What? Become aCitizen Scientific Botanical Illustrator Bellarine (CSBIB)
Why? Draw and document indigenous plants of the Bellarine Peninsula as a future resource for the Bellarine.
Who? General interested public with no skill required
What is required from the participant? Rather than drying and pressing a plant we are going to grow the plants. Ideally in their garden or pot at home to watch it grow enabling sketch, observation and documentation.
Ideally select plants from the Bellarine Landcare nursery (this gives providence). Investigate approximately four or five for the year. E.g. grass, groundcover, shrub, tree.
Who will manage the project? Initially Fern Smith will facilitate free workshops and in time forming a group to collaborate together. Fern is adept of managing creative projects with nearly twenty years of experience. (Notables: Longest Book in the World- Geelong 2022-2026 ,Sea is Sinking 2019, RMIT project 2007)
Where? Yet to be formalised
Resources for project:
ID plants
Australian and New Zealand herbaria house over eight million plant, algae and fungi specimens. Home – AVH – https://avh.chah.org.au/
Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)founded in 1954 in Victoria – https://anpsa.org.au/ and https://anpsa.org.au/plant-guides/
Atlas of Living Australia – an easy access data- note: it also has non indigenous plants in the area Atlas of Living Australia – Open access to Australia’s biodiversity data – ala.org.au
Bellarine Landcare Nusery – Plant List and booklets —https://bellarinelandcare.org.au/activities/indigenous-nursery Indigenous Nursery — Bellarine Landcare
World Database of digitised plants – https://plants.jstor.org/ Global Plants on JSTOR
APPS: iNaturalist
Inspiring Botanical Illustrators and tutorials:
Billy Showell botanical artisthttps://billyshowell.com/ and a lovely look at becoming a botanical artist about Billy Showell Jackson’s studio on YouTube -26 minutes
Vlada Repina has extensive tutorials on botanic drawing her YouTube chanel is @VladaRepinaArt.
Julia Bausenhardt is an illustrator, designer and teacher, She has many tips and tricks on both her website https://juliabausenhardt.com/ and YouTube channel Julia Bausenhardt – Draw ANYTHING! Beginner Sketching in 7 Easy Steps – on Youtube Elizabeth Whelan – Botanical Drawing (23 minutes) on Youtube. Her website has free tutorials and PDFs https://elizabeth-whelan.com/index.php/artist-elizabeth-whelan-workshops-classes/artist-elizabeth-whelan-tutorial-archives
Lucy T Smith botanical artist – https://www.lucytsmith.com/blog – There is a four minutes talk on dissection of a flower and drawing – technical YouTube: DRAWING AND DISSECTING – LUCY T SMITH (Botanical Art Talk extract)
Royal Botanical Gardens NSW Angela Lober: Youtube The Art of Botanical Illustration; A Norfolk Island Pine by Angela Lober – goes into detail of illustration.
About Botanical illustrations YouTube: Botanical illustration at Kew: Our resident artist shares her top tips