Date: Sat, 17 May 2025

Time: 10am-12pm

Venue:  Level 2, Function Room, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Level: All

BASS members only!

Botanical Artist, Dianne Sutherland will showcase and discuss several of her sketchbooks during this session. She will offer insights into the materials used for creating handmade books, recommend the best ready-made options, and demonstrate her tools and techniques.

Additionally, she will share valuable tips on documenting plants, including composition strategies, key elements to include, and techniques for making the most of live plant material, including the use of photography and when to use it. If you've ever found it challenging to maintain a sketchbook or don't know where to start, Dianne aims to inspire you. 

Through her love of nature and practical guidance, she will help you build confidence in documenting the world around you and keep your creative momentum going.

Join a guided tour led by Dr. Michele Rodda who will show you around this reputed collection of more than 800,000 specimens from the Malesian region (Peninsular Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea) and adjacent areas (East Asia, mainland SE Asia, the Southwest Pacific).

Register your name to participate in this activity now.

Please register for the talk below.

Places are limited!

Renowned Japanese botanical artist, Masumi Yamanaka  is a resident artist at Kew Gardens, UK and a long time illustrator for Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

In 2011, she was awarded a Gold Medal at the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Botanical Art Show for a series of paintings depicting a year in the life of an Indian horse chestnut tree. 

In 2015, she held a solo exhibition "Kew's Heritage Trees" at Sherwood Gallery with 40 paintings depicting historic trees (heritage trees) in Kew Gardens. At the same time, it was well received along with the exhibition catalogue "Treasured Trees" published by Kew Gardens.

She has held numerous solo exhibitions in UKand Japan over the years.

Since 2019, she has been a member of the judging panel of the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Botanical Art Show. 

In addition to producing paintings, she is involved in many exchanges between Japan and the UK, such as planning exhibitions, editing publications, and giving lectures as Kew's "Japanese Coordinator". 

In 2021, She was awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation from Japan.

Since 2022, she spends  half of the year at the Tokyo University’s Botanical Garden.

Sharon Field, a botanical artist from Australia, will talk about her epic work called “3000 days ... and counting ...” which is on watercolour paper, and on which she is doing a drawing a day. 

So far she has completed over 1000 drawings, and this represents 1000 days of completing a new drawing each day. This artwork looks at some of the ordinary plants that are potentially at risk from a changing climate.

Come and listen to the story of the artwork. Sharon will explain what inspired her to do this work, how she does the work, and also the reactions of people around the globe to this work.

About Sharon Field

Sharon began her botanical art career in 2009 and has exhibited in Australia, London and the United States, with one of her works travelling for 18 months in a touring exhibition around the USA. She is on the Board of the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Sharon has held 11 solo exhibitions and has participated in many group exhibitions in Australia and overseas, winning a number of awards along the way.

Working primarily in watercolour and graphite, she has also explored nature journaling using pen and watercolour and is currently working on “3000 days ... and counting ...” a major work that is gaining interest internationally. Over the last two months Sharon has given presentations on this work in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands and France.

The Botanical Art Postcard Exchange is a way to motivate fellow members to create and share an original painting or sketch in botanical art style. You get to keep the original artwork sent to you by your postcard partner and it is a great and informal way to learn about a technique, composition or medium!

Register your name to participate in this activity now.

We will pair you with a fellow BASS member as your postcard partner after the registration closes.

The postcard must be an original artwork done by you in the medium of your choice, in postcard size art paper  (4in. by 6in.). You must send original artwork via post (not a print or photocopy).

This is an informal, fun activity - so please just have fun with your artwork!!

June, 2021:  Virtual Tour of SBG Botanical Art Museum