​​​​​Christmas card workshops in Devon and Cornwall
This year I will be running two Christmas card workshops which aim to explore how you can create your botanical Christmas cards whilst maybe taking a lighter look at botanical art! 

The Garden House, Buckland Monachorum, Devon 

Monday 27th November 2023

Cornwall School of Art, Truro, Cornwall

​Monday 4th December 2023

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RHS Rosemoor short courses for 2024
I will be running more short courses next year at the beautiful RHS Rosemoor gardens in North Devon. All of this year's courses were fully booked so keep an eye on the RHS Rosemoor website for dates and bookings for next year. The first course is in March and is now bookable on the RHS website here.

Primulas and other Spring Flowers in Botanical Watercolour

RHS Garden Rosemoor, North Devon 8th-10th March 2024

​3 day workshop £225 for RHS members and £272.55 for non-members. NOW BOOKING

Join me at Rosemoor using the best Primulas from the RHS plant centre to practice our botanical watercolour. From our pale natives to more showy horticultural varieties as well as delicate species from other parts of the world there is a primula for everyone. Those bumpy leaves are  irresistible for their challenging textures and shapes and the delicate flowers have beautiful detail.  

Suitable for beginners, though all levels of experience are welcome and I aim to give plenty of one to one tuition to build on your skills whichever level you are at. 

Book here on the RHS website or if you have any further questions about the course please docontact me. 

Introduction to Botanical Illustration at the Eden Project
​17th-19th November 2023 FULLY BOOKED - I will advise on my mailing list if places become available.

£250

Suitable for all levels including complete beginners!
This course will take place at the fabulous new classrooms at the on-site nursery at the Eden Project. The course is aimed at complete beginners - absolutely no experience necessary - but will also appeal to those wanting to brush up their skills or try a new type of art. All materials are provided.

The course will commence with a half-day botany introduction before introducing you to our methods of accurate drawing from observation and tonal shading in pencil to make our subjects appear realistic on the page. There are many skills you can take into other forms of art from this introductory drawing skills course.

Admission to the Eden Project each day is included and the biomes are only a ten-minute walk from the classroom. Participants can buy their lunches on site or bring a packed lunch if they prefer, making this an affordable way to get underway in botanical art. 

For further information and to book visit: An Introduction to Botanical Illustration | Eden Project​

​ASBA Journal article - September 2023
Plus Online Live Talk in November
In the article for the American Society of Botanical Artists I revealed how I became interested in ferns and how the project for the RHS exhibit took shape. I will expand on this in the live talk showing how to approach a complex subject such as this to capture both its botanical details and its beauty. ASBA members can sign up for the talk at the ASBA website.

Term-time weekly classes at the Sawpit
These will continue to run into Autumn 2023 in ten-week terms at the wonderful and well-equipped studio at Heligan. For any further information please contact me.​​​

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Heligan Course dates for 2024 tba

The Sawpit Studio is in the grounds of The Wagon House in a private area of Heligan Gardens. As a dedicated botanical art studio it is well-equipped with an extensive botanical art library, light box and microscope - and tea, coffee and biscuits are provided throughout the day as well!  The courses are suitable for all levels including complete beginners as the small group size allows most of the teaching to take place one-to one. The days run from 10am until 3pm and the catered lunches are delivered to the house where we enjoy our meals each day. 

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Zoom classes
My Zoom sessions are a great way to keep going, put aside some time to paint and share our work with others.
Sessions run on Thursdays and Fridays. Our days start by meeting at 10am and students can take part in a weekly set task or work on their own projects. We review work before lunch and start our final review around 3pm. I am available in the virtual classroom to answer queries and help during the day where most participants stay to paint together.
Each session is friendly and informal and you are not required to sign up to a block of lessons to keep the lessons flexible. Each session costs £15 and requires you to download Zoom, which is free. All are welcome - I have students from all over the world of all levels of experience with complete beginners welcome. If you'd like further information then please contact me.

NEWS

laura Silburn botanical art

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Past News

I spent a wonderful week in the beautiful and luxurious surroundings of the Clos Mirabel estate in South-West France for our painting holiday in September 2023. All the participants found it a great place to improve their skills and produced some truly magnificent pieces of art - all with the Pyrenees as a backdrop. I'm hoping to return and will be looking at dates for 2024.

I have been lucky enough to have been all over this spring and summer, giving workshops in Taunton for the South West Society of Botanical Artists, at Birmingham with the Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists and two days in Gloucester with the Gloucester Society of Botanical Illustrators as well as teaching in North Devon at RHS Rosemoor and back in Cornwall with several courses at the Sawpit Studio in the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

I spent a wonderful week in Transylvania at the POD botanical art school in Copsa Mare, experiencing the wonderful wildflowers of the region and teaching in the beautiful studio there.

As usual I had a great time at the Eden Project Florilegium Society stand at the Cornwall Spring Flower show 2023. Thanks to everyone who came along to talk to us about what we do and to everyone who helped sell paintings, prints and cards.

It was a great pleasure to travel to South Africa in September 2022 for the opening of the Hannarie Wenhold Gallery of Botanical Art, housing the Grootbos Florilegium which I had taken part in back in 2021. An amazing collection accompanied by the fantastic Grootbos Florilegium book. To find out more about the work of the Grootbos Foundation see here.

Painting for the Grootbos Florilegium - online talk 
On February 24th I gave an online talk over Zoom on painting for the Grootbos Nature Reserve Florilegium in South Africa for Julia Trickey's programme of online talks.

I was very lucky to be invited to South Africa at the end of 2021 to take part in the prestigious Grootbos Florilegium project documenting and celebrating the fynbos plants of the Cape. I have two paintings in the collection: Blehcnum capense and Gomphorcarpus fruticosus. To find out more about the work of the Grootbos Foundation seehere.

My painting of Dryopteris erythrosora is being featured in the RHS Lindley Library online exhibition 'Worth a Thousand Words, Gold Standard Botanical Art' which opened on the 17th September 2021.

I have been running online taster days with the Eden Project using the Zoom app for competition winners. Participants were given an introduction to the history of the artform and how it is used today as well as a day of drawing and trying out botanical art techniques.

My painting of the fern Dryopteris affinis 'Cristata' was in the show at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens: 'Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art'  The show opened in November 2019 and has an accompanying book and website.

The RHS Botanical Illustration Gold Medal Winners book by Charlotte Brooks was published by Accart Books in June 2019 and features my paintings of Geranium 'Patricia' and Dryopteris erythrosora.

Worth a Thousand Words exhibition at the RHS Lindley Library in London ran in summer 2019 and featured my painting of Dryopteris erythrosora. This exhibition is now available online.​

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I am a botanical artist working in Devon and Cornwall, where I am a Fellow of the Eden Project Florilegium Society and teach botanical art courses at the Eden Project, the Sawpit Studio in Heligan Gardens and at RHS Rosemoor, as well as teaching overseas.  I have three RHS Gold medals (2013,2014 and 2018) to my name as well as Best Exhibit and Best Botanical Painting Awards. I paint both to record species and celebrate plants. My work ranges from botanical documentation for archives and florilegia to artistic studies of plants exploring our relationship to them.

​​​Please use the menu at the top of the page for details of paintings, prints and cards, upcoming exhibitions and how to contact me.