Student stories and testimonials

Student Stories & Testimonials

There have been some great success stories with students, with work accepted into internationals, such as ASAB, Membership of Societies achieved, such as the SBA, work accepted into RBGE Florilegium by two current students and one even succeeded in having work accepted into the Margaret Flockton in 2021. Several have gone on to be accepted by the RHS for exhibiting and one is currently exhibiting th the Shirley Sherwood Gallery as part of the ABBA digital exhibition. I have even more exciting news of student stories for the near future in their words.

Francesca Di Camillo - Botanical Illustration Graduate 2026

"I originally began studying watercolour as a mindfulness activity. However, having an academic background in Natural Sciences, I soon became interested in exploring the natural world through art, which led me to botanical illustration.

I first discovered Dianne through some of her tutorials, and I really enjoyed her teaching style. Her clear and thorough explanations encouraged me to enrol on her Botanical Illustration course.

The course takes you step by step from the basics of graphite drawing to traditional botanical illustration in watercolour. It has greatly improved both my drawing skills and my understanding of watercolour. I have learned how important careful observation is when drawing a subject, rather than simply drawing what I think I see.

I particularly appreciated the way Dianne explains the different watercolour techniques individually and in depth. This has given me the knowledge and confidence to approach a new illustration independently, without always having to rely on following a tutorial.

The feedback after each assessment has also been extremely valuable. It is always detailed and constructive, helping me understand what I can improve and how to move forward.

I have really enjoyed the course and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in botanical illustration, whether starting from scratch or looking to improve their existing skills"

Francesca Di Camillo

Above: Francesca's final watercolour submission of a beautiful pineapple

Marina Voznyuk - Botanical Illustration Course graduate 2017

When I started the Botanical Illustration Course with Dianne Sutherland I had just a small experience in watercolour. The course was very informative for me, the continuous tone technique which I was not familiar before, all the exercises and especially composition part together with final assignment. I chose Cyclamen persicum for my graphite work and the composition was quite difficult because of many flowers and leaves.

At the time when I was doing exercises for watercolour part of the course I got to know about the ASBA initiative Botanical Art Worldwide project. Each of the participating countries illustrated their native plants. I had enough courage to email them with the intention to organize our exhibition in Ukraine as the part of this project. So my choice of the plant for the Final assignment for the course was Rosa canina as it’s a native plant for my country and lately it took part in the exhibition.

Dianne gave us so much information not only in course materials but also in our closed group where the students share their work and get the answers on endless questions. I feel that if not Dianne’s clever advices and all the information she gave I would not organize such significant exhibition among 25 participating countries: Flora of Ukraine, Botanical Art Worldwide, May 2018, in the National Botanical Garden in Kyiv. Also my work Sorbus aucuparia was chosen for Ukraine’s page in Irish and American catalogs, as these two countries were publishing books with all the participating countries.'

Marina Vozynuk

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