Cedric Morris at Philip Mould Gallery

I gather that a number of people have now been to see "Garden to Canvas - Cedric Morris and Benton End" at the Philip Mould Gallery at 18-19 Pall Mall (immediately opposite the Reform Club!) until 18th June 2025 - and liked it very much!

Garden to Canvas - Cedric Morris and Benton End

I saw it on Tuesday morning this week. The oil paintings are well worth viewing in terms of an artist who loved his plants and loved painting them. They also have enormous impact.

Benton End - his house and garden were also home to the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing established in 1937, which Lucian Freud joined in 1939.

Guest-curated by James Horner, Head Gardener at Benton End, the exhibition brings together works that have played a key role in the revival of Morris’s historic Suffolk garden.

Benton End, a sixteenth-century house near Hadleigh, was the home of Morris and his lifelong partner Arthur Lett-Haines (1894–1978). From this remarkable setting, the pair ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing – a place where art, horticulture, and community thrived side by side. With its free-flowing spirit, open-minded ethos, and rejection of academic conventions, Benton End became a haven for creative freedom. Many artists, including a young Lucian Freud, acknowledged that it was here where their true artistic identities first took root.

The works to revive the garden have been ongoing for some time and there's about another year to go. We have mentally made a date to visit Benton End - now a subsidiary of the Garden Museum - in Spring 2026 when hopefully the garden renovation will be complete and the irises will have returned and blooming again. Plus also see where Lucian Freud started out on his artistic career.

More oil paintings of flowers from the garden of Cedric Morris at Benton End

I'm putting an album of my photographs of the paintings in the gallery on Facebook and will come back and insert a link when I've done that

However I highly RECOMMEND that you download the excellent catalogue from the website and salivate over the paintings and the story of Cedric Morris in front of your computer.

CLICK HERE to download the exhibition handbook

See also 

• Benton End House & Gardens – Garden Museum
• Facebook - Benton End
• Instagram - Benton End

PS You can also see drawings and paintings by some early 20th century artists in the display in the basement - including 

• a wonderful painting of Tenerife by Cedric Morris (who will have been there for the plants!)
• a drawing by Augustus John. A snip at ££38,500

Review: Chelsea Physic Garden: Celebrating 350 Years in Paint and Print

Yesterday I visited Chelsea Physic Garden: Celebrating 350 Years in Paint and Print at the Bankside Gallery on the South Bank.

Dicotyledon Beds, Chelsea Physic Garden by Claire Denny

collage, gouache & ink

Frame: 45 x 45 cm | Artwork: 29 x 29 cm

SOLD

It's a very good exhibition of the diverse perspectives of different by selected artist members of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE).

The exhibition is being held to mark the 350th anniversary of the Chelsea Physic Garden.

View of the exhibition at the Bankside Gallery

There was a previous collaborative exhibition in 2021 - Chelsea Physic Garden: A Year in the Life. This came about as a result of an invitation from the Chelsea Physic Garden for artists to visit the garden and create art as a result

Over the course of the last 18 months, the artists have researched, visited (when possible) and recorded the Garden throughout changing seasons and varying restrictions, documenting perhaps one of the most extraordinary years of the Garden’s life. The result is a compelling and vibrant display of creativity and a wonderful example of what can be achieved in the face of adversity. The exhibition is truly refreshing and uplifting; a reminder of the joys and healing powers of both art and nature.

The initiative which started in 2019 was interrupted by the Pandemic. However at the same time it resulted in a greater understanding of the value of the garden.

You can also read: The Healing Powers of Art and Nature: Chelsea Physic Garden through the eyes of artists

I highly recommend a visit to the exhibition for those who like painting (or printmaking) gardens - or just enjoy Chelsea Physic Garden which is a delightful, historic and informative oasis in Chelsea - next to the river.

The exhibition banner on an external view of the Bankside Gallery

Paintings in the Exhibition - Two Painters

You can see an album of my gallery shots of the exhibition on my Facebook Page - see Chelsea Physic Garden 350th Anniversary - which are receiving some very positive responses from those who have viewed them. Believe me - they're better in real life!

