Flowers in Art - Resources for Artists

An Introduction to Flowers in Art

blog posts on Making A Mark

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art

An introduction to the project on Flowers in Art.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: what's on my bookshelves?

A list of the books about drawing and painting flowers on my bookshelves - with a brief synopsis of each one

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art - and Van Gogh #1

An introduction to Vincent Van Gogh's approach to painting flowers

Flowers in Art: Kazu Shimura: Sumi-e paintings of flowers

Links to a number of sumi-e videos of flowers being painted on You Tube. They were all created by a sumi-e artist called Kazu Shimura who lives in Tokyo.

Flowers in Art... and Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RA

Information about the work of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RA and an analysis of her approach. Links to various sites providing information about her and her work.

Flowers in Art.... and Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Information about the flower drawings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and an analysis of his approach. Links to various sites providing information about him and his work.

Making a Mark: Potentially Peonies

A post illustrating how a work in coloured pencils was developed for this project.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: French nineteenth century artists

This post focuses on notable French nineteenth century artists who painted flowers (excluding Monet - who I'm doing next month). Two of the best known painters of flowers are Eduoard Manet and Henri Fantin Latour. Links to further information about both artists.

Making a Mark: What is a still life?

This post attempts to answer the question "what is a still life?" and provides some context for flowers in art in this context. Extensive research relating to definitions and approaches at different points in time and links to further information

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: William Morris - herbals, flowers and making patterns

William Morris (1834-1896) has had a significant influence on decorative art in the UK. His designs are based on natural forms - many of which are flowers. Of the nearly 600 designs which are attrubuted to him there are very few which do not feature flowers, leaves, trees or plants. Links to various sites about the man, his work, his homes and archives of his output.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: Tips and Techniques for working from life

This post is a summary of a number of tips and techniques for working from life when drawing or painting flowers.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: Contemporary Artists #1

This post is about some more of today's contemporary artists who paint flowers and interest me and/or have influenced my own approach to art. This one is about three men - Joseph Raffael, Charles Reid and Paul Riley - and provides links to their websites and books.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: Contemporary painters #2

Following on from Flowers in Art: Contemporary Painters #1, this post highlights a number of female artists who paint flowers - Geraldine Girvan, Pamela Kay, Diana Armfield, Shirley Felts, Nel Whatmore, Kim Parker and Shirley Trevena. This post provides links to websites showing images of the flowers they paint and/or their books.

Making a Mark: Flowers in Art: Van Gogh #2 - Sunflowers and the value of repetition

This post is Van Gogh's sunflowers and a drawing of sunflowers that I developed in pen and ink and coloured pencil.

More blog posts about flowers and artists painting flowers

Making a Mark: A Making A Mark Interview with Mary Ann Scott

Mary Ann writes in the book about her journey as a Diploma student from when she started the course in January 2006 through to her graduation with a Diploma with Distinction in April 2008 which fast tracked her into membership of the Society of Botanical Artists. This year she has been asked to submit work to the .Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.

Making a Mark: Rosie Sanders and large scale flower painting

Watercolour artists will also find the way she works on very large sheets of 640 gsm Arches paper interesting. It's always fascinating to see somebody who works in a way which breaches the boundaries of the usual and traditional.

Making a Mark: Marianne North Gallery reopens at Kew Gardens

Marianne North was an intrepid Victorian botanical artist who travelled to 17 countries around the world in search of rare, exotic and beautiful plants.

Making a Mark: Hokusai, Van Gogh and the iris paintings

I've been studying an expert - Vincent Van Gogh - who, in turn took pinters from another expert - the Japanese artist Hokusai. This post comments on their various approaches to iris paintings.

Making a Mark: Botanical Artists: Margaret Mee

I think Margaret Mee was the first female botanical artist I ever came across. I rather suspect the same might be said for others judging by the queries I get from time to time about whether I know of any good websites about her which display her work.

Making a Mark: Sydney Parkinson and the Endeavour botanical illustrations

Sydney Parkinson was born in Edinburgh and became very proficient at drawing plants and flowers. He then travelled to London to develop his career as a botanical artist and was discovered by Joseph Banks who was the great sponsor and developer of gardens (eg the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew) and botanical illustration in general.

