Plantae 2025 - 40th Anniversary Exhibition by the Society of Botanical Artists

For all those interested in botanical art, I've been immersed in Plantae 2025 for the last couple of weeks. This was the 40th Anniversary Exhibition at the Mall Galleries by the Society of Botanical Artists.

Some of the hardworking and amazing team of SBA members who made it all happen

Botanical art largely disappeared off this blog 10 years ago after I developed my Botanical Art and Artists website - which is now #1 in the world for botanical art (coming up to 4 million visits). However I remind people reading this blog about it from time to time! Not least because of the very skilled paintings and drawings produced by very many botanical artists

Plantae 2025 - the Society of Botanical Artists' 40th Anniversary Exhibition

I've compiled various photo albums on Facebook and written three blog posts about it.

These are the blog posts 

Pretty much the same thing as I do for other societies exhibiting at the Mall - with a bit more detail.

• A look back at Plantae 2025 - a 40th anniversary exhibition to remember! (5th June 2025)
• SBA Plantae 2025: Awards and Certificates + Photos (6th June 2025) - so many prizes and awards! Including my own Making A Mark Award.
• SBA Plantae 2025: pricing for botanical artists (11th June 2025) - which looks at their exhibition metrics - and how to improve them.

You can find the albums of photos on my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page

• SBA Plantae 2025 - West Gallery (53 items)
• SBA Plantae 2025 - North Gallery (54 items)
• SBA Plantae 2025 - East Gallery (DLDC / CPGFS / Munstead Wood etc.) (18 items)
• SBA Plantae 2025 - Awards and people with artwork (47 items)

Which have had the most amazing reception internationally.....

An Abundance of Botanical Art over the next few weeks

This last few weeks, last weekend in particular and the next few weeks from the end of May through June are - for me - dominated by BOTANICAL ART.  

This post is about a very busy time for botanical art and artists - and me - with three major exhibitions (two in London) involving international botanical artists and illustrators during May, June and July.

So far we've been 

• celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society (CPGFS) - of which I'm the Treasurer - and holding the AGM (Accounts and Treasurer's Report)
• getting ready for the a display by CPGFS at the exhibition for the 40th anniversary of the Society of Botanical Artists (see below)

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025

Last weekend was The Worldwide Day of Botanical Art - with lots going on around the world. I was at Kew Gardens. (see Over 1,000 attend Worldwide Day of Botanical Art 2025 at Kew Gardens)

View of the part of the activities in the Nash Conservatory at Kew Gardens last Sunday

 

These three are multiple RHS Gold Medal winners

and renowned botanical artists and teachers

About to give the final talk of the day at Kew last Sunday

(L to R) Lucy T Smith, Scientific Botanical Illustrator at Kew Gardens and author of Botanical Sketchbooks: An Artist's Guide to Plant Studies

Ann Swan, a legend in botanical art in coloured pencils, so many people have been taught by her

Julia Trickey who developed a completely novel response during Covid and Julia Trickey Talks just seems to get bigger and better!

This week I've been putting a new page together for my Botanical Art and Artists website covering The Second World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2025. 

• 31 countries around the world - in North and South America, East and West Europe, Africa, Australasia and Asia - all got together and coordinated a celebration of botanical art at the same time
• all celebrating with events and activities on The Worldwide Day of Botanical Art on Sunday 18th May 2025
• organised by a number of botanical art societies and other groups - led and managed predominantly by women (Yay!)
• see Botanical Art Worldwide 2025 - Exhibitions and Events in the UK
• SUMMARISED by me on ONE PAGE of my website!! (See link above. It took 3 days!)

All the Countries participating in Botanical Art Worldwide 2025
- with new countries this year highlighted

Plantae 2025 - Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists

Next week sees the opening of Plantae 2025 - the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - in all three galleries of the Mall Galleries. 

It opens to the public on 28th May and continues daily until 7th June 2025. (10am - 5pm)

OPEN EXHIBITION 2025 REMINDER #2: Other National Art Societies

This is the third of my posts this week about annual open exhibitions of leading national art societies and how you can improve your chances of selling your art.

