We are so happy to welcome botanical artist Sharon Field who is committed to documenting plant species on 8-metre-long scrolls of paper which have generated tears overseas as she works to raise environmental awareness. She has been creating art portraying Australia's flora for more than a decade, is drawing species from across New South Wales and the world, including some that are endangered, threatened, or at risk from climate change. She says her mission is to do one drawing a day until 2030 on 8-metre scrolls because it is the "longest piece of paper I can get". "It can be an Australian native plant that might be under threat, it might be an introduced species, it could be a weed," Field said. Sharon will be bringing her scrolls with her to show us!

Katherine Tyrrell, author of the very successful website Botanical Art & Artists presents her fascinating talk on how to be a business savvy botanical artist, including the financial, social media and self-promotional aspects of this career. If you are a Society member you may email her for a resume of the talk.

Will Beharrell, Librarian at The Linnean Society will be presenting his talk on English botanical artist Elizabeth Blackwell (1699–c. 1758) who found herself penniless, with her ne’er-do-well husband confined to a London debtor’s prison. A talented artist, she came up with a unique and ambitious moneymaking scheme: the publication of a new illustrated guide to medicinal plants, including many New World species not depicted in earlier books. Blackwell’s Curious Herbal, published between 1737 and 1739, was hailed for it’s usefulness to doctors and apothecaries and met with considerable financial success.

Francesca Murray presents a talk on the ‘Delights of Victorian Gardens’, gardening in the 19th century including stories about market gardeners in London during that period. She is a multi-talented student, teacher, lecturer, author, business woman, trustee and speaker all focused on garden history so we are thrilled to host her!

Rachel Bates, Marketing Manager at The Chelsea Physic Garden, will be giving The Society their annual update, always an informative and fascinating talk.

Honorary Member, François has been fascinated with carnivorous plants for the last 20 years. He will share his sometimes difficult journey from travelling to study these plants in their habitat to publishing academic papers, as well as producing scientific illustrations and watercolor paintings.

He is a botanical artist, scientific illustrator and carnivorous plant taxonomist. He has studied carnivorous plants in France where he lives, the USA, his native Cambodia, as well as Vietnam, Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and the Seychelles. He has a particular interest in Nepenthes and Heliamphora pitcher plants, of which he has named several species, as well as orchids. In the course of his published work as a taxonomist, he has illustrated dozens of new species and produced many commissions for publication.

We are so delighted to welcome artist Mariella Baldwin! She says “Firstly - I am not an entomologist and I am certainly no expert! However I have developed an interest in insects - particularly moths. This developed during lockdown when there wasn’t much else to do but to garden, paint and read. In this workshop I hope to share my enthusiasm for the subject of illustrating insects. During the workshop I will bring examples of my work and I will show various tips to help simplify and understand the structure of insects. I will also demonstrate a couple of ways that I have found helpful to describe various features. I will also share my sources of references including various books that our group might find interesting and useful. Q and A’s will be welcomed - I will happily share what I have discovered -but I must forewarn that my knowledge of this subject is limited although my enthusiasm huge.”

Regius Keeper of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Simon Milne MBE, FRGS, British Marine Officer and conservationist will be giving us a fascinating talk on “Plants, People and Hope – botanic gardens for the 21st Century-the critical role botanic gardens can and do play in today’s challenging world with references to botanical art.”

In her talk, Commercialising botanical painting’, Member Emma van Klaveren will be sharing her journey as a botanical illustrator over the past decade, carving a career in this field, and online self promotion. In her talk ‘Beyond the Watercolour’ Fellow Member Rui Jiang will also be sharing her commercial experiences.

Fellow Member Helen Allen is a well known botanical artist and teacher based in London. She is the Founder & Director of Chelsea School of Botanical Art, 2014-2020. Her beautiful works are held in public & private collections around the world. She will be sharing her vast experience on when enough is enough or too much in your botanical paintings. This is sometimes the most protracted, but also the most exciting of stages. It is often the tiniest of marks, or the palest wash that brings the painting together. We are thrilled to welcome her!

Deputy Director since 2018, Frances Sampayo is responsible for the strategic development and delivery of Visitor Experience, Learning & Public Engagement (Public Programmes, Community & Youth Engagement), Volunteering, Facilities & Maintenance, Health & Safety, and Risk Management at the Garden. She will be giving the Society their annual Garden update.

