An Interview with Billy Showell

Billy Showell is an artist who needs little introduction, with almost three decades working within the field of botanical art, pretty much every aspiring and established botanical artist alike know her distinctive work. First and foremost she's a highly skilled watercolorist with a unique and instantly recognisable style, she has work in permanent collections such as the Hunt Institute for Botanical Illustration and runs a successful online school of botanical art. Former co-president of the Society of Botanical Artists and author of 5 botanical art books, she very kindly agreed to take time out of her busy schedule to tell us about her journey as a botanical artist offering some great insights and advice along the way, she also told us about her latest limited edition book, 'The Botanical Shoes'. Enjoy

Billy in her studio. Copyright Billy Showell

 1. First of all, please tell us a little about your background – education, former career and hobbies etc.

 Thank you Dianne, I have always been a maker of things, from a young

child drawing and sewing were a huge love of mine. I didn’t enjoy art at school so

I took evening classes at adult education from the age of 13, and after A levels, I

was offered place on a two-year art foundation course at Epsom school of art,

purely on the strength of my evening class sketch books. There was a superb

fashion department where I was able to practice fashion illustration, and from

there I went to St Martins School of Art for a 3-year BA in Fashion design and

illustration. I hadn't realised that my personality was just not cut out for the

Fashion industry, so after just a few short years in the business, I returned to

painting and illustration. I worked as an illustrator and muralist, married, had a

baby, and through all that worked on paintings of plants in both oil and

watercolour just for my own pleasure. 

 

The Dressmakers Hollyhock Corsage. Copyright Billy Showell 

2. When did you first become interested in botanical art, and what attracted you to the subject?

 Once settled in Kent, I was painting still life oils for a gallery in

Lincolnshire and selling very well, but I found the oils hard to do at home, as I had

no studio space and with a small child about the house, I felt I needed to work

with a faster medium. Around that time, I had been bought one of Shirley

Sherwood’s books and I fell in love with the exquisite studies on white

backgrounds. The more contemporary the paintings, the more I drooled over

them. I knew/ know very little about botany, what I know is acquired through

painting plants, it’s a great way to learn. I decided I would switch mediums so I

took watercolour tips from my mother-in-law, who was a wonderful flower painter,

and found that I loved the process. I started painting at every opportunity and

entering work to exhibitions whenever I could afford the framing (with only one of

us at work it was financially very tricky). I found that my work was really well

received in the botanical shows of the time, it was that point I could see a future

for my love of painting. 

 

3. Can you also tell us if your interests have changed over the years, and if so, why? 

It has been interesting to see my style and finish gradually change over the

years; it surprizes me that I am still loving the process of painting flowers, it’s

been 28 years or more now. I have become more passionate about teaching my

art as I have found painting to be very soothing, it has helped me through stress

and low times, almost like meditation. I love that when students find that magic

moment of creating a beautiful flower portrait, they have such joy and

satisfaction. I have also found kindred souls, painters like me, who are sensitive,

perhaps shy, and want to find a place where they can blossom through art. My

guess is our true past-times or careers find us. I had no idea this is what I would

be doing in life but I am relieved it found me. Future projects are always in mind,

one thing the art school background gave me is the desire to keep improving and

keep being creative.  

 

4. You are one of the most well-known and successful contemporary botanical artists and have exhibiting and teaching for many years. How easy (or difficult) was it to become a botanical artist and to gain the experience in this field to make it your career?

