• Home
  • About

ArtPlantae Today

Connecting artists, naturalists, and educators

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Supporting Youth & Their Mentors
The Society of Botanical Artists on Teaching Children »

The Society of Botanical Artists on Day Jobs

November 20, 2008 by Tania Marien

Few people are able to make their living as a botanical artist. Do you make your living as a full-time botanical artist? If not, what’s your day job?


Sandra Wall Armitage

For many years I worked freelance and also taught part at Universities and Colleges of Art. I taught plant drawing and textile design. I still do the occasional commission for greeting cards and home wares, but mostly do botanical paintings for exhibition or run workshops.


Kathleen Baker

I used to be a full-time teacher of Biology. Since retirement I have spent much time doing botanical watercolour paintings. I would like to make a living from my botanical paintings.


Susan Christopher-Coulson

Teaching botanical work/coloured pencil has become an important parallel to working as a botanical artist and the two work symbiotically – but it is necessary to keep a balance between the two aspects so that there is sufficient time to create the original artwork!


Susan Dalton

I do not make my living as a full-time botanical artist – my day job is doing all the secretarial work and book keeping for my husband’s Carpentry & Joinery Company – I have to fit my painting in as and when I can!


Brigitte Daniel


Yes, I do.  But I have a medical condition and I have to work from home.  Botanical art is the only real choice I have since I could no longer continue my botanical career and it is my way of keeping in touch with the botanical world.


Susan Hillier

I have made a living as a full time artist for nearly 40 years, mainly but not exclusively botanical,
I also teach botanical painting.


Jennifer Jenkins

I am not a full-time artist.  I  am retired.


Kay Rees Davies

I have retired from teaching music as my botanical art took over. I teach at many venues and am a tutor for the Distance Learning Diploma Course for the SBA. I’m not sure that this would entirely make my living, but it helps!


Margaret Stevens

For over 20 years I have made my living by painting and teaching, supplemented by a small widow’s pension.  At this point I feel it is necessary to say that talent alone will not enable you to earn a living.  Artists by their very nature are not terribly organised and that is what lets some of them down.  You need a certain amount of business acumen and above all NEVER miss a deadline.  If you take on a job it must be completed on time regardless of your personal circumstances.  I have worked with a raging temperature doing an hour at my desk and an hour or two in bed alternately in order to get a job out.  That is when you hate it and wonder why you chose such  a means of earning a living.  Whilst waiting for two hip replacement operations I could not sit down for 2 years, dependent on a perching stool for rest – or flat out in bed. Still I had to carry on and knowing it is one’s livelihood is a great spur!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Continue to Blocking Watercolor Paper

Return to The Society of Botanical Artists Answers Your Questions

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Education, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events |

  • I’m curious about…

  • What Readers Are Reading Now

    • What is Neutral Tint? Coral Guest Explains
    • Eradicating Plant Blindness in the 21st Century
    • California
    • Coral Guest and the Renaissance of Botanical Art
    • Oregon
  • Plants & You

  • Featured Guests

    Wendy Hollender (interview)

    Wendy Hollender

    Gilly Shaeffer

    Today’s Botanical Artists

    Society of Botanical Artists

    Billy Showell (interview)

    Billy Showell

    Sarah Simblet (webinar)

    Robin Brickman

    Mark Granlund

    Wendy Hollender (webinar)

    Diane Cardaci

    Katie Lee (webinar)

    Bruce L. Cunningham (webinar)

    Jane LaFazio (interview)

    Jane LaFazio

    Mally Francis (interview)

    Kandis Elliot

    Anne-Marie Evans

    Margaret Best

    Elaine Searle

    Mindy Lighthipe

    Niki Simpson

    Anna (Knights) Mason

    Helen Allen

    Birmingham Society of
    Botanical Artists

    Hazel West-Sherring

    John Muir Laws

    Martin J. Allen

    Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration

    Mairi Gillies

    Georgius Everhardus Rumphius

    Liz Leech

    Valerie Littlewood

    Heeyoung Kim

    Anna Laurent

    Linda Ann Vorobik

    Shawn Sheehy

    Gary Hoyle

    Katie Zimmerman

    Mariella Baldwin

    Coral Guest

    Anita Walsmit Sachs

    Ruth Ava Lyons

    Katie Zimmerman

    Kellie Cox-Brady

    Jennifer Landin

    Laurence Hill

    Gretchen Kai Halpert

    Susan Leopold

    Tina Scopa

  • Global Impact

    Botanists and illustrators strive to document conifers around the world.

  • Nature Near You

    Global Directory of Botanical Gardens
    Botanic Gardens Conservation International
    Search for a Garden

    National Park Service
    Search for national parks at the National Park Service website.www.nps.gov

    National Environmental Education Foundation's Nature Center Guide.
    Find Your Nature Center

    Rails-to-Trails
    Find a trail for hiking, walking, cycling or inline skating. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and its volunteers work to convert unused railroads into trails for healthful outdoor activities.
    Search their national TrailLink database to locate a trail near you.

    Sierra Club Trails
    Locate trails for hiking, cycling, climbing, and many other outdoor activities.
    Search Sierra Club Trails

  • © 2007-2020 by Tania Marien. All rights reserved.
    Contact Tania

    Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Artists retain the copyright to their work.

    The ArtPlantae® logo is a registered trademark.

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

WPThemes.


loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: