The fascination of botanical illustration

Ever since I saw a programme about botanical illustration at Kew Gardens on telly a few years ago, and  a delightful exhibition of botanical art at the small but charming Museum of Garden History, or Garden Museum, as it is now called, in London shortly afterwards, I've been absolutely fascinated by this extraordinary art form. I think it's an art form that is often not really enough appreciated in it's own right. As with so many other forms of illustrations, they tend to be seen just  as accompaniments of the text in books and journals, without giving much thoughts about how and by whom they were done. But even today, in our modern digital megapixel world, a photograph, ultimately, can never be as accurate as a hand painted illustration, which is why all the good classification guide books still rely on painted illustrations rather than photographs. I find that quite extraordinary.

Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, colour, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolour paintings. These are often printed with a botanical description in book, magazines, and other media. The creation of these requires an understanding of plant anatomy, access to specimens and references, and are often composed in consultation with a scientific author. (Wikipedia).

Last year, I bought a book about botanical illustration, and then another one. I looked through them, admired the illustrations, studied the instructions, and put them into my book shelf. I was bad at drawing, and rubbish with watercolours. How could I ever dare to even attempt such an accomplished art, without even having the basic background skills? But two weeks ago, feeling so inspired by the autumn colours everywhere around, I took out my watercolours and sat down, trying to capture the colours, patterns, textures of some leaves, without much thinking about what I was doing. It wasn’t until a few days later that it occurred to me that, unconsciously, I had made my first attempt at botanical illustration. They are certainly not exact depictions of the leaves, and would be quite useless in a botanical book or journal, but painting them just made me so happy. And that's really good enough for me :)

Enjoying the autumn morning light flooding the room – and a cup of Earl Grey tea.

I had to run out in between, to take pictures of the flaming red tree in my street – and to collect some of its leaves – which of course I intend to paint as well.

And the final result:

I definitely want to learn more about the techniques of botanical illustration, and practise more, and maybe  find a course to take - maybe even at Kew Gardens? :)

In the meantime, I found some video tutorials on Youbute, like this wet technique autumn leaf  one – definitely have to try this!

Art Every Day Month: Day 8

It's day 8 of AEDM, and I'm still only doing lunch time pencil sketches. I'd love to sit down and take some more time, but I won't be able to do so this week before Sunday.

The two "love birds" I actually did yesterday, after my summary post. I was just about to leave, when I saw a photograph of these two birds in a nature magazine, and I couldn't resist to draw them in my sketchbook. I didn't have much time, as I had to catch my train, but I'd like to draw them again, and maybe also paint them.

Today's sketch was again made during my lunch break. A date stamp, the library's Ex Libris stamp, a pair of scissors, an eraser - just stuff that was lying around on my desk.

I really have to do a lot more drawing practising. I'm not at all happy with my lines, and I'm still far away from the quick, light, but accurate rendering of my subject I hope to achieve one day. Well, practise makes perfect... :)

Art Every Day Month: First week summary

The first week of AEDM is over, and I've been keeping, well, more or less up with it. I missed the first day, as I only read about it last Wednesday. I did do a little sketch then, though. And here's what I've been doing since then.

Thursday, 3 November:

A little pencil sketch of a leaf on the train on the way home from work, which I then filled in with some colour pencils later in the evening, once I was home.

Friday, 4 November: I didn't feel very well, and simply couldn't be bothered to even take up a pencil. There simply are days like that. Best to just stick to the sofa, the hot water bottle and alphabet soup.

Saturday, 5 November and Monday, 7 November:

More leaves. I did some quick, and rather unfinished, watercolour sketches on Saturday, during painting class. The paint wasn't quite dry yet when I left, so I just put a sheet of paper over it - which is why it looks a bit untidy in some places. I added some more pencil sketches of leaves today during my lunch break

Sunday, 7 November:

Again no energy to be creative at all. So back to sofa, the hot water bottle and alphabet soup again (I don't know why, but somehow, I find alphabet soup just so comforting...). I did manage to go for an inspiring walk in the afternoon though, taking loads of pictures. And I spent most of the evening processing them, using a variety of textures. (See also yesterday's post). I'm sure that should count as "doing something", right?