This post is about the "other" national art societies:

• The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture
• The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts

and the "other" specialist art societies - also exhibiting at the Mall Galleries in 2025

• Society of Graphic Fine Art
• Society of Women Artists
• Society of Botanical Artists

This follows on from my first two posts which were:

• OPEN EXHIBITION 2025 REMINDER #1: (Mall Galleries) - about the call for enries for the open annual exhibitions  by FBA Societies held at the Mall Galleries between January and June 2025
• Pricing your art for Open Exhibitions - a review of a sample of exhibition metrics for 2024 - about what past performance on sales at the annual exhibitions held by FBA Societies on 2025. 

The second post - about pricing - provides some invaluable information about sales in relation to prices across all the FBA societies. It's of much relevance to those submitting artwork for ALL open exhibitions at the Mall Galleries

OTHER NATIONAL ART SOCIETIES

The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture | RSA Annual Exhibition 

• Website: https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/
• Call for Entries: https://royalscottishacademy.oess1.uk/Home/Index/575 
• Regulations: https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/usr/library/documents/main/ox_art_regulations_25_1.pdf
• Open Art FAQs
• International Exhibitor information
• Deadline for Entries: 5pm on 6th February 2025
• Exhibition: 3rd May - 8th June
• Venue: Royal Scottish Academy
• Who can enter: Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.
• What can you enter:
• up to TWO works in any size and in any fine art media.
• Original prints are encouraged but reproductions are not
• all work muse be a living artist and completed in the last 8 years
• all work must be for sale
• NOT previously exhibited in London
• Framed and unframed works are accepted. Latter must be supplied with hanging instructions
• Not Eligible for Entry: 
• No reproductions of original work and 
• no works that have previously been exhibited at the RSA, or any other exhibition in the RSA building,
• Pricing: 
• price of art on submission form is the wall price ie price paid by buyer
• minimum price of £300
• Prints only – framed £180, unframed £120
• 40% commission + VAT charged on all sales
• Entry Fee: 
• Standard: £20 per artwork for a maximum of 2 artworks
• Young person under 26 / Student / Recent Graduate: £10 per artwork for a maximum of 2 artworks
• Hanging Fee: a £10 hanging fee must be paid online at Pre-selection or on delivery of the work in cash.
• Delivery: 
• Artists may not hand in different or substitute works to those that have been pre-selected. 
• Works must be unwrapped before handing to RSA staff and all packing must be removed from the gallery. 
• Work will not be received outside the stated hours.
• Reasons to enter:
• the largest and longest-running annual exhibition of contemporary art and architecture in Scotland
• pre-eminent exhibition for all Scottish artists
• longer exhibition than other national art societies (although not as long as the RA's equivalent of the Summer Exhibition)

PLANTAE 2023 - the Society of Botanical Artists at the Mall Galleries

This week is one of my Botanical Art Weeks - because Plantae 2023, the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists is on at the Mall Galleries this week.

I've been Private Viewing, dining out with lots of botanical artist friends, photographing artwork, writing blog posts etc. Three more to go!

The Private View on Tuesday - apparently c.300 attended

So if you're interested you can see some of what I've been getting up to on

• Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page - which is currently arousing much interest from botanical artists around the world

here's a short excerpt from my first post

1) I’ve been to most of the PVs since 2006 when I started to visit the show (and then review it) and I have NEVER seen as many people at the PV as yesterday evening.
2) I’ve also never seen so many young people at the PV of (any) Art Society PV at the Mall Galleries. It’s really very significant that the SBA has invested in bringing on young artists - and is attracting others!
I understand the SBA Diploma Stand was also doing great business with lots interested!

• my review - Review: Plantae 23 - Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists on my blog News about Botanical ​​Art and for ​Botanical Artists
  

Here's a short excerpt

Here are the headlines for WHAT'S CHANGED

1. fewer artworks on the wall 
2. a much more botanical emphasis
3. more artists from international countries
4. more younger artists exhibiting 
5. many more people at the Private View
6. ​what's missing this year

The general consensus has been that it's a very attractive exhibition with a very high standard of botanical art on the wall - from both a scientific and artistic perspective.