View of the exhibition

I'm a Friend of the Florilegium Society based at Chelsea Physic Garden and am very familiar with the garden. Members of the Florilegium Society all draw and paint the plants rather than the garden.  (READ my page about Florilegium Societies to find out more about what they do). 

It was therefore very interesting to see the different ways in which the RWS and RE artists tackled the subject of the garden.

I'm going to highlight the artists who I thought best captured the look and spirit and history of the garden

"Chelsea Physic Garden: a year in the life" at the Bankside Gallery

I saw the exhibition about the Chelsea Physic Garden: a year in the life at the Bankside Gallery on Friday. This is an exhibition of painting and prints by members of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE). It was really nice to see such a lot of decent proper watercolour painting on the walls of the Bankside - and a lot of the prints are great.

You can see all the artworks online if you're unable to visit the Gallery before the exhibition closes on 30th August.

• Click an image to see more details and
• then click the image again to see a larger version.

You can also get a much better sense of the size of the different artworks in my Facebook Album of the photos I took on Friday. As always online exhibitions can be very confusing in relation to size. Some of the artworks are much smaller while others are much larger than you might think!

View of the end of the Gallery - with display cases for sketchbooks and postcards

I'm still deep in "getting ready for surgery mode" at the moment, so this is going to be something of a shortcut review, i.e. the pics are on my Facebook Page (in an album) - with a few in this blog post.

The topic was a refreshing change. I've never had a sense of either the RWS or the RE being much interested in either plants of gardens. Maybe they've spotted the popularity of all things 'botanical'? Personally, I'd have timed it to coincide with  COP26 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. 

COP26 has six major themes and one of these is

Nature - to safeguard and restore natural habitats and ecosystems to preserve the planet’s biodiversity

which - given the Chelsea Physic Garden's perennial focus on plant diversity and plants from around the world - may well probably have garnered a bigger audience for this exhibition.

That said it was interesting to see the approach of the different artists to the exhibition - which was explained on a large information board

I really liked the paintings of the Garden by these painters

• Mychael Barratt PPRE, RWS - has produced a wonderful annotated map of the Garden as a hand coloured silkscreen/etching. He's an artist I would collect if I had more wall space!
• Liz Butler RWS - several small paintings in her inimitable style demonstrating an expert watercolourist's grasp of the full tonal range
• Claire Denny ARWS - five paintings in watercolour and acrylic ink of various very familiar views of the Chelsea Physic Garden
• Wendy Jacob RWS - views of the garden and accurate but stylised portrayals of plants, bushes and trees
• Annie Williams RWS - Annie normally paints very carefully constructed and beautiful still lifes so it's fascinating to see how she approaches painting a garden.

I also liked the artworks about plants by these artists

• Emiko Aida RE - her etchings of white flowers on a very vivid orange background both echo conventional botanic art and provide a counterpoint to ideas of how flowers should be portayed
• Meg Dutton RE RBA has drawn several ink and watercolour artworks of the profusion of plants in the glasshouses. I'm also familiar with similar drawings she did of the plants in the glasshouses at Kew Gardens.

NOTE: What used to be a quick jaunt for me is now a very painful expedition even using my rollator due to my severe osteoarthritis. Walked way, way more than I should have done n Friday. Exhibition visits between now and surgery are going to be very few and far between - and involve lots of sitting down and long rest periods!

Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr resumes with Monet's Water Lilies

Series 2 of Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr - opens with Monet's Water Lilies

A year ago, back in the first lockdown in 2020, Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr on Channel 5 was a new programme which was a bright spark for all those bereft of visits to art galleries and museums. (see Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr 22 June 2020)

...and then it stopped after Episode 3!

So I did some digging about what had happened and was able to report back in Good news re Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr - in which 

• I reported that Channel 5 had told me that it would resume later in the year.
• reviewed the series to date and how it had been received
• commented on the need for museums to make more art available online
  

Presumably that statement from Channel 5 was made with the idea that nothing much would happen after the first lockdown. In other words, the events of the latter part of 2020 and first part of 2021 had clearly NOT been anticipated.

Which is why we are only now seeing (what I hope are) the next three episodes of this series.

