Jackie Isard (BA Hons) SBA Fellow CBM GM
Jackie Isard is an award-winning botanical artist having won a Gold medal at RHS in 2022. She is passionate about her work and teaching. Based in Bristol, her delicate watercolours are much admired for their intricacy and detail. She teaches a regular Saturday group and various workshops in Abbots Leigh, Bristol. She also runs workshops with Society groups in the South West, Wales and Gloucestershire. In 2022 Jackie completed her RHS exhibition entry entitled 'Wet Meadow Wildflowers ~ their pollinators and as food plants' and was awarded a Gold medal. Two of her RHS paintings are now held in the RHS Lindlay Library and the Shirley Sherwood Collection. Jackie is passionate about wildflowers, pollinators and nature preservation which is why she chose this theme for her RHS exhibition. The most recent blog post about this journey is https://jibotanicals.com/2021/11/03/blog-29-rhs-adventures-in-2021/. Jackie also posts regularly on her Facebook and Instagram pages (links below) showing images of her work, nature walks and painting process.
BIO
Jackie graduated with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design from Ravensbourne University in 1989. This was her career until a few years ago when she tried her hand at Botanical painting, now her present career. She is a self-taught artist passionate about flowering plants, nature wildflowers and pollinators. Painting the beauty of decaying plants is also one of her fortes. In her work, she spends a great deal of time researching her subjects and studying their botany under a microscope to ensure she paints true botanical form. Her work is always very detailed and she strives for accuracy.
In 2015 Jackie tried her hand at botanical painting and hasn't stopped painting since! She is a graphic designer by trade but has now chosen a new path in life. She is passionate about plants, the beauty of nature and enjoys watercolour as her favoured media. "Nature is so beautiful and it gives me such pleasure capturing it on paper." The beauty of decaying plants also attracts her and those Autumn tones are her favourites to paint.
“Botanical illustration has been a passion of mine since I first took up the paintbrush only a few years ago. My journey so far has been inspiring, rewarding and immensely satisfying. As I stroll through nature I see a whole new world opening up to me, the beauty of which words cannot describe but I hasten to say, it fills my heart and soul with a great deal of joy.”
Jackie loves to teach! Her courses are listed on her website www.jibotanical.co.uk. Jackie will be launching more online courses/workshops on various subjects like botany and other painting techniques.
ACHIEVEMENTS
In 2014-2015 Jackie studied Garden Design and was awarded a Distinction. After doing this course her passion for plants and nature began.
In 2016 Jackie was recognised by the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) and started to exhibit with them.
In 2016 Jackie was accepted to prepare an exhibition for the Royal Horticultural Society.
In 2017 Jackie was awarded a CBM (Certificate of Botanical Merit) for her painting ‘Vessels of Life’ exhibited at the SBA show in London.
In 2017 Jackie started teaching Botanical and Nature watercolour courses at venues in Bristol and at the University Bristol Botanic Gardens in 2018. Jackie very much enjoys teaching and the rewards it brings. “I like to think I inspire, encourage and give confidence to my students!”. She now also teaches online courses.
In 2018 her painting of Origanum Majorana was featured in the book ‘The Illustrated College Herbal – Plants from the Pharmacopoea Londinensis of 1618’ organised and published by Jane Knowles, Henry Oakley and Gillian Barlow. Royal College of Physicians.
In 2019 Jackie was awarded Full membership with the SBA becoming an SBA Fellow.
In 2019 Jackie was awarded the Margaret Granger Memorial Award for her Protea Neriifolia ‘Snowcrest’ painting at the SBA exhibition, Mall Galleries, London.
In 2020 Jackie wrote a book on colour mixing for the botanical artist and started a mini-series of books for beginners. ‘Watercolour Mixing Techniques for Botanical Artists‘ (published by The Crowood Press in 2021) and ‘The Little Book of Watercolour for Beginner Botanical Artists’ (Self-published).
In 2022 Jackie entered six paintings to the renowned Royal Horticultural Society Botanical and Photography Show and won a Gold medal. She was a first-time exhibitor. The subject of her exhibition was ‘Wet Meadow Wildflowers ~ as food plants and their pollinators’. The series of wet meadow plants included: Cardamine pratensis (Cuckooflower), Silene flos-cuculi (Ragged Robin), Geum rivale (Water Avens), Lotus Pedunculatus (Greater Bird’s foot Trefoil), Succisa pratensis (Devil’s bit Scabious) and Sanguisorba officinalis (Great Burnet). Some of these are featured on the gallery page of my website www.jibotanicals.co.uk and there is a collage of them on my RHS Gold page. Two of these paintings are now held in the RHS Lindlay Library and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
In 2023 Jackie entered her painting 'Vessels of Life' to The Hunt and it was accepted.
Contact and social media:
email: jackieisard@googlemail.com
mobile: +447813 864472
Website: www.jibotanicals.co.uk
Blog: www.jibotanicals.com
Instagram: @jackieisard
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jackie.isard