Florum Exhibition 2014

Below is a list of the artists who have been invited to show their artwork at the Florum exhibition which opens on Saturday after a private view next Friday night. I'm one of them!



Florum website - my drawing is top right


The aims of the exhibition are:


to create "a colourful and inspiring mix of works celebrating plant life" and 
to raise funds for the Kent Wildlife Trust's Sevenoaks

In praise of the older artist - Mary Anderson Grierson

It would appear that one of the perks of working for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew for a long time is you get a bench outside the Palm House on your retirement or death. I came across a bench for Mary Anderson Grierson on Tuesday and looked her up when I got back home.



Hylocereus Undatus, night blooming cereus, 1985

pencil, ink and color wash

56 x 34 cm. (22 x 13.4 in.)

by the late

28 July 2014 - Who's made a mark?

I've had three weeks off from blogging.


The first week was because I had a bit of a shock health wise, ended up in hospital facing a battery of tests and decided to take it easy for a few days.
Followed by finishing up the final layouts for the book - which was rather more difficult than I'd been expecting.
Then I decided I needed a week off. I fitted in some long walks plus some drawing and

RHS Exhibitions: Guidance and Regulations for submitting Botanical Art & Botanical Photography

The Royal Horticultural Society recently gave its website a massive overhaul. URLs have changed and some things went missing for a while - including the Guidelines and Regulations for submitting Botanical Art to an RHS Exhibition!

I wrote and asked what had happened and, as a result, the information has now been loaded. It's also been relocated out of the Shows area and into a section on

OASC for Metropolitan Museum of Art Images

I do like to look at images in high resolution - there's an amazing difference between high resolution images online and those you see in books or low resolution images online.

You can now access some 400,000 high resolution images belonging to the Metropolitan Museum of Art through their Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) initiative.

That basically means they are for educational use.

Favourite art instruction books about subjects you draw and paint

Today I propose we all think about the best and/or most helpful art instruction books about the different kinds of subject matter that people draw and paint e.g.

portraiture and people
animals and wildlife
landscape - including urban and marine contexts
still life and floral art
genre art - everyday scenes


Interestingly when I first asked the question about "which is your favourite art book?"

Certificates of Botanical Merit at SBA Annual Exhibition 2014

Read on to discover the artwork and artists which were awarded Certificates of Botanical Merit in the 2014 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists

Botanical merit, as we have seen in the RHS shows, is of particular importance when it comes to botanical art.

That's why the Certificates of Botanical Merit are held in such high esteem. It's also no coincidence that winners of CBMs

Prizewinners at the Society of Botanical Artist's Annual Exhibition 2014

Sandra Wall Armitage, the new President of the Society of Botanical Artists led the prize giving ceremony for the deserving botanical artists at this year's Annual Exhibition.

She was assisted by the Speaker who opened the exhibition, Dr Nigel Dunnet, Professor of Planting Design and Vegetation Technology, and Director of The Green Roof Centre, University of Sheffield. He was one of the people

4 May 2014 - Who's made a mark?

Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition Invitation


I'm back "on the book" this month - we're now at the editing / design / layout stage and refinement re images.  For those involved I may be getting back to you!

As before this post is a recap of:

recent posts on this blog
things I've seen and highlighted on my Facebook Page. Many thanks to all those who have 'liked' my Facebook Page in the

Interviews with six RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners (2014)

This year there were six botanical artists who won RHS Gold Medals at the Royal Horticultural Society's Botanical Art Show last week. This post has interviews with all six.


This is a VERY LONG post and is for those interested in the technical aspects of producing a gold medal winning display of botanical art.

So grab your favourite hot drink and a comfy chair and settle down for a jolly good

More Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art

Last year I wrote Ten Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art - which proved very popular with botanical artists around the world.  So this year I'm back with more Top Tips from this year's "crop" of Gold Medal Winners



Gold Medal winning Exhibit of Parasitic Plants in Situ with the Host Plant by Lynda de Wet
The painting second from left with the red spot was bought for the

15 Top Tips for presenting work at an RHS Botanical Art Exhibition

There are two important aspects of artwork in the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition - the artwork and its presentation. The latter is very important - as discussed below.

Poor presentation will certainly lose you marks and downgrade the level of medal that might be achieved by the paintings exhibited.

So here are 15 top tips culled from the Gold Medal winning exhibitors this year (and in previous

RHS Botanical Art Show 2014 - Medal winners

Below you can find a list of the awards made this morning at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2014 at the RHS Horticultural Halls in Westminster.  The exhibition continues tomorrow.



Best Botanical Painting - by Işık Güner


RHS Best Botanical Painting - Işık Güner 

RHS Best Exhibit of Botanical Art - Hye Woo Shin


RHS Gold Medal - Botanical Art

Hye Woo Shin (Korea) - Heterotrophic Plants in Korea

Pop Up Studio at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition

The RHS London Orchid and Botanical Art Show is open to the public on Friday and Saturday this week at the RHS Horticultural Halls (Lawrence & Lindley Hall) in Westminster, London SW1P 2PE. The Botanical Art Show is in the Lindley Hall.


This year there are going to be nearly 30 botanical artists exhibiting and hoping to win a much coveted Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medal.   This show