Botanical Art for Plant Lovers – Why I Paint Plants
It all started with a sketch. A simple doodle of moody leaves and berries using handmade watercolours from Eventually Everything Mixes. I had never heard of botanical art before. I wasn’t painting with any intention. I was just playing around, testing the paints and something just clicked. That little sketch unlocked a new world of joy, colour, and creativity for me. That’s how I fell into botanical art.
And I’ve been hooked ever since.
If you love plants, colour, or just staring at your houseplants like they’re art (same), then botanical art might be more your thing than you think. Whether you’re a plant parent, a botanical maximalist, or just someone who loves a dramatic leaf, let me take you behind the scenes of my work and share what botanical painting has brought to my creative life.
🌿 What Botanical Art Means to Me
First and foremost, botanical art is fun. That’s something I feel doesn’t get said enough. You get to play with bold & saturated colours. You can paint simple shapes or get lost in detailed textures. There are endless subjects to choose from, delicate flowers to weird houseplants to those giant leafy monsters that take over half of your living room.
Additionally, botanicals have a kind of quiet elegance. A painting of a plant feels at home in almost any space. It’s universal. Everyone has some connection to nature. Whether they live in a countryside cottage or a studio flat surrounded by IKEA pots and propagations.
🎨 My Medium of Choice (And Why It Was Never a Choice)
I’m a watercolour artist first the botanical part came later. When I started painting plants using watercolour just felt like an obvious and natural choice. It’s a medium that’s perfect for delicate layers and subtle transitions. It is also powerful and useful when you want to crank up the colour.
Mostly I use my own studio palette which I have built up over the years . I also use my own handmade paints too (I’m slowly trying to replace every colour with a handmade one!). Whenever I review a paint brand on my YouTube channel I use only that brand to stay fair, but otherwise, it’s a curated mix of favourites for several brands.
Brands that are current favourites are :
Sennelier
Rembrand
Old Holland
Schmincke
🌸 Lilies, Soggy Linda, and the Plants I Paint
I’ve painted a lot of lilies. I’m not even sure why, maybe because they’re easy shapes or maybe it’s because they come in so many colours. They just keep appearing in my work. One of my proudest paintings is of some red lilies; it was a rare moment where the process felt easy and I still wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Another favourite? Bird of paradise plants. I loved painting them so much that I ended up buying one. A rather stubborn, un-blooming diva now known as Soggy Linda . She may not flower but she looks good in the corner of my living room and she brings a lot of joy and hopefully a future painting subject.
📷 How I Build a Painting (Hint: It’s Not From Life)
A lot of people assume botanical artists paint from live specimens but I usually don’t. My paintings often take a month or two and most real plants don’t last that long! To get around this issue I mostly work from reference photos. I try to take my own ones where I can but sometimes I piece together multiple images to form something new. I’m also careful to avoid copyright issues by never copying any single source too closely. I treat other artists’ work as inspiration only and always respect their creativity.
🧠 The Challenges: Reference Images & Dry Brushing Nightmares
The hardest part of finding what I’d like to paint? Finding the right photo. Sometimes you just can’t find a good angle or reference that captures what you’re picturing in your head. Other times I’ll stumble across something I have to paint and then spend ages sourcing the angles or features that I need.
Technique-wise, dry brushing was my personal nightmare. It’s how you get the veins, textures, and tiny hairs on leaves & petals, and it took a lot of practice (and a sable brush!) before I got the hang of it. My first attempt was during a Billy Showell tutorial and… it did not go well.
📚 Self-Taught, With a Side of YouTube
I’m a mostly self-taught artist though I’ve followed a few YouTube tutorials and took Billy Showell’s online classes for a year. I’d love to do the Society of Botanical Artists diploma one day but it’s pricey and I’m not sure if the return would be worth it, other than the extra practice.
I’ve shared a few tutorials on my own YouTube channel too. Some viewers have asked for longer ones and that’s something I’d love to do more of. In-person teaching? Maybe someday
🧪 It’s Not Just Pretty. It’s Practical Too
Botanical art isn’t just about making pretty pictures. It can also serve as a form of scientific recording. I recently read about botanical artist Lee Angold who documented rare aloe species growing on an island in Lake Superior. Those kinds of paintings help preserve knowledge about plants that only exist in one place or are under threat.
Even when it’s not scientific, botanical art changes how you see the world. I’ve learned to slow down. I notice details more. And I’ve taken countless reference photos at botanical gardens around the UK partly for painting and partly because I’m now obsessed with unusual, rare, and endangered plants. One day, when I have a garden of my own. I’d love to grow them.
💚 The Truth About Botanical Art (That No One Tells You)
Here’s what I wish more people knew:
Botanical art isn’t only for retirees. It’s not fussy, boring, or outdated.
It can be bold. Saturated. Dramatic. You can take artistic licence with colours, angles, and lighting. You can bring your own style and your own joy to it.
Yes, there’s a place for the highly technical, scientific kind. But there’s also room for art that’s just about the beauty of nature in all of its messy imperfection.
🌱 Tips for Aspiring Botanical Artists (or Plant-Loving Painters)
Feeling inspired? If you would like to get into painting your favourite plants, here are my tips!
Pick subjects that call to you. If you love monsteras, paint a monstera.
Start small. Don’t jump into a full composition, try one leaf or petal first.
Relax. Wonky leaves happen. No one’s checking your proportions!
Use masking fluid to preserve highlights, and work in light layers if you’re nervous.
Experiment with drama. Don’t be afraid of deep shadows or intense colour.
Practice core techniques: wet into wet, dry brushing, lifting, etc. (I have a blog post on this if you want to know how: Click Here
Sketchbook study pages are a great way to play without pressure.
✨ Final Thoughts
Botanical art has taught me patience, given me joy, and connected me to plants in a new way, even if I don’t have a garden (yet). It’s a subject that brings together delicacy and drama, structure and freedom.
And most of all, it’s something I do because I love it.
If you’re a plant lover, a house plant girlie, or just someone looking to make more colourful art, I say give it a go. Pick a leaf. Pick a petal. Get your paints out and start somewhere small.
You might be surprised where it takes you.
🌸 Connect With Me
If you’re curious about botanical art, want to see what I’m working on, or are interested in my handmade watercolours, you can find me here:
Let’s keep the botanical conversation blooming.