A lovely autumn walk instead...

Last Sunday, I boldly announced the second part of my Three Favourite London Shops series to appear today, but I'm afraid I'm not able to deliver. I've been feeling quite bit under the weather these last few days, and this morning, the mere thought of having to find the energy to sit down, take out my all my stuff, get creative and produce something worthy of the post, take pictures of it all, process them, and wrap it all up in a blog post, simply totally stressed me out. And as this blog really is supposed to be something I enjoy doing, I decided, that I'd just had to admit defeat, postpone the post, and head for the sofa and some much needed rest instead. Especially as I've got a busy week ahead, which will require all of my energy. 

I would have been very happy with a rainy, or at least grey, Sunday, but no, it was blue sky, (far too) warm for the season, and all the trees still glowing bright and colourful. So in the afternoon I just felt too guilty to hang around on the sofa all day and went for a walk. And it did me so much good, both physically and spiritually. So instead of the planned post for today, I'd like to share some images of my refreshing Sunday walk.

I still plan to write those posts about the other two shops. Hopefully, the second part will be ready next Sunday, but I think I'm better not making any promises this time:)

I hope you had a terrific, inspiring, creative, and restoring weekend!

A little challenge for November

Today, I read about the fabulous challenge Elin of Huldas Burålåda set herself for this months: One motif - thirty pictures. A different painting of the same motif for each day of the month. I think it's a wonderful and creative challenge, and I'm looking forward to seeing the different pictures she's going to create. And it has inspired me to look for a little challenge for myself as well.

She got the inspiration for this challenge from two sources: The Sketchbook Challenge, and Art Every Day Month. I've known about the The Sketchbook Challenge before, and have been wanting to participate for quite a while now, but somehow  never managed so far. The Art Every Day Month challenge was a new discovery for me. And I've quite spontaneously signed up for it. Committed to it. There's no chance that I'll be able to paint every day, but it should be possible to do a little something every day, right? It doesn't have to be something big, just a little sketch, like the leaf  on the left, which I made in my notebook last week on the train. That really should be possible.

In fact, I had decided to do something like this  quite a few weeks ago, in order to get back into the  habit of drawing regularly. I had bought a little sketchbook to carry with me all the time especially for this. I've done a few sketches, mostly on the train, but then, somehow, the sketchbook got lost somewhere under a pile of books in my home, and disappeared. So, here's a new start. Tonight, I'm going to find that sketchbook, put it back into my bag, and take it out every day to make a little sketch of something. And when I have some more time, I'll make a little painting. I've still got a whole pile of leaves I collected, which I wanted to paint anyway.

So here's today's piece, a quick little pencil sketch of an apple, which I did in my lunch break.  I just couldn't wait until tonight, so I had to use ordinary copy paper, which made the blending a bit less smooth as I'd wanted. I really have to find that sketchbook!

I won't be able to post my sketches and paintings for this challenge here on my blog every day - painting/drawing something, taking pictures of it, processing them, and putting them all into a blog post, that's just not possible on a daily basis. But I'll plan to post a summary at least one post a week.

Happy Halloween

Have a wonderful Halloween everyone who's celebrating it! As I've mentioned before, we don't really have Halloween over here, although when walking back home from the station, I've actually seen a few kids here and there dressed up in some rather improvised bedsheets-turned-into-ghost costumes running around with bags ready to collect some sweets. I'm not sure how many of them actually know what Halloween is, and where it comes from, but I guess the sweets are just too tempting :). Well, they didn't ring my doorbell, which is just as well, as I didn't have any sweets. All I've got are my gorgeous pumpkins, and I'm still fascinated by them. I just love their colours and shapes!

