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This post contains interviews with five artists who won RHS Gold Medals for their botanical art in 2016.
I've been writing about the RHS Botanical Art Shows on this blog since 2007. In future, all my reviews about the RHS Botanical Art Shows and interviews with the artists will be on the blog on my dedicated website Botanical Art and Artists. (This has grown traffic fast and now gets two-thirds of the traffic that Making A Mark gets. Also, Alexa's 'similar sites' tool now ranks it as the top website in the world for botanical art!)
Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medallists in 2016
Now for the explanation behind this post!
In 2016, there were 13 Gold Medallists and I had to really rethink my normal strategy of including all the interviews with Gold Medallists in one blog post.
After the show, I wrote a number of blog posts about:
Then added their photos and mini-bios to my website pages about Botanical Artists in the UK and Europe and Asia and Australia and Africa....
....and completely FORGOT (I was pooped!) to write up the interviews with the five artists winning Gold Medals who lived in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK! Whoops!
This is the second in a short series of short interviews I did with the RHS Gold Medal winners for Botanical Art earlier this year.
These interview posts have been very popular with botanical artists around the world and the first this year was with the RHS Gold medal winners from Asia.
I've amended the latter post to include Akiko Enokido and her display of Classical Camellia Japonica. I had thought she was living in the USA but has in fact returned to live in Japan.
My next post in this series will be about the UK and European artists who won RHS gold Medals at this year's show.
Julie Nettletonwon the award for the Best Botanical Painting: Xanthorrhoea resinosa Pers., Grass Three with Antechinus Stuartii, Brown Antechinus which you can see behind Julie in the photograph below.Her painting includes a tiny marsupial mouse.
Julie Nettleton with her Gold Medal winning exhibit of Xanthorroea (Grass Trees)
at the 2016 RHS London Botanical Art Show.
She won Best Painting in Show for "Xanthorrhoea and marsupial mouse"
Her display told the life story of ‘Xanthorrhoea sp., Grass Trees’. They're called this because they develop a trunk from the base of old leaves and can grow to about 2 metres high. Xanthorrhoea are Australian native plants that can grow for hundreds of years because they have can survive fires.
‘Xanthorrhoea sp., Grass Trees’ - a Gold Medal winning display by Julie Nettleton
The particular ones which Julie has been painting all grow in a small area of protected bushland scrub within the North Head Sanctuary at North Head (on the north side of the entrance into Sydney Harbour - the one on the left as the ferry turns left for Manly!).
Her display tells the life story of the grass tree and includes:
a plant with a new spike,
two spikes growing taller and the flowers beginning to form,
a close-up of the flowers on the tip of the spike,
a view of the grass tree minus spike but including its skirt of old grasses,
the tree minus the skirt after it's been through a bush fire - revealing the 'trunk' of the grass tree. Plus a mouse which lives in the grass
Finally a grass tree which has recently experienced fire and has no grass - but reveals its structure and interior.
What I particularly liked was that the artwork was extremely well designed as a whole and then within each artwork. This is undoubtedly due in part to Julie's training and background as an interior designer.
Sandra Sanger (Melbourne, Victoria)
This is Sandra Sanger's fourth RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal (previous wins were in 2008, 2010 and 2013) and this year it was for her display of ‘Orchids: Paphiopedilum and Australian Natives’.
Sandra Sanger and two of her paintings of Orchids: Paphiopedilum and Australian Natives
The Orchid Show is no longer exhibiting at the same time as the Botanical Art as happened last time Sandra exhibited with the RHS in 2013.
Sandra commented that the great advantage of orchids from a botanical art perspective is that they last for months and progress slowly as they open.
You would think that once you've won four Gold Medals that you might be able to rest on your laurels. However Sandra is a refreshing example of the artist as a constant student!
She is a great enthusiast for continuing to learn about how to paint botanical art. She goes to a minimum of two classes each year and likes taking Master Classes with more than one teacher. She finds she always learns something she didn't know before. She's also a big fan of meeting up with groups of other botanical artists and painting together.
Sandra is a very experienced exhibitor and has shown in a large number of shows in Australia as well as the RHS.
She puts a lot of emphasis into thinking about her presentation and how her work is mounted and presented. In terms of thinking about layout of her work she always works on the floor and looks at how the works relate to one another and flow across the wall in terms of both structure and colour.
In terms of travel, her framer mounts her work and then packs it into a special case for her. He cuts the correct sized shape in foam rubber so that the paintings have a good buffer against jolts and shocks during transport and also cannot move inside the case.
