13th Florum Exhibition in Sevenoaks - a review of art and artists

Artwork at Florum 2016

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Private View for the 2016 Florum Exhibition on Friday evening. It's not just that it has some wonderful artwork and the best ever hors d'oeuvres (better than professional caterers!) - but the people who organise and the artists who participate in it are such nice people!

It's therefore very sad to report there will be no Florum in 2017. This is prompted by

• the fact that the Society of Botanical Artists are having to change their exhibition to the autumn next year and that means two exhibitions involving too many of the same people too close together.
• the decision by a number of members who have been running it for many years to take a break. Will they be back or will there be a new set of members on the organising committee? - we'll just have to wait and see!

So we shall wait and see whether Florum resurrects itself and if so whether it's at a new time of year and maybe at a new venue with new organisers. Who knows?

I sincerely hope it will keep going as it's a delightful exhibition and sales are always very brisk!

Review of Florum 2016

The aim of the exhibition is to create artwork inspired by plant life. It's emphatically not a "strictly botanical" exhibition but that makes it all the more appealing to a wider range of visitors.

The exhibition maintains its normal high standards although I think I might be right in saying there are fewer works being exhibited this year. I do know that last year there was a surge in larger works creating a complete nightmare for those designing the hanging - and this might be the reason.

The strength of the exhibition lies in its diversity

• one room places an emphasis on botanical art in all its different forms 
• the other room includes artwork which is stimulated by flowers, gardens and the landscape - anything which involves plant life. Work includes diverse media from miniatures to jewellery to fine art prints, textile art and paintings in various media

I'll be putting a slideshow together of the exhibition. However this takes a little time to prepare so below you'll see some of the images from the exhibition. You can see more photos of the artists with their artwork on my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page (which you can see irrespective of whether you have a Facebook account - however you can only comment if you are on Facebook).

Exhibition details

Venue: Kent Wildlife Trust Sevenoaks Reserve,
Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3DH

Dates: 10th - 17th September 2016 (daily)

Times: 10.00 - 5.00

List of exhibiting artists

The exhibition includes a number of new artists. Each artist's name contains a link to their website or a site related to the artist. The list is interspersed with artwork by the artists - and photos of the artists with their artwork!

Florum - The Slideshow

I promised more visuals of the Florum 2015 Exhibition which closes tomorrow at 5pm. Here's a slideshow of the exhibition as some incentive to get down there and take a closer look tomorrow!

This is a slideshow of the two parts of the exhibition. I think I've got it all with the exception of the jewellery which I forgot to photograph.  The slideshow works on the basis of walking around the exhibition in both rooms.

You can see who the participating artists are in my previous post Review: Florum 2015.

Florum Exhibition 2015 - the opening view

I was going to write a longer post but this slideshow has taken two days to make off and on (the first time I've tried making a big slideshow using Photoshop Elements 13) and two hours to upload to YouTube - so I'm a tad pooped!

The last day of the exhibition is tomorrow.

Florum 2015 - Nopal de Cerro (Opuntia lasiacantha)

I'm slightly preoccupied at the moment - getting my artwork scanned and into frames for tomorrow's submission to Florum!

The exhibition is open to the public at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve from 12th - 19th September. It includes artwork by a fantastic range of invited artists.

This is one of my artworks - my version of 'Nopal de Cerro (Opuntia lasiacantha)' which is a member of the Prickly Pear family. I am a convert to Canson Bristol Drawing Paper 250gsm!

Nopal de Cerro (Opuntia lasiacantha)

by Katherine Tyrrell

coloured pencils on Bristol Board 8" x 8"

The exhibition is not strictly botanical although a lot of artists are botanical artists.

Fans of Billy Showell will enjoy seeing her watercolour painting of vegetables

Billy Showell

while those who prefer prints will also find a range of artists producing fine art prints

Lime and Grey Allium by Tessa Pearson

Video and review: Florum 2014 Exhibition

Part of the Florum exhibition 2014 at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.
Two of my macro drawings of succulents are second from the right on the front panel
all artwork: copyright - the artists

I initially had some difficulties with my video of the Florum exhibition - hence why it wasn't posted earlier this week. However they seem to have resolved. Maybe I just didn't quite understand how long it took for the video to get off imovie and into my folders?

