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'This is botanical illustration at the highest level.' The Artist
Christabel King is the foremost botanical artist at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, world leaders in the study and preservation of plant species.
Here she shares her passion for depicting plants, both in scientific illustrations and in looser botanical art.
This inspiring guide covers everything you need to know: choose a subject and create a vibrant composition; accurately sketch, shade and colour leaves, flowers, cacti and more; finally, press and preserve your own treasured specimens. A chapter on travel drawing gives a flavour of the author's worldwide experience, and there are many of her beautiful plates from the prestigious Curtis's Botanical Magazine. There is a helpful section on suitable subjects for beginners and a glossary of terms, to get you started in the beautiful art of botanical illustration.
Introduction 6 Botanical illustration 8 Materials 10 Choosing the subject 14 Choosing the technique 16 Your work space 18 Drawing from life 20 Composition 22 Light and shade 24 Sketching and drawing 26 Magnification 30 Transferring the drawing 34 Using a shading guide 36 Watercolour 38 Gouache 42 Pen and ink 46 Correcting mistakes 48 Leaves 50 Flowers 60 Using a microscope 78 Preserving specimens 80 Working from pressed specimens 82 Cacti and succulents 84 Wild flowers 92 Travel drawings 98 Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 104 Trees 120 Advice for beginners 123 Botanical glossary 124 Artistic glossary 125 Index 126 Bibliography 128
Kew's chief botanical artist, and one of Kew's elite band of practitioners, Christabel King has been working as an illustrator at Kew for 40 years. In 1975 she began painting for their prestigious Curtis's Botanical Magazine (the longest-running botanical magazine - first edition 1787), after achieving a degree in botany and scientific illustration. She runs successful workshops and courses at Kew and is highly skilled and acclaimed for her work. Christabel lives in Twickenham, Middlesex.
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