You can see it in the West and North Galleries at the Mall Galleries today and tomorrow (10am - 5pm). However there is no online exhibition and the catalogue has sold out and is being reprinted!

The Making A Mark Award for Botanical Art

I've been highlighting the artwork of artists I like on this blog for years - and I know that is much appreciated. Last year I went one step further and created "The Making A Mark Award - for Botanical Art"!

The Making a Mark Award: a new perspective on Botanical Art

I first introduced "The Making A Mark Award" on my Botanical Art and Artists News Blog in June last year - see Plantae 2022 - and a new Award

Below is how I described the purpose of the award and who would win it

The BRAND NEW Making A Mark Award will allow me to make a cash award to any one (or more) of the following:

• a first time exhibitor at the exhibition who impresses
• people who bring a fresh and different approach to botanical art and illustration
• artwork demonstrating a genuine new perspective on how to portray habitat
• artwork about plants which don't often get illustrated
• drawing excellence - maybe in less used media

In essence, it's about:

• a new perspective on botanical art
• artists who "make their mark" with the artwork they create which catches my eye - because it's excellent and different.

The award comprises:

• a £100 Award
• an interview with the artist which will be written up as an interview on my Botanical Art and Artists News Blog.

I'm actually minded to also produce a similar award for other national art societies.....

 

The winner of the inaugural Making A Mark Award in 2022: 
Inês-Hermione Mulford

Winner of the Inaugural Making A Mark Award
Inês-Hermione Mulford
with her four small graphite drawings of mosses and lichens
(in the grey frames at either side)

Inês-Hermione Mulford won the first award because she fulfilled a number of the criteria I'd identified for the recipient. These were

• she was a first time exhibitor at Plantae 2022 - the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists
• she produced a portfolio of artwork which challenged dimensions at either end of the spectrum
• the nature of her graphite macro drawings of Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) mosses and lichens ticked the box for nearly every criteria

Hence why she won the award.

On her website you can see 

• her Macro Landscape Drawings of Bryophytes and Lichens and 
• her larger Macro Landscape Paintings (one of which is show below).

Dwindling by Inês-Hermione Mulford
(Wooly fringe moss with highland granite and lichen
Oil on 120x120cm Backed Board

An Interview with Inês-Hermione Mulford

Tomorrow my blog post on Botanical Art and Artists you will be able to find my interview with Inês-Hermione which looks at

• how and why she got into art
• how she started drawing plants
• her approach to drawing macro views of bryophytes and lichens
• what lessons she learned from exhibiting with the SBA

Inês-Hermione Mulford is also back at Plantae 2023 at the Mall Galleries NEXT WEEK with another drawing.

One of the first time exhibitors next week will also hopefully be identified as the most appropriate recipient of my the Making A Mark Award for 2023!

Plantae 2023

Plantae 2023 - the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - opens next week. The exhibition includes over 360 artworks by 186 artists.

• Venue: Mall Galleries
• Dates: 
• 16th May from 2.30pm – 5pm and 
• 17th to 20th May from 10am – 5pm daily
• Entry Fee: £5

There are also demonstrations of botanical art as follows. 

Society of Botanical Artists - first online virtual exhibition

Today Plantae 2020 should have opened at the Mall Galleries. Instead the SBA's annual open exhibition opened ONLINE. 

• That's 426 artworks by 221 artists!
• It's probably the biggest ever exhibition of botanical art - even if it is online 
• It will probably get the biggest audience of any botanical art exhibition ever!

I've written very many times about the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists on this blog (see this page for links to the reviews) - until I started my website Botanical Art and Artists and switched to writing about botanical art exhibitions on its news blog.

However every exhibition I've written about has been one I've seen in person and photographed and reviewed.

This year - for the very first time - Plantae 2020 the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists can only be viewed online

However it can also be viewed three ways! You can

• View by Artwork - it starts a slideshow of all the 426 images in the exhibiton (+ music!)
• View by Thumbnails - you can choose which artwork you want to look at. There are 11 pages of thumbnails on my screen. This is what one page of thumbnails looks like.
• View by Artist - you can see all the entries by one artist.

