I took a botanical illustration class

and it made me miss my pencils

If I’d decided to pursue botanical illustration a few years ago, I suspect I could have become reasonably good at it. I’m great at being slow and delicate, I can do obsessive detail, and I love a calm, mindful environment. But giving it a go now made me glad I’ve followed the path I have….how great that there’s so many branches of the illustration tree for us to explore!

One amazing thing about having my studio at the Hugo Burge Foundation is the chance to meet, connect and sometimes learn from other artists. Marianne Hazlewood is a botanical illustrator I’ve known for a few years from seeing her at various local events, including the Open Studios weekend we hold at the studios. She’s ace, so when I heard she was coming to the Walled Garden at HBF to do a workshop, I immediately signed up.

I’ve long been aware of botanical illustration of course (and fun fact: Rory McEwan who was tippy top in the field was born at Marchmont, where the studios are now based) but it’s not something I’ve ever studied so the process and techniques were as new to me as anyone (almost). We started the day with a potter in the garden to choose a subject for the day. I went for a stem of Yellow Rattle, which has been sown by the garden team to prepare area of the garden for wildflower meadows.

After seeing a selection Marianne’s (amazing) work, we took our seats in the glasshouse and spent the morning measuring and drawing our specimen on cartridge paper with a sharp 2H pencil - though I quickly reverted to my trusty propelling pal. This was EXHAUSTING for me, requiring several hours of intense scrutiny, measuring the elements of the plant as accurately as possible, to try to draw something as realistic as possible.

This drawing was then traced and transferred lightly onto hot press water colour paper. After lunch (which was cooked by Marianne’s partner, what a team) Marianne explained the process of colour matching, and demonstrated a super delicate wet on wet watercolour technique with hilariously tiny paintbrushes. To speed things up, she eyed up everyone’s subject and provided them with the paints she thought we’d need,

The painting process essentially involved many MANY layers of incredibly light watercolour washes, whilst constantly referencing the plant and the original drawing. Just to keep things interesting, the plant changed throughout the day, twisting and unfurling, and since we were using natural light the colours were often shifting too!

This is as far as I got. I hadn’t expected to finish a piece - there was far too much to learn and the process is a slow one - but I still had to adjust my priorities by choosing to focus on just a couple of elements to get this far! Marianne is a great teacher and the day certainly gave me an insight into botanical illustration that I couldn’t have got from a book. Here’s a few observations and thoughts I had throughout the day:

• Because the plant changes throughout the day from the moment you pick it, it’s vital to take lots of photos. I imagine if you were doing this in a studio setting you’d use artificial light to help keep colours more consistent.

• This was about being accurate, depicting the literal plant in front of me. I loved the fact it made me look incredibly closely and appreciate things I’d normally miss

• In general I’m more interested in portraying the character of a subject, and my interpretation of it, than the reality. Which is the opposite of what I was trying to do in this class!

• I often found myself tempted to just ‘make it up’ rather than look closely to get a detail right. I don’t know if this was habit or laziness - maybe both!

• I got very achy and stiff! I was sitting very still for longer than I normally do whilst working, and making very small movements so as not to disturb my specimen. Marianne talked about how seriously she has to take exercise to counteract the time she spends working and I can believe it!

• This sort of art seems to require more patience than I have - total respect to botanical illustrators!

• I missed my pencils quite quickly! I kept thinking how I could do certain things with a pencil, but this was a paint-only zone.

• I did remember how lovely watercolour is though, and plan to get some since the only ones I have are super old and weird colours. I’ll probably combine them with pencil though…

• It was such an interesting experience because it really made me realise how much looser I’ve become with my style over the years. When I first started, I was very controlled and neat and I’ve worked hard to become more expressive both because I love the energy of looser work, and because time is an important factor when you’re working on a client job. Painting like this was so different from how I generally work now.

Finally thoughts - botanical illustrators are wizards with a level of focus, patience, accuracy and delicacy I can’t possibly match! But I’m so glad I gave this a try, I had a lovely day and it felt so healthy to try an area of illustration that isn’t my usual thing. It was a great reminder of how there’s room for so many different skills and interests in illustration, it’s such a brilliantly open field with room, for everyone. Personally, for example, I can’t wait to get back to my pencils…