An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
AN INTRODUCTION TO
BOTANICAL ART
MALUS ‘GORGEOUS’ CRAB APPLE GROUP
By Gaynor Dickeson
Botanical art depicts plants in a fairly ‘tight’ manner. It is pleasing
to the eye and would grace the walls of any home.
Its very nature is time consuming, but enjoyable and the effort
spent on it is worthwhile!
The use of coloured pencil rather than watercolour in botanical art
is a newer phenomenon, but becoming increasingly popular.
This guide accompanies the ArtTutor video course,
Click here to get the video series.
But at the bottom of page 12, there is a link to the first video as a ‘taster’ for you
to try out.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
A Word from Gaynor
I have been interested in botanical art
since 2005. It is surprisingly addictive for
someone who likes to paint in detail. I
hope to get you equally addicted, but the
most important thing is to enjoy yourself.
This guide is suitable for people of all
levels of expertise, from the experienced
to those who have not used coloured
pencil, or painted plants before. The main
thing is to be interested and want to use
coloured pencils in botanical art.
I will lead you through the materials you
need and show you how to use them. I
will go through the intricate details in the picture I have painted. If you follow
my guidance, with practice you will be able to paint similar pictures or your
own composition.
The picture is of Malus 'Gorgeous', a variety of crab apple with juicy red fruit. I
have chosen to paint different stages from a year in the life of the plant, and
included a dissected apple.
You may not want to paint botanically; you may prefer to just paint plants or
other forms from nature. The techniques that I will show you are not specific
to botanical art, but can be used in all detailed colour pencil painting.
Enjoy!
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
An Introduction to Botanical Art
I am often asked about the difference between botanical
art, botanical illustration and flower painting.
Botanical art is an artistic representation of plants. The
aim is to create an aesthetically pleasing picture of a
specific plant, and although it can be recognised in detail,
it may not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
Botanical illustration, on the other hand, is a scientifically
accurate representation of plants, making it possible to
identify the plant in question. Its purpose is to help the
identification of individual plant species.
Botanical art and illustration can cross over into each
other, so that the results of both can be portrayed in an
aesthetically pleasing manner.
Flower painting is a more general artistic representation
of flowers. Its results can be looser in form and produce
purely beautiful pictures.
Such is the extent of precision required in botanical art and
illustration the judges scrutinise the paintings with
magnifying glasses! Now that’s nerve-wracking for the
artists!
I love botanical art. Yes, it’s very time consuming, but
although I have very little patience, I will happily work on
my paintings for hours at a time – so if I can do it, so can
you.
One of the most important things in botanical art is the
ability to observe. To produce an accurate painting you
must spend time looking at your subject. You need to see
how leaves and flowers arise from a stem, how the various
parts are attached to each other and, how the light falls
and reflects from various parts of the plant. Also, think
how colours are put together – in particular the green in
leaves, or the colour changes that occur as a plant or part
of it gets old and dies. Note highlights and blemishes –
everything that gives that particular plant character or
attracts you to it.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
You can probably understand why it can take me
months to complete some of my studies and pictures!
Many of my students have told me that having learnt to
observe in my classes, they have transferred this
newfound ability to their everyday living. They now see
the world and nature in ways they had not done before.
Traditionally botanical artists almost always used
watercolour. But now as coloured pencil quality has
improved, they are gradually making their mark as a
popular and convenient contender.
Sketchbook studies of your chosen subject in the field
is where coloured pencil obviously comes into its own,
as you do away with the necessity for finding water.
But coloured pencils are also well suited to final,
studio-based botanical art studies due to their ability to
capture quite fine details. But for this you will need
them sharpened to a very fine point.
Mistakenly, people think that using coloured pencils is
easier than using watercolour. It is not easier, only
different. With coloured pencil one lays colour very
gently and in small sections at a time. The risks are not
the same as with laying larger watercolour washes.
Either watercolour or coloured pencil pigment on your
paper can stain it and is difficult to remove entirely.
If, like me, you have got it into your head that you want to paint with coloured
pencil, you will do so without wondering if it is easier or more difficult, you’ll
just get on with it. It gives me a thrill each time I paint a picture with coloured
pencils.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Materials
Pencils
Coloured pencils are translucent, and it is this translucency that enables you to
layer and blend colours on your paper to achieve the final colour you want.
