hawthorn Archives - Lizzie Harper

Rosaceae Fruit

Posted on 7th February 20257th February 2025 in botanical terms

Rosaceae Fruit Whilst recently researching the wildflower families, I fell down a fruit-shaped rabbit hole. And it is because of the amount of variety shown in the fruit of the Rosaceae, or rose family. Japanese rose Rosa rugosa For more on what makes a plant a member of the Rosaceae, check out my recent blog […] Read more

Wildflower families: Rosaceae, the Rose family

Posted on 10th January 2025 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Rosaceae, the Rose family is the latest blog in a series on common wildflower families, thanks to my online Field Studies Council course. Learning about the botany of a plant and its family, and similarities within a family, is very useful when it comes to being a botanical illustrator. This series talks about […] Read more

Botanical illustration of hawthorn berries y Lizzie with her paintbox

Equipment: Paintbrushes

Posted on 10th September 20218th May 2023 in Illustration Equipment, Illustration techniques, Testing Synthetic Watercolour brushes

Equipment: Paintbrushes is another in the series about what tools I use when I illustrate; so feel free to check out my earlier blogs on what watercolour paper to use, the guest blog on waterproof inks, watercolour paints, pencils and erasers, and another on what science stuff you might need. Paintbrushes As with all of […] Read more

Trees: Hawthorn

Posted on 25th June 202125th June 2021 in Trees

Trees: Hawthorn is another blog inspired by my illustrations for “The Tree Forager” by Adele Nozedar, recently published by Watkins. It’s inspired me to have a look at a few of my favourite trees. The Hawthorn is another in this series, along side the Sycamore and the Oak. Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna is one of the commonest […] 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

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 Live: Hawthorn

Posted on 3rd November 201619th December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

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

Foraging with Adele Nozedar

Posted on 2nd October 201517th June 2022 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Despite supplying botanical illustrations for the natural history foraging classic “Hedgerow Handbook” by Adele Nozedar, and doing events together (such as at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales) I’d never had the chance to go foraging with her…until Monday. Cover of “The Hedgerow Handbook” by Adele Nozedar (illustrated by me) A beautiful sunny autumn afternon saw a large group […] Read more

Step by step Botanical illustration of Hawthorn berries

Posted on 1st January 201317th October 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

In this blog I’ve broken down the steps involved in painting the berries of the Hawthorn Craetegus monogyna. This approach works just as well for any red shiny berry, although you’ll need to take care with what hue of red you mix. The real secret to getting these berries looking properly shiny is to ensure you […] Read more

Ash die-back, framed illustrations, and a fish

Posted on 3rd December 201217th October 2018 in Current projects and news

Framed Illustrations I picked up two illustrations from my excellent framing workshop Fitting Frames this week. I also had a jigsaw of the Waterbugs and Dragonflies illustration made up. The painting is destined for a house with small children in, so I’ve included that in the photo too. Paintings that have been sold I sold a […] Read more