Anyway - here's the video - and you can see the exhibition yourself until 5pm on Saturday 13th September.



It was only when I watched it all the way through that I realised I had inadvertently omitted one very good wall my mistake!  The fact that it included two of my drawings which I really liked was also pretty galling! However you can see the wall at the bottom front of my photo (above) and these are my drawings below.

(top) Echeveria Laui
(bottom) Tesselation #2 (Agave victoriae)
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The exhibition is in a fairly small space but the ladies who do the hanging do a great job of getting all the artwork hung in a very short space of time prior to the Private View!

One of the panels in the centre of the room

My only comment this year is I think the far wall when you walk in could have done with a stronger motif to attract the eye - and I couldn't understand why two really excellent and colourful works by Susan Christopher Coulson and Billy Showell were located at the bottom of the stairs. These are both artists who are very popular and have a strong following - and their artwork needs to be easy to see!

IMO, this are the set of six paintings we should have seen on the far wall as we entered the exhibition. 

The artists who stood out for me this year were as follows.

I loved Rachel Munn's very small drawing of a Shoo Fly Plant - which I've not got a proper photograph of - but it showed me what can be done when using pen and ink and coloured pencil and crystallised for me what I've had in my head for a long time with respect to where I should take my pen and ink and coloured pencil sketches in terms of fine art drawings. Thanks to Rachel for providing the insight as to what is possible.

The show includes artwork which was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society at the RHS Show in Malvern earlier this year. These are:

• the wonderful watercolour paintings of hydrangeas of Gael Sellwood whose mother Christine Flintham provided the image for the exhibition website page.
• some fascinating pencil and coloured pencil drawings of different varieties of apples - by Julia Craig-McFeely. Julia is the daughter of another botanical artist Joanna Craig-McFeely

I loved both both sets which scream 'quality' at you as you view them.

Two of the apples drawn by Julia Craig-McFeely

The RHS Gold Medal winning artists
Three of Gael Sellwood's hydrangea paintings
Plus two more of Julia's apples.

One of the aspects of the show is embraces all forms of artmaking related to plant life - the jewellery for example is very popular with purchasers. A second room includes all the 'not botanical' artwork of flowers and plant life. This year Barbara Valentine's oil paintings on panels were particularly 'standout' - and were joined by a great oil painting of Autumn Bounty by Linda Wallis

four oil paintings by Barbara Valentine and one by Linda Wallis

Finally it was sad to see the late Wendy Cranston's small square paintings in gouache for one last time. Wendy sadly died in July.

Paintings of fruit and vegetables (gouache) by the late Wendy Cranston

If you have the opportunity to go and see the show I highly recommend you do so. All the visitors on Sunday when I was stewarding had been most impressed with what they saw.

Three very green drawings and two Scottish art exhibitions

three of my drawings at Florum

I went to the Florum Private View last night - and got to see my artwork hanging in the exhibition.

I'm there again tomorrow - stewarding from 10am to 5pm - and hope to meet with lots of people who come to see the show which has some excellent work.

I'll also be doing a review and trying to do a video of the works tomorrow.

Right now I'm absolutely brain dead with trying to sort the show last week and managing the transfer of my information websites right now (which has started and thankfully it's less problematical than I thought it might be - but still a lot of work to check everything). I'm sleeping very soundly but not long enough!

Two exhibitions in Edinburgh and Glasgow

I'd like to highlight another couple of shows which have also recently opened:

• the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists are exhibiting their work at Gallery Seventeen, 17 Dundas Street, Edinburgh until 14th September. It's a lovely looking space and the artwork in the exhibition looks excellent too - you can see a folder of photos on the ESBA Facebook Page. ESBA is the alumni association of graduates of the Rpyal Botanical garden Edinburgh's Botanical Illustration diploma course. Sharon Tingey, one of the tutors on the course, reports three out of her four sunflower paintings sold last night at the Private View. Sharon achieved an RHS Gold Medal for her paintings of sunflowers this summer - see Interviews with RHS Gold Medal Winners  - and also has contributed to my new book about drawing and sketching! 
• Jane Gardiner (Glasgow Painter) is having her first solo exhibition of her figurative paintings with a difference at the Mansfield Park Gallery in Glasgow (141 Hyndland Rd, Glasgow G12 9JA) until 14th September. I love Jane's paintings - they are so much more interesting than a lot of figurative art I see.  Plus she's an excellent painter!

