(Two pages from our travelling sketchbook: Constance Sayas and Christabel King)
Denver Botanic Gardens’ School of Botanical Art and Illustration offers a comprehensive series of classes and workshops in the well-established tradition of portraying plants for aesthetic appreciation, scientific purposes, and historical documentation.
Practice Makes Perfect II: Botanical Illustration Sketchbook from Denver Botanic Gardens’ School of Botanical Art and Illustration is a collaborative project that showcases the skills and unique perspectives of 76 botanical illustrators. Assembled page by page as the sketchbook traveled from one artist to the next, this collection represents friendship, shared ideas and community, along with impressive artistic ability. Botanical illustration is based on scientific study, but it is also a highly creative form of expression that can be executed in many different media. This book reveals that combination of technical accuracy and aesthetic freedom, as each botanical image jumps off the page in all its detailed glory.
Our primary goal is to raise funds to publish the limited edition of 300 copies of
Practice Makes Perfect II: A Botanical Illustration Sketchbook. This is an art book containing 76 illustrations made by artists from the School of Botanical Art and Illustration at Denver Botanic Gardens (hardbound, 7.5”x 11”, with dust jacket, sewn with reinforced end sheets and headbands, foil-stamped spine). It includes an interpretative overview of each of the illustrated subjects.
An original, handmade 160-page springback-bound sketchbook with 90 lb. Fabriano Artistico HP watercolor paper was used for this purpose. Each of the artists was given an 11”x 15” spread and up to one week to complete his or her work. Practice Makes Perfect II: A Botanical Illustration Sketchbook with a foreword by artist Billy Showell showcases a unique collection of talent and expertise ranging from natural science illustrations and artistic explorations to calligraphy with a personal touch.
The book also celebrates the forthcoming Freyer-Newman Center for Science, Art and Education and the 38th anniversary of the botanical illustration program at Denver Botanic Gardens. Our sketchbook project was completed in 76 weeks with participants from the Gardens’ botanical illustration community in 2016, including numerous renowned international artists. Part of the illustrations are in color and part meticulously executed in ink or graphite; each illustration offers insight into the individual artist’s way of working.
For more information or to watch a project video, please click
here.
(watercolor by Billy Showell)