My first classes were terrifying, I had no idea if I could

communicate well and in teaching you do have to be a patient and kind

communicator. I had been painting all my life but till then no one had actually

watched me and though few believe it I am incredibly shy. In the beginning, I

assumed one would teach by example, even though I had never been shown

how to paint at art school, I knew from my days in adult education I craved to be

shown some kind of technique, so I could move forward faster. So, I gathered the

students around to show them some water colour tricks and tips with a very

nervous shaky hand I began to show them how to start. My students were so

lovely and encouraging that each week got easier, and it excited me to think up

ways to stretch them and make them more confident painters, I am good friends

with many of the students from my classes, some are even teachers themselves

now. I taught many classes, and over the years the students and I entered shows

and put on shows together. I then decided to have a solo show at the Tunbridge

wells Art gallery museum, the show was a mix of 35 oils and watercolours, and to

my astonishment, sold out. During the show, an editor from Search press, a local

publisher, asked if I would illustrate a book on oil painting still life, I turned them

down as I felt I just couldn’t produce enough work or offer enough knowledge.  I

had another solo watercolour show the following year and Search press asked

me again to create a book on watercolour flowers, this time I said yes. There

weren’t that many how-to books on a botanical style of art at the time, Anne

Marie Evans and Siriol Sherlock were the only two I was aware of, so my book,

which took the processes step by step, sold really well. I followed that book with

the ‘Fruit and Vegetable Portraits’, ‘The A-Z of Flower Portraits’ and then my big

‘Botanical Painting in Watercolour’ book. By my 4 th book there were many other

botanical books on sale, so I took a rest from writing and started teaching online

in my School of Botanical Art. Online has become so much more all-consuming.

At the start of my career, I didn’t have a computer and was the last of my friends

to get a mobile phone. The competition to be noticed has changed since the

internet arrived, and it feels so much more daunting as we now compete for

attention with artists all around the world. Perhaps the internet has seen a

decrease in the public’s desire to attend actual art events and meetings, and,

dare I say, the ease of printing has somewhat crushed the market for purchasing

original art. I think it’s a shame, as seeing art close up is so much more

intoxicating and inspiring, and owning an original piec from an artist you admire is

wonderful but as costs of live events soar it may become harder to warrant such

events. Maybe growing my career before the internet boom was an advantage,

but it is here now, and I am aware of the necessity to being social media savvy

and this is definitely a new daily challenge for me. 

Bluebells. Copyright Billy Showell 

5. Do you agree that botanical art has become increasingly popular since you started out, why do you think this is?  I think it has become more popular due to

the awareness of the natural world, together with the growth of ways in which

people can learn to paint. I know I am not alone in the love of seeing paintings in

process and aspiring to paint better. As I mentioned before I think a lot of people

find it therapeutic, you don’t need a lot of equipment and you don’t need to travel

far from home to indulge yourself in this art from, it also sits along nicely with

gardening and the love of plants. 

 

6. What aspect of work do you believe is most important for an up-and-coming artist to focus on, and do you have any tips for those new to this field of work? 

My mantra is to start painting what you love the most, and perhaps paint challenging

subjects in small stages. We all love success but one small set back in painting

can put you off. If you love a particular family of plants, then learning to paint

those will keep you focused and happy. Paint things in steps, for example,

painting the first wash many times until you are happy, avoids disappointment

and allows you time to perfect the technique before moving on. There are so

many artists worldwide it is easy to think what is the point? but the very point of

painting is self-expression or self-fulfilment, these are far more important and so

rather than seeing art as a job, I see it as a fundamental need for my creative

drive. I think I would be painting flowers even if I had a completely different job, I

love the precision but also the colour and form, all satisfy my creative itch and

that is what I would advise an artist to seek. Visit shows and exhibitions as much

as you can, because seeing the work close up is so inspiring. Try to work with

minimal kit, buying tens of colours can confuse you and be costly. Talk to other

artists about their favourite colours, borrow a little colour from artist friends to try it

first, swap colours or materials with other painting friends, because they might

love the stuff you didn’t get on with and visa-versa. Don’t be too hindered by

rules, they are only going to stop you playing and you will learn more through

playing in your chosen medium than sticking to rigid rules. 

 

A Passion for Peonies. Copyright Billy Showell 

7. You are obviously very prolific with painting, teaching and writing. Can you tell us a little about your daily working practice and how you manage your time?