Making a Mark: Botanical Artists: Elizabeth Blackwell and 'A Curious Herbal'

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first British woman to produce a 'herbal' and the first woman to engrave as well as draw plants.

Making a Mark: Botanical artists - Franz and Ferdinand Bauer

They are artists who belong to what's known as the Golden Age of Botanical Art - the eighteenth century. The international revival of interest in botanical art has led to them again becoming famous artists.

Making a Mark: Botanical artist - Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Pierre-Joseph Redouté was the man who painted the beautiful roses and lillies. I've now learned that in total he produced over 2100 published plates depicting over 1800 different species, many of which had never been rendered before.

Making a Mark: Maria Sibylla Merian - at the Getty Museum, Buckingham Palace and Kew Gardens

Maria Sibylla Merian is rated as being one of the greatest ever artists of botanical and entomological subjects.

Making a Mark: Book Review: Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants

Some 5,000 plants in Germany's famous garden at Eichstätt were recorded in copperplate engravings. These were later published in Hortus Eystettensis (which is Latin and means 'The Garden at Eichstätt') by Basilius Besler.

Making a Mark: Book Review - 1001 Plant and floral illustrations from early herbals

Hatton had taken the images from the most prominent sixteenth century herbals or 'Books of Healing".

Making a Mark: Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published

What's a 'florilegium' you may well ask? I'll try and explain. In essence, it's a formal botanical illustration record of a collection of flowers.

Making a Mark: Treasures of Botanical Art - a recommended read

The book is extensively illustrated and features some 200 illustrations of paintings and drawings from both the Kew and Shirley Sherwood collections.

It provides an overview of the most significant artists from the 1600s through to contemporary artists and informative essays on the origins, history and relevance of botanical illustration with special reference to both the Kew and Shirley Sherwood collections.

MAKING A MARK: Hokusai, Van Gogh and the iris paintings

The irises are blooming at the Ecology Park Pond and I'm trying to get to grips with how to draw them. I've been studying an expert - Vincent Van Gogh - who, in turn took pointers from another expert - the Japanese artist Hokusai. This post comments on their various approaches to iris paintings.

MAKING A MARK: Rosie Sanders and large scale flower painting

Rosie Sanders (b.1944) lives and works in Devon. She was recently elected a member of the Linnean Society. Self taught, Sanders has gone on to win several awards including; the Royal Academy miniature award in 1985 and five Royal Horticultural Gold Medals.

MAKING A MARK: Georg Ehret's sketchbooks - botanical illustration

These are a couple of images of sketchbooks by Georg Dioysius Ehret (1708 - 1770). who was regarded by many as the best botanical artist of his day - which was during the golden age of botanical art.

MAKING A MARK: BOOKS: how to draw animals, plants, flowers and nature

The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching now includes some new modules which identify some of the best instruction books for drawing animals, birds, plants, flowers and nature in general.

Themes and symbolism in flower painting

BBC - Painting Flowers - Themes

About themes and symbolism in flower painting, on BBC Four's Painting Flowers website.

Selected articles and blog posts about painting flowers

Jana's Journal and Sketch Blog - My art in the book!

I got the book this week and was so excited! Not only did they do a really nice job with my artwork and the descriptions, but it's a really good and comprehensive book on flower painting in watercolor. The most exciting part for me is that I'm sharing the pages of a book with some truly amazing artists........

(see link to The Watercolor Flower Artist's Bible below)

Guardian - Van Gogh's Sunflowers have become monsters. But I'd rather have them than 'botanical art'

Germaine Greer: Despite the phenomenal marketability of flower paintings, no one does them any more. What proliferates instead is botanical art

Contemporary Artists: drawing and painting flowers

Elizabeth Blackadder RA - Painters - Royal Academicians - Royal Academy of Arts

Biography of Royal Academician painter Elizabeth Blackadder RA at the Royal Academy of Arts, London

GERALDINE GIRVAN

Chris Beetles Gallery: Various watercolour images of flowers by Geraldine Girvan

Shirley Trevena

Watercolours by Shirley Trevena

Pamela Kay

Richard Hagen - exhibition of work by Pamela Kay 28 October - 11 November 2006

Jo Self

Jo Self has been Artist in Residence at Kew Gardens and has also painted flowers from the garden of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama.