I'll be reviewing the exhibition on Friday - on my Botanical Art News blog - and looking at the artists who got selected for the exhibition tomorrow.

If you enjoy botanical art, you might like to take a look - and maybe come back for more.

A Botanical Art Bonaza - in England, Scotland and Ireland

Making A Mark has been quiet for the past week because I've been diligently writing blog posts about juried open botanical art exhibitions opening in England, Scotland and Ireland - at the same time(!) - on my Botanical Art and Artists News blog

Here's a summary - with some pics - of what's going on in London, Edinburgh and Dublin right now!

ENGLAND: Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA)

the end wall display in the Main Gallery at the Mall Galleries

To date I've written the following posts about "Plantae" the 2019 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists which is an international exhibition with 431 artworks by c.190 botanical artists

It's on at the Mall Galleries until 1pm on Sunday 9th June - with demonstrations of botanical artwork in coloured pencil (today) and painting on vellum (tomorrow).

It's the SBA's first time at the Mall Galleries. Everybody participating and regular visitors are very impressed with the environment and wonderful lighting and how good the artwork looks. Plus the Manager of the Mall Galleries told me on Tuesday night that he knew it was going to be good but it's actually much better!

• Plantae: SBA Annual Exhibition 2019 - Selected Artists profiles most of the c.190 botanical artists whose work was selected for the exhibition - with links to their websites are embedded in their names. (If you're wondering why it's circa it's because it comes out as a different number every time I counted and have up after the third count!)
• Awards - Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition 2019 - includes information and images of the artwork receiving awards and more information about the artists who created them

Winner of the Joyce Cuming Presentation Plate
The Secret World of Potatoes by Lidiya Doukhnevitch (watercolour £1,500)

Coming up next is

• a post about those artists who were awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit - which was judged by Lucy T Smith, who illustrates plants for Kew Gardens.  (These are artists who get judged on science as well as art!)
• finally, the fourth post will be a review of the exhibition as a whole and a commentary on its move to the Mall Galleries. I've been asking people what they think about the new environment.

Incidentally, the SBA raised the bar considerably by putting their exhibition catalogue online and including images of ALL the artwork in the show.

SCOTLAND: Annual Exhibition of Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT)

BISCOT is an acronym for "Botanical Images Scotia". It's annual exhibition of contemporary botanical illustration which

• promotes excellence in botanical painting and illustration.
• gives both national and international artists an opportunity to exhibit in Edinburgh and presents new and original botanical work.

Each exhibitor creates a display of SIX artworks - and the exhibition is open to and attracts international entrants. In this respect BISCOT is the Scottish equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Show in London - and is regarded as the top show in Scotland in terms of awards and prestige.

The BISCOT Exhibition is held annually at

• Gardening Scotland (sponsored by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society) (31 May - 2 June)
• the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) - John Hope Gateway (5-20 June 2019)​

Sansanee Deekrajang (Thailand) won a BISCOT Gold Medal and Best in Show for her Exhibit of Tropical Palms

BISCOT Medal Winners 2019 is about those artists who won their medals a week ago at the Annual BISCOT Exhibition at the Gardening Scotland show at the Ingliston Showground in Edinburgh

This week the exhibition transferred to the John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) where it continues until the 20th June.

I'll be writing another post about this exhibition as it contains a new category - which is the newly launched RBGE Florilegium (see below)

IRELAND: Annual Botanical and Floral Exhibition at Bloom

Iris “Red Rum”” by Siobhan Larkin
Gold Medal and BEST IN SHOW (BOTANICAL)

Last week Ireland's premier juried botanical art exhibition, the 7th Annual ​​Exhibition of Botanical and Floral Art in Bloom opened at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre in Phoenix Park, Dublin - where it remains until the end of June 2019.

Bloom 2019 - Botanical Art Medal Winners is about the award winners in the botanical art side of the Bloom show. Medals for this show are awarded just for one work.

I'm really hoping that at some point Bloom will upgrade to the same type and standard of exhibition as the RHS and BISCOT which both require exhibits of six paintings by each exhibiting artist - and medal judgements are made about the six paintings as a whole.

