A unique and exciting approach to botanical illustration, this beginner guide demonstrates everything you need to know about capturing beautiful botanical specimens on paper. Each exercise guides the reader through a different aspect of botanical illustration, breaking the whole process down into simple, easy-to-follow stages. Whether you are a beginner looking for advice on composition and how to plot out your initial drawings, an experienced artist looking to develop your skills at colour mixing and working with unusual colours, or an old hand looking to capture more challenging and complex textures and shapes, there is something for botanical artists of all levels. Acclaimed artists Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan ran the popular botanical painting course at the Eden Project and have filled this fantastically illustrated guide with practical and inspirational worksheets, colour swatches, sketches and stunning finished paintings.

Meriel Thurstan took up botanical illustration when she was working in Cornwall, where she was a founder of the Eden Project Florilegium Society. She subsequently set up the South West Society of Botanical Artists. Meriel holds a Bronze and a Silver Linley medal from the RHS for her work. She lives and teaches in Somerset.
 
Rosie Martin holds a Gold Medal form the RHS for her botanical watercolour paintings. She was an elected member of the Society of Botanical Artists and teaches a variety of art-based subjects, including botanical illustration. She has worked in fashion, ballet and theatre; her clients have included David Bowie, Anthony Caro, Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Muir, for whom she produced textiles and interior design prints. She has more recently been artist-in-residence on polar expedition ships, and some of her polar paintings are on loan to Nature in Art.