My introduction to botanical art was seeing the wonderful Margaret Mee ‘Amazon’ exhibition at Kew in 1988. I was utterly mesmerized and hooked! So much so that many years later, in 2022, as I prepared to – after 30 years – step down from my paid work in the voluntary sector, I started the RBGE Certificate in Botanical Illustration

This newfound freedom has provided a very welcome opportunity to rekindle my passion for art, which I’d rather abandoned since attending Edinburgh College of Art in the early 90s, where I studied sculpture and painting. I found the RBGE course really absorbing and have gone on to enroll on the SBA Diploma Course, which started January 2023.

As well as my background in arts, I am also a really keen gardener, having developed an award-winning garden in Edinburgh, and more recently, since moving to Midlothian with my wife instigated the Eskbank Village Garden Trail as part of Scotland’s Garden Scheme.

I’ve found botanical illustration offers a perfect opportunity to combine my interest in both art and horticulture, deepening my appreciation and sense wonder at the richness and variety found in the plant world.