Get up close to the beauty and detail of nature through the artwork of award-winning UK artist, Julia Trickey. See how ordinary and sometimes overlooked subjects, such as leaves and fading flowers, can be centre stage and come to life in this beautiful showcase of some of Julia's best-loved botanical watercolours. Having been a tutor of botanical art for many years, teaching as far afield as Moscow and New York, Julia loves to help others explore the potential of watercolour and to discover the keys to a good botanical portrait. In this book she shares some of these insights as well as the motivation behind her favourite projects, together with some of the processes and watercolour techniques involved. Take inspiration from these glowing, contemporary watercolours in a book that is both beautiful and useful.

Take a fresh look at the world through the lens of a self-confessed nature-obsessed artist. Asuka Hishiki possesses not only a sense of profound awe and wonder at the intricacies of the natural world, but also the talent to communicate it through her paintings. Recalling the Wunderkammer (literally, 'wonder rooms') of 16th and 17th century European collectors, Asuka Hishiki's Botaniphoria: A Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities encompasses subjects as diverse as rotting vegetables, endangered species, mundane weeds and backyard insects - all treasures to her and transformed into objects of intense and fragile beauty through her skill with watercolour. Her work is held in prestigious collections such as The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, California, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pennsylvania. One of the first people to appreciate her work said about it, 'your work is not to hang upon a wall in a bright living room, but to put in a drawer in the study. Then, alone in the middle of the night, to take out and ponder upon.' In the best traditions of Wunderkammer, this book is an artfully arranged collection intended to be pondered upon. From the interactions of the objects within the paintings, to the quirky choice of subjects and the realism with which they are portrayed, they will bear revisiting again and again. As Asuka admits, painting is her language. She is an extremely adept communicator in it.

Colour mixing is a key skill for the botanical artist. In this practical guide, Jackie Isard explains how to observe and use colour accurately. She shows artists how to make informed choices when selecting pigments, as well as how to learn about colour mixing and its application. Detailed instruction and advice are given on understanding colour and pigments. The author explains how to 'see' colour and tricky mixes, from greens and reds to the difficult botanical greys. Includes advanced colour application techniques - colour enhancement, shadow colours and colour temperature transition. Finally, step-by-step guides illustrate how to paint with layers, how to use underlaying colours to enhance, and colour and fine detailing.

Colours of Nature is the perfect companion for anyone who is puzzled by the seemingly unpredictable behaviour of the paints on their palette, as well as those who would like their watercolour paintings to look fresher and livelier. In this new paperback edition, the author has tested more than 150 artists' watercolour paints from six manufacturers, and the results of this exhaustive testing are included here, along with recommendations for the best colours in the palette sections at the end of each chapter. This beautifully illustrated book guides the reader through a world of colours and exquisite flowers and fruit, explaining simple concepts and more advanced colour-mixing theory while exploring the serendipity and beauty of wet-in-wet watercolour painting.

This charmingly illustrated book is an ideal guide to the art of botanical drawing and painting. You should never hesitate to pull a flower apart to understand how it fits together, to turn the subject round until you are satisfied with its position, or to do pencil sketches of it in various positions. From sketching basic shapes and making volumes to creating textures and visualising the colour spectrum, this book is here to teach you how to look and observe, since you can only properly transcribe what you understand. Through step-by-step demonstrations and with colourful illustrations, Agathe Ravet-Haevermans teaches you how to recognise and draw a wide variety of flowers and leaves, and covers the textures and structural elements of a range of different plants including succulents, vegetables, trees and grasses. Practical as well as beautiful, The Art of Botanical Drawing is a necessary addition to the bookshelves of anyone interested in botanical art.

Sunflowers, roses, succulents, ferns, wildflowers - this rich bouquet of postcards features one hundred botanical postcards from ten celebrated artists from around the world. The colorful cards, in our popular postcard box format, are ideal for correspondence or display. A booklet about the artists highlights their creative processes, influences, and favorite houseplants.

Sold in packs of 6. Gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards, blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Our greeting cards are printed on FSC paper and wrapped in biodegradable cellobag, and are themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Lucy Innes Williams is a painter and illustrator with an artistic interest in highly ornate textiles, patterns, and the decorative arts of the early-mid twentieth century. She uses a combination of gouache, watercolour and printmaking.