Paintings by Jane Gardiner - currently showing at the Mansfield Park Gallery

My cacti and succulent drawings - in coloured pencils

Coloured pencil drawings of Cacti and succulents for Florum 2014
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is my contribution to Florum 2014 - an exhibition celebrating plant life which opens to the public on Saturday.  My drawings in coloured pencils are:

• top left: Triangulation  - this was exhibited at the Society of Botanical Artists in 2011
• top right: Sansevaria Surprise - the common names for this plant include many variations on 'tongue' e.g. mother-in-law's tongue, devil's tongue, jinn's tongue, snake tongue plus bow string hemp and snake plant.  It seems to me they were coined by people who had never seen the flowers!
• Middle left: Grey, green and pink in Yuma - inspired by a coffee stop on my 2006 road trip (see below)
• Middle right: Echevaria Laui - looks pale grey but actually displays incredibly subtle colours
• Bottom left: Aloe Polyphylla - it has an amazing spiral pattern
• Bottom right: Tesselation #2 (Agave Victoriae) - a reworking of one of my original drawings of this plant.
• Bottom middle: Aloe Karasbergensis - very stripy!

All works are for sale at the exhibition which is open 6th - 13th September (10.00am - 5.00pm) at the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.  I'll be stewarding on Sunday if anybody wants to come and visit and meet me! Below are links to my previous reviews of the Florum exhibition

• 2013: Florum 10th Anniversary Exhibition - review
• 2012: Review: Florum 2012
• 2011: Exhibition Review: Florum 2011 - in Sevenoaks

Incidentally after a walk around the reserve yesterday, I can highly recommend it to anybody wanting to draw birdlife, wildlife and wild flowers.  I shall be returning to spend more time there.

I've been drawing cacti and succulents for some time - ever since a 2,000 mile road trip in 2006 from Santee in Southern California to Albuquerque, New Mexico (New Mexico sketches) via Arizona (Arizona sketches).  You can read about my trip in Road Trip #1 - Santee, Southern California to Albuquerque, New Mexico via Tombstone Arizona on http://travelsketch.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/sketching-in-southwestern-states-of.html

My preference is for a macro view of the plant which focuses on its structure.  Interestingly, when I last exhibited my drawings (at another wildlife reserve - the Mission Trails Regional Park, in San Diego, California) the comment that was most often made by visitors was that people had never really looked at cacti and succulents close up before - but they would in future!  That's enough for me to keep drawing them as I do!

In terms of working in a series or with a theme see my website 12 good reasons to paint in a series

Now I just need to get my website updated!

Florum Exhibition 2014

Below is a list of the artists who have been invited to show their artwork at the Florum exhibition which opens on Saturday after a private view next Friday night. I'm one of them!

Florum website - my drawing is top right

The aims of the exhibition are:

• to create "a colourful and inspiring mix of works celebrating plant life" and 
• to raise funds for the Kent Wildlife Trust's Sevenoaks Reserve, in Bradbourne Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3DH where the exhibition is held from 6th - 13th September 2014. It's open 10am - 5pm everyday and entrance is free.

Florum invites some of the UK's most celebrated botanical artists, as well as artists working in freestyle, mixed media, printmaking and jewellery.

List of Invited Artists

Each artist's name contains a link to their website or a site related to the artist