Margaret de Villiers with her display of seven Ericas of the Western Cape Fynbos
Her subject matter is a continuation of her massive and major project to record all the Ericas of the Western Cape Fynbos!
(NOTE: Fynbos means "fine bush". It's the popular generic name for the varied “fine-leafed” plants. 9,300 of the 30,000 species being indigenous and unique only to the Western Cape region of South Africa - this link is to information about the Fynbos Biome).
Fynbos, or the Cape Floral Kingdom, is the smallest of the worlds six plant kingdoms, covering only 0.4% of the earth’s surface. According to its size it is the most species-rich plant kingdom, consisting of some 8600 species, of which 68% occur nowhere else in the world.
Margaret told me that there are over 800 Ericas in the world and 400 of them can be found in the mountains of South Africa. Her view is that it's impossible for a photograph to carry the amount of information contained in one of her paintings - which is of course one of the main reasons why botanical illustration continues to be regarded as important even in the age of the camera.
Margaret is painting to teach and to tell a story about a unique area of flora!
I hadn't realised until I got home after my first interview with Margaret at her first show in 2013 that Ericas from South Africa had been a theme of paintings by Franz Bauer during his time at Kew Gardens as 'Botanick Painter to His Majesty'. Margaret uses the classical approach pioneered by Bauer of painting the plant as the major image - but then also including all the dissections and the images of the differentiating characteristics along the bottom edge of the painting. It's an excellent approach for including all the information required.
Classical Bauer approach to recording Ericas of the Western Cape Fynbos by Margaret de Villiers GM
Many of the Ericas that she paints are brought to her by local people who know she wants specimens to record. Her preference is to see how they grow on location - she needs to find out what sort of vegetation they grow alongside. However carrying a sticky erica down a mountain is apparently not an easy job! She tends to take a bottle with a little bit of water.
When she takes a specimen she takes a photo and then works her way through a checklist of things she needs to record to capture the differentiating characteristics of each Erica.
She was keen to emphasise that she has the support of a small army of amateur botanists and she regards her Gold Medal as belonging to the whole team associated with the project.
It's a sentiment I've heard from other botanical artists in the past and I'll doubtless will again.
You can take a look at the art which has won a Gold medal in previous years in my blog posts below. The first set is about tips I've had from Gold Medal winning artists. The second set are interviews with those same artists. Both show images from the shows.
This is the first of my blog posts about my interviews with 12 of the 13 botanical artists who won a Gold Medal at the 2016 RHS London Botanical Art Show at the end of last month (27-28 February 2016). [UPDATE: Now includes an interview with Akiko Enikodo]
Best Exhibit in RHS London Botanical Art Show (February 2016) Tillandsia by Mariko Aikawa
The painting second from the left was bought by the RHS for the RHS Lindley Library.
I've decided to divide up the gold medal winners by geography. Thus this first post covers the FIVE Asian artists namely:
Mariko Aikawa - Tillandsia
Sansanee Deekrajang - Tropical Climate plants
Akiko Enokido - Classical Camellia Japonica
Hiromi Hyogo - Leguminous plants
Chiyoko Ohmi - Paulownia tomentosa
I've also updated the page devoted to leading botanical artists from Asia on my website - including a new section about leading botanical artists in Thailand.
Mariko Aikawa GM with the two largest of her display of six paintings of TillandsiaCopyright: artwork - Mariko Aikawa photograph - Katherine Tyrrell
Mariko Aikawa's display of paintings of Tillandsia (air plants) won the Best Exhibit in Show Award. The painting on the left was bought by the RHS for the Lindley Library and she sold at least four of her other five paintings. Having the best exhibit of a plant which is not often seen at the RHS Show can also be financially rewarding!
What I liked about her display was that it was very coherent in terms of the colour palette and how the individual images were arranged - and she also painted some big paintings! At the same time it was clear how each plant was different from the next. Overall it was a very graceful and aesthetically pleasing exhibit as well as being informative in a botanical context. I also very much liked the fact that her labels were printed with a font size which made them very easy to read.
Tillandsia is a genus of around 730 species of evergreen, perennial flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, native to the forests, mountains and deserts of Central and South America, the southern United States and the West Indies.
She began botanical illustration in 2004 - and became a member of the SBA in 2009.