Biography and Private View of an Exhibition of Paintings by Jo Self at The Temperate House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Coral Guest - Flower Painter

Coral Guest - Flower Painter. Tulipa Blue Parrot Painting.

BBC - Painting Flowers - Coral Guest interview

Transcript of interview with flower painter Coral Guest on BBC Four's Painting Flowers site.

Rosie Sanders Botanical Artist

Rosie Sander's unique style of painting pushes the boundaries of Botanical Art and whilst fitting loosely into the tradition of the genre, the size of her compositions and intense richness of colour sets her apart from her contemporaries. The Flower paintings have a sensuous quality and drama that is unrivalled in contemporary botanical painting and her paintings of fruit and vegetables combine this quality with a realism that makes them 'good enough to eat'.

Linda Meaney

Linda Meaney is a London based artist who specialises in large oil paintings of flowers. Sunlight and nature inspire her art.

Art History: Artists who drew and painted flowers

Vincent Van Gogh

Irises, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). See the rest of the website to see more flowers.

Pierre-Joseph Redoute - Biography

A biography of artist and flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redoute

William Morris - Victoria and Albert Museum

William Morris created amazing designs from flowers and plants

Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Macro Flowers

Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most famous women artists - mainly due to the popularity of her flower images. She was born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15th 1887 and died in Santa Fe on March 6th 1986 at the age of 98.

BBC - Painting Flowers - Homepage

Homepage for Painting Flowers, an online gallery in association with the BBC Four TV series of the same name, broadcast in 2004.

Hunterian Museum - Mackintosh Collections: flower drawings, watercolours and designs

Charles Rennie Mackintosh created beautiful drawings of flowers which were then painted by his wife.
There are 49 records relating to flower drawings, watercolours and designs in the Mackintosh online catalogue.
Click on the title of a record to see more detail

National Gallery - Flowers in a Terracotta Vase by Jan van Huysem

The flowers, as is common in van Huysum's pictures, are of different seasons and most of them are depicted larger than their natural size.

National Gallery - Flowers in a Vase by BOSSCHAERT the Elder, Ambrosius

On this small copper panel Bosschaert has painted with great delicacy and precision a bouquet of relatively common flowers - among them tulips, roses, wallflowers, daffodils and a carnation. He has described them with the precision of a botanical illustrator and yet carefully balanced the composition in terms of form and colour.

National Gallery - Hollyhocks and Other Flowers in a Vase by Jan van Huysem

As in other paintings by the artist, the composition consists of flowers from different seasons, which suggests that the picture does not represent a single bouquet. Instead, as these flowers bloom at different times of the year, the artist must have painted this picture over a period of time, or after drawings from nature.

British Museum - Mary Delany (1700-88)

An article about Mary Delany (1700-88). She developed a remarkable series of flower collages that were bequeathed to The British Museum

Artilim - Ambrosius Bosschaert

Search and browse Ambrosius Bosschaert paintings gallery, read Ambrosius Bosschaert biography and find information about Bosschaert's life and work.

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder | artist | 1573 - 1621 | The National Gallery, London

Explore information about the artist: Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. See list of paintings at the National Gallery, London.

Flowers in the Art Collections of Museums and Art Galleries

SAN DIEGO MUSEUM of ART | Collections - Flowers

Flowers in the collection of the San Diego Museum of Art

Flower paintings in The National Gallery, London

The results of a search fo flower paintings in the collection of the National Gallery

In paintings in the National Gallery flowers tend to appear mainly in two contexts: as symbols, and as the subject of still lifes. Flowers form a significant part of Christian iconography; an example which often appears in paintings is the lily, which is associated with purity and thus an attribute of the Virgin (see Lippi's 'Annunciation'). In a mythological context they are often related to the spring; Rembrandt painted his wife in the guise of the goddess Flora; she clasps a large bouquet ('Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume'). In the Netherlands, particularly in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, flower-pieces were a popular genre and a number of artists, such as van Huysum, specialised in painting them.

