This inspirational guide explains how a botanical sketchbook can take many forms and hold different meanings. It shows how a sketchbook can be used as a workbook to study plants through drawing and painting in a variety of media. It includes examples of preliminary work for finished pieces, experiments in colour and exploration of plant anatomy, and shows how these studies can be made away from the pressure of creating the perfect, polished piece of final botanical artwork. It goes on to feature sketchbooks created for their own sake as a curated space for an artist to draw and record plants over a period of time, or a particular place.

There is plenty of information about plants, flowers, fruit and trees as well as ways of working and what details to record for sensitive and subtle images. Lucy certainly never leaves you wanting more and is generous and thorough in her explanations. -- Henry Malt, The Artist * The Artist *

Lucy T Smith is an international award-winning botanical artist and illustrator. She has worked as a professional botanical artist for over 30 years; many of these for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew which holds hundreds of her illustrations in its collections.