Her subject for her display was a bit of a challenge. I don't think I've ever seen a display of air plants at the RHS before. The plants are very rare in Japan, very expensive to buy, and they bloom and bear fruit only once in their lifetime. It can take 2-3 years but can also take between 5-10 years for the flower spike to develop - plus they tend to grow in the tops of trees! They have no roots but are not really parasitic as there is connection to the host they use for support. Other plants are merely used as a kind of trellis!
She bought some of her air plants and then borrowed others from friend who was a collector of bromeliads.
She prefers to work on Fabriano Artistico Extra White HP 638g/m² (300lb). She paints using a lot of water at the beginning - and drops the paint on to the very wet surface. She then uses a dry brush technique to paint the texture. At present she uses Winsor & Newton (old stock) but also likes Da Vinci paints
Initially I misplaced my catalogue and notes and then subsequently I was distracted (much loved cats dying etc.) and just plain forgot to write it up - so I'm now remedying the error as the RHS Botanical Art Show 2016 is almost upon us!
Below are the images and information about the artists that won an RHS Hold Medal. Also, at the end I have:
my observations about the show
TIPS for potential exhibitors from Gillian Barlow, Chair of the RHS Picture Committee
Hideo Horikoshi - winner of the Best Painting in the RHS Botanical Art Show 2015 for Apiaceae Daucus carota ‘Kintokininjin’
The 2016 show will be held from 26-27 February 2016 at the RHS Lindley Hall. As a member of the RHS I've already ordered my ticket online and printed it off and it's pinned to the wall just above my iMac! You too can book tickets for this show.
RHS Botanical Art 2015 - Six Gold Medal Winners
All the Gold Medals except one went to international artists with four going to Japanese artists. Scotland also did well with Kathy Pickles from the Orkney Islands picking up her sixth Gold Medal (1991-94, 1996, 2015) and Turkish artist Gulnar Eksi, who has worked as a botanical artist for the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, also picked up another Gold Medal for one of the RGBE's major projects.
This in part explains why this particular review of the show (compared to others - see end) is much less focused on interviews with the GM-winning artists.
Kumiko Takana's paintings displayed a wonderful sense of design both within each painting and across the display as a whole. The habit exhibited by these plants came across very strongly in terms of the way each plant was shown.
Winner of Best Painting
Hideo Horikoshi. (Japan) Traditional Root and Tuber Crops in Japan
You can also see a great write-up of the exhibition - and more photos - on Shevaun Doherty's blog post Bloom 2015
The links in the artist's names are to their websites or blogs. Some artists have won more than one medal in which case the link is in the name next to the highest ranking medal and not in the others.
Many thanks to Shevaun Doherty for permission to use her photographs.
Botanical Illustration
Best in Show (Botanical Art)
Iris by Siobhan O'Larkin
Best in Show
Siobhan M Larkin - Iris
Shevaun Doherty and the dates which won a Gold Medal
I referred in A new botanical art blog and two botanical art shows to the basics of what you need to know to submit work for next year's exhibition. I'll add in the URL and/or the contact person when I find out who this is.
I wrote to Hazel Morris, the BISCOT Artist Co-ordinator to find out more about the history of the exhibition, how it fits into the structure of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society (RCHS) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh PLUS how people can submit work for exhibition.
You can find her explanation below which I've edited for this blog. Any mistakes are all mine!
I've also summarised the rules and regulations and other information about how to enter at the end
BISCOT (Botanical Images Scotia) medal winners 2015
I don't have any images of the exhibition. I'll add them in here if I get any.
I've met Hye Woo Shin on a couple of occasions at RHS exhibitions. She's a delightful lady who produces absolutely stunning botanical art and amazing presentations. I'm not in the least bit surprised to hear she's won Best in Show.
In the absence of any images from the show I've included the last photograph I took of her a year ago in the Lindley Hall in London when she also won a Gold Medal and Best Exhibit in Show
this one is about the prizewinners (links in the artists' names are to their websites) and
the events in the gallery - which focus on members who are going to be demonstrating, showing their sketchbooks, giving tours of the exhibition or just answering any queries people may have. All events are free with admission to the exhibition
and, if you're interested in exhibiting with the RI you can find links to my reviews of previous exhibitions at the end.
Four and half hours into The Private View yesterday and it's still busy!
The exhibition is, as usual, a very good standard. More importantly, this is very clearly an art society which likes exhibiting paintings which look like they were painted with the use of water! While there are some works in acrylic, most are painted using proper watercolour paint and a few also use gouache. I'm a big fan of watercolour paintings and I like this exhibition!