The National Gallery houses the national collection of Western European painting from the 13th to the 19th centuries. It is on show 361 days a year, free of charge.

Classic paintings of flowers in the history of art

The Herbarium: Flowers in Paintings

Flowers in Paintings
This is a collection of works on flowers and gardens from some of the great masters of painting.Pierre Bonnard
Poppies in a VaseJan Brueghel the Younger
Still Life: Basket of FlowersWilliam Merritt Chase
Pink Azalea - Chinese VaseHenri Fantin-Latour
etc

Painting Flowers - Tulips

BBC - Painting Flowers - The Tulip

The tulip in flower painting through the ages - on BBC Four's Painting Flowers site

Painting Flowers - Irises

Irises (painting) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irises is a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. "Irises" was painted while Vincent van Gogh was living at the asylum at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France in the last year before his death in 1890.

Making a Mark: Hokusai, Van Gogh and the iris paintings

The irises are blooming at the Ecology Park Pond and I'm trying to get to grips with how to draw them. I've been studying an expert - Vincent Van Gogh - who, in turn took pinters from another expert - the Japanese artist Hokusai. This post comments on their various approaches to iris paintings.

Painting Flowers - Sunflowers

BBC - Painting Flowers - Sunflowers

About painting sunflowers, from BBC Four's Painting Flowers site

National Gallery - Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers

This is one of four paintings of sunflowers dating from August and September 1888. Van Gogh intended to decorate Gauguin's room with these paintings in the so-called Yellow House that he rented in Arles in the South of France.

The Vincent van Gogh Gallery (online) - The Paintings: Sunflowers

Dr. Jan Hulsker, one of the world's foremost scholars of Vincent van Gogh, suggests that the sunflower series "perhaps more than any other of his paintings, have made him known throughout the world. They are often the only works with which he is identified." This link includes a complete listing of the sunflower works.

Painting Flowers - Roses

BBC - Painting Flowers - The Rose

The rose in flower painting through the ages - on BBC Four's Painting Flowers site

BBC - Painting Flowers - Fantin-Latour's Roses

About Fantin-Latour's Roses on BBC Four's Painting Flowers site.

Painting Flowers - Lilies

BBC - Painting Flowers - The Lily

The lily in flower painting through the ages - on BBC Four's Painting Flowers site

What's that flower?

references sources

Clematis on the Web

The database now contains about 3200 clematis varieties and more than 3250 photographs showing over 1400 of them. More varieties and more photographs are regularly being added.

Indentifying Plants and Flowers

Indentifying Plants and Flowers - Welcome to the Science U flowers collection.
We love photgraphing and indentifying plants and flowers. Here are a few of our current favorites.

Pastels and Pencils - Drawings and Prints of Flowers and Plants

Katherine Tyrrell's website - original fine art drawings

Pastels and Pencils - Fine art drawings & fine art prints of flowers and plants

Fine art drawings and fine art prints of flowers and plants by Katherine Tyrrell - pictures of flowers in coloured pencil, soft pastel and pen and ink

Pastels and Pencils - Fine art drawings of flowers in colour by Katherine Tyrrell

Original fine art drawings of flowers by Katherine Tyrrell - drawings in colour using soft pastels or coloured pencil

Pastels and Pencils - Small Works: Floral and Botanical Drawings by Katherine Tyrrell

Small Works - original fine art drawings of floral and botanical subjects in coloured pencils by Katherine Tyrrell

Pastels and Pencils - Flower drawings and botanical drawings in pen and ink or pencil

Flower drawings and botanical drawings in pen and ink or graphite pencil by artist Katherine Tyrrell. These drawings of flowers or botanical subjects were all drawn from life. These drawings do not involve tracing, copying photos or use of grids.

Pastels and Pencils - Drawings of plants and cacti by Katherine Tyrrell

Drawings of plants and cacti by Katherine Tyrrell. This gallery is about what plants - and in particular cacti and succulents - look like in close-up

Pastels and Pencils - Fine Art Prints of original drawings by Katherine Tyrrell ASGFA

Fine art prints of original art by Katherine Tyrrell, this page links directly to specific fine art print galleries of works by Katherine Tyrrell at Imagekind