Table Of ContentSARAH SIMBLE T
AN INSPIRATIONAL GUIDE TO DRAWING PLANTS
SARAH SIMBLET
Photography Sam Scott–Hunter
Botanical Advisor Stephen Harris
FEATURING PLANTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN
AND OXFORD UNIVERSITY HERBARIA
Contents
LONDON, NEW YORK,
MUNICH, MELBOURNE, DELHI
The art of D rawing
Senior Editor Project Art Editor
Angela Wilkes Silke Spingies botany 8 plants 28 Diversity 44
Editor Advisor
Susannah Steel Dr. Stephen Harris Images from the past 10 Working with plants 30 Introduction 46
US Editor US Consultant Drawn from life 12 Materials 32 Plant classification 48
Chuck Wills Jill Hamilton The printed truth 14 Mark making 34 Algae 50
Photographer Jacket Designer Private passions 16 Mixing colors 35 Fungi 52
Sam Scott-Hunter Silke Spingies Expanding worlds 18 Preparatory drawings 36 Lichens 56
Production Editor Picture Researcher Personal drawing books 20 Creating a drawing 38 Mosses and liverworts 58
Luca Frassinetti Sarah Smithies Voyages of discovery 22 Sources of inspiration 40 Ferns and horsetails 60
Managing Editor Production Controller Zen composition 24 Masterclass: Illuminated Conifers 62
Julie Oughton Sarah Hewitt Meditations 26 Letter, Nikolaus Flowering plants 64
Associate Publisher Managing Art Editor Von Jacquin 42 Monocots 66
Liz Wheeler Louise Dick
Eudicots 68
Publisher Art Director Masterclass: Great piece
Jonathan Metcalf Bryn Walls
of turf, Albrech Dürer 70
Bramble
(Rubus sp.)
First American Edition, 2010
Published in the United States by DK Publishing,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
176776—May 2010
Copyright © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited
Copyright text and author’s artworks © Sarah Simblet 2010
All rights reserved
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-0-7566-5250-0
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for
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For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014 or
Fruit, cones,
R oots 72 Stems 86 Leaves 126 Flowers 160 and seeds 208
Introduction 74 Introduction 88 Introduction 128 Introduction 162 Introduction 210
How roots work 76 Strong stems 90 Simple leaves 130 Anatomy of a flower 164 Dispersal 212
Spreading roots 78 Stem buds 92 Compound leaves 134 Inside a flower 166 Capsules 214
No need for soil 80 Study: Wild stems 94 Leaf veins 136 Pollination 168 Drawing class: Conkers 216
Drawing class: Drawing class: Pine tree 96 Leaf arrangements 138 Study: Cross sections 170 Pods 218
Hawthorn 82 Bark 98 Study: Pine needles 140 Masterclass: Study: Herbarium fruits 220
Masterclass: Étude Study: Trees in the Drawing class: Leaves in Geranium phaeum, Masterclass: Bowl of
de Botanique, landscape 100 perspective 142 Arthur Harry Church 172 broad beans,
Girolamo Pini 84 Masterclass: Masterclass: Spray of olive, Study: Opening buds 174 Giovanna Garzoni 222
Bird and flowers, John Ruskin 144 Symmetry in flowers 176 Achenes 224
Kanõ Yukinobu 102 Pitchers 146 Drawing class: Study: Banksias 226
Drawing class: Heterophylly 148 Aristolochia 178 Small dry fruits 228
Composition 104 Bracts 150 Flower forms 180 Winged fruits 230
Study: Folded fritillary 106 Masterclass: Study: Tulips 184 Masterclass: Yellow-
Runners 108 Arum Dioscoridis, Branching 186 throated warbler, pine
Climbers 110 Ferdinand Bauer 154 Cymes 188 warbler, and red maple,
Masterclass: Passiflora Study: Fern crosiers 156 Racemes 190 Mark Catesby 232
caerulea, John Miller 112 Drawing class: Autumn Study: Wild flowers 192 Fleshy fruits 234
Wetland plants 114 leaves 158 Flower heads 194 Drawing class:
Underground storage 116 Study: Hippeastrum 196 Watermelon 236
Drawing class: Spikes, catkins, and Fruit diversity 238
Kohlrabi 118 spathes 198 Masterclass: Pineapple
Modified stems 120 Capitula 200 with cockroaches,
Skin surfaces 122 Capitula variations 202 Maria Sibylla Merian 240
Masterclass: Blackberries, Drawing class: Study: Cones 242
Leonardo da Vinci 124 Windflower 204 Drawing class:
Masterclass: Spear Lily, Pine cone 244
Mali Moir 206 Germination 246
Glossary 248
Index 252
Acknowledgments 256
Common vetch
(Vicia sativa)
F oreword
This book was inspired by my love of gardening, a desire to know more and seeing. Artists know this, but it is something we can all experience if
about the structures, forms, and lives of plants, and an opportunity to spend we draw. And time spent drawing is a revelation, regardless of the results.