• Sandra Wall Armitage (President of the Society of Botanical Artists)
• Sarah Ashwell
• Carole Aston
• Gillian Barlow (Vice Chairman of the Florilegium Society, Chelsea Physic Garden)
• Debra Barr-Smith
• Ann Bridges
• Linda Brown
• Jean Canter
• Susan Christopher-Coulson (Vice President of the Society of Botanical Artists. Check out Susan's online article about "How to Paint Botanical Arrangements")
• Yvonne Collard
• Marianne Cox - won the Elizabeth Smail Memorial Award for Colour and Composition in 2013
• Joanna Craig-McFeely
• Julia Craig-McFeely
• Wendy Cranston - sadly Wendy died in late July and the exhibition will contain a memorial section of her truly wonderful gouache paintings which I absolutely love and you can see a picture of her paintings at one of the previous exhibitions in my review of the 2012 exhibition
• Diana Croft
• Susan Dalton
• Pamela Davis
• Margaret Devitt
• Jean Douglas
• Janet Downer
• Margaret Eggleton
• Henrietta Fernandez
• Sandra Fernandez
• Christine Flintham
• Felicity Flutter
• Jackie Gethin
• Pauline Grove
• Lesley Hall
• Amber Halsall
• Helen Hanson
• Stephanie Harrison
• Christina Hart-Davies
• Mayumi Hashi
• Jennifer Jenkins
• Maureen Jordan
• Marion Kemp
• Julie King
• Rosemary Lindsay
• Vicky Mappin
• Alister Mathews
• Rachel Munn
• Ann Oliver
• Fiona Ormerod
• Jane Price
• Steven Pierce-Smith
• Roger Reynolds
• Carole Robson
• Joyce Rogerson
• Maureen Russ
• Sue Scullard - I've bought a wood engraving by Sue for the last two years
• Gael Sellwood
• Billy Showell
• Julie Small
• Alison Smith
• Annie Soudain
• Tessa Spanton
• Penny Stenning
• Lyn Stone
• Katherine Tyrrell
• Barbara Valentine
• Linda Wallis
• Sue J. Williams

Florum 10th Anniversary Exhibition - review

Well - I finally made it to the Florum 10th anniversary Exhibition this afternoon - and, as a result, this is going to be a bit of a picture biased post.

This exhibition always celebrates plantlife in a variety of media and mixed botanical artwork, plus floral paintings and paintings of gardens.

I was really impressed with how a closely hung exhibition could look so good.  (I'm going to use photos I took in my forthcoming posts about hanging exhibitions!)

I gather compliments on the hang should be paid in the direction of Susan Christopher-Coulson, Christina Hart-Davis and Rachel Munn.  The walls and boards in the 'botanical' room looked excellent and I think the quality of the work has increased this year.  It was certainly the best looking exhibition I've attended in terms of the botanical artwork.

My other comment before we start with my photos is that I'd never realised before quite how many visitors a Wildlife Reserve gets.  I've only ever attended before on the Friday evening Private View.  This (Sunday) afternoon, we were very nearly shunted into the overflow car park!  The exhibition was also really very busy with lots of visitors.

For those wanting to exhibit botanical or wildlife art, I suggest you go and take a very close look at the facilities offered by your local Wildlife Reserve!

60 artists were exhibiting 342 paintings and prints - including a section for miniatures. Judging by the red dot chart on the wall, sales have been brisk in terms of originals, prints and cards.

This exhibition is by invitation only. There is a regular turnover of artists each year.  The new artists for 2013 are: David Bowyer, Margaret Eggleton, Sandra Fernandez, Janina French, Amber Halsall, Anna Mason, Sandrine Maugy and Maureen Russ.

First I'm going to show you the colour sequences of work on display. The images are bigger than usual - but you'll have to click them to see them at the larger size.

The Orange Scarlet Board

Review: Florum 2012

Susan Christopher Coulson won the first Elizabeth Smail Memorial Award at the Florum Botanical Art Exhibition 2012 in Sevenoaks.

The late Liz Smail's sister who presented the award said that Liz had always emphasised colour and composition when teaching her students.  She then confessed to knowing little about art - but made sure she used the two imperatives about colour and composition to guide her in choosing an artwork to receive the Award for the first time.  She did well!

The Elizabeth Smail Memorial Award
“Colour mutation - Rosa mutabilis” (£995) by Susan Christoper Coulson
Coloured Pencil

I saw the exhibition at the PV on Friday night - and this review has been slightly delayed by three things:

• very good weather - we were out all weekend!
• the Press preview for the big Autumn exhibition at Tate Britain yesterday
• not forgetting - I mislaid the catalogue which had all my notes - including the vital ones which say "feature this artist as well as the listings of artists, titles and prices!  (I live in dread of doing this. I've never yet done it but have one or two close calls - and this was one of them!)

