Sue Henon is at last back home after the train strike. Apparently it had completely paralysed Frankfurt – as well as the rest of Germany of course. The day before the strike happened, there was a mass exercise to find hotels in the city and if you weren’t early enough – too bad.
Speaking with Sue this evening, she told me just how empty the city was. Palmengarten always has a lot of visitors, but not over the last few days – that is until today. This of course affected the botanical art exhibition as no-one came in to view the works of art. However, the emptiness gave Sue an opportunity to plan her next talk for a tour round the exhibition.
But today, although transport was not hugely reliable, life returned to Palmengarten and she was very busy. Two more pictures got red dots on them and hopefully things will be fully back to normal tomorrow. Sue is looking forward to her one day off.
Artwork by Caroline Jackson Houlston, Marion Wilson and Sheila EtchinghamArtwork by Sue Wickison & Simon WilliamsArtwork by Yoriko Kojima & Victoria BraithwaiteArtwork by Janie Pirie & Libby CarreckArtwork by Angeline de Meester & Billy ShowellYet another view of the Palm house on the morning of the Private view and opening, which was held that evening.
What miserable weather we are having now – a reminder that winter is on the way. Only one week ago we had really warm weather – unseasonably so. It put us into a false sense of the cold and wet was still a long way away.
Now I have actually caught up with marking the assignments for the London Art College, so tomorrow I will have to catch up on other admin work as on Monday I am holding a coloured pencil workshop day for the Society of Floral Painters (SFP) just outside Southampton. When will I get back to painting?
I have moved my Wednesday class to Tuesday as I will be going up to London on Wednesday for the Society of Botanical Artists(SBA) Christmas meeting. Christmas!!?
Friday I start another three-day workshop on Autumn colours. I have one vacancy if anyone wants to fill that place let me know. Watercolour of Coloured Pencil.
More pictures from the Palmengarten exhibition? Here they are.
Artwork by Billy ShowellArtwork bySarah Wood, Amber Halsall & Sue LintonArtwork bySue Linton & Jennifer JenkinsArtwork byLisa TomassiArtwork byCaroline Jackson Houlston and Rosemary Lindsay,A very unfortunate view along the other part of the L-shaped Palm House. Picture taken prior to setting up of Sales desk. Get a real idea from the picture shown in the blog 4 November.
Still no news from Sue at Palmengarten and none expected until Monday. But people are very obviously interested in the botanical art exhibition in the Palm House in Frankfurt. For those SBA members and associate members who sent in work for this exhibition, there is a lot of positive feedback from your pictures shown on this blog.
The Palmengarten exhibition title is ‘Poisonous and medicinal plants’. An item in the news today was very much in keeping with this and also a reminder as to the properties some of our beautiful plants actually have. It means that we can still see their beauty in our gardens, but some of these plants need to be treated with respect. That is where it is important to find out what we have in our gardens.
Apparently an inquest has heard about the death of an experienced gardener on an estate where there is Aconitum – common name ‘Wolfsbane’. There seems to be a possible association between tending the garden, symptoms and the death of the inividual concerned (you can tell I have worked with environmental exposure statistics – slightly different wording to the newspaper).
A quote from today’s Independent paper:
Tom Wells, from the Chelsea Physic Garden, said to the Times that wolfsbane was one of the most dangerous plants found in Britain’s gardens.
“The roots are where the highest level of poison is found, although it is still found in the flower,” he said. “If there were cuts on his hand, it would enter his bloodstream and affect his heart very quickly.”
In severe cases the poisoning causes heart arrhythmia, paralysis of the heart and respiratory problems. Other symptoms include vomiting, dizziness and diarrhoea.
We have three pictures of Aconitum in the Exhibition and I will highlight only those pictures in this blog.