Series 2

I'm absolutely certain one of the future programmes is going to be about Monet's Water Lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris (because of the pics for the series). These paintings absolutely overwhelmed me and filled my eyes with tears the first time I saw them. I was incredibly lucky to see them for the very first time incredibly early one Saturday morning in the late 80s with nobody else in the room. I'd arrived in Paris on the Motorail from Provence (a service which is no longer available!). My visit to the water lilies was followed by a very nice lunch near the L'Orangerie and my driving out to Giverny to visit Monet's garden - and then to Calais for the ferry and back home to London.

A day I will never ever forget - I've got a very clear visual memory of it even now!

Series 2 comprises:

• Episode 1 - Water Lilies - by Claude Monet
  
• Episode 2 - The Hay Wain - by John Constable on Friday 18th June 2021
  
• Episode 3 - ??

I don't know if there are going to be more episodes after the Hay Wain as there's nothing on the website. As indicated in one of my earlier blog posts about this series, the introduction to the series suggests the following are in the pipeline

• Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (Le Galerie degli Uffizi, Florence)
• Rembrandt van Rijn's The Night Watch (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
• Diego Velázquez's The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) (National Gallery)
• John Millais's Ophelia (Tate Britain)

READ MORE about Water Lilies by Monet on this blog!

• Gardens in Art: Monet's final Nympheas (30 September 2007) 
  
• Gardens in Art: Monet and the water garden at Giverny (29 September 2007) 
• Gardens in Art continues - with Monet (4 September 2007)

You can also take a virtual visit to Monet's Waterlilies in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris

Plus see my videos of them - as seen back in September 2009. The first is a proper video - of each room at the Musée de l'Orangerie devoted to "The Grand Decorations"

The next one is a slideshow

Series 1

This covered the following paintings and is available on demand on Channel 5. These were:

• EPISODE 1 - Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
• EPISODE 2 - Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
• EPISODE 3 - The Fighting Temeraire by JMW Turner

Note that on the Channel 5 Page for the episodes, they've got the wrong paintings with every Episode!  

 

Images for every episode are WRONG!

 

I love the fact Channel 5 is getting involved with Art on Television - and this is a good series - but a bit more attention to presentation online would not go amiss!
 

VIDEO: Painting the Modern Garden

One of the new initiatives by Museums during the Lockdown has been better promotion of the Exhibitions on Screen films made in the past in association with different art galleries and museums.

This week the Royal Academy of Arts has posted a video related to its 2016 Exhibition about Painting The Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse.

Joaquin Sorolla, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1911. Oil on canvas, 150 x 225.5 cm.
On loan from the Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY. Photo
© Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York;

Back in 2016, we filled our Main Galleries with all the vibrant colours of the garden, as we traced its many forms through a period of great social change and innovation in the arts.
Discover the paintings of some of the most important artists of the early twentieth century exploring the theme, including Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro, Manet, Sargent, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, Matisse, Klimt and Klee.

A 90 minute DOCUMENTARY was made about ‘Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse’. 

• This video is available FOR FREE via the link above and YouTube (see small version below)
• both sources of the video provide HD resolution if desired.

Originally released in cinemas, this ‘Exhibition on Screen’ film takes us back to our landmark exhibition, ‘Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse’, examining the role gardens played in the evolution of art from the early 1860s through to the 1920s.

One page on the RA website Video: Inside the Artists’ Gardens provides

• access to videos of the gardens of various artists 
• these can be watched full screen 
• via the above page or via a YouTube playlist associated with the exhibition

Both are available at 1080 HD - but you have to choose this.

Using the work of Monet as a starting point, this landmark exhibition (30 Jan–20 April 2016) examines the role gardens played in the evolution of art from the early 1860s through to the 1920s. In this video series we take you into the gardens of artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard and Emil Nolde.

The documentary video is also available via Seventh Art Productions

MAMA #2: All about Vincent Van Gogh on his birthday

The second in my series of 'Making A Mark Archive posts' is about Vincent Van Gogh. If you read all my blog posts, listed below, and follow up the links it'll keep you occupied all day!

Vincent Van Gogh was born 167 years ago today on 30 March 1853 in the Netherlands. 

