"I BELIEVE THAT IMMERSING YOURSELF in the natural world alongside drawing and painting can really help to promote a sense of well-being." —Sarah Morrish
Sarah Morrish was honored with the 2022 ASBA Botanical Illustrator Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Art—and for good reason. Sarah began her life in botanical art in the 1990s with the simplest, and yet most profound, intention: “to keep and develop that connection with the natural world and learn to document it accurately.”
Following a career in early years education and curriculum development, Sarah returned to college to study ecology and conservation biology. In those fields, she specialized in woodland and hedgerow surveys and found drawing and sketching to be a respite from her often data-driven work, and a way to interact more closely with nature. Hedgerows seem to me to have a romantic aspect–perhaps because I am not in the UK where they are relatively common. But they do have their own fascinating ecology and I love the image of Sarah studying their components and drawing them. Observation skills were necessary to both the ecological and artistic realms of Sarah’s life. They came easily as she has observed, drawn, and painted nature since childhood.
Sarah enjoys working with botanists and learning about plants from them. She says, “Each element of information and material provided by others and my own references is a recipe of sorts to bring plants to life on paper.” Sarah continues, “I am passionate about drawing as it is the absolute foundation to all our work. Graphite pencil, as well as pen and ink, are my most favored media.” For her published illustrations, she uses Rotring® isograph pens on Bristol plate, citing their crisp lines and jet-black ink. She also uses watercolor, gouache, nib pen, and loves microns—depending on subject matter—whether plants, birds, fossils, or other natural subjects.
As Sarah became increasingly sure of her strength in botanical and nature illustration, she began to teach her skills at institutions in the UK and the US. These include Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens and of Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, and Chelsea Physic Garden, where she is creating a special piece as part of its 350th anniversary.
In 2021, Sarah published Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink. Her book includes step-bystep exercises suitable for all skill levels, and case studies describing working practice as a professional illustrator. She is currently working on a similar book on botanical and fungal subjects in pen and ink.
Sarah hopes her work will inspire and encourage others and, through art, help increase awareness of the diverse, fascinating kingdom of plants, “doing my little bit to help reduce plant blindness.”
ASBA member Sarah Morrish is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a painting member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium, and a member of the Eden Project Florilegium.