But maybe that needs to be a different show - linked to and partnered with a Horticultural Society or Botanic Garden. It will almost certainly need to be in a different venue

Three book reviews about Botanical Art and Illustration

On Monday, three new art instruction books arrived and I've been spending this week reading different perspectives on guidance and instruction for those interested in botanical art, painting and illustration - and then writing three book reviews.

The books are:

• Botanical Illustration - The Complete Guide by Leigh Ann Gale 
• Botanical Art with Scientific Illustration by Sarah Jane Humphrey 
• Botanical Painting by Margaret Stevens (with the SBA)

BELOW you can find the links to the three book reviews and a short summary of each.

Links are embedded in the title of the books reviews.  If you want to know more, read the full review on Botanical Art and Artist News

Awards and CBMs at the Society of Botanical Artists Annual Exhibition 2017

This week "Changing Seasons" the 2017 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists opened at Central Hall Westminster in London. Admission is free and it's on every day 11am-5pm until Saturday 21st October.

Entrance to the exhibition - at the end of the Private View

For the last ten years I have reviewed the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists on this blog - see my PAGE dedicated to botanical art and artists and past posts about the SBA exhibition (in the top menu of pages)

In 2015 I set up my new website Botanical Art and Artists - complete with a dedicated news blog.

Two years later it's beginning to rival Making A Mark for numbers of visitors and pageviews AND - according to an Alexa analysis of similar sites - is now the top website for botanical art in the world!

Consequently I now focus my blog posts for the dedicated botanical art fan on that site - however I know there are a lot of fans who have not made the move over.

The Awards Ceremony at the Private View with Jekka McVicar presenting awards

So here for you are the my first two out of three posts about this year's exhibition.

Thursday was the PV and on Friday I posted about the botanical artists receiving Awards - Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition 2017. It includes images of the artwork receiving awards and more information about the artists (links to their websites are embedded in their names).

This morning I've posted about those awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit in Society of Botanical Art 2017 - Certificates of Botanical Merit

My final post tomorrow will  comprise:

• a review of the exhibition as a whole and 
• a commentary on its development over the last decade that I have been writing reviews of this exhibition.

This year it includes 457 artworks covering paintings, drawings, miniatures, fine art prints and botanical ED works in glass and jewellery.

A view of the exhibition which embraces a range of styles and media for portraying plants

So, for those of you who have been reading this week's very popular post about Watercolour paintings of flowers sell well - maybe it's time to find out what you're missing!

You've got a week left to visit this very popular exhibition.

Watercolour paintings of flowers sell well

Flower paintings are hugely popular with the public. Watercolour paintings of flowers also sell well - particularly when executed by experts.

I find it such a pity that leading open exhibitions of watercolour paintings (by the RWS, RI and Sunday Times Watercolour Competition) don't include more paintings of plant life in general and flowers in particular.

I'd love to know why there's a dearth of flower paintings in watercolour shows - when some of the best watercolour painters in the country paint flowers!

I can't help but think that this is down to one of three reasons

• Panels of Judges who don't like, don't understand or don't rate flower or botanical paintings - and don't care what the public like!
• Well regarded flower painters and botanical artists who don't enter open exhibitions and art competitions for watercolour paintings - because their work doesn't get a good reception. (I've heard this story so many times re experiences in the past)
• Or it just doesn't occur to artists who paint flowers to show their work outside a friendly environment - which is typically one which involves a lot of women! (I spend a lot of my time encouraging those who create artwork about plants and flowers to enter open exhibitions and competitions - and those that do generally do well, except when they come up against a panel of judges who make some very odd decisions eg STWC in 2017.)

My own view is it's probably a combination of the above.

This will never change until great flower painters who produce excellent work start entering the open exhibitions of other art societies and art competitions.

Here are two exhibitions in London this week.

Watercolour paintings by Rosie Sanders

The first is the Rosie Sanders: Secret Letters Exhibition at Jonathan Cooper's Park Walk Gallery just off the Fulham Road in Chelsea. (Prices are between £3,800 and £18,000). 16 out of the 26 paintings had sold when I visited on Tuesday this week. More will have sold before the exhibition closes on Saturday.