In 2007 I did a very big project on Van Gogh and have written periodically about him over the years. This is a list of my Van Gogh blog posts categorised by:

• Van Gogh and Drawing
• Van Gogh's Paintings
• Van Gogh and Flowers and Gardens
• Exhibitions
• Videos
• Miscellaneous posts

They include include lots of images of wonderful drawings and paintings by Van Gogh.  Many of them are my photographs of the originals in exhibitions.

The one below is my copy - in coloured pencils - of his painting of Almond Blossom which I did as an exercise while doing my project on Van Gogh. 

A copy of Van Gogh's Almond Blossom 1890 (in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)
9" x 12", coloured pencils on hot press papercopyright Katherine Tyrrell

Van Gogh and Drawing

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

His approach to drawing was a revelation for me in terms of mark-making.

I remember learning that all those who talked about Van Gogh as if he had a manic approach to his artwork - working very quickly - had very obviously never ever tried drawing with a reed pen and ink!

Cottage Garden, 1888
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
Reed pen, quill, and ink over graphite on wove paper;
61 x 49 cm (24 x 19 1/4 in.)
Private Collection
Exhibited at: "Vincent Van Gogh - the Drawings" Metropolitan Museum of Art -

• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2007) - This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials and how they influenced his style. This is one of the most popular blog posts on my blog. I rather think a link to this has crept into the resources of some lesson plans about teaching drawing!
• Van Gogh: More About Drawing (2007) - Links to websites which provide a very useful perspective on Van Gogh's approach to drawing
• Van Gogh: Drawing Landscapes (2007) - More about Van Gogh and Drawing - this post focuses on his landscape drawings.
• Van Gogh: Drawing Figures, Portraits and Self-Portraits (2007) - At one stage in his career, Van Gogh hoped to be a portrait painter in Paris.

Van Gogh's Paintings

Sculpture at Wisley 2019

Yesterday we went to RHS Wisley and found there is a Modern and Contemporary Sculpture Trail around the garden which includes works by Henry Moore.

The exhibition of modern and contemporary sculpture around the 240 acre garden runs until 1 December 2019.

Sculpture at Wisley 2019 features the work of seminal 20th and 21st century artists: Henry Moore, Lynn Chadwick, Tracey Emin, Phillip King, Henry Bruce and Philip Haas.

In addition - formally opening tomorrow - the Surrey Sculpture Society Trail has other works by more local artists and continues until 22nd September.

I've included images from both exhibitions below.  If you like sculpture, Wisley is well worth a visit in the near future while both Sculpture Trails are on.

Henry Moore

Draped Reclining Figure by Henry Moore
next to the Jellicoe Canal

Locking Piece by Henry Moore
next to the Lake

Large Standing Figure - Knife Edge 1976 by Henry Moore
in the Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden

This piece seems to have claimed by the kids as the Sculpture Play Park! It had kids around it all the time we were near it.

The pieces have been lent to the exhibition by the Henry Moore Foundation at Hoglands

(You can see more Henry Moore pieces at Hoglands in my blog post Sculpture in the garden at Hoglands, Perry Green and my Flickr set Henry Moore Sculptures, Hoglands, Perry Green)

Lynn Chadwick

Little Girl, I, II , III by Lynn Chadwick

in between the Walled Gardens and the Lake

Lynn Russell Chadwick, CBE RA (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. He was known for his innovative bronze and steel sculptures of abstracted and expressive figures and animals.

Henry Bruce

There's a Giant's Chair by Henry Bruce at the top of the Mixed Borders Hill.

13th Florum Exhibition in Sevenoaks - a review of art and artists

Artwork at Florum 2016

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Private View for the 2016 Florum Exhibition on Friday evening. It's not just that it has some wonderful artwork and the best ever hors d'oeuvres (better than professional caterers!) - but the people who organise and the artists who participate in it are such nice people!

It's therefore very sad to report there will be no Florum in 2017. This is prompted by

• the fact that the Society of Botanical Artists are having to change their exhibition to the autumn next year and that means two exhibitions involving too many of the same people too close together.
• the decision by a number of members who have been running it for many years to take a break. Will they be back or will there be a new set of members on the organising committee? - we'll just have to wait and see!

So we shall wait and see whether Florum resurrects itself and if so whether it's at a new time of year and maybe at a new venue with new organisers. Who knows?

