Botanical Illustration is an introduction to the marrying of art and science in the aesthetic and accurate portrayal of plant material. This book builds on the work of illustrators of the past, ranging from Elizabeth Blackwell, whose drawings helped to release her husband from debtors' prison, through to the exceptional scientific drawings of Beatrix Potter. It deals with the practical art and the related botany of the subject. Introduction to basic botany; preparation of plant material for drawing; use of pencil, watercolour, coloured pencil and pen and ink; suggested topics for further study; correcting mistakes and finishing touches. Invaluable for beginners and skilled artists alike, and an excellent reference book for teachers. Superbly illustrated with 216 colour illustrations.Valerie Oxley is a freelance tutor who has inspired students worldwide with her enthusiasm for natural history and plant illustration.

Botanical Illustration - the complete guide explains the processes and methods behind this beautiful art genre. It highlights the importance of the requisite skills of close observation, accurate drawing and attention to detail. Leigh Ann Gale is a leading botanical artist and tutor, and she generously demonstrates her approach in this book. Her worked example of fuchsia magellanica clearly shows the varied stages of an illustration. Along with step-by-step instructions to a range of subjects, this book is beautifully illustrated with over 350 images, diagrams and paintings of her and her students' work. This book is a source of inspiration as well as a definitive guide, and the contents include: introduction to botany and a comprehensive botanical glossary; a case study demonstrating each stage of a worked example, including the selection and preparation of a subject, observational drawings, composition skills and painting processes; step-by-step instruction covering many subjects, from creating shine on leaves and berries, to painting white flowers and depicting hairs on leaves and stems; a guide to colour theory and how to mix colours accurately to match your specimens and make the most of your watercolour palette; and ideas on how to continue, and develop your own style of botanical illustration. This book will be of great interest to all botanical artists, natural history artists, watercolourists, gardeners and natural historians and is lavishly illustrated with 391 colour images.

This is the story of one woman's journey from amateur painter to botanical artist, told through the sketchbooks and paintings she produced for the Distance Learning Diploma Course run by the Society of Botanical Artists. Packed with advice and tips, this book will serve as a guide and inspiration to anyone wanting to embark on life as a botanical artist. This book is both a showcase of Mary Ann Scott's work and a record of her achievements, including first-hand accounts of the joys and challenges she faced as she progressed. It contains work from every assignment she undertook, from her first attempts at drawing a tulip to the triumphant paintings she made for her diploma portfolio. Along the way are delicate floral compositions, juicy fruit and vegetables, botanical dissections, and her adventures out in the field. Margaret Stevens's comments on each assignments are also included, giving an insight into the assessment process and an all-round view of Mary Ann's successes and (very rare) failures. The book ends with a glorious selection of Mary Ann's ongoing work as a botanical artist.

A gorgeous, easy-to-follow, and inspiring guide to stunningly realistic botanical drawing that covers everything you need to draw our natural world. Achieve amazingly realistic and vibrant botanical illustrations, from flowers so dazzling you feel as if you might be able to smell them, to tomatoes that look as if they've just been picked from the garden. Wendy Hollender is known for her vivid, detailed, and inspiring illustrations and in The Joy of Botanical Drawing, she helps you take your art to the next level by sharing her perfected techniques through short lessons that start simple, then build on the basics with easy-to-use and clear step-by-step illustrations. Using colored pencils and watercolor pencils, Hollender shows you how to accomplish scientifically accurate botanical portraits of a spiraling pine cone, a spiky chestnut, a fuchsia-tined radish, a graceful morning glory, and many more. From colorful leaves to delicate petals to textured bark and slender stems, The Joy of Botanical Drawing will give you the skills to complete lifelike drawings while also enjoying nature and the mindfulness of a regular drawing practice.

