Botanical Illustration: Books and eBooks on Botanical Illustration

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Inspirational and instructive, this mix of storytelling and beautiful images charts one woman's journey from amateur painter to botanical artist. Both a showcase for Mary Ann's sketchbooks and paintings, and a record of her achievements, Botanical Sketchbook is packed with advice for aspiring professionals. Along with firsthand accounts of the joys and challenges she faced along the way, it includes work from every assignment she undertook, from her first attempts at drawing a tulip to the triumphant paintings she made for her diploma portfolio. Margaret Stevens, President of the Society of Botanical Artists, adds her insightful comments on each piece.

An accessible introduction to the world of plant science, aimed at anyone who is interested in plants and flowers, especially those who wish to draw or paint them without sacrificing technical accuracy to aesthetic quality.

Provides step-by-step instructions for drawing realistic plants, trees, and flowers.

Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan--who run the popular botanical painting course at the Eden Project--have created a practical, inspirational guide, with all the how-tos of capturing flowers, fruits, and vegetables on paper. They cover everything from familiar bananas and pineapples to extraordinary orchids and carnivorous plants, explaining the drawing process with plenty of exercises, step-by-step projects, worksheets, color swatches, sketches, and stunning paintings. Exotic Botanical Illustration is a master class in vivid colors, complex textures, and the pleasing challenges of unusual forms.

The book is divided into four main sections covering the seasons, which are then divided into monthly chapters. Each chapter offers one full step-by-step demonstration plus several projects - some simple, some more ambitious - relevant to the time of year. The range of seasonal subjects, with their varying colours, will ensure that Collins Flower Painting Through the Seasons is a visual treat. Subjects are varied, and include seasonal blossoms, seedheads, fruits, berries, and foliage, as well as plants from the hedgerow, orchard, garden, and conservatory.

This book reproduces original works of art and includes text focused on the importance of each plant as a native. Botanical Artists for Education & the Environment (BAEE) worked with about 75 artists to publish the book of watercolor paintings and graphite or ink drawings of native mid-Atlantic plants.

The distinguishing feature of this book of 12 flower subjects is that it illustrates in detail each stage of the painting process, from pencil drawing and shading through each successive watercolor coat to final touches.

Kew is eminent worldwide in botanical science and preservation, and Christabel King is their foremost botanical artist. Here she explains botanical art and illustration, covering materials, collecting plant material, drawing and painting techniques, magnification, and painting leaves, flowers, cacti and succulents, wildflowers, trees and plates for Curtis’s Botanical magazine.

Look over the shoulders of professional artists on location and be inspired in your own watercolor painting. Rediscover the value of sketching and learn about the different attitudes and approaches of thirteen experienced flower artists. This beautifully illustrated book includes tips on finding your subject, coping with changing light and condition, color matching flowers, and advice on techniques such as brushwork, blending, and building tone.

Since ancient times the orchid has been a source of fascination and inspiration -- not just for horticulturists but for artists, writers, historians and others drawn to their mysterious beauty and unparalleled variety. Collected by one of America's foremost orchid experts, this treasury of more than sixty antique orchid illustrations offers a cultural history of the flower as well as sublime reproductions by famous botanical artists.The world's obsession with the orchid can be traced to ancient Chinese calligraphers and Japanese illustrators who included the flower in their beautifully rendered landscapes. By the eighteenth century orchid collecting was an established pastime in Europe. A generation later saw the publication of lavish, expensive books devoted to the flower. The passion for orchids continues to this day, with more than 35,000 known varieties and more being propagated every day. In A Passion for Orchids Jack Kramer offers an intriguing cultural history of the flower. Stunning color plates by such renowned botanical illustrators as Martin J. Heade, Lucien Linden and Walter Hood Fitch are accompanied by brief histories of the artists, making this collection of orchid lore and art a unique addition to the libraries of art lovers, horticulturists, and collectors of this strangely alluring flower.

Shirley Sherwood is a major exponent of contemporary botanical art and her collection of over 400 works has been shown all over the world. Her love of this artistic subject has prompted her to start botanical art classes, led by leading artists in the field, in order to encourage new artists around the globe. Originally done to provide a visual record of plants from as long ago as the Ancient World, it reached its heyday during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries with artists such as Redoute, the Bauer Brothers and Ehret, creating masterpieces that were collected avidly for both their artistic merit and their scientific value. Still popular today, it is found adorning stationery items, wallpaper and textiles and is undergoing a resurgence of interest, in part due to Shirley wanting to share her passion with others. From the black and white pen and ink studies of Francesca Anderson, the almost photographic style of Raymond Booth to the botany book style of Regine Hagerdom and the perfection of Manko Imai, this collection of prints demonstrates the art of botanical drawing is very much alive today, not just here in Britain but around the globe. It has not only prospered but is continuing to develop in new and exciting ways and this beautiful work showcases the talents that are around today. - Lucy Watson

John Day was one of the richest and most famous orchid growers in Europe. No amateur of his time possessed a greater knowledge of orchids. Day illustrated over 2,300 orchids, bound together in 53 scrapbooks. These illustrations now form one of the most important botanical archives in the world.

Contains some of the finest botanical illustrations of the 20th century.

Dr. Shirley Sherwood toured the world over a period of five years. The result is more than 100 stunning pieces that offer a global view of contemporary botanical art.

