The art of botanical painting is a considerable one. It is not enough to produce an attractive picture: a significant number of those examining it will be very familiar with the original plant and rather a lot of those will carry in their mind’s eye a favourite image of it from one wildflower book or another. Just as we sniff at the performance of a piece of familiar music played a little differently from our favourite rendering, there is a resistance to change in the brain of the viewer. We can’t help making comparisons. Is a flower painting a technical exercise or is it a pretty thing to hang on a wall? It has to be both—and the life of the critic will always be easier than that of the artist.
Emma Tennant, who concerns herself both with accurate depiction and with making lovely things, is not afraid of the keen observer’s searching eye. She has been gardening and painting since she was a child and is as devoted to both now as she was at the beginning. Given that her childhood took place in the years either side of 1950 on the Chatsworth estate, this reveals a single-minded and persevering character who can now reflect with satisfaction on a life’s work concerned with use and beauty.
Botanical artist Emma Tennant at work in her studio at home in the Scottish Borders
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