I've just published a new 7,500 word document for my Botanical Illustration and Advanced students about professional development for the botanical artist - it's part of the course updates underway for 2021 and is available to all students who have been with me since 2018.
Having been a self supporting professional artist for over 30 years, with a few breaks along the way - to study a biology degree an to work in education - I had to learn much of my trade by trial and error, most business models don't fit into what you actually need to do as a botanical artist. Basically, nobody tells you about the different aspects of this very specialised business, thus, it's all the the things I had to learn about, that nobody ever told me! from further study to exhibiting, joining societies, public profile - i.e. social media and website, pricing work, illustration contracts, copyright and more. I will be adding more resources over the next few months from a front line artist perspective.
Being a botanical artist isn't just about painting and requires much multi-tasking, so I hope to address many of the issues that I've had to deal with over the years.
Coming soon! SAPP or the Science Art Plant Project
I'm very excited to announce a new joint project and website with Polly Sutherland called SAPP or the Science Art Plant Project, which will be launched later this year.
We started work on this early last year but Polly had some pretty serious health problems, and we put it on hold, fortunately she's recovering and we're back on it. In a nutshell it's going to be a web resource about the science behind plants, specifically tailored for the botanical artist or enthusiast. I've been a full time botanical artist since 2020 and also studied a biology BSc, specialising in floral morphology and reproductive success in flowering plants. Polly, who is my daughter, (if you didn't know), studied a Fine Art BA and an Art Science MA, it seemed a shame to leave science behind - so we decided to develop a website dedicated to the fascinating world of plants and art. I'll be sharing an image of the home page and more information shortly