I sincerely hope it will keep going as it's a delightful exhibition and sales are always very brisk!

Review of Florum 2016

The aim of the exhibition is to create artwork inspired by plant life. It's emphatically not a "strictly botanical" exhibition but that makes it all the more appealing to a wider range of visitors.

The exhibition maintains its normal high standards although I think I might be right in saying there are fewer works being exhibited this year. I do know that last year there was a surge in larger works creating a complete nightmare for those designing the hanging - and this might be the reason.

The strength of the exhibition lies in its diversity

• one room places an emphasis on botanical art in all its different forms 
• the other room includes artwork which is stimulated by flowers, gardens and the landscape - anything which involves plant life. Work includes diverse media from miniatures to jewellery to fine art prints, textile art and paintings in various media

I'll be putting a slideshow together of the exhibition. However this takes a little time to prepare so below you'll see some of the images from the exhibition. You can see more photos of the artists with their artwork on my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page (which you can see irrespective of whether you have a Facebook account - however you can only comment if you are on Facebook).

Exhibition details

Venue: Kent Wildlife Trust Sevenoaks Reserve,
Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3DH

Dates: 10th - 17th September 2016 (daily)

Times: 10.00 - 5.00

List of exhibiting artists

The exhibition includes a number of new artists. Each artist's name contains a link to their website or a site related to the artist. The list is interspersed with artwork by the artists - and photos of the artists with their artwork!

The Chelsea School of Botanical Art

In the summer, I visited the Chelsea School of Botanical Art and was able to see a class in action. This is about that visit and the courses offered by the school.

The Chelsea School of Botanical Art - the home page of the website

The School is based in a building at the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673.

It's located at the Cheyne Walk end of the Royal Hospital Road close to the River Thames.  (You can read more about the garden in this 2008 post and the third section of Review: 'London's Secret Garden' Exhibition at the Chelsea Physic Garden).

The School has the use of a very large, light and airy room in the main building plus access to the Garden's Library and obviously to all the very many plants in the Chelsea Physic Garden.

For more details of the extensive plant collection , see the following:

• Herb & Medicinal plant collections:
  • The Pharmaceutical Garden
  • The Garden of World Medicine
  • The Garden of Edible and Useful Plants
• Historical Walk
• Botanical Order Beds
• Island Endemic Flora
• Seasonal views of the Garden

The only problem I can see with the current arrangements is that it's not accessible for people who cannot use stairs.

A couple of shelves in the Chelsea Physic Garden Library

History of teaching botanical art in Chelsea - and the English Gardening School

A botanical illustration course was originally taught in Chelsea by Anne Marie Evans under the auspices of the English Gardening School - also based at the Chelsea Physic Garden.  It followed a regime for education set out in her book An Approach to Botanical Painting (which is now out of print - and second hand copies are very difficult to source).

Anne Marie Evans retired as Course Director in 2004 and stopped teaching on the Diploma Course in 2009. Following her retirement, Helen Allen BA, PGCEd, Dip EGS, FLS was appointed the Diploma Course Director in 2005 having taught on the course since 2001.

The English Gardening School then closed in December 2012 and reformed itself in May 2013 - but this time without any botanical painting courses. 

This is what led Helen to create the Chelsea School of Botanical Art, with both schools based at the Chelsea Physic Garden.

The new Chelsea School of Botanical Art

I was able to talk to Helen and her right hand woman Mary Ellen Taylor (Course Administrator) about the new courses offered by The Chelsea School of Botanical Art which came into being in January 2014.

• The School started by offering a new Diploma Course (click the link for an overview of the course content).
• So far two groups of students (2014 and 2015) have started the diploma course offered by the school.  
• All I talked to were very complimentary about the course and the quality of the tutors.
• I was amazed at some of the distances students travelled to attend the course!

During my visit I was able to observe a class by Lucy T. Smith, the award winning and professional botanical illustrator who produces illustrations for Kew Gardens and Curtis botanical magazine. (Note: Lucy is one of the few people to offer botanical illustration in pen and ink classes and she is delivering one this week at CSBA)

Lucy T. Smith teaching a class at the Chelsea School of Botanical Art

The Classroom used by the Chelsea School of Botanical Art

This post is illustrated with photographs from that class - which involved Lucy showing the students how to prepared plants for pressing in a plant press.

