Pressed Flowers and Leaves

I have started a collection of pressed flowers and leaves and hope to add to this throughout the year. I do not know yet whether I will use them as an observational drawing resource or start to include them in my images. 

Even though they are just a collection of flora and fauna from my garden it is interesting to see such a variety of shape, size and colour. 

Herbals

I have been reading herbals and researching their history with books such as Agnes Arber's Herbals. 

While I am interested in the scientific science of botany, I also wish to consider the earlier history of botany in herbals and also mythologies, such as the mandrake. The images below show some of my research into imagery which combine scientific and realistic imagery with the weird and the wonderful. 

-p. 253, from Phytognomonica, 1591, Herbals, Agnes Arber, 1986
-p. 257, from Phytognomonica, 1591, Herbals, Agnes Arber, 1986
-Mandrake root (mandragora), from Tacuinum Sanitatis, 1474,    
 http://polarbearstale.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/mandrake.html
-Salvador Dali, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/dali-botanical-art-unseen-surrealist-
 watercolors-head-to-auction_n_3293173.html
-Katie Scott, http://www.katie-scott.com/personal-work-gallery#floating-terrariums
-Katie Scott, http://katie-scott.tumblr.com/
-Eric Ravilious, http://allthingsconsidered.co.uk/
-Joanna Concejo, http://joannaconcejo.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2011-10-15T02:49:00-07:00&max-  
 results=7
-Richard Dadd, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke 1855-64, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dadd-the-fairy-fellers-master-stroke-t00598

Cacti

I wanted to try drawing a group of plants or a scene to develop my own approach to botanical illustration rather than using the traditional composition of a single specimen on a blank page. However I feel that the cacti still appear isolated from nature and I have not succeeded in creating a sense of environment.

 

I am fascinated by the odd shapes and patterns of the cacti and their spines and enjoyed capturing the plants and their flowers with bright, bold colours. Perhaps this gives personality to the specimens (as I am starting to consider the 'characters' of plants).

Fruit and Veg

Studies of a pomegranate and miniature globe artichoke. Using gouache, watercolour, colour pencil and graphite pencil. I wanted to start this project with a detailed approach, similar to the botanical illustrations I have been researching. 

Botanical Illustration

I have been looking at botanical illustration in preparation for my third year project and dissertation. Although illustrating similar subjects with consistently high levels of detail. This selection of illustrations shows a wide variety of approaches in compositions and mediums. What I like about some of these images is the other worldly nature of  the specimens. 

-Ann Lee,Cyrtanthus obliquus, 1776. Maybe, R. (1988) The Flowering of Kew. London: Century Hutchinson Ltd. p. 48

-Maria Sibylla MerianCotton Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis) with caterpillar, pupa and butterfly of Papilio androgeus, 1705

 Blunt, W. & Stearn, W.T. (1994) Art of Botanical Illustration. Kew: Antique Collectors’ Club in association with the Royal Botanic    

 Gardens. p.140

-Maria Sibylla Merian, Amaryllis (Hippeastrum puniceum) with moth (Automeris liberia), 1705

 Blunt, W. & Stearn, W.T. (1994) Art of Botanical Illustration. Kew: Antique Collectors’ Club in association with the Royal Botanic  

 Gardens. p.141

-Francis Bauer, Broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine). 1811. Blunt, W. & Stearn, W.T. (1994) Art of Botanical Illustration. 

 Kew: Antique Collectors’ Club in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens. p.228

-Various Flowers. Part of a letter from Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin to Jonas Dryander, October 5, 1792. Blunt, W. & Stearn, W.T. 

 (1994) Art of Botanical Illustration. Kew: Antique Collectors’ Club in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens. p.176

-Mary Delany, Rosa Spinosissima, Burnet Rose. Flower paper mosaic. Bennett, S. (2000) Five Centuries of women and gardens. 

 London: National Portrait Gallery. p.66

Kew Gardens

I have been on two visits to Kew Garden this summer. While also being inspired by the huge array of plants and flowers, I also liked the beautiful structures of the greenhouses. 

Vienna

Photos from my holiday in Vienna. I liked this painting, decorating the facade of an Apotheke (pharmacy), I thought the character might be relevant. I also went to a Butterfly House.