For botanical art in general, I use the dry variety of pencil and a basic set of 22
carefully chosen colours. Some people manage with fewer than this and others
use more. I have given the names of the pencils I used in the picture. Each
picture you paint will help you to extend your collection of colours. I’ve built
up my coloured pencil collection over time and have a whole host of different
colours and brands to choose from.
Faber-Castell Polychromos:
• FC101 white • FC139 light violet (limited availability)
• FC103 ivory • FC138 violet
• FC102 cream • FC170 may green
• FC184 dark naples • FC168 earth green yellowish
• FC118 scarlet red • FC172 earth green
• FC142 madder • FC173 olive green
• FFC133 magenta • FC174 chrome green opaque
• FC193 burnt carmine • FC278 chrome green oxide
• FC225 dark red • FC179 bistre
• FC123 fuchsia • FC178 nougat
• FC134 crimson • FC175 dark sepia
Over time you might want to build up a collection to rival mine!
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
I expect that you will be aware of the danger of dropped pencils. The pigment
through the centre of the pencil can break and then it is useless as you will be
unable to get a long stable point for fine details.
Surface
I work on hot pressed Fabriano Classico 5 paper. I cover the area I’m not
working on with more paper to protect it from loose pigment and dropped
pencils (yes dropped!). Skin oils in particular, even from well-washed hands,
can change the surface of the paper acting as a resist for the coloured pencils.
For this reason I also wear a cotton glove on my right hand with the fingertips
cut off.
Other Materials
In addition to the pencils I would recommend in order of importance:
• Rotary pencil sharpener.
• Grey putty eraser.
• White plastic eraser.
• Eraser shield - for taking out
small mistakes without
disturbing your work.
• Embossing tools – used for
indenting the paper prior to
painting as in narrow veins,
very fine hairs, or tiny
stamens.
• Soft brush or feather (for
dusting away loose pigment
or eraser).
• Colourless wax blender. Used on the final stage of work, in areas of the
painting that might benefit from this i.e. shiny surfaces, edges of
highlights etc. Some textures will not benefit from blending the colours
– as in the rough branch in this picture.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Set Up
Wherever you decide to work, make sure you’re sitting comfortably. You need a
chair that supports your back well, as the nature of botanical art is such that
you are likely to sit for long periods of time.
Make sure that the light is on the opposite side to your working hand, so that
you don’t cast a shadow over your work. Keep your pencils and tools within
easy reach so that you don’t have to keep on stretching to get them.
Take regular and frequent breaks away from your work during the day. Be
aware of your working position, as even something as basic as crossing and
uncrossing your legs can affect the angle and pressure of your pencil on the
paper.
I prefer to work on a slanted board or table easel. I keep my reference material
close to my work area so I can glance between the two easily. If practical, keep
your reference material straight in front of you. This cuts the amount of head
turning you will need and thus the strain on your neck.
Working position is all-important.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Reference Material
Above all, your botanical art will be better
if you work from life. This allows you to
really see your subject at all times
throughout the development of your
picture.
A magnifying glass helps to see the detail
on the plant and also to check the neatness
of your edges in the painting.
When you’re setting up your subject, it’s
best to have natural light that comes in
naturally from the opposite side to your
working hand; if you’re left-handed, light
from the right and vice versa. At times you
might want to use a lamp, in which case
daylight bulbs shining from the same side
as the natural light source won’t change the
colour of your specimen too much, nor your
painting.
As I have said, working from life is the ideal
in botanical art, but if you’re working on
something for months like I do, you can
imagine how much your living subject will
change and eventually wilt!
For this reason I take photographs and
make sketches of my initial set up, so that I
can work on the painting for a long time,
changing leaves or flowers as they die. In
some instances, I have had to wait until the
next season to get fresh ‘spare’ parts!
As an example, I painted a picture of a
savoy cabbage in watercolour. As the
cabbage began to smell, I got a new one. I
used three in all. You all know what rotting
cabbage smells like, don’t you? Painting a
beautiful picture is not always beautiful in
the painting of it.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Techniques
There are many techniques in coloured pencil and each artist develops their
own. As a person’s style of work begins to develop, so the technique in
producing that style develops. No one technique is right or wrong, it is the
result that counts. Using coloured pencil for botanical art, precision is
important.
If you already use coloured pencils, as long as you observe the fine details of a
plant, and can portray them using your own technique. This means you will be
able to use coloured pencils in the same way you normally would use them.
This is how I generally work:
1. Work Dark to Light in Layers
Working from dark to light is the opposite of watercolour. In
watercolour you can intensify a colour by adding layers of the same
colour. But, with coloured pencil you cannot intensify a colour by
either repeatedly layering or pressing extra hard. I still find myself
doing this occasionally and it never works.
