Elisabeth Dowle

Biography

Elisabeth works in watercolour on paper and vellum.  Her main interest is in painting food plants, particularly fruit, and she has painted the plates for a companion volume to “The Book of Apples” depicting pears from the National Collection.  She has just completed working on the next volume featuring Cherries. Her painting of a “Ribston Pippin” apple was selected for inclusion in the Highgrove Florilegium. In 2014 Elisabeth’s Pear paintings were featured on BBC’s Countryfile.

“One of the best observers of fruit at the present day” Dr. Brent Elliot, RHS Librarian and Archivist

“This is the area in which she excels and achieves artistic brilliance and pomological accuracy with such felicitous results” Dr. Joan Morgan, Chairman of the RHS Fruit Trials Committee

Among her published flower paintings, she has concentrated on a single genus, including Violas, Fuchsias, and Auriculas.

“Her flower paintings are assured, delicate, precise and immaculate, with glowing colour tones.” Dr. Shirley Sherwood, Author and Collector of Botanical Art

Awards:
Seven Gold Medals awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society
Certificate of Botanical Merit, Society of Botanical Artists, 1999, 2001, 2002
Winner of the St. Cuthbert’s Mill Award, 2004

Solo Exhibitions:
Hortus Gallery, Chelsea Green, London 2001 and 2003
Canon Hall, Apple and Pear paintings, 2019

Collections:
Elisabeth’s paintings are held in many private collections worldwide, and also;
The RHS Lindley Library
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation USA
The Shirley Sherwood Collections
The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine

Commissions:
Many commssions in the UK and abroad including;
Williams and Phoa
Hatton Associates
The Wellcome Institute
Suttons Seeds Ltd
Queen’s China
Olympia and York, for presentation to the Princess of Wales
North West Confections, Portland, USA
Pastoret Products, Spain
Wyld, Oregon, USA

Published Work:
Numerous publications including;
A Field Guide to Crops; G. de Rougemont. Collins 1989
The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening; Macmillan 1992
The Book of Apples; Dr. Joan Morgan. Ebury 1993
Orchids; Peter Arnold; Cassell 1993
The Herb Bible; Peter McHoy. Quarto 1994
Violas and Violettas; Rodney Fuller. Harper Collins 1994
Fuchsias; John Ridding. Harper Collins 1994
Your Backyard Herb Garden; Miranda Smith. Rodale 1996
A Pinch of Herbs; Katy Holder.  Chartwell Books 1997
The New Oxford Book of Food Plants; John Vaughan. OUP 1997
Bulbs in Bloom; Peter Arnold. Laurel Glen Press 1999
The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. Catherine Geissler 2009
The Book of Pears; Dr. Joan Morgan RHS/Ebury 2015

Elisabeth’s paintings have been featured in:
A New Flowering; Dr. Shirley Sherwood
The Botanical Palette; Margaret Stevens
The Art of Botanical Painting; Margaret Stevens
History and Dictionary of British Flower Painters; Josephine Walpole
A Passion for Plants; Dr. Shirley Sherwood
Art y Botanica
The Illustrated College Herbal
The Shirley Sherwood Collection; Dr. Shirley Sherwood
The Florilegium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
Botanic Endeavour; Colleen Morris
RHS Botanical Illustration Gold Meal Winners; Charlotte Brooks

Her work has also featured in many magazine and newspaper articles.

Email: elisabeth@p-zero.com
Website: www.elisabethdowle.com