This is a video of my walk round the exhibition on Tuesday this week.

Rosie is yet another female painter who ALWAYS paints what she loves and ALSO knows how to create and present work which sells (see blog posts at the end re other women who've had virtually sell out shows in the recent past)

As a result Rosie has a solo show at this gallery every 1-2 years. (Note: Jonathan also shows other artists covered on Making A Mark in the past - who have won the BP Portrait Award and the ING Discerning Eye competition)

It's simply not the case that watercolour paintings don't get shown by galleries or, alternatively, don't find buyers (see yesterday's post). The issue is the image that is created and the expertise used in creating that image....

The second exhibition is Changing Seasons - the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists which has its Private View today and opens to the public tomorrow until Saturday 21 October. It's open every day 11am to 5pm and I'm expecting to see some excellent work.

However most of these artists will never dream of showing outside group shows organised by those who understand their work.

I'm off to see this exhibition shortly (it's at Central Hall, Westminster - opposite Westminster Abbey) and will be highlighting prizewinners and reviewing the exhibition on my botanical art news blog on my website Botanical Art and Artists later this week.

[Note: This website is fast catching up with Making A Mark in terms of traffic - because that's how popular this sort of art is!]

Those who are smart can do both exhibitions in one day this week!

More women artists who know how to paint what they love and sell it!

Three more women artists who have organised and held their own solo shows and sold virtually all the work

• Rosa Sepple (President of the RI) - Rosa Sepple sells 50+ paintings in 4 days!
• Jessica Shepherd - Jessica Shepherd paints leaves and sells!

plus another botanical artist who has had a very successful solo show of watercolour paintings of flowers in Chelsea Fiona Strickland exhibition at Park Walk Gallery

All the artists share an ability to understand that they have to create their own future. Others can help them - but they have to make it happen!

Review: SBA Exhibition 2016 - Shape, Pattern and Structure

In this review of the 2016 annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) I'm going to focus on the various art media used for artwork submitted and accepted into the 2016 exhibition.

Sandra Armitage, President of the SBA, with her watercolour paintings

View of the centre of the exhibition

First a number of points of interest relating to the exhibition itself.

• I found I had a lot of difficulty this year in recognising people's work (unless they were doing 'more of the same'). It seems that the theme of 'Shape, Pattern and Structure' really made some people think and they tried drawing and painting new (for them) plants and flowers. Personally I enjoyed people flexing their artistic muscles and doing new things. However I have a lot of empathy for those that didn't meet the challenge. I suspect the image of your chosen subject is in the same place as mine - in your head!
• Next it's worth noting that fewer works were hung this year while the standard of quality work was definitely maintained. In part I understand that more larger works were submitted. What I noticed were more smaller works as well. I think maybe the differential entrance fee - depending on size is tending to produce works at the extremes rather than in the middle!
• However - one thought to ponder on. I went out for lunch recently with Anne-Marie Evans who spoke with conviction about the need for botanical artists to emphasise form as well as accuracy in draughtsmanship and skills in painting.  It's a characteristic of the expert artist. You can't get a 3D feel for a plant unless you can see it and to see it you have to acknowledge in your head that it is there and then seek to work at ways to create 3D through 2D. Ever since the lunch I've found I've been looking at botanical artwork with new eyes - and I have to say she is right! There are some works in the exhibition which are beautifully painted but which lack the form they need and which is clearly evident in the best work. "Is it 3D?" is one of those notes that it's very easy to pin up in your studio and reference on a regular basis!

Not all artwork is conventional or traditional botanical art!

Paintings in different media

Watercolour

The exhibition includes some excellent paintings in watercolour.

Society of Botanical Art 2016 - Certificates of Botanical Merit

The announcement about which artists have won Certificates of Botanical Merit (CBM) comes after the prizes at the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists each year.

I've known more than a few artists who have been more pleased about their CBM than their prize!

