A letter from the Editor

Dear Friends:
Jack Kramer is the author of more than 130 books. His best selling book, Women of Flowers, celebrates the art of botanical painting produced by women during the Victorian era. His latest book, The Art of Flowers, is filled with information on how the genre evolved. The many plates of botanical images are accompanied by poetry and observations into the lives of the various artists that make up the book.

You don’t need to be an artist to enjoy this lovely book, but if you are you’ll find interesting examples of how to draw and paint botanicals that are taken directly from the notes of the artists themselves.

In Professor Dr. H. Walter Lack’s book, Garden Eden, we have an opportunity to view the outstanding works of botanical illustration now housed in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. With 487 colored plates, the book offers a chronological, geographic, thematic and technical profile of botanical art from the 6th to the 20th century. In addition, the book is printed in three languages: English, French, and German.

Dr. Brent Elliott, Librarian and Archivist of the Royal Horticultural Society, is author of Victorian Garden, The Country House Garden, and Treasures of the Royal Horticultural Society. In his book, Flora, he illustrates the history of the garden flower by exploring the world of adventurers and plant hunters who collected seeds and specimens from exotic lands. The exquisite illustrations include works by artists of that period some of whom were considered the greatest scientific botanical illustrators of their day.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to visit these wonderful books and enjoy the glorious art. And when you hear a voice within knock at the door of your own creativity, put your book down and paint.

God bless.
OM

And God sent flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man’s careful mood;
And he is happiest who hath power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude.

~ Mary Howitt, 1867

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