wild flowers Archives - Page 3 of 3

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

Save the Bees: How to Make Your Garden a Bee Haven

Posted on 24th January 202019th June 2020 in Uncategorised

Save the bees and make your garden a Bee haven! This week’s Guest article provided by Oscar Owens. There are very few small creatures that make the headlines, but bees are one of them. Unfortunately, it’s almost always negative news. That’s why people keep asking: ‘how can we make our garden a safe haven for […] 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

Illustrating a Cross section of Hay Meadow

Posted on 31st July 201814th January 2019 in Current projects and news

I had a wonderful natural history illustration commission recently, for BBC Countryfile Magazine. Their article in the June 2018 issue, “The Secret Life of the Hay Meadow” by Phil Gates , needed an image of a cross-section through a busy and idealised hay meadow. They also needed a selection of grasses commonly found in hay meadows. I […] Read more

Telling Bluebell species apart

Posted on 15th May 201819th April 2022 in botanical terms, Botany: Telling species apart, Scientific Illustrator out and about

May is Bluebell time! May is a really wonderful month for botanical illustration; all the spring flowers are in bloom and there’s almost too many subjects to illustrate! I always like to visit our local bluebell woods at this time of year, and thought it might be an idea to write a blog on how […] 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 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

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

Illustrate and forage: Eat what you paint!

Posted on 20th May 201619th December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Recently I took an edible plants identification chart I’d done the natural history illustrations for on a walk, to test it out with friends. I’ve written blogs on foraging before as it’s something I do a fair amount of, but this “road test” of one of my i.d. charts was a first. FSC Guide to Edible Plants On a forage for […] Read more

Illustrations for Foraging for Edible Plants Chart

Posted on 8th April 201618th December 2018 in Current projects and news

I’ve recently been working on natural history illustrations for The Field Studies Councils publications department. They appear on a fold out chart of edible British plants which has only just come out. I’m delighted with the result. They’ve used my illustrations beautifully, and the way the information is included is innovative and clear. Finding reference Despite it being November […] 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

Step by step Elder

Posted on 4th December 201518th December 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

There’s a really wonderful job I’m working on right now; about 20 botanical illustrations of different edible plants for a fold out chart, to be produced by the Field Studies Council. Other blogs on this job include the step by step of painting a dog rose, and the step by step painting of a wild strawberry […] Read more

Dog rose: Step by step illustration

Posted on 17th November 20153rd March 2020 in Botanical Illustration step by step

I’m currently working on a series of botanical illustrations and natural history drawings for Field Studies Council, who will use them on identification charts. One of the charts details edible British plants, and includes the Dog rose, Rosa canina. The first step is to draw up a pencil rough. I use a mechanical pencil, such as the Pentel […] Read more

autumn, fall, harvest, wild flowers, wildflowers, watercolour, botanical illustration,

Autumn fruit and flowers

Posted on 13th September 201322nd November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

I thought this week it might be a good idea to cut down on text, and just pop up some of my illustrations of wildflowers you may still be able to find as autumn comes. All of these species are pretty widespread and common (except for the Somerset Redstreak apple and autumn crocus). Try scouring […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: A Stag Beetle in Woodland

Posted on 31st March 201327th November 2018 in Current projects and news

I had a wonderful comission recently; to do a natural history illustration of a stag beetle to accompany a poem by Chris Meredith. Starting the job I began by reading the poem carefully (I’ve transcribed it at the end of this article) to get the atmosphere right, and to list what species I’d be […] Read more

Botanical illustration tips on painting white flowers

Posted on 15th February 201311th January 2019 in Illustration techniques

Painting White flowers: A problem needing a solution I was painting a snowdrop the other day, and wrestling, as always, with the best way to paint the petals of white flowers. There are as many different approaches to this troublesome aspect of botanical illustration as there are scientific illustrators; so I thought it’d be worth […] Read more

Deer illustrations, watercolours, ducks, and snow!

Posted on 21st January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

Tweaking the Deer illustrations There were some alterations required on the Whipsnade Zoo finals, oh the joys of process white gouache. Here are the “before and after” shots; see if you can tell what’s been changed… For more on this job, check out my blogs on the deer, the mara, and painting a hog deer. […] Read more

Botanical illustrations, coccolith, and a peacock

Posted on 14th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

I have finished the last of the illustrations for ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, and am just waiting to hear if any alterations are needed before sending them off. By far the hardest illustration in the set was the pair of peacock, whose complexity dwarfed any of the deer and antelope. Peacock trouble I think the problem with […] Read more

Deer scientific illustrations and a sparrow

Posted on 7th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

This is a half week of work, but I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve got done. I’ve finished the last of the deer for ZSL Whipsnade; a grand total of eleven animals. If you’d like to see them all in one place, I’ve popped up an album of them on my facebook site: Deer and Antelope […] Read more

Botanical illustration of hawthorn berries y Lizzie with her paintbox

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

Christmas botanical illustrations

Posted on 19th December 201211th January 2019 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

I’ve not been working this week, it’s the holidays. There are five illustrations outstanding for the Whipsnade Zoo commission, but the deadline isn’t for a fortnight so I’ll have plenty of time to complete them ahead of schedule. Instead, I’ve assembled a variety of seasonal illustrations, done over the years. Christmas plants There are lots […] Read more

Mara, wallaby, and a christmas illustration

Posted on 19th December 20123rd December 2018 in Zoological step by step

Christmas is coming! This week has been rather more to do with preparing for Christmas than illustrating. However, I have completed the remaining four roughs of deer for Whipsnade Zoo, and painted a mara and a Bennet’s Wallaby. Mara The mara is an animal that I’d not heard about until this commission came through. I took […] Read more