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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