The bonus for those coming to London to see the exhibition is that they can see two exhibitions by watercolour art societies at the same time as the Spring Exhibition by members of the Royal Watercolour Society opens on Friday
The RI exhibition at the Mall Galleries is the larger of the two. If your first love is watercolour and you plan to visit both, I definitely recommend you start with the RI exhibition as the RWS exhibition is more a "works done by RWS members - including other media" than a watercolour show per se.
The exhibition opened to the public today (25 March) and continues until 11th April and is open from 10am to 5pm daily. The price of admission is £3.00; £2.50 concessions, (Free to Friends of Mall Galleries, National Art Pass holders and under 18s).
Prizewinners
This is an art society which doesn't award all its prizes to members. A number of artists whose work was selected via the open entry were also selected to receive an award.
President Andy Wood PRI presenting Turner Medal to Deborah Walker RI
Photo courtesy Ted Sepple
Deborah Walker RIwon three prizes - including the Turner Medal at the Awards Ceremony yesterday. Her large painting 'Detail' was responsible for all these prizes and is currently enjoying pride of place in the middle of the end wall of the West Gallery. It took a long time to get this photo because of the number of people studying it - inscribed into the painting are lots of notes which are partially readable.
Detail by Deborah Walker
Her three prizes were:
The Turner Medal(a medal, in honour of Turner, awarded to a member of the RI and the RWS on an annual basis)
In 1856 J. M. W. Turner bequeathed the sum of £20,000 pounds for a gold medal for landscape painting. From 1859 until 2008 the Royal Academy awarded the Turner Medal every two years at their Summer Exhibition. Since then the award of this much prized Medal is an annual event jointly organised by the two senior royal watercolour societies; one is given to a member of the RI and the other to the RWS. Only two medals are struck (from bronze) each year and are engraved with the year of their making.
The Escoda Barcelona Award (A set of Escoda Brushes for an outstanding landscape painting) and
the Anthony J. Lester Art Critic Award(an outstanding artwork chosen by the art critic and broadcaster)
Deborah's background is she was awarded a first class honours degree in Fine Art from De Montfort University in 1985 and was in April 2011 was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. You can follow her on Twitter @DebWalkerRI
This week three artists won RHS Gold Medals for their Botanical Art at the Royal Horticultural Society's Shades of Autumn Show in the Lindley Hall in London.
Denise Ramsay GM with the first three paintings in her series of six paintings of the Papaver Orientale
A Brilliant Life - Faded Glory by Denise Ramsay GM
Papaver orientale ‘Brilliant’ - Scale 1:3
Watercolour on paper 640gsm, 2014
71 cm x 67 cm (28" x 26 1/2")
(Collection: Dr Shirley Sherwood)
Denise Ramsay was a first time RHS exhibitor - and sold her first painting to Dr Shirley Sherwood at the show. This was before she also sold the rest of her series to Dr Sherwood after the show!
Her series of six paintings - A Brilliant Life - of Papaver Orientale is extraordinarily impressive. Her paintings are so well constructed and have enormous impact. They paintings almost appear as if they are 3D.
Prior to completing her suite of work she had studied, via distance learning, for the Society of Botanical Artist's Diploma in Botanical Illustration and gained a Distinction.
Laura is a Fellow of the Eden Project Florilegium Society and after her first Gold Medal she started to painted Aristolochias for the Society. She loved painting them so much she started looking for some more and started to contact other Botanic Gardens in Cambridge and Oxford.
Laura Silburn GM with three of her watercolour paintings of Aristolochias of British Botanic Gardens
Laura is viewing her two paintings which were purchased by Dr Shirley Sherwood
Aristolochias use a pollination trap mechanism in order to use insects to pollinate their flowers. They have evolved weird and wonderful flowers in order to do this. Often mimicking carrion, they look bizarre, some say sinister, but I find them captivating.
Laura Silburn
Check out an article by Laura in the September 2014 edition of The Plantsman - Painting Hardy Geraniums (pdf file) is available to read online or download from the RHS website. In this she explains her working practices and how she develops her artwork from measurements, drawings of how the plant is constructed, sketches and thumbnails and colour samples to the finished painting.
Laura Silburn's article about how botanical art is composed and executed
in the September 2014 edition of The Plantsman
Ruth has exhibited with the RHS previously, winning silver medals on both occasions.
However she has only been painting botanical art for four years and is mostly self-taught.
Her display was very 'quiet' compared to some of the others but very impressive for all that.
Yet More "Top Tips" for winning an RHS Gold Medal!
