Saturday, July 27, 2013

Starting Botanical Art


Having always loved and admired naturalist artist, I have decided to try my hand at Botanical Art. As usual, I am taking my Wednesday Open Studio students with me. Botanical illustration goes beyond still life. Botanical art has a purpose, to record just what that plant is, and it must be accurate enough to aid in field identification. 
 

After research, Each student will select the plant of their choice to illustrate in the tradition of scientific botanical illustrations. Choice will also include medium, support and size. For this class, photography will be included. Students are encourage to explore multiple technique and medium as well as the history of scientific illustration.  

To prepare for this, I have been doing my homework, researching just what makes a good botanical drawing, some of the history of botanical art, and seeing what modern botanical artists are creating. 

I have included links to some of the sites I found most useful.



botanicalartists Gallery


society of botanical-artists

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Art and business

A lot of us draw, paint, etc and from time to time sell a few things, or we do the fair circuit, but do we think of ourselves as running a small business?

Helen South wrote a interesting blog about this and has a number of good links to running a small business as an artist.

drawsketch.about.com