Artwork by Eiko Takano. Title: Aconite napellus – Monkshood (watercolour)Artwork by Caroline Jackson-Houlston. Title: Aconite lycoctonum – Wolf’s Bane (watercolour)Artwork by Yuriko Kojima. Title: Aconitum japonicum – Torikabuto (watercolour)
I wish that I had been able to take the photos without the reflection on the glass, because in reality all three pictures are very beautiful and the style of each artist is completely different.
Go and see the exhibition at Palmengarten, the botanic gardens in Frankfurt. It is well worth a trip.
We haven’t heard anything from Sue today and hope that she is safely ensconced in the hotel in Frankfurt.
I have been marking assignments for LAC all day and I am still only halfway through them. But people have put so much work into their assignments that they deserve good feedback to move onwards.
More pictures. I gather that they are of great interest, hopefully not only to botanical artists. It would be lovely to get more people in the detail of what is our everyday.
Another view in the Palm houseArtwork byAngie Gray & Yvonne Glenister HammondArtwork byYvonne Glennister Hammond & Elizabeth Sherras ClarkArtwork by Claire Ward & Janet ‘ConnorArtwork byShevaun Doherty & Roberta MattioliArtwork by Sue Henon
Early this morning I heard from Sue Henon at Palmengarten, that yesterday evening until very late, she was getting in touch with loads of hotels in Frankfurt to try and find an affordable one for the duration of the strike. Apparently, as many people were out on the same quest, hotel prices were escalating rapidly. Eventually she found one in an area that wasn’t the best (every city has one), which she could afford. Hopefully it will be comfortable.
Sue tells me that the strike starts at 02:00 and lasts until 02:00 Monday morning. You may remember she takes her one day a week break on Monday, but luckily she has managed to get a lift home on Sunday evening after the exhibition closes for the day.
But as Sue will not be going home and won’t have access to a computer, I doubt that we will have any updates about the exhibition until Sunday evening at the earliest. However, if I get any news I will post it. In the meantime I intend to continue with posting the pictures I have from the exhibition.
On a personal note, today I had my normal weekly class. I am so lucky as there are six students who get on so well together. Four of them use watercolour and two coloured pencil. I do enjoy the class and their involvement in it.
This afternoon I have been marking assignments. I’m afraid that I haven’t got very far as the first two were completing the course. I therefore feel it, important to give a very full feedback so that they can continue working on their own. But if I can get more people interested in botanical art- so much the better.
Now the pictures. I wonder how many actually read what I have written, or just go through the pictures?
Artwork by Jenny Jowett & Vivien Burgess.Artwork by Amber Halsall & Gaynor DickesonArtwork by Patricia Regnart, Angie Gray and Joanna Craig McFeeleyArtwork by Elizabeth Sherras Clark, Bridgette James and Gael SellwoodArtwork by Sarah Caswell (sorry I didn’t hold the camera [ or me ]very straight!)The outside wall of the Palm house looking up away from the reception area. A sneak preview before the e Hinton opened. Interst already.
It has apparently been a good day at the botanical art exhibition in the botanical gardens of Frankfurt, Palmengarten. They have had quite a few visitors there, interested in both the beautiful gardens and the exhibition.
But tomorrow Sue Henon who is manning the exhibition there will have her life made even more complicated.
Apparently there is to be a week long strike of the railways, starting in the evening. This means that she is now in search of somewhere to stay for the rest of the week as there is no other way in which she can get home tomorrow night and back again to the exhibition. But as she quite rightly says, her problem is no different to everyone else’s who travels into the city by train.
As a fellow member of the SBA I am hugely grateful to her for what she is doing for the society and for me as an individual; I too have some paintings in the exhibition.
Today I have been putting together some designs for new cards and downloading assignments ready to start marking after I have finished teaching my weekly class tomorrow (today actually!). Unfortunately the trip to Germany has left me a little behind with that work. As botanical art tutor for the London College of Art (LAC) I am really pleased to see that there seems to be an increase in interest for learning to paint botanically.
