Margaret Fitzpatrick UK
RHS SILVER MEDAL 2003
Why botanical art? In 2005 I visited an inspirational exhibition, A New Flowering: 1,000 Years of Botanical Art, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. This, combined with my love of plants, gardening and the natural world, led me to botanical painting. Mediums: My botanical work is primarily in watercolour and graphite on vellum and paper. I am currently exploring the renaissance technique of drawing in metal point. I have produced several botanical drawings using a combination of silver, gold and copper points and at present I’m working on a series of ancient olive trees in metal point on traditional grounds. Favourite ower or plant to draw: My garden and the surrounding Oxfordshire countryside provides a lot of inspiration as do my travels in Greece. The pomegranate ower and fruit is one of my favourite subjects to draw. How long do they take? My paintings take varying amounts of time depending on the complexity of subject matter. It can be anything from a few hours to 50 or 60 for more complex compositions. The importance of the RHS show: It’s important as it provides an opportunity for artists and photographers to use their skills to highlight the beauty and details of plants and the natural world to the wider public.