Heidi Venamore was awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit for her Acanthus mollis
and then graduated the following day from the SBA Distance Learning Diploma - with Distinction

The expert judge for 2016 was Lucy T. Smith, botanical illustrator employed by the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. She won the Margaret Flockton Award in 2014 and the Jill Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration, awarded by the Linnean Society of London in 2004 .

Lucy awarded the CBMs for images which fulfilled the brief of describing the plant accurately and well rather than according to a strict botanical illustration brief.

Here's some pics of people with their work and/or getting their much prized CBM Certificates.

Polly O'Leary with her work and her Certificate

This is Polly's first Certificate of Botanical Merit and it's unlikely to be her last!

Billy Showell receiving her SIXTH CBM from Dr Stephen Dowbiggin OBE

Billy Showell has won five CBMs prior to 2016 and this is her sixth!  It's also an extremely unusual and very striking painting - which you can see below.

Christiana Webb receiving her CBM from Dr Stephen Dowbiggin

Christiana was also Highly Commended for the Joyce Cuming Award - and an image of this has now been added into yesterday's post - Prizewinners - Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition 2016

As was Margaret Fitzpatrick - seen here turning away after collecting her second award.

Another smiling artist - Margaret Fitzpatrick picks up her CBM.

Certificates of Botanical Merit

The artists who have been awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit in 2016 are below followed by images of their work and/or being presented with their Certificate.

Prizewinners - Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition 2016

This post is about the prizewinners at "Shape, Pattern, Structure" the 2016 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists.  This year there are 573 paintings, drawings and prints, 10 Miniatures and 17 works in three dimensions (glass, sculpture, jewellery).

Julie Whelan won the Margaret Granger Memorial Silver Bowl
for the best painting by a member elected in the previous two years

The show is on at the Central Hall Westminster in London (opposite Westminster Abbey) until 23 April . It's open every day from 11am to 5pm and admission is free.

Details about the demonstrations and tours during this next week are at the end of this post.

the entrance to the SBA "Shape, Pattern and Structure" Exhibition
Watercolour paintings by Sharon Fox are either side of the entrance

Prizewinners

Today this post is about Prizewinners - with a post about those who won the Certificates of Botanical Merit tomorrow.

I'm afraid I'm missing a few images. I had intended to go back on Friday and fill in any gaps I found when I downloaded my photos on Thursday night. However my knee had other ideas and did its very best to try and dislocate and I'm unable to return until my knee brace arrives!  If anybody else has got images of the prizes missing an image please let me know!

The Joyce Cuming Presentation Award

This is probably one of the most prized awards and is a sterling silver Almoner’s plate which is a legacy from Joyce Cuming. The winner also receives a certificate. Judges also produce a list of people who were Highly Commended during the selection process.

This year the prize is awarded to Janet Pope who was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness.

Exhibit by Janet Pope SBA

Those identified as highly commended for this award are:

• Marta Chirino GM SBA - for Luronium natans and Callitriche palustris
• Guy William Eves SBA FCPGFS CBM for Polystichum setiferum (pencil)
• Margaret J. Fitzpatrick DipAD SBA FCPGFS for Primula Vulgaris
• Christiana Webb GM GM for Kelp and Bladderwrack
• Dawn Wright CertBI for Landurrows's Little Treasures
• Eun Young Song  Helianthocereus macrogonus cv. crista

Botanical illustration of Spanish Aquatic Flora by Marta Chirico
ink on polyester paper (3 x £650)

Dawn Wright with her painting of Landurrows's Little Treasures
Her other paintings are in the column to the right

Kelp and Bladderwrack by Christiana Webb

The Margaret Granger Memorial Silver Bowl

This award is given in memory of Margaret Granger for the best picture by a member elected in the last two years. As a prize it's an excellent incentive for a new member to create a memorable impression.

The 2016 winner is Julie Whelan SBA who was accepted as a full member of the SBA this year. (see below and the picture at top). Julie's paintings are most unusual as they form the basis of a pattern repeat using botanical art as the motif.

Private View - Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists

This is where I am today - at the Private View of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA).

The exhibition is in the Aldersgate Suite at Central Hall Westminster - opposite the West Door to Westminster Abbey. You'll see a great big SBA banner hanging outside the entrance door!

