telling Gorse species apart

Posted on 6th April 201725th February 2020 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Whilst working for The Field Studies Council on charts of Heathland and Wayside plants, I needed to illustrate the three species of Gorse (Ulex) found in Britain. Having discussed the differences between the common Uk species of heather, I thought I;’d take on this prickly subject. Introduction Gorse is a shrubby, spiny family of plants in the […] Read more

Botanical Illustration step by step: Bell Heather

Posted on 24th March 20174th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

One of the plants I completed a botanical illustration of recently is the Bell heather, Erica cinerea. It’ll be used on a leaflet on Heathland plants produced by the Field Studies Council. Bell heather is one of several British heather species (see my blog for more) that appear on the chart. Although both leaves and flowers are small I […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Heathers

Posted on 23rd February 20174th January 2019 in Current projects and news

Whilst undertaking botanical illustrations for The Field Studies Council, I was asked to illustrate three different species of heather for a leaflet on heathland plants. Illustration of Common heather or Ling in progress. You can see the plant and my reference books. these include: The Collins Flower Guide, Garrard and Streeter’s The Wildflowers of the British […] Read more