flower painting Archives - Page 2 of 2

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

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: 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

Flower Anatomy workshop

Posted on 1st September 20179th January 2019 in Painting workshops

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

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

Step by step Great Willowherb

Posted on 19th May 20178th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

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

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

Botanical Illustration of Red Clover- step by step

Posted on 20th April 20178th January 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

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

Botanical Illustration: Step by step painting of leaves

Posted on 18th November 201619th December 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step, Illustration techniques

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

Step by step illustration of a Wild Strawberry

Posted on 18th December 201518th December 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

One of the botanical illustrations I’ve been asked to paint as a natural history illustrator, is the Wild Strawberry . This will be one of the plants featured on a fold-out identification chart of Edible British Plants produced by the Field Studies Council. There’s also a 2 minute Youtube film of this illustration being completed online, in time […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Why it’s still relevant

Posted on 7th March 20143rd December 2018 in Illustration techniques

Why use botanical illustration? I recently read a good blog by Susannah Spier. She argues that botanical illustration still matters. I agree strongly with it. It’s the basis of this week’s blog. It’s a relevant question. There are so many good ways of recording botanical subjects with digital devices. Why should the traditional skills […] Read more

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Botanical Illustration Workshop in Llandrindod

Posted on 11th October 201323rd November 2018 in Painting workshops

Teaching a workshop Scientific illustration, natural history illustration, botanical illustration; call it what you will, but it’s a solitary job. So when the opportunity to lead a workshop arises; I not only enjoy the teaching, but also the company of fellow artists. Last week I was asked to lead a flower painting workshop by the […] Read more

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Step by step – Painting a Sweet Pea

Posted on 19th July 201315th November 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

I’m currently working on a series of sketchbook style illustrations of common cultivated garden plants (like the sweet pea); there’s a possibility these will illustrate a book on foraging in the garden in the next year or so. One of the plants needing illustrating was the sweet pea. While visiting a friend, I espied her sweet peas, […] Read more

Step by step, process, tutorial, how to, art teaching, art tutorial, sxs, sketchbook, sketchbook study,

Step by step sketchbook study of a rose

Posted on 12th July 201315th November 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

I recently did a botanical illustration sketchbook study of a rose for a natural history illustration project I’m working on. This proved really tricky; partly because the flower and foliage were very dense and lush, but mostly because by the end the rose had shed all its petals! Step 1: Set up the Rose and […] Read more