Pen and Ink

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

This is simply an amazing video. In the world of botanical art, most scientists like their artists to draw plates in pen and ink using dots. Shading in dots reduces the confusion because a line in hatching could represent an outline or a gash rather than tonal variation. Stella Ross-Craig is one of the few botanical artists who got away with hatching (below). 

Nymphaea sp. by Stella Ross-Craig

Primula sp. by Stella Ross-Craig

Here is a dotted example by Lesley Randall (below). This is what is deemed as a more acceptable representation, but it is a real pain to do! I remember drawing 19 plates of Araucaria species for the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and all those dots nearly drove me crazy!

Aristolochia gigantea by Lesley Randall

(Margaret Flockton Award First Prize 2007)

Margaret Flockton, Botanical Illustrator  For the National Herbarium at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens

Which reminds me that the Margaret Flockton Award is ack on! Deadline is the 6^th February 2012 for all those interested in submitting...