The colour you see through the centre of the pencil is the colour you
will see on the paper and as I have just described, more layers of the
same colour will not deepen it. Remember that coloured pencils are
translucent and one takes advantage of this to create other darker or
lighter colours. The first layer of colour will shine through the next
layer, so that optically you are creating a third colour.
In coloured pencil, you mix colours on your paper, not on your
palette.
One of the main reasons for working from dark to light is that light
colour pencils have more binder mixed in with the pigment than
dark colours. The binder is normally wax or oil based, depending
upon the make. The more binder you apply to the paper in the form
of light colour pencil, the less easy it is to add darker colour on top.
The lighter pencil can act as a resist. Therefore, one generally puts
the dark layers on first and the lighter layers last.
However, in some instances rules can be carefully broken. You might
apply a very thin and gentle layer of pale colour to tone down the
next layer applied over it!
Observed highlights should be left as clean white paper. Nothing will
be as white as the white of the paper. Nothing will promote the
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
intense contrast between a colour and white as the white of the
paper.
2. Keep a Sharp Point
By keeping your pencils as sharp as possible, you’re able to fill the
valleys in the uneven surface of the paper. It also helps you to have
more control over your work. I use a rotary pencil sharpener and, if
necessary, hone or dress it by rubbing the side of the point on a piece
of scrap paper.
3. Press Lightly and Apply the Colour in a Circular Motion
All paper has some form of ‘tooth’, an uneven surface with valleys to
fill and mountains to climb – at least for the pigment in your pencil.
If you scoot across the surface of the paper with your pencil sharp or
blunt, you will not fill the valleys. Even with several layers of colour
on top, you will see the white valleys underneath and you will have
difficulty attaining a saturated colour. The intention is to fill the
valleys too so that the resulting colour is rich.
When you apply the colour, therefore, do this lightly and work in tiny
circles to get an even coverage. If you press too heavily you risk putting
on too much pigment without filling the valleys properly, the paper
becomes impregnated too early and you will be unable to add more
colour. If you try to put on more colour at this stage, either the pencil
skids across the surface, pigment builds up in lumps or you damage the
paper.
4. Blend to Finish
With coloured pencil you can create many types of finishes to better
show the surface texture of your subject. In some instances you may
want a rough surface and for others a very smooth one; equally
these may be shiny or matt. You can create this effect by blending –
or not, as the case may be.
In the shiny crab apple, I needed to blend the colours, as there was a
gradual transition between shades, highlights and shadows. You can
do this by applying many layers of colour so that the surface is
effectively saturated with colour, or if you haven’t quite got that far,
by using a wax blender to gently push the underlying pigment into
the paper. There are several ways of doing this, but these are the
two most common. The result is a rich colour.
The undersides of the leaves might not benefit too much from heavy
blending, as they are matt. The branches are mostly rough and ready
so that it is better to build up sufficient colour and texture and then
leave them.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
The Crab Apple
Pencils You Will Need
• Faber-Castell Polychromos: 225 dark red, 223 deep red, 173 olive green
yellowish, 194 red violet, 128 light purple pink, 121 geranium lake, 185
naples yellow, 102 cream, 175 sepia, 101 white
• Derwent Artist: 2210 Heather, 2220 Soft Violet, 4140 Distant Green
• Caran d’Ache – Pablo: 371 Bluish Pale, Full Blender
• Prismacolor Premier: 924 Crimson Red, 923 Scarlet Lake, 927 Scarlet
o Red
• Prismacolor Verithin: Crimson Red, Tuscan Red
These are the pencils I used in this section. As I said, I collected my colours
over the last few years. I have learnt which colours work in botanical art and
those that are less likely to. I also have some favourite colours that I tend to
use again and again. Some of these colours also appear in my basic list of
pencils.
You will see that my composition from the photograph has changed in my final
painting. This is because it was drawn from life and I was able to paint the
leaves at different angles to best show off their shape and colour. As the
original leaves died I replaced them with other leaves that I felt were more
pleasing and interesting to the composition. (This is partly why botanical art
can be better than photography!)
Click here to watch me paint the crab apples.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Dissection
In botanical art it is not so important to
include all aspects of the subject being
painted as it doesn’t necessarily have to
stand up to scientific scrutiny, but I
choose to do so in this picture.
