Sceitse – Irish Botanical Sketchbooks

An insight into how botanical artists prepare plant portraits, with sketches of plants–and their settings–from beautiful gardens on the island of Ireland.

Sceitse – Irish Botanical Sketchbooks celebrates the complex journey of botanical artists as they collect information and prepare to illustrate a particular plant. This includes ‘visiting’ plants in their habitat or in gardens, to see them in their natural or intended setting. The sketchbook pages in this collection show the breadth of information a botanical artist may collect, from plant features and measurements, to colour notes and descriptions of the setting.

Irish botanical artists are fortunate to have access to unique and diverse gardens, both public and private, in which to glean information and complete research for their paintings. They have included beautiful pictures and writing from the gardens in which they worked for this project, hoping to celebrate Ireland’s horticultural treasures and to encourage visitors to seek them out.