You may have noticed I'm posting less. This is why and what else I've been doing.
It's very much a response to
- a remarkable run of good weather - and a marked preference for being out and about and visiting places we love (mainly gardens!) rather than indoors writing!
- an extremely busy time between May and now with various important exhibitions that I love and meeting up with lots and lots of artists I tend to only see once a year
- getting older - as very busy times - with lots of photography and lots of writing - leave me rather more tired than I'd like
- a need sometimes to take "a breather" - time out from a regular routine for more "head space"
Plus as the school holidays come along, you all disappear on your holidays! So fewer people reading and responding (via Facebook to what I post).
So this is by way of saying I'm going to continue to post through August - but it will continue to be infrequent - before September revs back into action!
Anyway, here's a few photos of what I've been getting up to since May
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| With three of my fellow Judges of the SBA Fellow Art Grant Award at the Society of Botanical Art (SBA) Annual Exhibition Plantae 2025 at a special PV on 27 May |
This week, I've been drafting revised guidelines and application form - for review - for the next SBA Fellow Art Grant Award which opens for applications in September - when, as Head Judge, I give an online talk about it. Which I've yet to write!
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| With Sarah Gardner SBAF - and her painting which was a joint winner of the CPGFS Botanical Art Award - at the PV for Plantae 2025 |
August is also my month off from being Treasurer of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society!
The Society of Botanical Artists' 40th Anniversary exhibition Plantae 2025 is probably the biggest and best botanical art exhibition by an art society that I have seen in years.
- A look back at Plantae 2025 - a 40th anniversary exhibition to remember!
- SBA Plantae 2025: Awards and Certificates + Photos
- SBA Plantae 2025: Sales and pricing for artists
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With two of the RHS Gold Medal Winners Pauline Trim (UK) and Julie Ah-Fa (South Africa) at the RHS Botanical Art Show at the Saatchi Gallery in June |
The RHS Botanical Art Show is always a really major event for me. I've been viewing it (multiple times) and writing about it every year since 2007 - including tips for aspiring future exhibitors. If I say so myself, it's helped raise the profile internationally.
See:
- RHS Botanical Art Show 2025: Awards and Gold Medals
- RHS Botanical Art Show 2025: Silver Gilt and Silver Medals
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| At the Annual Exhibition of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters Downstairs at the Department Store in Brixton in July |
One of my new "must go" exhibitions is the annual exhibition of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters - who include many of the winners of PAOTY and the Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.
See
See
Not got a photo of me at this year's Portrait Award - but that has been, as always, a major exercise for me. Again one of those exhibitions I've been writing about since 2008 - which has helped lead to the massive international profile it now has.
See
I've still got one blog post to do - "my 10 Favourite Portraits" which is why I'm going back tomorrow to see if I've changed my mind....
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| Me at RHS Hyde Hall in July - we've visited a lot of gardens during the sunshine! |
and this is my other half - carrying my bag of plants as we walk back down the Thames to Richmond Station after a day out at Ham House and Garden back in mid June.
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| What I also love doing - walking and being with my other half He gets to carry the plants I've just bought from Ham House Garden as we walk back along the Thames to Richmond Station! |
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