It opens to the public tomorrow and is open every day until the 23rd April between 11am and 5pm. Entry is free.

Below are a couple of my works which are in the show.  There will also be some 600+ other works for botanical art fans - in various media but predominantly watercolour and coloured pencils - plus a display of the work by the students on the SBA's Distance Learning Diploma Course.

It's a very sociable and friendly exhibition - with lots of demonstrations and opportunities to take a tour of the exhibition.

Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) - bud and bloom
coloured pencils, 13" x 11"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The interesting spotty pattern on the lotus bloom is due to the fact that I completely forgot that I need to dress in something dark without a pattern when taking photos of glazed works!

Nopal de Cerro (Opuntia lasicantha)
coloured pencils, 14" x 14"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Fabriano, R K Burt and St Cuthberts Mill - and fine art watercolour paper for precision painting

The HP surfaces of Fabriano Artistico and Fabriano 5 have changed. (The latter being the paper which is used in the RKB FatPad) .

A number of botanical watercolour artists have recently reported that they have noticed changes to the robustness and performance of the surface of their Hot Press paper from Fabriano. This was also reported by Jacksons in its recent blog post Fabriano 5 Paper Texture Change.

The explanation seems to be mechanical. Fabriano Paper Mills have won a contract to produce a new paper. This means they've changed the settings on the machine which produces the new paper AND the fine art watercolour papers

While such a change in machine settings is very unlikely to be noticed by those using Rough or Not surfaces - this is not the case for those using Hot Press paper. When you are an artist who's looking for the smoothest watercolour paper known to Botanical Artists, there's more than a few who can easily detect any difference in quality very quickly!

However I am beginning to wonder if it is solely the change in the machine setting that is behind the problems being experienced....

About Fabriano Watercolour Paper 

Below are some examples of comments that botanical artists have been making. I'm not going to identify the artists other than to say these are people:

• who care hugely about the HP surfaces they use as it makes a massive difference to the very precise paintings they produce
• who are very experienced watercolour painters, who have been painting in the exact same way for some time. When using their own particular techniques they spot very quickly when a paper has changed.
• who do not make things up!  
• who return paper or stop buying it when it does not perform as per usual!

About the Artistico

The paper is mould made with 100% cotton, chlorine and acid free and archival. It is sized both internally and externally. It comes in two colours Traditional White (an ivory shade) and Extra White (white with a very pale cream tint) which are both made without any optical bleaching. It has two deckle edges and is watermarked “FABRIANO+ARTISTICO” on the short side.

It's available as both sheets (56 x 76cm and 75 x 105cm)  and and as glued blocks.

My pad of Fabriano Artistico HP Extra White 140lb

Recent comments from artists have included:

I always use both the light (140lb) and heavy (300lb) and have had the same problem, in fact I have returned some of the heavy to the importer. I found an old batch and it was beautifully smooth but the latest purchase is fluffy and although I can work it ok it is not as nice and damages easily. I think they have made a huge dodgy batch and sent it out so I will be checking it thoroughly from now on. (December 2015 - user of both weights of Artistico)

I'm having terrible trouble with the 'new' Fabriano paper and looking for an alternative heavy weight paper that's as smooth as the old stuff. (March 2016 - user of 300lb / 640gsm2 paper)

About the Fabiano 5 (also used in the RKB FatPad)

RKB FatPad - Fabriano Classico 5

The paper is mould made, acid free and comprises 50% cotton and 50% other raw material.

I have always used Fabriano fat pad 140 lb and recently I have found that if I have to wash anything out I have to be so careful as the surface of the paper just breaks up .... I actually had to abandon 1 painting when just taking highlights out of leaves. It looked as though I'd been scrubbing at it for hours. It never used to be like that. (December 2015)

I've found" BITS "coming off the surface &! Only using the first layer of paint & not very wet either (February 2016)

About the complaints

Adverse comments and complaints are tending to come from those who have bought in new stock in the last few months. Obviously those artists who are still working off 'old stock' or buying from suppliers still holding 'old stock' will not yet have noticed a difference.