And they're a perfect subject for practising my sketching and watercolour painting skills. The green spotted one I enjoyed particularly, patiently buidling up one layer after the other. Here's a step-by-step of how I did it. It really isn't that difficult, it just takes some time and patience. (Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to make that picture series bigger than this):

 

It's so relaxing, like meditating! Just concentrating on the colours and patterns, putting one brush stroke or dot after the other, down on to the paper. I've done three of the five (although the warty one isn't finished yet), so there are two more to go. And then one of them also wants to be turned into a nice soup!

And then there are all those lovely leaves everywhere outside! I've started painting some of them too, and I've got lots more to do. I'm so glad I re-discovered my watercolours. All these autumn things are just perfect for them. I'd never thought I'd enjoy them so much!

My favourite London shops ~ Shepherds Falkiners: A perfect paper heaven

For the past 5 years, I've spent at least one week of my summer holiday in London, taking courses in Book History at the London Rare Books School (LRBS). I love the area around Russell Square, in the famous Bloomsbury area, and I've discovered some fabulous shops which are leading my London Top Favourite Shops List. I've meant to write about my three most favourite art materials and craft shops alredy in summer, but I forgot to take the pictures of their shop fronts that I meant to. So I decided to put it off until after my short trip to London in October. But what can I say - I forgot to take pictures again! Well, I must have been so excited to enter the shops, that it completely slipped my mind (and afterwards had my hands too full...)!.

So I've now decided to write about them anyway. After all, I've got enough photos of the fabulous stuff I bought there :). All three shops are conveniently close to each other, and only a few minutes walk from the British Museum's main entrance. The first shop I want to share with you is the one I've discovered the first year I stayed in Bloomsbury: Shepherds Falkiners, a fabulous shop specialising in fine papers and bookbinding supplies, located in Southampton Row (turn left on Great Russell Street (facing away from the BM entrance), cross Southampton Row, and then it's just a few steps to your right). The shop, though not big, is nice airy and light, with some lovely dark wood furniture, and the colours, patterns and textures of the papers are just so wonderful, a real feast for they eye. It's probably a good thing I don't know anything about book binding, at least the practical-making-it-yourself-part, or I'd probably spend a fortune in there. They do have a series of courses they offer, both in London and Wiltshire, and I'm still hoping that they'll be having one at a time when I happen to be staying in the area. I've always fancied learning some basic book binding :)

I'v wanted one of those gorgeous boxes already the first time I've stepped into the store, but I never figured out how to get them home. No space in the suitcase, and back then, it was still strictly one hand lagguage policy in the airplane. I didn't want to send it back by mail either, as I feared the edges would all get damaged. So no chance. But this time, at last, I got my box! I took my big suitcase for the few days, half empty, to fill it up with goodies :). And I didn't just get a box, but also a pencil box, a pencil holder and a sheet of paper. I simply couldn't resist the paper, even though it's almost impossible to get it home without creases. But I'm going to clue it on top of something anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I bought the bonefolder back in summer. I've been looking at quite a few bonefolders, but this one was the only one that really was perfect. The size and shape, and it's slight bend that makes it lie in your hand just perfectly. Why all that fuss about a simple bonefolder, you might ask. Well yes, maybe. But. It's the small details that turn an ordinary bonefolder into a fabulous, perfect one. And I love details :).

If you're ever in that area (and it's an areay well worth visiting), do pop in there and have a look. They also have notebooks, diaries, greeting cards and other things that make great gifts for people who appreciate quality paper crafts. And they also got an online shop (with reasonable shipping costs to Switzerland, which is not always the case), so I'm sure I'll be ordering some more of those papers :). Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the boxes in the online shop, though. Well, a good reason to go there again next time I'm in London :)

Oh and make sure to take a few minutes to visit lovely Russell Square. It's such a peaceful place, especially in the autumn light - and the café serves a tasty English breakfast too :)

Next Sunday, I'll show you another one of my Favourite 3 London Shops, and we'll be going stamping mad. (And maybe I'll even managed to get some pictures of the shop).

Have a fabulous longest-day-of-the-year Sunday!