"This beautifully produced book will be inspiring to botanical artists and all those who are captivated by the orchid." -Leisure Painter Orchids have long held a place of esteem and fascination in the horticultural world. In the 19th century, orchid collecting reached new fanatical heights, with explorers dispatched to every corner of the globe in search of new varieties that could be auctioned at extravagant prices, and orchids are still one of the most popular flowers to breed and buy to this day. These beautiful, diverse flowers are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with over 30,000 species and over 181,500 hybrids and cultivars. The RHS Orchid Committee have commissioned watercolours of over 7,000 award-winning hybrids that demonstrate particular value in their fabulous array of colours, patterns, sizes and shapes. Through these paintings, stories of high stakes orchid breeding and exhibiting are explored, with a cast of characters who helped shape the horticultural world we know today, alongside the dedicated artists who still support their endeavours.

The Botanical Illustrator's Handbook takes a closer look at how to accurately portray the riches of the botanical world. It tackles and explains many of the difficulties that artists encounter so they can extend and expand their choice of subject matter. Written by a respected artist and drawing on her wealth of experience, it offers new insights and a fresh approach to the wonders of botanical illustration. Topics covered include: advice on the labelling and quality of paper, and choice of pencils, paints and brushes; techniques for the mixing and handling of greens; chapters on magnification, managing detail and using scale bars; and finally, instructions for using perspective techniques, and painting complex structures such as pine cones and umbellifers, and tricky details such as hairs.

Scissors and glue stick at the ready... inject a wealth of botanical beauty into your creative projects with this sumptuous collection of images from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew archive. Whether you're looking for vintage botanical ephemera to enhance your journal or scrapbook pages, want to make your own collage art, or simply have a range of botanical elements at your fingertips for gift-wrapping, card-making, vision-boarding and more - this stunning collection will give you over 500 images to cut out and create with, in whatever way you choose. Featuring over 500 images, this book presents a wide variety of botanical art across a range of chapters - from flowers to cacti, fruit and vegetables, and even fungi. The images are printed on one side only so that all images can be used, and each page is backed with lovely botanical patterns that can also be used as paper elements, so no scrap is wasted. Botanical art is as popular today as it has ever been, perhaps even more so, as we all realise the importance of connecting with nature in an increasingly fast-paced world. It has been scientifically proven that even looking at pictures of plants can have a calming effect on the mind, lowering stress levels and supporting relaxation. The same is true of making things by hand - away from screens and digital distractions - and so combining the traditional craft of collage with botanical art is an immensely mindful activity that will benefit all who have a go. Alongside the 500 images, you will find guidance on how to use the book, with collage ideas and tips and tricks for getting the most from this absorbing art form. Cut it up, stick it down and watch your creative projects blossom before your very eyes with this bumper book of botanical illustrations from Kew.

Close-up photos of plump apricots, juicy mangoes, crisp lettuce ... these are familiar to us all through cookery books and garden guides. But seeing fruit and vegetables as detailed art, viewed through eighteenth-century eyes, is something very different - and more interesting. Thanks to intrepid explorers and plant-hunters, Britain and the rest of Europe have long enjoyed a wide and wonderful array of fruit and vegetables. Some wealthy households even created orangeries and glasshouses for tender exotics and special pits in which to raise pineapples, while tomatoes, sweetcorn and runner beans from the New World expanded the culinary repertoire. This wealth of choice attracted interest beyond the kitchen and garden. In the 1730s, a prosperous Bavarian apothecary produced the first volume of a comprehensive A to Z of all available plants, meticulously documented, and lavishly illustrated by botanical artists. 'A Cornucopia of Fruit & Vegetables' is a glimpse into his world. It features exquisite illustrations of the edible plants in his historic treasury, allowing us to enjoy the sight of swan-necked gourds and horned lemons, smile at silkworms hovering over mulberries and delight at the quirkiness of 'strawberry spinach' ... a delicious medley of garden produce and exotics that will capture the imagination of gardeners and art-lovers alike.

