Hideo Horikoshi, Chrysanthemum × morifolium ‘Edo’ (Chrysanthemum)
Watercolour on paper, 2016-2017
© Hideo Horikoshi
The Edo-giku chrysanthemum date from the early 1800s. Hideo Horikoshi studied these classical Japanese flowers at the National Museum of Japanese History and the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. He completed his painting over two growing seasons, a year apart. He beautifully captures how the flowers’ petals twist as they mature.
Gold Medals: 2015 (and Best Botanical Painting), 2018
Jean Emmons, Iris ‘Wildest Imagining’
Watercolour on paper, 2005 © Jean Emmons
Jean Emmons has captured the intense and beautiful range of colours of her own award-winning Pacific Coast irises. A keen gardener herself, she creates the impression of plants seen growing in-situ, showing seed pods, buds and full blooms set amongst clumping foliage.
Gold Medals: 2005, 2011 (and Best Botanical Painting)
Regina Hagedorn, Rosa pimpinellifolia ‘Single Sherry’ (Rose)
Watercolour on paper, 2004 © Regina Hagedorn
Regine Hagedorn uses incredibly fine brush work to capture the detailed structure and deep colour of this rose. She contrasts the transient colour of the leaves as they change through the autumn against the striking form of the rose hip fruits.
Gold Medal: 1999, 2000, 2005 Silver-Gilt Medal: 1998
Sue J. Williams, Begonia ‘Red Robin’ (Begonia)
2008, Watercolour on paper © Sue J. Williams
Sue Williams made an extensive study of begonias in watercolour throughout the growing seasons of 2007 and 2008. The paintings that she made demonstrate how diverse the colour and pattern can be on these plants.
Gold Medal: 2008 Silver-Gilt Medal: 2006 Silver Medal: 2004
Louise Lane, Pteridium aquilinum (bracken)
2012, Graphite on paper © Louise Lane
Louise Lane spent months researching native ferns in the Peak District. The hart’s tongue fern grows in woodland and rocky crags, while bracken is found in upland areas. The drawings capture the way these plants grow, showing their fronds unfurling as they mature.
Gold Medal: 2011 (and Best Botanical Art Exhibit), 2019 Silver Medal: 2016
Carolyn Jenkins, Helleborus × hybridus (Hellebore)
2010, Watercolour on paper © Carolyn Jenkins
Carolyn Jenkins' work focuses on the anatomical structure of flowering plants. She takes inspiration from the late nineteenth-century botanical illustrator, Arthur Harry Church, who pioneered a ‘mechanical’ approach to drawing the inner structure of plants.
Gold Medal: 2011 (and Best Botanical Art Exhibit) Silver Medal: 2016
Caroline Jackson-Houlston, Passiflora ‘Jelly Joker’ (passion flower)
2018, Watercolour on paper © Caroline Jackson-Houlston
Caroline Jackson-Houlston starts a new piece of work by laying the plant specimen directly onto her paper. Once she has gained a rough layout of shapes, she lightly pencils in the geometric forms to create a design and then colour matches her pigments.
Gold Medal: 2018 (and Best Botanical Art Exhibit) Silver-Gilt Medal: 2019 Silver Medals: 2000, 2001
Clare McGhee, Allium cepa (Onion)
Watercolour on paper, 2009 © Clare McGhee
In this technically challenging painting, Clare McGhee reveals the contrasting textures of the onion’s tangled roots against its ‘papery’ outer layers. She had to take particular care not to apply too much paint to maintain the translucency of the onion’s inner rings.
Gold Medal: 2010
Ann Farrer, Pinus wallichiana (Bhutan pine)
Mixed media on board, 1987 © Ann Farrer
Ann Farrer has captured the character of the Bhutan pine in spectacular detail. Painted from pine specimens grown at Wakehurst in Sussex, this was one of the first paintings purchased for the Lindley Library’s contemporary art collection in 1987.
Gold Medals: 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990
Laura Silburn, Dryopteris erythrosora (Japanese shield fern)
Watercolour on paper, 2018 © Laura Silburn
Laura Silburn won the award for Best Botanical Painting with this work at the RHS Plant & Art Fair in 2018. It forms part of a series of fern paintings which took three years to complete and beautifully demonstrates her talent for managing colour and texture.
Gold Medals: 2013, 2014 (and Best Exhibit), 2018 (and Best Botanical Painting)