110 beautiful floral copper plates from famous 1612 Florilegium: tulips, roses, lilies, scores of other flowers plus vegetables.

Ellsworth Kelly is one of the most important living American painters and sculptors. His career is closely tied to the abstract style of "hard-edge" painting in the Sixties, with color field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques that emphasize the simplicity of form, frequently enhanced by bright colors. Alongside his geometrical paintings, Kelly is famous for his beautiful drawings of plants, flowers, and leaves, which were shown together with Matisse's plant drawings at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2002. His book of drawings and watercolors is appearing to coincide with a large museum show that starts at Graphische Sammlung, Munich, in fall 2011 and which will travel on to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in spring 2012. Two texts by the curators (Michael Semff, Munich, and Marla Prather, New York) describe the plant drawings in the context of Ellsworth Kelly's oeuvre as a whole.

The renowned LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden counts among its holdings many of the most beautiful and pioneering botanical and horticultural works ever created. More than eight centuries of knowledge, from the twelfth century to the present, are represented in the library’s collection of more than one million cataloged items. In this sumptuously illustrated volume, international experts introduce us to some of the library’s most fascinating works--exceedingly rare books, stunning botanical artworks, handwritten manuscripts, Renaissance herbals, nursery catalogs, explorers’ notebooks, and more. The contributors hold these treasures up for close inspection and offer surprising insights into their histories and importance.

Botanical and horticultural lithographs of Joseph Prestele and sons

Marianne North was an English naturalist and remarkable botanical artist who traveled to more than a dozen countries in the course of more than a decade spent painting the tropical and exotic plants of the world. Despite having no formal artistic training and a rather unconventional technique, North documented her subjects in situ with a scientific accuracy that continues to impress botanists today. More than eight hundred of her detailed, brightly colored paintings are displayed in Kew's Marianne North Gallery, which was built under her patronage and opened in 1882.

Fully illustrated and including a stunning eight-page fold-out, this engaging and accessible account provides an overview of North's spirited work, life, and travels as well as a concise history of the popular gallery—newly restored and refurbished—where almost all her paintings hang. The Marianne North Gallery is among Kew's finest attractions, and this exquisite volume captures its magic to perfection.

Catalogue of an exhibition of prints of botanical subjects.

Rory McEwen strummed his way onto the Ed Sullivan show, sat in on a sitar session with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, and was a leader in the post-war folksong revival. Yet arguably his greatest legacy was not in the field of music—a talented, precise artist, McEwen revolutionized the field of botanical art.

McEwen developed a distinctive style working on unadorned vellum, presenting botanical subject matter with scientific precision and artistic flair, without ever compromising one for the other. At a time when such paintings focused on perfect specimens, McEwen found beauty in imperfections, which made his creations breathtakingly realistic. His paintings have been an inspiration to later generations of botanical artists and his work can be found in collections around the world, including the MoMA, the Tate, the British Museum, and the National Gallery of Modern Art Scotland.

Artwork created to sell flower and vegetable seeds to the public is bright, eye-catching, and tempting. It reflects the fantasy that any novice gardener can grow beautiful plants just by buying the seeds. This is not a new phenomenon. Over 475 boldly colorful flower and vegetable seed artwork, catalog, packet, and publication illustrations are arranged here chronologically (the late 19th through 20th centuries) and alphabetically for easy reference in this fun visual delight. Many images are from the vast and superb collection of the Landis Valley Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the author was Director of the Heirloom Seed Project. See unusual plant varieties from both small independent and large seed producers, like the W. Atlee Burpee Company. A mid-20th century watercolor illustrator’s work is featured as an impressive record of plants grown from seeds; see how many you can recognize.

Art meets science in this book that aims to give readers a sense of some contemporary scientific discoveries that are changing our understanding of plant relationships. 136 botanical paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection, by 84 artists, cover 50 orders of plants in 118 families, and a total of 133 species, providing a sweeping overview of the evolution of plants on earth. The paintings display a sampling of the plant world from fungi to daisies, including algae, mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants arranged in the most up to date evolutionary sequence, determined by recent DNA analysis. The text places each artist’s observations as displayed in the paintings, in the context of modern plant classification, providing readers with a new understanding of the complex interrelationships between plant species, and enhancing their appreciation of the botanical artist’s ability to portray the delicate beauty of nature.

The Flowering of Florence explores the close ties between art and the natural sciences in Tuscany as seen in the botanical renderings created in Florence for the Medici grand dukes from the late 1500s through the early 1700s. The catalogue comprises an essay and checklist with reproductions of the exquisite works in the show. Examples include Jacopo Ligozzi's plant drawings in tempera on paper from the Uffizi Gallery, Giovanna Garzoni's fruit and flower paintings on vellum, and Bartolomeo Bimbi's later and much larger still-life paintings.

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.

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Since the early 1970s, horticultural expert Jack Kramer has been collecting works by Victorian women artists. Women of Flowers is his tribute to those women who received so little credit in their own day and age. Over 150 floral paintings and prints illustrate the life stories of 35 women artists from America, England, Germany, and France. In this elegant and charming gift book, hundreds of dazzling full-color floral paintings and botanical prints illustrate the fascinating life stories of Victorian women artists who made tremendous contributions to the art and science of botany. Most received little or no recognition for their work due to the patriarchal Victorian society that they lived in. Women of Flowers pays homage to these remarkable artists in a volume that compiles not only their history and biographies but also some of their best work.