a whole year exploring wild landscapes and the fabulous collections of the Drawing is about so much more than just making pictures that sometimes
University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Oxford University Herbaria. These the finished image is irrelevant. It can be thrown away without losing what
collections generously gave or lent me hundreds of pieces of plants to draw was experienced and learned. I firmly believe that everyone can learn how
or have photographed for this book. Botany for the Artist features around 550 to draw—if they want to. The first steps are not difficult, and results will
species, chosen to represent almost every kind of plant and habitat on soon inspire you with the confidence to carry on. Books of advice, classes,
Earth. Gorgeous, unfamiliar exotics are celebrated alongside more common and looking at the works of other artists will help you greatly, but you can
plants, to show the beauty and wonder of the bird-of-paradise flower and also learn how to draw simply by doing it. I think sometimes that the hand
the pavement milk thistle, tropical forest fruits and the orchard apple, giant and eye can learn from experience and lead to inner confidence. The first
pine cones, and tufts of city moss. Fungi, and some species of algae, are not step is to simply have a go.
scientifically classified as plants, but are featured here because they are
fabulous to draw and fascinating in themselves. I always draw from real plants—never photographs—because plants are
three dimensional and were once alive, even if they are no longer. They are
Drawing is a powerful tool for both our insight and our imagination. It is a physically present, and can move, change, and challenge the person
direct and universal language, as old as humankind, from which the written drawing them. An artist’s relationship with their subject is always innately
word developed. We all engage with drawing every day. Myriad images expressed in their work, so it is usually possible to tell if they worked from
surround us in advertising and packaging, and we enjoy the patterns and life or photographs. A subject drawn from imagination can be just as
designs we choose for our clothes and homes. In making drawings we present as a real one, because it, too, is never flat or static. A camera is great
can doodle and jot down ideas, sketch quick maps, and share a sense of for making quick visual notes, creating an aide-mémoire, and a photograph
humor. Drawing enables us to express our attitudes and emotions freely, can also be an exquisite work of art. Throughout this book, Sam Scott-
and above all, to look at and learn to see the world that surrounds us. Hunter’s photographs reveal subtle insights that could not be captured in
If you spend just one hour drawing a plant, you will understand it far better drawing. They also magnify many details so we can look very closely into
than if you spent the same hour only looking at it. There is something in them. I have drawn most plants life-size, for comparison, and also to convey
the physical act of drawing, the coordination of the hand and eye, and the the excitement of giant-sized objects. This diversity is just one characteristic
translation of sensory experience into marks and lines that reveals an of the vast kingdom of plants that surrounds us all, and it is always there,
entirely new way of seeing. There is a significant difference between looking just outside our door, waiting to be explored.
Bulbous buttercups
Sarah Simblet These buttercups grew between two
roadside curbstones and their roots were
full of ants, so I put them in an old ceramic
basin to draw them on my desk. Each flower
bud quickly opened and turned to face the
window on my left, and I had to keep
rotating the basin to bring some of the
blooms back to face me. All this is a part of
the pleasure of working with living things.
Bulbous buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus)
6