Spectacular Managing Director, Hester Baldwin will be presenting the art materials on offer from this iconic Chelsea art shop and gallery, Green & Stone on Fulham Road. It traded on the King’s Road for 93 years but after severe building complications in 2018 it had to move within a month. Hester is the daughter of Rodney Baldwin who was the original mastermind behind the shop since 1972 and we are delighted to welcome her as she leads the fine shop into her next century.

Our Society Honorary President, Charlotte Brooks will be giving us a talk about The Reeves Collection. This collection of early nineteenth-century water-colours is one of the largest sets of natural history drawings in the British Museum (Natural History). Some 2000 animals and plants are depicted by Chinese artists under the supervision of John Reeves of Canton.

Niki studied Environmental Science (BSc Hons) at Sheffield University (which included 3 years of Botany). After her children were  born, and time spent living abroad, she joined the Botany Department at RHS Wisley in 1993, where she worked, first as Administrator for the RHS Horticultural Database and later managing the RHS Botany image collection. She exhibited a number of times at RHS London shows, receiving a RHS Gold Medal for her exhibit of watercolour paintings in 1998. For some years Niki was commissioned to produce illustrations for the RHS New Plantsman and taught short courses in Botanical Art for the RHS at Rosemoor Garden in Devon. With an interest in the future of botanical illustration, Niki was delighted to receive a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust award in 2004, for a project to experiment with the digital techniques for botanical illustration.

Photography and digitally created botanical illustration
Niki now specialises in using digital techniques, including photography, to create reference standard composite illustrations, working in collaboration with botanist Peter Barnes. Her main interest is the depiction of plants of the British flora. She does not consider herself to be a photographer, rather an illustrator who uses photography. As well as a RHS Gold medal for painting, Niki holds two RHS Gold Medals for photography (2007, 2008) for her digitally created botanical images.

Mathew Biggs (born 1960), is a radio personality in the UK, best known for his appearances on the long running BBC Radio 4 programme Gardeners' Question Time. He has been a professional gardener for over 25 years, since studying at Pershore College of Horticulture and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His first appearance on TV was on Channel 4's Garden Club. He directed the long-running Grass Roots programme for ITV. He is a contributor to BBC Gardeners' World magazine and blogs on Matthew Biggs Gardening Diary.

Annika Erikson studied Paper Conservation at UAL, Renaissance Art History in Tuscany, and the Classics in Greece, before working in conservation and collection care at St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Horticultural Society, and Tate, where she got the idea in 2010 to create a mobile digital tool to streamline and create an industry standard in condition reports and conservation documentation. After opening a new conservation studio for John Jones, she became an entrepreneur and founded Articheck in 2013. Annika is a member of AiA, Art Innovators Alliance, ICOM, the International Council of Museums, and a member of CIDOC, the ICOM committee for documentation, as well at ICON, the Institute of Conservation, and the new initiative AIS, Art Identification Standard, as well as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society. Annika has lectured at Sotheby’s Institute, NYU, UCL, Christie’s Education, Kingston University, UCLA, City and Guilds, and Korean Art Management.

Chelsea Physic Garden Curator since September 2014, Sue Medway will be going The Society their annual update, always an informative and fascinating talk.

Working first as Senior Technician, under botanist and Garden Curator Dr David Gledhill, and then as Superintendent at the Botanic Garden's former home at Bracken Hill in Leigh Woods, Bristol, when Dr David Gledhill retired as Curator in 1992. We are delighted to welcome Nick to tell us about the relocation and development of the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens.

Tommy is a Norwegian gardener, writer, photographer, broadcaster and plant propagator. He started his career working in a garden centre and stayed on for four years. After that he went on to work for The Norwegian Horticultural Society, where he was on the Editorial Team for Norsk Hagetidend for nearly 13 years. He has also served on various committees for The Norwegian Horticultural Society, and various smaller garden groups and plant societies in Norway. In 2009 he moved from a rather small garden outside their apartment in Skedsmo, to a smallholding in Nannestad, quite close to Oslos main airport. With 18000 m2 at our feet they started all the projects they had always wanted, plant the trees and shrubs they had never been able to grow before, and start the nursery they had always dreamed of.

Chelsea Physic Garden Curator since September 2014, Sue Medway will be going The Society their annual update, always an informative and fascinating talk.