Many flowers have their parts arranged in elegant spiral patterns. Daisies and sunflower centres are some of the most striking examples, as are many members of the Asteraceae family. But spirals appear far beyond this group: you’ll find them in the arrangement of flowers, leaves, bracts, cones, fruits, and even in the growth habit of stems. Patterns are everywhere in nature - you simply have to look for them. For the botanical artist, recognising these underlying structures can make drawing...

Many flowers have overlapping petals or multiple structural components, which can make them challenging to illustrate, especially for those at the beginning of their botanical art journey. There are several strategies that help you make sense of these parts and approach the drawing systematically. It is not necessary to produce a perfect drawing at the outset - you will use many light, exploratory construction lines as you build the structure. These can be refined gradually, and the final...

Leaves can be one of the most challenging subjects for students. Their huge variety of shapes, textures, tones, and surfaces means they demand careful observation and patient technique. In this post, I outline some of the essential stages involved in painting a leaf, I begin with a brief overview of this Camellia leaf . Stages of Painting a Camellia Leaf A Camellia leaf is a mid to dark toned, shiny green leaf. With the light source coming from the upper right side, reflections bounce off the...