Resources

Organizations || Databases || Printing & Scanning || Supplies || Classes || Sydney Parkinson

The information below includes a selective list of organizations and services for the professional as well as the beginning artist. Inclusion here of commercial sites is intended to help the user find a service or product and does not represent its endorsement. If you have suggestions on additional resources please contact us at RMSBArtists@gmail.com.

 

Art and Botanical Organizations

• American Society of Botanical Artists The parent organization of the RMSBA, the ASBA was founded in 1994 (the Rocky Mountain chapter was its first) and includes 1900 individual members and dozens of institutional members from around the world.
• Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Founded in 1985 by the Vail Alpine Garden Foundation and named in 1988 in honor of former first lady Betty Ford, this garden is an internationally acclaimed collection of alpine plants in the Rocky Mountains.
• Denver Botanic Gardens Featuring plants of the West, water gardens, succulents, alpine plants and many others, the main complex is located in Denver with offsite facilities at Chatfield Farms, the Plains Conservation Center, and on Mt Goliath. The Denver complex includes educational and research facilities, art galleries, an herbarium and a library. 
• The Society of Botanical Artists Based in the UK, the Society of Botanical Artists was established in 1975 and brings together artists of national and international repute.

Plant Databases

• Colorado Plant Database Hosted by Colorado State University, the Colorado Plant Database provides research-based information on the identification, ecology and human connections for more than 1,000 Colorado native plants as well as non-native invasive weeds.
• Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria The ultimate goal of the Consortium is to provide the scientific community, land management agencies, conservation organizations, and the interested public with a single online access point to the wealth of existing and emerging information about the Pacific Northwest flora.
• Flora of North America Information on the names, taxonomic relationships, continent-wide distributions, and morphological characteristics of all plants native and naturalized found in North America north of Mexico
• NatureServe Explorer A database with information on rare and endangered species and ecosystems in the Americas. Among other information, it provides rankings that denote the conservation status of a species.
• SEInet A gateway to distributed data resources of interest to the environmental research community within Arizona and New Mexico.

Art Supplies

• Guiry's A store for housepaints and art supplies with locations in Colorado and New Mexico.
• Meininger A major art supply store with locations in Denver and Colorado Springs.
• Various online retailers including DickBlick, Jerry's Artarama, and Cheap Joes.

Back to Top

Printing and Scanning

  Photographing Your Artwork--RMSBA Presentation by Scott Dressel-Martin 7/27/2025
Handout--photographing art
Video--photographing art

• Assist Art Services Littleton. Framing, scanning, printing, shipping.
• The Painted Pixel Lakewood. Scanning, printing. By appointment.
• Jafe, Inc. Loveland. Scanning, printing, photography.

Classes and Tutorials

• Billy Showell School of Botanical Art Billy Showell is a botanical artist based in the U.K. with an international reputation as an artist and educator. Membership to her online school gives individuals access to many tutorials updated every two weeks.
• School of Botanical Art and Illustration. The School, located at the Denver Botanic Gardens, offers many classes for the casual learner and the experienced artist, including a rigorous certificate program. Students wlll find both online and in-person classes.

Resources about Sydney Parkinson

• Banks, J. (1962). The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768-1771 (J. C. Beaglehole, Ed.). Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales in association with Angus and Robertson. [Banks journal. No drawings.]*
  WorldCat bibliographic record.

• Banks, J., Mabberley, D. J., Gooding, M., & Studholme, J. (2017). Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage. Thames & Hudson.

  WorldCat, Helen Fowler Library DBG bibliographic records.

• Captain Cook’s Voyages of Exploration. State Library of NSW. https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/captain-cooks-voyages-exploration.

• Carr, D. J. (1983). Sydney Parkinson: Artist of Cook’s Endeavour Voyage. British Museum (Natural History): University of Hawaii Press. [Comprehensive, many color plates vetted by the British Museum of Natural History.]*

  WorldCat, Helen Fowler Library DBG bibliographic records; Internet Archive full text (free account needed to Borrow).

• Parkinson, S., Fothergill, J., Parkinson, S., Longmate, B., Mazell, P., Middiman, S., Chambars, T., Newton, J., Godfrey, R. B., Darling, W., Dilly, C., & Phillips, J. (1784). A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty’s Ship The Endeavor (J. C. Lettsom, Ed.). Printed for Charles Dilly in the Poultry, and James Phillips in George-Yard, Lombard-Street.

  WorldCat bibliographic record; Internet Archive full text (free account needed to Borrow).

• Walker, L., & Frame, W. (2018). James Cook: The Voyages. MQUP. [Some drawings of native population and sketch book drawings, chart]*

  WorldCat bibliographic record.

*Notes from Mike Huseby, Sydney Parkinson Award benefactor.

Back to top