Showing 1–12 of 19 results
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Ferdinand Bauer: The Australian Natural History Drawings
Artist/Author: Norst, Marlene F.$65.00 Read moreOUT OF PRINT. A biography of one of the pioneers of botanical and natural history art showcases Bauer’s drawings made on a historic 1801 voyage to Australia. His attention to detail gave scientists an excellent study of Australian plants and animals. Most of these drawings and watercolors have never before been published
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An Artistic Journey Among the Flowers of the Tropical South Pacific: A Collection of Watercolours
Artist/Author: South, Graham R$72.00 Add to cartThis book is a collection watercolours of plants Graham has seen, mainly in gardens, throughout the tropical South Pacific region. Each painting is accompanied by scientific text which aids identification. Included is a summary of flower names, origins and uses.
Fascinated with nature from an early age, Graham as a teenager in Norfolk, U.K. became an avid birdwatcher, and it was then that he met Richard Richardson, who was Britain’s most acclaimed British bird artist at that time. He was inspired watching Richard as he sketched birds in the field and witnessed his uncanny recall of details. Later, drawing played an important role in his University research in botany, and the importance of good illustrations would follow him throughout his career. During a two-year stay in New Zealand in the early seventies Graham met, worked with and was mentored by the late Nancy Adams of the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, when she was New Zealand’s National Botanical Artist. Graham was inspired by Nancy’s brilliant watercolour illustrations of New Zealand’s alpine flora, and New Zealand seaweeds, in which they shared a common interest. He began his painting career when he took up landscape painting in oils in earnest. returning to his then home in Newfoundland, Canada . He continued painting in Newfoundland, specialising in oil paintings of landscapes and of lichens. Since 1989, living in the Pacific Islands and Australia he began painting watercolours of tropical plants; this brought together his fascination with plants and using them as challenging subjects in his work. Graham is a member if the Botanical Art Society of Australia and lives in North Queensland.
All books signed by the author/artist.
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Blooms and Brushstrokes: A Floral History of Australian Art
Artist/Author: Curtin, Penelope, Tansy Curtin$65.00 Add to cartBlooms and Brushstrokes takes you on a unique journey through the history of Australian art, one flower at a time, examining the blooms depicted in still lifes, floral portraits, decorative interiors and botanical illustrations by a long line of Australian artists. Mother-and-daughter team Penelope and Tansy Curtin start this fascinating journey in the late eighteenth century, when the traditions adhering to the Western art canon were transplanted into the newly colonised Australia. They follow it through the rapidly developing artistic styles of the early twentieth century, to the new media of the contemporary period.
These works of art also shine a light on the role and importance of plants and flowers in everyday life. They illustrate changing floral fashions, as well as highlighting flowers in their various forms – cut flowers, pot plants and gardens. And along the way you’ll encounter many of Australia’s most significant artists, including John Glover, Arthur Streeton, Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington Smith, John Brack and Margaret Olley, as well as some of Australia’s most beautiful, and sometimes intriguing, native flora, such as the waratah and Sturt’s desert pea, not to mention perennial garden favourites like roses, sweet peas and daisies.
Spectacular, intimate, engaging and meticulously researched – and full of interesting and quirky facts about the flowers and the artists themselves, Blooms and Brushstrokes is a book for art, flower and history lovers alike.
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Mr Guilfoyle’s Honeymoon: The Gardens of Europe & Great Britain
Artist/Author: Hill, Diana E, Edmée Cudmore (Editors)$45.00 Add to cartExplore the grand gardens and forests of Europe and Britain with esteemed landscape designer William Guilfoyle, as he did with his wife on their honeymoon. The Guilfoyles took their Grand Tour honeymoon in 1890, at the height of William’s reputation as the architect of one of the world’s great botanical masterpieces, Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. His visits to impressive landscapes-as diverse as Kew Gardens, Versailles and the wild gardens of England-inspired a series of illustrated articles, which were published to great acclaim on his return to Australia.A celebration of William Guilfoyle – botanist, landscape designer, tourist and writer.
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Mr Guilfoyle’s Shakespearian Botany
Artist/Author: Hill, Diana, Edmée Cudmore (Editors)$45.00 Add to cartThe great William Guilfoyle, credited as the architect of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic gardens, was an eminent landscape designer, botanist and writer. Here are his collected writings on the dozens of plants, fruits and flowers William Shakespeare referred to in his plays and poems. Each entry is accompanied by Basilius Besler’s groundbreaking illustrations and delicate watercolours by Jacques le Morgues.
‘What’s in a name? That which we call a Rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.’
William ShakespeareAn extraordinary mix of Shakespearian references, Guilfoyle’s botanical lore, and lush botanical illustrations
Shakespearian Botany is a feast for those who love the bard, gardens and art.
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Mr Guilfoyle’s South Sea Islands Adventure on HMS Challenger
Artist/Author: Hill, Diana E, Edmée Cudmore (Editors)$45.00 Add to cartDiscover the inspiration for the famed redesign of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. It was the young William Guilfoyle’s botanical tour of the South Sea Islands in 1868 that provided his vision for the one of the world’s great public parks.
Share his excitement of discovering and collecting tropical plants, giving the local cannibals a very wide berth and being an eyewitness to an uprising in Fiji. Here is an unprecedented armchair view of the riches of this region by an emerging botanist who would later transform our understanding of garden design.
