I have always delighted in drawing nature and particularly love to draw plants in the habitats in which they grow. This passion developed in the Essex countryside and garden where I grew up, where my father was a keen gardener. I loved drawing the plants he nurtured and these paintings formed part of my portfolio as a freelance Illustrator after I graduated (BA Graphic Design) from Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, 1979. My very first commissions were monthly gouache paintings of plants for Popular Gardening Magazine. My work starts in sketchbooks or on large paper but always from direct observation, and is either completed entirely en plein air, or in my studio where a surreal quality often appears, through the use of chiaroscuro and imagination. … Read more
Archives: Artists
New Artists
Sabine Loos
Sabine Loos PhD is a watercolour artist who is based in Germany. She studied biology at Jena/Germany and Zurich/Switzerland. Her favourite research subject was filamentous fungi and she was always fascinated by plants. Her botanical art journey began in Germany and led to courses by amazing tutors in Ireland and England. She is currently studying botanical illustration at the RBGE. Plant portraits that provide a high content of information are her favorites. In her compositions, she tries to balance plant features that please her eye and present obvious information about life cycle, habitat and morphological features. She prefers native species which are found in her garden, in the surrounding woods and meadows. Sabine’s personal heart’s desire is to revive the historical roots of botanical illustration in… Read more
Vincent Jeannerot
Vincent Jeannerot was born in Lyon and grew up in the Lyon countryside. At a very young age, he discovered nature during long family walks where he learned to observe plants. These moments of contemplation forced his curiosity and admiration and naturally led him to paint his discoveries. If his father passed on to him the love of nature, his mother passed on to him the love of painting. He went to the Beaux-Arts of Lyon and very quickly considered the brush as a tool. The strength and transparency of pigments enthuse him. His botanical plates quickly attracted the attention of the public and the art world. Express bio: Born on February 12, 1961 in Lyon. France. Baccalaureate in art. National school of fine arts… Read more
Nicole Oliver Pentucci
Nicole has drawn and painted since childhood, but it was the refined work of Giovanna Garzoni in a Medici cookbook that first drew her to botanical art. In researching Garzoni’s gouache methods, she applied to join the Society of Botanical Artists Distance Learning Diploma course, graduating in September 2020 with distinction. Inspiration has also come from the restoration of her own 500-year-old farm cottage. Making the gardens has developed her sense of design, light and form. From there, a love of gardens, gardening and plants has followed. She enjoys the tension between the rigour of the botanical approach, recording subtle minutiae while conveying the dynamic and drama of the plant’s quiet power. Each of her botanical sitters brings fresh intrigue, unlocked slowly through intense scrutiny.… Read more
Jeannine Cobra
Jeannine was born in Brazil and moved to Milan in 1990 to continue her studies in Architecture Design. She now holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Architecture Design from the Universiade of Brasilia, Brazil and from the Milan Polytechnic, Italy. Jeannine has been painting with watercolour since 2001. She studied with several Italian master watercolourists and in 2012 attended botanical illustration lessons with Maestro Pierino Dalvó, Gold medal RHS (Royal Horticultural society) recipient with works in The Shirley Sherwood Collection. Jeannine’s works include free and loose watercolour and detailed and precise botanical work, in close connection with nature. Putting together two passions: watercolour and nature. She likes to paint mixed floral compositions and simple wild plants she finds close to her home in Italy. In… Read more
Alexandra Gorchakova
I was born in 1990 in Yaroslavl (Russia) and worked as a structural steel engineer. In 2014 as a hobby, I decided to go to art school, and in 2018 I started to paint watercolour botanicals after Svetlana Lanse’s course. Now I’m a full-time botanical artist, living in Hungary. Botanical painting helps me to feel closer to nature in our man-made, mechanical century. This is a meditation and an escape from the madness of the outside world. In botanical art I admire the beauty of the artistic image of the plant, the incredibly fine work and details. I like to paint dramatic or unusual plants. I grow many plants at home and in the garden and create images of different stages of growth. I think that growing plants from small seeds… Read more