Regular readers will know that over the past few years, I've asked all the RHS Gold Medallists (exhibiting in London) over the past few years for tips and techniques with respect to both the creation of their exhibit and its presentation.
Here are a few more. You can find links to previous "top tips" from the Gold Medallists at previous exhibitions listed at the end.
TIP: Think about the scope to be innovative and contemporary
One of the comments I heard from a few exhibitors is that Judges are encouraging innovation and looking for high standards of contemporary botanical art. I guess I've got this one labelled as "The Rory McEwen Factor" - how can you advance the art of botanical art?
For example, I think Denise's series is an excellent example of how to tell the botanical story of a plant over six paintings rather than showing all the elements of its life in one painting.
TIP: Have a Project in Mind and take your time
Working out what plants or species to tackle and then how to approach it is probably one of the most challenging parts of the process of creating an RHS Exhibit. Don't under-estimate the amount of time needed to think this through prior to making a choice.
In general two years are required for a submission. You need a complete life cycle - and the plants need to "perform" re flowering and fruiting. It's possible to do it in one cycle but two years makes it easier to maximise your chances of the best possible result.
Gold Medal winners emphasised that there's a lot of preparatory work involved in putting a submission together. In Laura's opinion, by the time you sit down to start the paintings you're probably already halfway through the project in terms of the hours of work for the entire project.
There's no point in having perfect brushstrokes if composition is no good or you're not showing the parts of the plant which matters.
TIP: Check out National Collections and Botanic Gardens local to you
Finding quality plants can be a challenge. Two great sources are Botanic Gardens and National Plant Collections - used by two of the Gold Medallists at this show.
Laura Silburn found that the Botanic Gardens she approached had friendly Botanists who helped her get to know the range of plants
All of the Irises in Ruth's exhibit came from the same place - Aulden Farm which hosts the National Collection of Siberian Irises. The farm in Herefordshire is very close to where Ruth lives in Powys - just across the border in Wales. This made it much easier to come and go to collect specimens. Ruth emphasised that the specimens she has painted are a small proportion of those available.
Why not check out whether you have any National Collections of Plants located close to where you live?
Three more watercolour paintings of Aristolochias of British Botanic Gardens by Laura Silburn GM
TIP: Keep the same external dimensions
Ruth Kirkby's paintings were all one panel. Interestingly she kept the external dimensions identical for all paintings - and then varied the internal dimensions. There are some very subtle differences in margins - however the same external size for the six smaller paintings gives them a much better unity and better presentation across the exhibit as a whole.
I recommend that you always think about the overall presentation and the size of the painting and how it will be matted BEFORE you start to paint.
Ruth Kirkby with her exhibition of seven watercolour paintings of Iris Sibirica (Siberian Iris)
TIP: Paint more than you need
Ruth had painted ten paintings and was able to bring the best seven to the show. If you have the time and you are dedicated to pursuing a particular species it's great if you can select the best of those you have painted to take to the RHS Show.
TIP: Think about your pricing
Artists can sell their artwork at this exhibition. Ruth's smaller works were selling well - and in part that was probably because of the price. Pricing for art varies around the country and naturally varies between different sizes. Do some research about prices typically paid top notch botanical art sells for in London - or enjoy giving botanical art collectors a bargain!
TIP: Find a good Tutor
A lot of botanical artists are self-taught. At least two of the Gold Medallists at this show have had the benefit of being taught by tutors who are themselves RHS Gold Medal winners and who can recognise whether their student has reached the standard of work which merits applying for a place in an RHS Botanical art Exhibition. Both Denise and Ruth were encouraged by their tutors to make a submission.
7 Gold Medal Winners at RHS Botanical Art 2012 17 Mar 2012 - On Friday afternoon I met four of the seven gold medal winners at the RHS Botanical Art Show which was held in the Lindley Hall in London on 16-17th March.
Gold Medal winning Exhibit of Parasitic Plants in Situ with the Host Plant by Lynda de Wet
The painting second from left with the red spot was bought for the collection kept at the RHS Lindley Library
Last year the tips highlighted were as follows
1. Only submit top notch work
2. Find a Helpful Grower
3. Never ever forget that the RHS is a Horticultural Society
4. Get the Botany right - know what to show and highlight
5. Practice to achieve top quality
6. Size your work to fit the Panels
7. Have a good team behind you
8. Take care with your presentation
9. Start very early!
10. You need many more business cards than you think possible!
Işık Güner with her painting of Gunnera which won
Best Painting in RHS Botanical Art Show 2014
This one came from the winner of both a Gold Medal and Best Painting in the show Işık Güner.