Mr Guilfoyle’s South Sea Islands Adventure on HMS Challenger is Guilfoyle’s detailed account of the four months he spent exploring Samoa, the Friendly Islands, Fiji, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. It is the final book of a glorious trilogy- Mr Guilfoyle’s Shakespearian Botany and Mr Guilfoyle’s Honeymoon, The Gardens of Europe & Great Britain – which illuminates the extraordinary genius of William Guilfoyle, botanist, landscape designer, artist and writer.
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Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage
Artist/Author: Gooding, Mel, David J Mabberley (Authors)$120.00 Add to cartJoseph Banks accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage round the world from 1768 to 1771. A gifted and wealthy young naturalist, Banks collected exotic flora from Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java, bringing back over 1300 species that had never been seen or studied by Europeans. On his return, Banks commissioned over 700 superlative engravings between 1772 and 1784. Known collectively as Banks’ Florilegium, they are some of the most precise and exquisite examples of botanical illustration ever created.
The Florilegium was never published in Banks’ lifetime, and it was not until 1990 that a complete set in colour was issued in a boxed edition (limited to 100 copies) under the direction of the British Museum (Natural History). It is from these prints that the present selection is made, directed by David Mabberley, who has provided expert botanical commentaries, with additional texts by art historian Mel Gooding, setting the works in context as a perfect conjunction of nature, science and art. An afterword by Joseph Studholme describes the history of the modern printing.
Winner of the 2017 ABC James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award
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Beginner’s Guide to Botanical Flower Painting
Artist/Author: Lakin, Michael$37.00 Add to cartClean, fresh and precise botanical artwork is within your grasp, with Mick Lakin’s clear and simple approach. This complete guide to the crisp, precise finish of botanical painting marries traditional technique with contemporary style and includes sections on colour, drawing, continuous tone, composition and dissection. Michael Lakin makes botanical art approachable with simple exercises and a variety of step-by-step instructional approaches, making this a fantastic guide for aspirational beginners.
Michael Lakin was born and bred in South Derbyshire, UK. His early learning was basic but he always excelled in art. After leaving school he moved into engineering, becoming a manager, before he left to start his own business. Michael kept up art as a hobby and began to teach classes in Botanical Art to adults at Derby WAEA. Since then he has exhibited in London and other parts of the UK. He has a purpose-built studio next to his rural home, where he teaches and gives demonstrations throughout the year.
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Albert Namatjira
Artist/Author: National Gallery of Australia$40.00 Add to cartA bruised ridge of hills. A scrub-mottled plain. Ghost gums framing a wash of sky …
Pioneering Aboriginal watercolourist Albert Namatjira’s landscape paintings are synonymous with our perception of the Australian outback. But these luminous landscapes also expressed Namatjira’s deep connection with the Western Arrarnta Country for which he was a traditional custodian. This is the first publication of Namatjira’s work since the copyright was returned to his descendants, and celebrates the legacy of this important artist through a selection of his evocative watercolours from the NGA’s world-renowned collection.
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Marianne North: The Kew Collection
Artist/Author: RBG Kew$80.00 Add to cartMarianne North was a remarkable Victorian traveller and painter, who traversed the globe recording the world’s flora with her paintbrush and writing her experiences in her journal.
In 1879 she offered her painting collection numbering over 800 to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at her own expense built a gallery to house them. Marianne stayed closely involved with the project, painting beautiful decorative motifs on the interior door panels and surrounds.
For the first time, this unique and stunning book brings together all of Marianne North’s Kew collection. The paintings are arranged geographically as they appear in the Gallery, and Marianne’s original titles are included alongside each painting.
With an introduction by Christopher Mills, former Head of Kew’s Library, Art and Archives. This is a beautiful gift souvenir in celebration of a stunning body of work.
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Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery
Artist/Author: Attenborough, Sir David (Author), Susan Owens (Author), Martin Clayton (Author), Rea Alexandratos (Author), Jane Roberts (Foreword By)$45.00 Add to cartFrom the fifteenth century onwards, as European explorers sailed forth on grand voyages of discovery, their encounters with exotic plants and animals fanned intense scientific interest. Scholars began to examine nature with fresh eyes, and pioneering artists transformed the way nature was seen and understood. In Amazing Rare Things, renowned naturalist and documentary-maker David Attenborough joins with expert colleagues to explore how artists portrayed the natural world during this era of burgeoning scientific interest.
The book focuses on an exquisite selection of natural history drawings and watercolors by Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Mark Catesby, and from the collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo – works all held in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Attenborough and his coauthors offer lucid commentary on topics ranging from the 30,000-year history of human drawings of the natural world, to Leonardo’s fascination with natural processes, to Catesby’s groundbreaking studies that introduced Europeans to the plants and animals of North America. With 160 full color illustrations, this beautiful book will appeal to readers with interests that extend from art and science to history and nature.
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Capturing the Essence: Techniques for Bird Artists
Artist/Author: William T Cooper$68.00 Add to cartIn this stunningly beautiful book, bird artist William T. Cooper explores and demonstrates all aspects of drawing and painting birds. Renowned for his gorgeous and accurate wildlife renderings, Cooper here explains in detail how to create a true impression of a bird’s appearance. The author describes his own experiences among birds in the wild, discusses bird anatomy, and lays out the essential principles of realistic painting. He guides both seasoned artists and enthusiastic beginners through all the techniques and processes involved in depicting birds anywhere in the world. In the first part of the book, Cooper covers materials, bird anatomy, methods of working from captive birds (in zoos, for example), and methods for working in the field. He places special emphasis on the artist’s understanding of the subject and how this knowledge can be transformed into drawings and paintings. The second part of the book deals with watercolors, acrylics, and oil paints, explaining for each medium the step-by-step processes leading from beginning sketches to finished work.
