Welcome to the Florals/Botanical Forum’s Index! Below you will find links to useful information and inspiration! If you have an addition you would like to add to this wonderful resource, please bring it to the attention of a member of the Team.

Reference Image Library
Flowers, Plants and Trees
Macdragon’s Spring Flowers – until RIL uploader is fixed.
Madragon’s Summer Flowers
Macragon’s Rose Frenzy
Macdragon’s Australian Flowers thread
More from macdragon including cannas and orchids.
Heirloom Vases for reference, by Catjoe

Floral projects in the Art Project System
White Flowers
Tree Portraits
Sunflowers en Plein Air
Detailed Floral Miniature
Close Focus Leaves
The Patterns of Nature
Floral Florigenium
Roses and other Flowers
Flowers and Leaves
Phabulous Phalenopsises
Butterflies
Choose a Flower

Great Books for Botanical Artists
Art of Botanical Illustration – by Wilfrid Blunt
The Art of Botanical Painting – by Margaret Stevens
Botanical Illustration Course – by Meriel Thurstan and Rosie Martin
Beautiful Botanicals: Painting and Drawing Flowers and Plants – by Bente Starcke King
Botanical Illustration: Painting with Watercolours – by Siriol Sherlock
How to Draw Plants: The Techniques of Botanical Illustration – by Keith West
The Art of Flowers: A Celebration of Botanical Illustration, its Masters and Methods – by Jack Kramer
The Botanical Palette: Colour for the Botanical Painter – by Society for Botanical Artists
Some How To books

Keys To Painting Fruit and Flowers edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf. It has information from 16 artists and covers watercolor, oils, pastels, color pencil and acrylics. It includes tips on floral anatomy, composition and drawing. 1-58180-003-7, North Light Books.

Painting Close-Focus Flowers in Watercolor by Ann Pember. Focuses on creating dramatic macro florals and includes step-by-step instructions: also included are tips on photographing flowers for references and color mixing.
Published by Northern Light Books. ISBN 0-89134-947-2

”A Passion for Plants” by Shirley Sherwood, ISBN 0-30436-166-6 and
“Contemporary Botanical Artists” also by Shirley Sherwood. ISBN0-297-83600-5.
These are not books of instruction but are images of the paintings/drawings in her collection. Her collection is considered to be the finest group of contemporary botanical images in the world.

Watercolor Flower Portraits by Billy Showel, ISBN1-84448-066-6, Search Press – this book focuses on botanical illustration with step by step instructions with corresponding photographs

The Watercolour Artist’s Flower Handbook by Patricia Seligman, ISBN 0-88762-157-0, Thomas Allen Publishers – this book has a broader scope and covers both floral and formal botanical illustration; lots of reading and lots of ideas

If you feel that a book should be listed here, please PM the Moderators or Guides.

Botanical Societies
Botanical Art Society of Australia[/URL]
Botanical Society of America[/URL]
Botanical Artists of Canada[/URL]
Botanical Society of South Africa[/URL]
Botanical Society of the British Isles[/URL]
Society of Botanical Artists
Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands
Botanical Society of Japan
Pakistan Botanical Society
Royal Horticulturalist Society

If you do not see a society that you would like to be listed, please PM the Moderators or Guides.

On-line Resouces:

Flowers of India.[/URL]
Weeds and Wildflowers…[/URL] and new site – Wildplants and Critters[/URL] by Sue, (Moccasin)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/botanicalart International forum dedicated to the realistic portrayal of plants, flowers and natural science subjects.

Botanical Artists
Margaret Saul
Wendy Hollender
Anna Knights
Marilyn Bass
Heidi Willis

Videos
Watercolour Rose
http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/art-instruction-videos.html (Bob Davies website – including Rose Tutorial)

Photographing Flowers
Tips and Tricks
Techniques

Useable Photo sites
Free Flower Photos[/URL]
They authorise non-commercial use of these images and particularly encourage their use for educational purposes.

Digitalphoto[/URL]
Image bank
Photos of flowers, Landscape Photography
This service is a bank of photos. You may purchase any amount of photographs in formats that are appropriate for using them in printing and on Internet web sites.

If using these sites, please check that the refs. are indeed available for use in artwork for sale.