Discover a whole new realm of botanical painting - the natural life forms that coexist with flowering plants, revealed in exquisite detail. Traditionally, botanical art has focused on the flowers, leaves and form of plants. They are depicted in solitary glory on a page, divorced from the life forms that live alongside them in nature. But award-winning UK botanical painter, Christina Hart-Davies, believes passionately that flowers are only part of the picture and loves to explore the different stages, related species, habitats and associated creatures that provide their setting in the wild. She looks at plants and other life forms from all angles - scientific, aesthetic and cultural - to tell The Whole Story. Showcasing examples of her most popular works, The Whole Story draws on Christina's long and parallel careers in both art and illustration. Take inspiration from her enthusiasm for the details and beauty of all aspects of the natural world and benefit from her experience as she shares techniques for painting moss and insects as well as advice on composition and lettering. This book will transform your perspective and inspire you to look beyond the flowers.

Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923) painted pictures that critics praised for their ability to exude the fragrance of field flowers and glow with the plumage of birds. Raised in Salem and long residing in Connecticut, she maintained a studio in New York City, where she exhibited her art for over forty years at the National Academy, American Watercolor Society and other prestigious venues. Transforming flower painting from a domestic outlet for female amateurs to a marketable commodity for professionals, she never wavered in her conviction that women had the right to shape independent careers on their own terms. She delineated both cultivated flowers and clumps of weeds with an intensity of focus unmatched by any other artist of her era. Often, she combined plants with local birds to convey a sophisticated understanding of their environmental interaction that encouraged others to appreciate and conserve nature. She made an extended European tour in the 1860s and regular trips to Great Britain in later years but preferred home nature. Assembling a cross-section of her stunning oil paintings, watercolours, chromolithographs and illustrated volumes for the first time, and analysing them against letters, diaries and periodical reviews, Fidelia Bridges combines a recovery of the artist's biography with close readings of her artworks. Living an outwardly conventional life, she embraced the bicycle and later the automobile as vehicles of female liberation, cultivated her garden with the skill of a horticulturalist, and left a lasting pictorial legacy to be found in US public museums and private collections nationwide.

Award-winning artist Harriet de Winton shows you how to create contemporary watercolour artworks to treasure and share. Through more than 30 step-by-step projects, discover how to paint individual flowers and foliage, as well as beautiful botanical compositions. Use your new skills to make art for your wall, unique cards, invitations, or simply paint for pleasure.

Throughout history flowers have been an integral part of human survival and culture - as food, for medicine, to express feelings, as symbols, to commemorate and celebrate, and to decorate. Their shapes, colours, scents and textures have always attracted us, as they do animals and insects. Flowers are used as luxury spices (saffron), and as colouring and flavouring agents - marigolds fed to chickens make eggs more yellow and lavender was Elizabeth I's favourite flavour of jam. Flowers are full of symbolic meaning: violets represent modesty, daises purity and daffodils unrequited love. And they have always played an important role in culture through myths and legends, literature and the decorative arts. This delightful new book brings together 100 of the world's flowers to tell their remarkable stories. Each flower is richly illustrated in colour and accompanied by facts about each species and what role it has played in our culture and history.

In her second book, botanical artist Harriet de Winton shows you how to paint modern watercolour artworks to treasure and share. Picking up where New Botanical Painting left off, this books aims to expand readers' repertoires into fauna as well as flora, with easy-to-follow instructions for a variety of difficulty levels. Through more than 30 step-by-step projects, you'll discover how to paint beautiful butterflies, bumblebees, birds and botanicals from around the world. In the final chapter, you'll find a guide to composing stunning patterns and scenes with your own botanical watercolour creations. Use your new skills to make art for your wall, unique cards, invitations, or simply paint for pleasure. Projects include: Bengal Tiger Chilean Flamingo Prickly Pear Zebra Bumblebee Garden Tiger Moth Peacock White-tailed Deer Polar Bear Arctic Poppy And many more!