Since lockdown and the addition of a whippet into my life, work/life balance has

been chaotic. I never think of myself as prolific; I could achieve more if I wasn’t so

dizzy in the way I work. One thing I have to have, is a deadline, without a

deadline I am lost. I used to achieve a good deal more when I had a young

family, as creative time was short, I was very disciplined about making a painting

schedule, now I have more time I seem to do less! One thing I have recognised is

my creative timeslot, by this I mean the time of day I am most likely to paint well

and achieve things. I like to work from 4pm to midnight. It does mean I am mostly

working by daylight bulb. I have to lock myself away and work to an imaginary

deadline. My new Botanical Shoe book has been ‘on the go’ for 7 years or more,

last summer I made a deadline to have it finished by the end of August so that I

had time to get it edited and printed in time for November, I ran 3 weeks late and

there were some issues at the printers but I got it done and finished, finally.

We film my online tutorials in blocks throughout the year, I usually spend 2-3

days in the studio sorting images and projects to teach and I run an online store

which requires me to pack and post 3 times a week. In between painting and

teaching I love to walk the dog and gardening and roaming around antique and

vintage markets. I have many projects on the go, sometimes too many but each

has its own drawer and note books to support it, so I am at least a little bit

organised. 

 

Daylily Love. Copyright Billy Showell

8. What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as a botanical artist? The thing that made you (or you family) most proud. 

We are not a demonstrative family; we don’t talk about our achievements that much. 

I suppose I am proud of all of it, from the start to where I am now, I have never really sought 

recognition for my art, I just enjoy the making of it. I know my family were very proud of me

becoming President of the SBA, but also very supportive when I decided to stand

down due to the work load and pressure. I am most proud of becoming a working

artist and tutor, I am so chuffed with the amount of people I have encouraged and

taught over the years, this was something that made my parents proud, I know

they were really impressed with my books too. 

 

9. Please tell us about your latest projects and in particular your coffee table book, the Botanical Shoes Book. This beautiful new book is rather different from your normal style of tutorial-based books, with poetry and your thoughts. Can you. tell us what inspired you to release this new book at this point in your career? 

‘The Botanical Shoes’ is the culmination of all the shoes I have painted

so far, minus one or two, and the thoughts and ideas that brought them to being.

They began a few years ago now, the first 4 exhibited at an SBA show. I painted

a few shoes every year, mainly for my own joy. I had always planned to make

them into a book but could not think how it would look. In the end I decided they

must exist as a group and it should be poetic, I finally completed the book in the

autumn of ‘22. 

Clematis Rose Shoe. Copyright Billy Showell

The book has them paired with thoughts and poems in groups of

the predominant colour, as they are the stuff of fantasy, I thought a wistful coffee

table book was the best way in which to release them as a collection. It is not a

money-making idea, the cost has been somewhat of a scary decision, as the

edition is so small and so the individual book cost is much higher than my

previous books, which are printed in their thousands. Why poetry? Well, funnily

enough, I did have to choose a graphic designer to work with that wasn’t put off

by the idea of twinning them with poetry, poems are not everyone’s cup of tea,

however it is not a very dominant part of the book and adds just a little window

into my thoughts, an idea of what goes on in my head when I am painting

them. The designer really understood my vision, the shape of the text layout I

wanted and the specific look to the book, so that, if I wanted to, I could add other

similar books to make a collection. Why now? Well during lockdown, I had the

time to write and mull over the text and layout and see how it could work, it just

took a little longer than I thought it would. I suppose the shoe idea allowed me to

side step the conventional expectations of botanical art, something I have always

enjoyed doing. 

 

The Botanical Shoes Book Cover

10. Any final comments?  

Thank you for this opportunity to share some of my art story. I have

enjoyed thinking back on how and why I have chosen to be a mainly botanical

artist. There are so many styles and choices of medium to choose these days it

can be quite daunting for new artists to know where to start. As you can see, I

began in oil and will most likely return to it one day for another avenue to explore.

My advice to anyone starting is to just start and let the adventures happen along

the way, confidence doesn’t happen overnight but with passion it will certainly be

a beautiful creative adventure, inside or outside the traditional approach. 

https://store.billyshowell.com/collections/books

https://billyshowell.com/