I am delighted to be taking part in the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) Annual show Plantae 2023
I’ve sent a couple of my fern pieces down the Plantae this year, I’m really excited to be exhibiting them outside Scotland for the first time. The show features work by Fellow members of the SBA and applicants to the Open exhibition.
Various SBA members are hosting demonstrations in different botanical art techniques over the course of the exhibition, tickets to these are available on the SBA website – if you are in the area and are an enthusiast, I’d recommend a visit.
Plantae 2023
£5
Asplenium nidus
watercolour on Fabriano 5
Asplenium nidus is an epiphytic birds nest fern from the tropics (east Africa, India. Aisa, Australia) . I absolutely love this fern, especially the purple black midribs and the super luscious foliage, it is the freshest green! I still have this fern, rescued from an infestation of scale and grown back as a tamandama from a single tiny leaf in a small adjacent crown, we have been on a journey!
Dryopteris sieboldii
watercolour on Fabriano 5
Siebold’s wood fern is such an unusual fern (to me) native to Japan and south eastern and south central China. It’s evergreen in my garden and puts up these almost leathery fronds, they have a lovely thickness to them. As they grow the central frond divides at the base. This is the only time I have painted sori (spore cases), I loved the positions of these tiny structures and the pattern they made.