Below you'll find my interview with Helen Allen. The bold are my questions and the text in grey are her answers.

_______________________________

What does the School aim to do?

The school aims to prepare illustrators and painters to work confidently and independently to an extremely high standard.

CSBA's diploma is holistic and not just about BOTANICAL ART. It's also about:

• laying down the firm foundations of good art practice, 
• deepening knowledge and 
• broadening personal horizons

The school has developed an excellent team of tutors who work together with the administration to support the ethos and teaching of the school.

[Note: The new Director of the Diploma Course from 2016 is Elaine Searle]

How is the Diploma Course organised?

Lucy Smith demonstrating how to use
a flower press to dry plant specimens
for use in botanical illustration

The structure of the curriculum, based on sound educational principles, is designed to encourage endeavour and aid individual development.

Botany is at the heart of the course, and illustrative techniques are where we begin this exciting and sometimes mysterious journey.

Drawing and painting techniques and compositional theories are learned in class. They are then applied to botanical subjects following Anne-Marie Evans’s unique 5-step approach to painting in watercolour.

Research methods and use of resources for learning, such as London’s great galleries, museums and libraries, are also part of the process we teach and students are required to write and present topics in class.

Working on complex forms and more advanced techniques helps students to complete work with finesse. Accompanied by aesthetics and the development of a critical vocabulary with which to understand and inform their work, students are able then to produce a final project to submit for the CSBA Diploma.

[You can find details of the course on this page on their website]

Does it always stay the same or does the course evolve over time?

Whilst the aims, objectives and structure of the course remain the same, the order of subject matter, delivery and timetable is constantly evolving to suit the dynamics and needs of each year group.

What do you look for in diploma students?

The diploma course is hugely demanding of students and their willingness to learn and practice techniques is paramount.

The 2016 Diploma course beginning on 11th January is now full with a waiting list. Applications are now being accepted for the 2017 Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration and Painting beginning January 2017. Information sessions will take place at the school during the autumn term 2015 and again in spring/summer 2016 terms.
Chelsea School of Botanical Art

[Note: One of the good things about the School is they offer information sessions for prospective students where they can visit the School to see what happens - and one was taking place on the day I was there.]

One of the CSBA students with her specimen and pencil and watercolour sketches in a sketchbook

How do you cater for the different backgrounds, levels of experience and talents of different students on the course?

There is always more than one way to teach and learn a single skill. We endeavour to find that path for every student to guide them towards reaching their goals.

In the classroom original work is seen by tutors and by simply watching the way in which a student applies paint can prompt constructive criticism and help.

Knowing the students, their approach to their work, their fears and woes, is helpful to their technical development.

So many invaluable tips and asides are absorbed in the classroom as well as intelligent critique.

End of the Class: The usual Teacher's Summary of homework for the holidays!

The diploma course is the main course of study - but I believe you offer shorter courses as well

Subject matter for short courses and brilliant tutors widen the appeal for learning botanical art at CSBA.

[Note: You can find the list of short courses on the website. Tutors in 2015 are/have been: Elaine Searle, Sarah Simblet, Lucy T. Smith,  Christobel King, Rosie Sanders]

The Chelsea Physic Garden is organised into beds of plants of different type and origin
This is the sign for the Garden of Useful Plants - used for all sorts of different purposes.

What's it like delivering a course in botanical art in the Chelsea Physic Garden?

The Chelsea Physic Garden is steeped in history and the adventures of the sea captains and apothecaries associated with the garden provide a background and context for the courses.

Where plants live and grow in abundance and the thread of botanical art through the ages is ever present we are constantly aware of the prefect marriage of science and art.

