ASBA’s 23rd Annual International is now open; Saturday, September 5th 2020. This year ASBA’s exhibition returns to Wave Hill which is a public garden & cultural center overlooking the Hudson River & Palisades. The 46 artworks exhibited were selected from a field of 178 entries. It’s wonderful to see some SBA Fellows included in the exhibition, and they are Gaye Grossman, Liz Shippam and Tammy McEntee. Congratulations to all exhibitors. Visit this link to find out more: http://asba-art.org/exhibitions/23rd-annual-international
Author: Claire Kathleen Ward
I am a botanical and nature artist based in the beautiful and inspiring scenery of West Wales. I have studied botany, horticulture and field ecology and am a mostly self-taught watercolour, gouache, oil & pastel artist. I have always drawn a variety of subject matter but became hooked on botanical illustration in 2005.
Capturing the beauty of nature, which I feel can be so often overlooked in our busy lives is my intention. I am passionate about the conservation of the native flora and fauna of the British Isles and this is my main focus.
At the moment I am working towards an exhibition with the RHS on the theme of meadow habitats in west Wales.
In 2007 I completed the diploma in botanical illustration with distinction from the Society of Botanical Artists and then became a full member in 2010. I am now a tutor on the SBA diploma course for the 'working in the field' assignment.
New Book – The Whole Story
A new book by Christina Hart-Davies SBA Fellow, will be published in September. ‘THE WHOLE STORY – painting more than just the flowers‘ is the second in the Botanical Portfolios series from Two Rivers Press, following Julia Trickey’s Botanical Artistry. It showcases work from Christina’s long and parallel careers in botanical art and botanical illustration. She explains why she is passionate about particular subjects, and shares some of her working practices. While illustration work often requires plants to be shown in perfect detail and in isolation, in her exhibition work Christina loves to show the plant growing, or with its associated wildlife, or at different stages in its life, or even to hint at the folklore it has attracted. She looks at plants from the scientific, aesthetic and cultural angles –… Read more
Jonathan Cooper Gallery
We are really excited to see that SBA Fellow Fiona Strickland’s fabulous exhibition at the Jonathan Cooper Gallery is also online! What a visual treat!Fiona says “I am often asked how long it takes to complete a painting. To create the quality and sought-after jewel like finish in these works; the answer is, ‘a long time’. Hours, days, weeks and months; sometimes just for one painting. Setting the pace is all important; it has to be steady and consistent, and progress is always slow. It may take several hours or days to realise just a few centimetres and it can’t be rushed; each minute stroke has to be applied with extreme accuracy and is especially difficult with intricate linear patterns. I apply the paint with… Read more
Our new patron
We are thrilled to welcome our new patron, Monty Don!One of our aims as a society is to bring botanical art to a wider audience of garden and plant lovers, and we look forward to working under his patronage. He says- I have always loved the lapidary quality of botanical art. The precision and total commitment to accuracy and faithfulness to life creates works that transcend illustration – even though faithful illustration is the starting point for every single botanical drawing and painting. Without artists and draughtsmen and women meticulously recording plants with extraordinary skill, science would have been inadequately recorded. The resulting hundreds of thousands of works remain definitive and, despite photography and all the burgeoning technology available to us, often remain the best… Read more
The Aldeburgh Gallery
After a successful and busy exhibition that took place over last winter, Guy William Eves SBA Fellow and tutor, will be having another exhibition soon, opening 20th August in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Take a look at aldeburghgallery.co.uk/
Synergy 2020
Pamela Taylor SBA Fellow, has an exhibition of artwork, ‘Synergy 2020’ opening this week at The Old Court in Windsor. The exhibition runs from July 20th- 1st September.https://www.oldcourt.org/…/even…/synergy-2020-art-exhibition Trees, flowers and buildings require very different approaches from the artist. As a botanical artist I usually depict flowers life size and work directly from the live specimen. In contrast a tree or building has to be reduced immensely in order to fit the page. To draw the proportions accurately I use a photograph and ruler or proportional dividers to map out the main structure. For trees detailed observation of how the leaves and twigs are held enable me to capture as much of the character of the particular tree as I can with the aim that… Read more