She thinks artists can work really long hours on a project when they truly enjoy what they do. Having the right subject can make for a really relaxed and meditative time and really make you happy!
I have to say I'm very much in agreement with this. There has to be an emotional connection between subject, media and artist for an artist to achieve their best work. Plus when tackling a long complex project it's always best if you love your subject!
TIP #1: Truly enjoy what you do
2. Do not rush!
This one is the result of various comments from different people. Some of the exhibits had a long gestation period while artists collected all the material they needed BEFORE they settled down to paint. They emphasised the real importance and positive impact of very thorough preparation.
There are two important aspects of artwork in the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition - the artwork and its presentation. The latter is very important - as discussed below.
Poor presentation will certainly lose you marks and downgrade the level of medal that might be achieved by the paintings exhibited.
So here are 15 top tips culled from the Gold Medal winning exhibitors this year (and in previous years).
[Note: I've spent the last two days at the RHS Botanical Art Show in the Lindley Hall in Westminster. This is the first of my blog posts about this show. I've got at least two more planned this coming week relating to More Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal and interviews with all six RHS Gold Medallists.]
Part of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2014
1. Presentation matters
Presentation really matters - a lot! These are the criteria used by the RHS when assessing an exhibit. They include (and I've highlighted in bold) points which are particularly relevant to presentation
Below you can find a list of the awards made this morning at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2014 at the RHS Horticultural Halls in Westminster. The exhibition continues tomorrow.
Olivia Chambers - Roots, Shoots, Stems and Flowers
I'll be doing more posts about the show - including interviews with the RHS Gold Medal Winners and top tips for producing botanical art.
If you'd like to be alerted when these are posted you can subscribe to this blog (see side column).
More about Botanical Art
Işık Güner and Fran Thomas talk to Julia Trickey about watercolour paints - Julia is using Daniel Smith for the demonstration
Pop Up Studio at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition - six artists demonstrate how they make art from botanical subject matter - including multiple Gold Medal winning artists Ann Swan and Julia Trickey
Ten Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art 14 Apr 2013 - Have you ever wondered whether your artwork is good enough to submit to the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition; Have you got the stage where you've started to wonder about the logistics of what's involved in submitting an entry?
You can find more resources about Botanical Art in my resources for artists websites:
Botanical Art - Resources for Artists This site shares information about botanical art - societies, collections, books and other resources which support the development of botanical art. It also links to leading botanical artists in the past and present..
Makingamark's Botanical Art Compendium This is a compendium of all the sites about botanical artists and botanical art as resources for both artists and botanical art lovers.
The key themes for me this year were very evident very quickly
The first is the perennial one - which is that Gold Medal Winning botanical artwork ALWAYS stands out. For those aspiring to win Gold it's worth reflecting on what it takes for your artwork to be "stand out". Often it's a clear and consistent theme which looks good on the display panels and doesn't look like anybody else's work.
First time exhibitors do win Gold Medals. In this instance 50% went to first timers. I suggested in my last post that feedback from the RHS suggested that aming for a Gold Medal Standard for your first entry is absolutely essential if you want to exhibit more than once!
Painting flowers nicely isn't enough. There's a clear and strong botanical science theme running through the stories of many of the new Gold Medal Winners. Dissection and the portrayal of the complete plant and life cycle should be high on the agenda of any aspiring Gold Medal winner
Personal connections with plants they were portraying came through strongly with a number of the gold medal winners. You've got to at the very least love the plant you paint!
a number of artists made a point of highlighting how much they owe to their teacher. It's certainly worthwhile making sure you get top instruction if you are able to.
you don't have to be good at everything but you generally need to be good at something in addition besides painting! That might be plant collection - or finding a good grower, great presentation or great dissection. Keep adding to your repertoire and you strengthen your case to win a Gold.
I think Fabriano should be sponsoring a prize at this show given the number of times their paper gets a mention!
The other thing to note is how many of the gold Medallists are first timers. They're listed below by order of surname.
She commented that the feedback she had from the judges suggested they particularly liked the colour she had achieved and the three dimensional quality of her paintings.
I asked Gülnar what materials she used.
Her paper is Fabriano 5. For her absolutely stunning pinks she uses Winsor & Newton Colours and in particular Permanent Rose, Opera Rose, Permanent Magenta and Alizarin Crimson.
She showed me an area of leaf shine and said she never ever lifts paint out. She never paints the area and then just uses water to blur the edges
