A new book on the block for 2026!
‘Floral Botany and Dissection for Botanical Artists’ Written, designed and printed by Jackie Isard.
When I began my project work for the RHS botanical exhibition I became very interested in botany. It was important to me to paint a true likeness in accurate detail. I wanted my exhibit to look like a series of botanical plates in colour. Each painting included the plant’s lifecycle from bud to seed and because of this my research was done throughout the seasons. Once you start looking at plants, with botany in mind, you just want to know more. It’s very addictive!
I started to teach basic botany to botanical artist students soon after my RHS Gold medal award in 2022. Throughout my RHS studies I learned a great deal about plant botany. I couldn’t have done it without having a professional botanist to hand to check my drawings. It became clear to me that botanical artists really needed to know a little botany in order to understand the plant they were painting. This knowledge helps the artist to make a more accurate and detailed painting. At my basic botany workshops many students would tell me how much their eyes had been opened. It was enlightening for everyone. Knowing a little botany allows you to see or understand important plant details that are typically hidden, distant or unnoticed. Until you start looking more carefully, you really don’t see all the curious and interesting features of a plant!
Later, whilst looking at the course notes for my basic botany workshop, I thought about writing a basic botany book. This was too vast a subject and as I am not a trained botanist, I decided to focus on one of my favourite parts, floral botany and dissection. With my professional botanist at hand, I finally made it to the finishing post and created the book you may well be holding in your hands soon. This tutorial book will teach you a great deal about flower botany and give you an understanding of how to draw a flower dissection accurately and in detail. It is packed full of information with plenty of illustrated diagrams and photos. There is also a reference section at the back on flower botany and terms.
What’s in my book
• Learn about the different parts of a flower.
• Learn how to draw a flower dissection to a measured scale.
• Follow a detailed step-by-step Fuchsia flower dissection.
• Explore other more complex flower dissection examples.
• Examples of flowers with unusual botanical features.
• In-depth floral botany section to help you understand the detailed botanical features of flowers.
• Learn how to draw scale bars.
• Understand plant naming and nomenclature.
Here are some internal page images. The book has 86 pages and is 20cm x 20cm in size. A nice size to carry around without being too cumbersome.
The book…
£18 + postage (UK and worldwide)
Written, designed and printed by Jackie Isard
Please note: This book is only available to botanical students and botanical artists/tutors worldwide (it is an educational book and is not for sale in the public domain).
Email me to buy: jackieisard@googlemail.com
I hope you find the read enjoyable and do please pass your knowledge on to your students and other botanical artists.
If you do buy the book I would love to hear your feedback, thank you!
Here I have split some of the W&N blues into categories. The permanency, lightfastness and transparency ratings are under each colour:
Strongs – those which have greater intensity of pigment, you’ll need less when mixing!
Granulators – those which granulate, not good for smooth rendering! Some of them will granulate more than others. Cobalt Blue isn’t as grainy as French Ultramarine. However, Ultramarine Green Shade shows very little granulation, but it does have a very slight green bias compared to French Ultramarine. I like the intensity of this pigment compared to French Ultramarine though.
Cerulean is a particularly granulating pigment and semi-opaque. If used as an underlayer, you will not achieve a smooth see-through effect with it. It is good for textured style painting though. See the image below for a comparison. Hopefully you can see it as this was quite hard to photograph! The difference is more obvious in real life. Try it out and see for yourself.
As seen above, a purple overlay was painted over base layers of Cerulean and Winsor Blue (Red Shade). The purple mix overlaid is a transparent mix. As you will see in the Cerulean example, it appears less crisp and quite mottled by the granulation. It also looks a little flatter where transparency is concerned. The Winsor Blue (Red Shade) underlay appears crisper and more see-through. So, if you are looking for a lighter blue underlay but with a slight yellow bias, just add a teensy bit of Winsor Lemon to Winsor Blue (Red Shade) and you will have a lovely smooth Cerulean look-alike!
Green bias – those which will cool a mix or are more green in appearance. Further along the image above are the very green bias blues, turquoise. The greener a blue is, the more vivid it will be when mixing greens. It will need to be tamed by adding a tiny bit of red to make a more natural mix. Add Quinacridone Red (QR) to Phthalo Turquoise (PT) and you will make a muted purple/mauve/burgundy because of the green bias. Add QR to Ultramarine Green Shade (UGS), a less green biased blue, and you will make brighter purple and mauve. This is because the green bias adds more yellow to the mix muting it down. Yellow and blue make green (green/blue), plus red makes brown!
Red bias – those which will add warmth a mix. Add Transparent Yellow to a red bias blue and you will make more natural greens. Add it to Winsor Blue (Green Shade), a green bias blue, and you will make vibrant but less natural emerald greens. Red will need to be added to tame these mixes.
Nearly greens – those which have a definite green bias. You will notice above that Cobalt Turquoise and Cobalt Turquoise Light are semi-opaque. They also granulate. I would only use these for textured, looser style painting.
Nearly blacks – those blues which are very dark pigments with a blue bias. Notice also that both Indigo and Payne’s Grey are opaque and semi-opaque. These pigments contain black which gives them their opacity. Both have the same colour index numbers – PB15 • PBk6 • PV19 but in different proportions. The black colour index will make a mix dense and flat looking. These pigments are only useful in extremely dark areas although darkening a mix is much better using transparent or semi-transparent primaries. If done this way, it will still have a see-through feel despite being almost black.
My underlay blue choices
My favourite blues for underlaying are Winsor Blue (Red Shade), French Ultramarine and Cobalt Blue. Winsor Blue (Red Shade) is particularly good when watered down as it is really smooth. It is a lovely bright red biased blue. Make sure you paint it on very pale though as it is one of the stronger pigments. It is also one of my favourite blues to mix with. French Ultramarine, although it granulates, when used very thinly it adds a nice coolness. It is a blue with little to no bias. It is great for edging highlights on dark coloured leaves like holly. Cobalt is a lighter blue which also granulates a little. Again, used thinly, it adds a nice coolness to the layers above.
Well that’s it for this month! If you like, please do message me with any suggestions of which colours you’d like to discuss next.
Until the 24th of next month, I hope you all have a great August. Maybe even have a break and be able to spend a few days away from home!
jibotanicals 