What Is Botanical Illustration?

Botanical Illustration differs from flower art in a number of ways. In botanical illustration, the focus is on depicting the structure of the plant material, whether it¹s the blossom, stem or leaf, and how they all connect to one another in accurate detail. Sometimes even the roots are included in a painting or parts of the flower at different stages of growth or in the different seasons. In addition to plant material, botanical illustrators paint or draw fruits and vegetables.

Another difference is that botanical art includes only plant material and perhaps a bird or insect that relates to that plant, feeding on it or helping to cross-pollinate it, like a honey bee. There are usually no extra objects in the picture such as a vase or table cloth, and in traditional botanical illustration, no background or background color which are more indicative of flower paintings.