Penny Brown trained and worked as a theatre designer for 10 years before an increasing love of painting and drawing led her to illustration. She works in watercolour, graphite and most recently, cut paper collage. She has illustrated many books on craft, textiles, design, natural history and gardening. She exhibits her botanical paintings and drawings with The Society of Botanical Artists in London, Frankfurt and Spain. She has won several awards including the prestigious President's Prize at The SBA exhibition in 2015. She is also a member of The South West Society of Botanical Artists and opens her studio regularly for Dorset Art Weeks. She looks forward to continuing her parallel careers in botanical art and illustration.

Introductionâ 6 Botanical art: a personal perspectiveâ 8 Materials and toolsâ 12 GETTING STARTEDâ 20 Drawing an elliptical flowerâ 28 Line and tone exercise Drawing a mushroomâ 34 Line and tone exercise Project 1: William Pearâ 38 Step by step Project 2: Poppy seed headâ 42 Step by step Understanding plant structureâ 48 Examining your subjectsâ 56 Gathering informationâ 60 Project 3: Peas and podsâ 70 Step by step Compositionâ 74 Project 4: Apple blossomâ 80 Step by step Project 5: Common grape hyacinthâ 86 Step by step Project 6: Cape Gooseberryâ 92 Step by step Project 7: Dutch Irisâ 96 Step by step Project 8: Freesiaâ 102 Step by step Project 9: Sweet vernal grassâ 108 Step by step Project 10: Pot marigoldâ 122 Step by step Indexâ 128