Botanical Inspiration


Book Description

"Botanical Inspiration is a timeless collection of artwork and illustrations that feature flora and its many facets through a variety of visual concepts, styles, and techniques."--







Botanical Illustration


Book Description

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.




The Golden Age of Botanical Art


Book Description

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 Covering work through the nineteenth century, this lavishly illustrated book offers readers a look at 250 rare or unpublished images by some of the world’s most important botanical artists.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.




Contemporary Botanical Artists


Book Description

Presents a collection of botanical paintings along with descriptions of the artists' techniques and backgrounds.




The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration


Book Description

Draw and paint beautiful, vibrant, and realistic birds and botanicals with The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration. Take a sketch and transform it into fine art! The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration is a guide for contemporary artists aspiring to master shape, color, and texture and render beautiful, realistic, and vibrant botanical artwork. Author Mindy Lighthipe, an expert botanical artist, educates you about the tools and materials traditionally used in botanical illustration, including pencils, colored pencils, watercolor, gouache, and pastels. This thorough yet easily digestible guide includes overviews of key illustration techniques and basic color theory and mixing, and it's loaded with exercises designed to help you learn to see shape, value, and form. By learning tounderstand plant life and anatomy, you can craft elegant flowers, leaves, trees, and much more in no time! To bring it all together, The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration includes step-by-step demonstrations to follow along with as you practice taking sketches and transforming them into fully rendered, colorful pieces of fine art.




Botanical Illustration


Book Description

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.




Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink


Book Description

This beautiful book combines the author's extensive ecological knowledge with art, and her passion for drawing with ink. It is packed with clear instruction and inspirational illustrations, and will be treasured by artists, illustrators, scientists and ecologists alike. Practical advice is given on using a range of materials and equipment for illustrating in pen and ink, as well as the collection and preservation of subject matter and reference material. Detailed instruction is given on how to create essential mark-making techniques that will enhance your illustrations through accurate depiction of shape, form, texture and pattern, and in the principles and elements of design. Subject-themed chapters include plants, strandline and marine specimens, fossils, invertebrates, and mammals. There are step-by-step exercises suitable for all skill levels, and case studies describing working practice as a professional illustrator.




Botanical Art Techniques


Book Description

“This comprehensive work covers the gamut of techniques… will take students from beginner to expert.” —The English Garden This definitive guide is the most thorough how-to available on every major technique of botanical artistry. The experts at the American Society of Botanical Artists offer step-by-step projects that move from introductory to advanced—so any level of artist can build on acquired skills. Helpful tutorials cover watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, vellum, egg tempera, oils, pen and ink, and printmaking. Filled with more than 900 photographs and stunning examples of finished art by the best contemporary botanical artists, Botanical Art Techniques is the authoritative manual on this exquisite art form.




A Garden Eden. Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration


Book Description

Art meets science in this far-reaching catalogue of botanical illustration. Drawn from the vaults of the National Library of Vienna, these exquisite color reproductions range from 6th-century manuscripts to 19th-century masterpieces and celebrate both the skill of botanical artists and the abundance of natural flora.