This is why I painted all the elements of
this crab apple tree – I wanted to
capture all its characteristics. These
differ slightly between varieties of crab
apples: with differences between
leaves, flowers and fruit.
A dissection of flowers
or fruit is often the best
way to show them and
therefore I chose to
paint a dissected fruit.
Obviously to paint a
dissection from life you
have to work very
quickly. Luckily there
are ways of slightly
delaying oxidisation
(browning) of the apple,
such as dipping the cut
sections in lemon juice.
But, the apple is quite small and hopefully there will be others on the tree
giving you the opportunity to paint from life. Again this is where the
photograph comes in useful to find an appropriate ‘spare’!
Pencils You Will Need
! Faber-Castell – Polychromos: 101 white, 102 cream, 103 ivory, 108 dark
cadmium yellow, 283 burnt sienna, 177 walnut brown, 186 terracotta,
• 223 deep red, 194 red violet, 225 dark red, 126 permanent
carmine,
• 168 earth green yellow, 121 geranium lake,
• 179 bistre
! Caran d’Ache – Pablo: 371 Bluish pale
! Prismacolour Verithin: Carmine
Click here to get the remaining series of videos from ArtTutor, including 'Painting the crab apple dissection'
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Foliage
The crab apple has relatively simple foliage, but to show those leaves
botanically you need to illustrate both the upper and under-side of the leaf.
You can tell the difference between the two sides as the underside is paler and
bluer than the upper side, the veins have a hint of pink showing on the
underside as well as being raised. The veins on the upper side are indented.
Pencils You Will Need
• Faber-Castell – Polychromos: 175 sepia, 223 deep red, 278 chrome oxide
green, 172 earth green, 174 chrome green opaque,
103 ivory, 205 cadmium yellow lemon, 170 may green, 249 mauve,
168 earth green yellowish
• Derwent Artist: 5120 Light Moss, 4140 Distant Green
• Caran d’Ache – Pablo: 371 Bluish pale, 231 Lime green
Click here to get the remaining videos from ArtTutor including ' The crab apple leaf'
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
Branch and Flower
The final step is to paint the
flower and branch of the crab
apple.
Even if you don’t want to paint
the rest of the crab apple group,
you might want to have a look at
this section particularly if you
want to know how to paint
beautiful, delicate flowers.
However, a few words of
warning:
• Paint the leaves first.
• White flowers are best done with a dark background already in place.
• Remember to keep a very light touch.
• Nothing is whiter than the white of the paper.
• Only blend if absolutely necessary.
• The flowers are very small and delicate with very fine detail.
• It is easy to overdo them and difficult to undo.
• Be careful.
Pencils You Will Need (Flower)
• Faber-Castell – Polychromos: 106 light chrome yellow, 174 chrome green
opaque, 172 earth green, 135 light red violet, 139 light violet, 119 light
magenta, 232 cold grey III, 271 warm grey II, 187 burnt ochre, 188
sanguine, 283 burnt sienna, 129 pink madder lake, 127 pink carmine,
o 126 permanent
carmine
• Derwent Artist: 1800 Rose Pink
• Caran d’Ache – Pablo: 371 Bluish pale, 015 Olive yellow
• Prismacolour Verithin: Carmine
Pencils You Will Need (Branch)
• Faber-Castell – Polychromos: 175 sepia, 177 walnut brown, 180 raw
umber, 186 terracotta, 230 cold grey I, 263 caput mortum violet
• Derwent Artist: 4140 Distant Green
Click here to get the remaining videos from Art Tutor including the flower and branch.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
The Finished Painting
Together the three elements make up the picture of a year in the life of a
Malus ‘Gorgeous’ Crab Apple. But in Botanical art, there are no rules to say
that you can’t just paint the bits you like best!
The key things to remember are practice and enjoyment! Practice a little every
day, working slowly – botanical art is not a loose discipline!
I hope you’ve learnt a lot from this guide and have picked up some of the
enthusiasm I have for botanical art.
And even more importantly, I hope you have enjoyed it and will go on to enjoy
hours of painting lots of different pictures.
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
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An Introduction to Botanical Art by Gaynor Dickeson
About Gaynor
Gaynor is a distinguished and award winning
botanical artist. She works in watercolour, coloured
pencil and graphite and has pictures in collections
in Europe, the USA and Australia. Gaynor is
passionate about sharing her expertise and teaches
regularly in the UK, USA and Norway, and has
online students as far away as Australia and
Canada.
Visit her website at:
www.gaynorsflora.com
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