A thorough immersion into the world of scientifically accurate, three-dimensional, and artistically rendered natural botanical illustration. The step-by-step instructions in this invaluable guide, written by one of the nation’s leading experts in the field, Wendy Hollender, will grow your artistic ability, whether you’re just broaching this unique skill or are already an expert. Each lesson in the book increases in complexity to build your skill set in a clear, concise, and accessible way. With a focus on the natural world through the botanical life-cycle, each project is not only a technical study, but a beautiful piece of artwork in and of itself. In this book, you will learn: • Single light source toning technique • Principles of perspective for drawing flowers • The fundamentals of plant anatomy • Colored pencil techniques and color theory of the natural world

"Botanical Drawing, A Beginner's Guide" and Botanical Drawing Sketchbooks" use a unique spiral binding that allows you to open the book to add and remove paper. You can purchase re-fills of Legion Stonehenge Aqua 140 lb. hot pressed water color paper to use with both books.Once you have practiced in the Beginner's Guide with the paper in the book, I recommend you purchase the hot pressed watercolor paper to use for the color exercises. You can put the watercolor paper right inside the book and re-do the exercises on the good paper!In the Sketchbooks you can take out finished work and put in new blank paper to continue re-using the sketchbook without having to get a new sketchbook or cut your finished art out of this book. You can also take out the sketch pages to display and then return them to the book!

The definitive artist's guide to drawing detailed and accurate plants, flowers and other vegetation in pencil—including illustrations and exercises. Botanical Drawing provides a thorough and expert guide to the subject, touching on the history of this fascinating art form as well as its rules and practicalities. Artist Penny Brown explains the materials, learnings and techniques required to produce accurate botanical illustrations. She also includes an accessible, basic study of botany for the absolute beginner. By following Brown’s step-by-step instructions, close studies and explorations of the subjects, you will be able to produce your own illustrations of plants, flowers, vegetables and their myriad parts. Botanical Drawing offers knowledge, techniques, and inspiration as you create your own projects.

Originally developed in the 18th century as a visual supplement to botanical nomenclature, botanical illustration and art uniquely fuse art and science by documenting the parts, details, and life cycles of plant species. In Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists, eminent botanical artist and veteran workshop instructor Karen Kluglein reveals her secrets for rendering leaves, flowers, berries, and branches both accurately and beautifully. The book begins with a brief history of the art form, followed by guidance on developing observational skills for this genre, key botanical terms and concepts, and the differences among botanical illustration, botanical art, and flower painting. The chapters that follow offer detailed guidance and demonstrations for drawing and painting botanicals in a variety of mediums: Drawing. Explore loose gestural drawing, precise measuring and rendering, and working from photographs with graphite, colored pencil, finepoint markers, pen and ink, and silverpoint. Painting. Master color mixing, washes, layering, gradations, values, and adding details in watercolor, gouache, and acrylic, plus guidance on adding “personality” to your work and knowing when a painting is done. Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists shows artists at all skill levels how to translate careful observations into stunning works of art.

The seventeenth century heralded a golden age of exploration, as intrepid travelers sailed around the world to gain firsthand knowledge of previously unknown continents. These explorers also collected the world’s most beautiful flora, and often their findings were recorded for posterity by talented professional artists. The Golden Age of Botanical Art tells the story of these exciting plant-hunting journeys and marries it with full-color reproductions of the stunning artwork they produced. Covering work through the nineteenth century, this lavishly illustrated book offers readers a look at 250 rare or unpublished images by some of the world’s most important botanical artists. Truly global in its scope, The Golden Age of Botanical Art features work by artists from Europe, China, and India, recording plants from places as disparate as Africa and South America. Martyn Rix has compiled the stories and art not only of well-known figures—such as Leonardo da Vinci and the artists of Empress Josephine Bonaparte—but also of those adventurous botanists and painters whose names and work have been forgotten. A celebration of both extraordinarily beautiful plant life and the globe-trotting men and women who found and recorded it, The Golden Age of Botanical Art will enchant gardeners and art lovers alike.