An inspirational and beautifully illustrated book that tells the stories of 80 plants from around the globe. In his follow-up to the bestselling Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori takes another trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. From the seemingly familiar tomato and dandelion to the eerie mandrake and Spanish 'moss' of Louisiana, each of these stories is full of surprises. Some have a troubling past, while others have ignited human creativity or enabled whole civilizations to flourish. With a colourful cast of characters all brought to life by illustrator Lucille Clerc, this is a botanical journey of beauty and brilliance. 'A beautiful celebration of the plants and flowers that surround us and a quiet call to arms for change' The Herald 'This charming and beautifully illustrated book takes readers on a voyage of discovery, exploring the many ingenious and surprising uses for plants in modern science and throughout history' Kew Magazine 'With beautiful illustrations from Lucille Clerc, this captivating book traverses the globe via plants: nettles in England, mangoes in India and tulips in the Netherlands' Daily Mail

A highly original collection of high magnification photographs that unlock the hidden beauty of seeds and fruit, from the author of Microsculpture

The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits is a photographic study that celebrates the wonders of nature and science in mind-blowing magnification. Levon Biss’ striking photography captures the breathtaking and beautiful details of the world of carpology, the study of seeds and fruits. Each picture reveals minute features and textures that are normally invisible to the naked eye, providing the audience with an insight into strange and often bizarre adaptations that have evolved over thousands of years. After spending months searching through the carpological collection at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Biss selected over a hundred striking samples to be featured in this book. Captioned with scientific text that provides the backstory for each specimen, The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits is guaranteed to amaze, entertain, and educate.

The characteristics of watercolour naturally complement botanical art and this beautiful book shows you how to make the most of this versatile medium. It starts by guiding you through the complexities of painting flowers, with advice on materials and colour mixing, using colour to achieve translucency and clarity, building confidence with step-by-step examples and the importance of observation and botancial accuracy. It then creates detailed and beautiful compositions for the more experienced botanical artist. This new book has ideas and tips on composition and how to include animal life and is structured by season to include a range of flowers and plants.

An indispensable guide to painting 40 popular flowers in acrylics, perfect for flower artists. This beautiful book is a illustrated directory for acrylic flower artists, revealing how to paint 40 floral subjects, from agapanthus to zinnia, with plant-specific instructions for capturing the unique beauty of each species. All the techniques you will need are clearly explained and demonstrated, from analyzing the shape and structure of flowers to mixing and blending rich luminous colours, laying washes, creating textured effects, and adding highlights. Each featured flower includes information about its distinguishing characteristics, detailed step-by-step instructions, a complete colour palette, mini demonstrations showing special techniques and a stunning full-colour image of a finished painting.

The definitive, comprehensive guide to botanical painting, covering basic botany, plant groups and a scientific approach to the subject. Drawing on her experience as a botanical art teacher, Christina Brodie takes you on a holistic approach to botanical art and expertly covers botanical terminology, drawing and painting techniques in a wide range of media, dissection and examination of plants, fieldwork studies, microscope work and tips on presentation. Through step-by-step projects and with clearly explained techniques, learn to draw and paint flowers, fruit, leaves, stems and roots, trees, fungi, ferns and horsetails, seaweeds and other algae, mosses and lichens with remarkable precision and stunning detail.

This handsome boxed set of notecards features art based on the wild and edible seaweeds of Ireland. The set contains six stunning designs, two of each. Rich colors and bold graphic shapes give a modern edge to a classic subject with timeless naturalist appeal. The box top is textured to evoke the printmaking paper of the original art.

This beautiful book explores the world of colour in the plant kingdom and introduces the artist to effective practical methods of using colour in botanical painting. It focusses on the relevance of making accurate observations of colour in botanical specimens and recognizing the value and importance of using colour theory to achieve successful results. With over 500 images, this elaborately-illustrated guide uses the author's finished artwork, diagrams, and step-by-step tutorials to explain the important role of colour in this compelling genre. This book is a must for all aspiring botanical artists, illustrators and students.

A beautifully designed organiser to keep all your information for contacts, co-workers, family and friends in one place. This stylish and elegantly designed address book has plenty of space to record names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses for everyone you need to stay in touch with. With colour-coded alphabetical sections, a silk ribbon marker and beautiful floral images throughout from the world-famous RHS Lindley Library, this decorative address book makes the perfect gift!