Note: If you are on Facebook you can check out the photographs taken of the students working in the garden on the last sunny day of term - which was when I visited

Plus this is a video prepared by the Chelsea Physic Garden about the outdoor classroom on the doorstep

You can find the CSBA online as follows

• website http://www.chelseaschoolofbotanicalart.co.uk 
• Facebook Page Chelsea School of Botanical Art: www.facebook.com/CSBArtist 
• Facebook Page Chelsea Physic Garden:  www.facebook.com/chelseaphysicgarden

Review: 'London's Secret Garden' Exhibition at the Chelsea Physic Garden

This week I visited the London's Secret Garden exhibition which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Florilegium Society at the Chelsea Physic Garden.

a corner of the exhibition - with the exhibition banner

This is a very long post and comprises:

• a review of the exhibition - highlighting work by specific artists
• an account of how the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society works - and how to become a member
• the key facts about the Chelsea Physic Garden - and why it's a great place to visit (between 1 April to 31 October).

'London's Secret Garden' (4th - 26th August 2015) 

The exhibition includes 75 artworks by 73 artist members past and present. Most are watercolour paintings however there is also pen and ink and the use of graphite and coloured pencils.

The exhibition opened on Tuesday and runs until Wednesday 26th August and can be viewed between 11am and 4pm. Entrance to the exhibition is free with entry to the garden.

A number of the paintings are also included in a book Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden by Andrew Brown (Past Chairman of the Society) -  which has been produced to commemorate the 20th Anniversary. (I'll be writing a separate review of this). A similar book was produced for the tenth anniversary and now sells for enormous prices - if you can get hold of a copy!

Ribes rubrum by Sally Vincent and  Fuschia procumbens by Mayumi Hashi
The painting on the left is the one chosen for the front cover of the book

The book focuses in particular on angiosperms (plants with flowers and seeds enclosed in fruits).

Views of the exhibition

I have to emphasise that there's an awful lot I could say about this exhibition - and one of the reasons for the delay in posting has been the need to keep editing myself!

My main recommendation to all botanical artists is to go and see this exhibition.

For all those who love plants and flowers it's also very much seeing - both in terms of what you will learn about the plants and because it's an exhibition which has grown out of the garden in which you can see it.

The overall standard of artwork overall is very good and to my mind it's a better exhibition than the last one one in 2013. Some of them are really excellent and that's unsurprising given many of the artists have been painting botanical art for many years and have won medals for it!

The exhibition is hung on grey exhibition panels (like the ones used by the RHS). Below you can see some views of the exhibition and its artwork.

Watercolour paintings by Amanda Ward, Janet Callender and a drawing by John Bell
Janet's painting of the foxglove tree from China is on the back cover of the book.

I was trying to discern a pattern to the way the different plants were hung but couldn't see one. That said, the exhibition is well hung from an aesthetic perspective with some nice use of mirroring on occasion.

Using a consistent frame for most of the work also lends coherence and consistency to the display which means that one's eyes always focus on the works and are never distracted by the frame. Top spots have also been used so that works are well lit.

Those botanical artists submitting work to RHS Exhibitions might want to note that Gillian Barlow, the Chair of the Picture Committee is also Deputy Chairman of the Florilegium Society and has a painting in the show (and the book)!

Society of Botanical Artists - Annual Exhibition 2014 - Call for Entries

Botanical artists have just under two months to get our entries ready for this year's Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - which is open to entries from both non-members and international artists.  This post is an overview of the call for entries and the process.

Call for Entries - Society of Botanical Artists
Botanical Garden Annual Exhibition 2014

Note that this year, both the Receiving Day and Annual Exhibition are later than usual.

The Receiving Day for entries for the 2014 Annual Exhibition is Monday 17th March in the Aldersgate Room in the basement of Westminster Central Hall in London (11am - 4pm).  Here's a great blog post by Julie Whelan about last year's Receiving Day.

The theme of this year's exhibition is The Botanical Garden. It will include about 700 works of botanical art:

• at Westminster Central Hall, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH and is 
• between Friday, 9th to Sunday 18th May 2014 (Daily from 11am to 5pm including Sundays)
• open to the public - admission FREE

Below you will find:

• the key points for those wanting to enter the Exhibition.  
• links to previous posts on this blog which include images so you can see the type and quality of work which is accepted for exhibition and/or wins prizes
• links to my resources for botanical artists

Introducing Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Regular readers will remember that Who Painted This? #42 was about the painting of the Torre de los Picos / Los Picos Tower La Alhambra, Granada - by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida.

