Botany for the Artist

This beautifully illustrated guide to botany in art explores the extraordinary world of plants and inspires you to try drawing them yourself. Understanding botany helps any artist to draw plants better. In Botany for the Artist, celebrated artist Sarah Simblet takes you on a journey of discovery through the kingdom of plants. From tiny ferns and mosses to exotic flowers and majestic trees. Encouraging you to observe them more closely and draw them more accurately. Complemented by beautiful photographic plant portraits, Sarah’s drawings reveal the structure of roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits as she explains how plants breathe, feed, and produce fruits.

If you have ever wondered how photosynthesis works, why leaves change colour in the autumn, where plants store food, or how seeds know when to grow, this book has all the answers. Step-by-step drawing classes and detailed pages from Sarah’s sketchbooks guide you through all the techniques that you need to draw plants successfully. Masterclasses by famous artists – from Renaissance masters to contemporary illustrators – showcase different approaches to drawing and painting plants over the centuries.

Botany for the Artist is a visual feast, not just for anyone wishing to create fresh, vibrant, drawings, but for gardeners, photographers, and everyone who is passionate about plants and how they are portrayed in art.