However I do want to emphasise that all botanical art lovers in the South East only have until Saturday 15th September to see the Florum Exhibition in Sevenoaks.  I gather sales have been brisk - however there are lots of very attractive high quality prints as well as originals.

Can I suggest you take a look at last year's review - see Exhibition Review: Florum 2011 - in Sevenoaks - for what I like about this exhibition, plus tips which other art societies might want to copy, as these are essentially unchanged.

View of part of the exhibition - there's lots to see
what you can see in this photo is only about a third of the exhibition!
More views of work in the exhibition below

Exhibiting Artists

Florum is unique amongst the botanical art exhibitions that I'm aware of in that it's an "invite only" exhibition - and that 'invite' is not limited to the strictly botanical illustrator.

The exhibition includes 333 pieces of artwork of various media - although the majority are paintings.  You can see examples of work from some of the more than 60 artists who are exhibiting in three galleries on the website: gallery one; gallery two; and gallery three.

Many artists are also members of a variety of other groups including The Linnean Society, the Royal Watercolour Society, the Pastel Society, the Royal Society of Miniature Painters as well as the Society of Botanical Artists and/or the Society of Floral Painters (Society of Floral Painters blog).

Exhibiting artists use a variety of media and a variety of styles.  You can see some examples above and below.

Artwork by Karen Birchwood
Mixed media
typically priced £285

Artists whose work caught my eye

There are a number of new artists this year - but I'm not sure which these are.

Karen Birchwood's paintings of flowers and gardens are very decorative and appealing to the eye.  They also look very good when displayed with one another!  

Karin is a former textile designer who is now a full time painter who participates in a lot of exhibitions and obviously has a faithful following.  Her work is mainly in acrylic and mixed media, on canvas, board or paper. 

She has preferences for a palette of particular colours - which you can see on in the garden/flowers page on her website - which have the happy knack of looking good with one another.

I love Wendy Cranston FSBA's paintings in gouache.  The only thing that stops me from buying one is the fact I would have to buy two or three as I just love seeing them hung together!  Her control of her media, composition within a square and colour palette are three of the reasons I like her work. That and that fact it doesn't look like anybody else's.  I'd love to be able to show you her website - but I don't think she has one.

Gouache paintings of fruit and wisteria by Wendy Cranston FSBA
work is typically priced at £195

Penny Stenning is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists - who wins Certificates of Botanical Merit - a Fellow of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society, and also paints for the Eden Project.  Her work impressed me - she has a meticulous approach to drawing her subjects.  However the reason she's getting a mention is that she caught my eye with the composition and colour of two different works hung in different parts of the exhibition - her watercolour paintings of Sage and the weeds you can see below.

Some weeds of cultivation (£400) watercolour painting by Penny Stenning SBA

Again Penny is an artist with no website - the link is to her page on the SBA website.  If you're interested Penny teaches botanical illustration - details of how to find her curses are on the SBA members courses webpage.

Old Year, New Year (£330) - watercolour by Sue J Williams

Sue J Williams SBA is also a Fellow of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and also caught my eye with a couple of pieces and Variations on a Theme.  The latter because its format was something I had in mind for a piece of botanical artwork about alliums and it was interesting to see another artist's interpretation of how best to use it.

There is lots to like if you like printmaking in this exhibition.  This year I was particularly struck by the simplicity and the complexity of Helen Hanson's Summer Fields.

Summer Fields (etching/aquatint £290) by Helen Hanson 

Links:

• Two botanical art exhibitions - in the UK and USA 22 Aug 2012
• Exhibition Review: Florum 2011 - in Sevenoaks 10 Sep 2011

Exhibition Review: Florum 2011 - in Sevenoaks

Florum 2011 - exhibition card

Florum is about "beautiful plants interpreted by skilful artists".

I went to the Private View of their Annual exhibition yesterday held appropriately at the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve in Kent.  Some 62 invited artists are displaying their work inspired by plant life.  All works are for sale and the exhibition raises a goodly sum towards the work of the Reserve.

You can see examples of the artists exhibiting on in three galleries on the website: gallery one; gallery two; and gallery three.

What I liked about this exhibition