The Gardens at the Sorolla Family House (1920)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
Museo Sorolla

I looked at a lot of Sorolla paintings while doing that post and decided to make a website about him - which you can find at About Joaquin Sorolla.

This includes:

• THE LIFE OF JOAQUIN SOROLLA (1863 - 1923)
• SOROLLA - THE PAINTINGS
• Artist in Museums and Art Galleries
• Sorolla in Online Galleries
• EXHIBITIONS
• Sorolla Exhibitions in 2013 - 2014
• SOROLLA AND GARDENS
• SOROLLA AND GRENADA

He was an extraordinarily prolific painter - I understand there are about 2,200 paintings in total.  The video below is a tour of his house - which is now a museum - and it gives you a sense of both the impact of the paintings and their size.  I was amazed at how big some of them are.



This is another video Museo Nacional del Prado: Comments on the exhibition by Jose Luis Díez and Javier Barón (video) made by the Prado Museum for the retropsective exhibition of Sorolla's work in 2009 which is in Spanish - but does have subtitles - and has some really great images of the paintings which also gives you a strong sense of the size and impact of his paintings..

I like his paintings of boats and people at work and leisure on the beach - he has a particularly fine eye for the colours associated with the water and the marine atmosphere in a sunny climate.  His brushwork is also very seductive - it's looks very relaxed - but the approach and skill level approaches that of John Singer Sargent.

Lime trees, Jardines de los Reales Alcazares, Seville
(Pastel 25.5" x 19.5" )
by Katherine Tyrrell
Houses & Gardens - fine art drawings by Katherine Tyrrell

However I'm also very partial to his paintings of gardens.  That's not unexpected given I'm also rather partial to sketching gardens as those who know my sketchbook blog will appreciate.

He typically painted these later in life.  Like Monet he painted his own garden.  You don;'t have to move the easel very far!

His style is sketchy but his use of colours is almost always impeccable.  I particularly like the way he varies his greens.  So many people paint gardens and forget how many greens there really are.

Sorolla did some splendid views of the pools and fountains in the palace - such as this fountain and the the pool of the Alcazar.

I've also created art in one of the gardens he used to paint in.

My pastel drawing (above right) was done plein air while sat on the shady verandah of a building in the grounds of the Real Alcazar de Sevilla - which is a Spanish palace which started out life as a Moorish fort.  It remind me of the heat of the day and the value of the shade.  (BTW I know the pillar is leaning!  I have an awful problem with verticals... particularly when working plein air!)

Florum 10th Anniversary Exhibition - review

Well - I finally made it to the Florum 10th anniversary Exhibition this afternoon - and, as a result, this is going to be a bit of a picture biased post.

This exhibition always celebrates plantlife in a variety of media and mixed botanical artwork, plus floral paintings and paintings of gardens.

I was really impressed with how a closely hung exhibition could look so good.  (I'm going to use photos I took in my forthcoming posts about hanging exhibitions!)

I gather compliments on the hang should be paid in the direction of Susan Christopher-Coulson, Christina Hart-Davis and Rachel Munn.  The walls and boards in the 'botanical' room looked excellent and I think the quality of the work has increased this year.  It was certainly the best looking exhibition I've attended in terms of the botanical artwork.

My other comment before we start with my photos is that I'd never realised before quite how many visitors a Wildlife Reserve gets.  I've only ever attended before on the Friday evening Private View.  This (Sunday) afternoon, we were very nearly shunted into the overflow car park!  The exhibition was also really very busy with lots of visitors.

For those wanting to exhibit botanical or wildlife art, I suggest you go and take a very close look at the facilities offered by your local Wildlife Reserve!

60 artists were exhibiting 342 paintings and prints - including a section for miniatures. Judging by the red dot chart on the wall, sales have been brisk in terms of originals, prints and cards.

This exhibition is by invitation only. There is a regular turnover of artists each year.  The new artists for 2013 are: David Bowyer, Margaret Eggleton, Sandra Fernandez, Janina French, Amber Halsall, Anna Mason, Sandrine Maugy and Maureen Russ.

First I'm going to show you the colour sequences of work on display. The images are bigger than usual - but you'll have to click them to see them at the larger size.

The Orange Scarlet Board