More pictures from the exhibition. Some of the artwork looks as though it isn’t hanging straight in the photos. But unfortunately it was me not hanging straight when I took the pictures!
Artwork by Guy William Eves, Gaynor Dickeson and Rachel MunnArtwork by Rachel Munn and Eiko TakanoArtwork by Penny BrownArtwork by Tina BoneArtwork by Tina BoneThe long wall in the Palm house and vitrines down the centre containing the prizes mentioned on the SBA facebook page, jewellary by Lesley Hall and Glassware by Jacqueline Allwood.
Very little to write about the Palmengarten botanical art exhibition today. This is Sue Henon’s one day off in the week, but she has been catching up on her admin work that has accumulated over the previous week. In the meantime the exhibition has continued, attracting a lot of interest.
I too have been busy at home also trying to catch up on accumulated work. I haven’t been back to the easel since I returned from Frankfurt and as I still get a lot of queries regarding Palmengarten, I can’t see me getting on top of things to carry on with my own work, for a few days yet.
But more pictures, I here you say.
Artwork by Susan Christopher CoulsonArtwork by Sheila Etchingham, Kath Baker and Eiko Takano,Artwork by Marion PerkinsArtwork by Linda Pitt & Kath BakerArtwork by Gill Jelley, Jenny Jowett, Charlotte Linder and Maggie FitzpatrickThe Palm house botanical art sales desk .
Sue Henon our SBA member in Germany, has been ably manning the exhibition at Palmengarten, Frankfurt’s botanical gardens. She has been there every day and will do so every day except Monday’s until the exhibition ends. They have been very long days for her as she doesn’t actually live in Frankfurt but has to travel in on a daily basis. The SBA is hugely lucky to have her there and willing to give up a solid month of her time for us. This of course excludes all that she has done in the months leading up to the exhibition, that she will use in breaking down the exhibition and overseeing that pictures get safely into the right hands – buyers and artists.
During the exhibition, Sue, together with a botanist from the gardens, is giving some tours and talks about the pictures. The botanist of course talks about the topic of the exhibition, poisionous and medicinal plants, in relation to the pictures that are exhibited there. Sue talks about the botanical art, the different types of medium that the artists have used in their pictures and how It is applied. She also discusses the history of botanical art In Germany.
I understand from various quarters that these talks are enthusiastically received. I am told that the visiting public have appreciated getting a better understanding of botanical art and afterwards look a lot more closely at the pictures.
But, I think you are more interested in seeing some more of the artwork that is in the exhibition. I notice that yesterday one of the pictures fell out of the blog for some reason. I had also wanted to give you a better idea of the botanical art in situ in the Palmhouse. It is a beautiful area for exhibiting these pictures.
Artwork by Sue HenonArtwork by Josie WhiteArtwork by Hazel Rush and Penny Stenning,Artwork by Sarah Wood, Sue Linton and Janine WalkkyArtwork by Yuriko Kojima, Janine Walkky and Gael Sellwood
There are many artists in Bosham, West Sussex and in previous years Jan Guest has hosted a weekend where many of us could display our artwork in one place. However, this has become so popular because it is not of the typical ‘arts and crafts’ quality to be found especially at Christmas. This also means that it has become too big. Therefore some of us have decided to form a Christmas Craft Trail within Bosham.
It is a craft trail as we all practice our art in different ways. Botanical art would be in the category of fine art, whereas many of the other artists form their works of art.
During the Bosham Christmas Craft Trail, and in the warmth of my home, I will be displaying some of my original work, prints both mounted and unmounted, cards and note pads. All are for sale, with larger works, ideal for that very special gift, down to smaller things for the unexpected extra.
Join me for the obligatory mince pie and mulled wine whilst you browse my work. I look forward to seeing you.
![Artwork by Sarah Caswell (sorry I didn't hold the camera [ or me ]very straight!)](https://gaynorsflora.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/image28.jpg)
GAYNOR'S FLORA 