I'm excited to write a quick post about 2 wonderful Botanical Art Exhibitions at the Sydney Living Museums.

FLORILEGIUM - SYDNEYS PAINTED GARDEN
will be running from
30th July to 30th October, 2016

This beautiful exhibition will be showing a collection of over 80 gorgeous botanical paintings from more than 60 Botanical Artists (Australian & International) from the Florilegium Society.
I'm proud to say my work "Keteleeria fortunei" (as pictured above) will be one of the pieces on display.  Yay!!

See here for more info on the Exhibition

See here for info on Florilegium Artist Demonstrations at the Exhibition

See here  to learn about The Florilegium Society

See here for info about The Florilegium Book & a Guided Walk at the Botanic Gardens
&  exquisite video of Angela Lober working on her Norfolk Island Pine

See here for an article describing the exhibition

See here for an ABC radio interview about the exhibition with Colleen Morris

See here for a review by Garden Drum - beating a new path




THE ARTIST & THE BOTANICAL COLLECTOR
The lost works of Lovegrove & Bauerlen
will be running from
13th August to 20th November, 2016

Showing original wildflower paintings from the 1890's & the partnership between an Artist & Botanical Collector.

See here for info more info on the exhibition.

See here for info on an Exhibition preview & talk (a members event).

I've just recently returned from a few days away up in Queensland.
I had the absolute pleasure & joy of staying on beautiful Keswick Island, a place I've been wanting to visit
ever since I spotted an article about it in an Australian Geographic Magazine last year ...... it's a haven to the most
spectacular number of butterflies I have ever seen.  And not only butterflies!  All sorts of interesting insects,
birds, seaside critters and tropical plants. 

To my delight, the butterflies were there at the time of my visit & I have collected much photo & video reference
for my future paintings .... so now I'm very excited to begin sketching & painting!  The butterflies that appear and in
such great numbers at various times are called Blue Tiger (Tirumala hamata) butterflies. There are also the
Big Greasy (Cressida cressida) butterflies with their see-through upper wings, which are just stunning!

Another wee character I was thrilled to come across was the Great Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa), which is Australias largest native bee!  I tried my best to film this busy buzzy fellow (a male), which was pretty tricky as he was
very, very busy.....and managed to get a pretty good pic and some fairly ok sort of in focus footage. 
See pics and videos below if you like!

This island paradise is definitely worth a visit.
See these links for more info
https://www.facebook.com/KeswickIsland/
http://www.keswickisland.com.au/

 Botanica 2016 At Farm Cove

It's that time of the year again for this wonderful exhibition held in the Sydney Botanic Gardens Lion Gate Lodge.
 
 This years theme is in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.  Many of the botanic artworks on display will be inspired by the native plants of the Sydney region & plants that arrived with the early settlers.  Many of the works will also have the addition of pollinators such as insects.
 
All of the original works will be for sale and one of them I'm delighted to say is mine.  This year my piece is a very old Banksia serrata seed pod (as seen below) .... and I could not resist adding the Banksia Jewel Beetle!  I also have a small selection of my limited edition prints for sale at the exhibition.
More details here.
 

 
The Margaret Flockton Award will also be showing a magnificient selection of scientific botanic illustrations.
 More details here.

 I had a beautifully pleasant day selling my goodies in the gorgeous setting of Highcroft Garden in Harrogate
 yesterday.  As part of Open Gardens SA, this delightful garden was open to the public for both days of this weekend. 
 ABC radio's gardening guru Malcom Campbell was a guest speaker on Saturday, followed by another talk by a
 representative from the Butterfly Conservation Society..... both  held in the gorgeous old shearing shed.
 
Many thanks to all of the visitors who stopped by to say hi and the friendly fellow stall holders for the chats!
 Also to the lovely owners for inviting me to be a part of their open day weekend.
Absolutely loved the garden & the frequent glimpses of the gliding Monarch Butterflies just made my day!

Here's a few snaps in a slideshow below!
 

Following up from last weekends "Botanical Workshop for Kids" at the Hahndorf Academy....
 thought I'd post a few snaps of some of the artworks that the kids created! 
 They did a super job...and were great students!  Well done guys!!!
 More photos on my instagram @lindacatchlove

In conjunction with the exhibition "3 Illustrators" (see last blog entries),
 I'll be running a workshop for kids.... see details below!
 

 Botanical Drawing Fun for Kids!
 
with Artist Linda Catchlove
at the The Hahndorf Academy.
 
Saturday 5th March, from 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Ages 7 - 11
$30
Learn how interesting plants can be, and how much fun it is to draw them. 
 Incorporate exciting things like insects & characters.
Great for observational drawing skills & for using your imagination too!
Feel free to bring your own plant specimens, or
choose from Linda's fascinating selection.
Drawing materials will be supplied.
 Come & join in the fun!  Spaces are limited.

For bookings please contact me via:
 
email
 
or call
 
0411 108 333 
 

 

 What a lovely evening event at the Hahndorf Academy last night.
 Yummy food and drinks, happy folks chatting, beautiful artwork in the exhibition spaces and lots of goodies
 in the shop.  The current exhibitions are open until the 13th March.
 
See my previous blog entry for more details.

 
I'm thrilled to announce a couple of great exhibitions which will be opened this Friday the 12th of
 February at the wonderful Hahndorf Academy as part of the Fringe at Hahndorf!
 
In the downstairs Gallery will be Anna Small and Warren Pickering’s exhibition of beautiful sculptures
 at  "The Bountiful Garden".
 .
And in the gallery upstairs there will be a combined exhibition called "3 Illustrators", showing the works of
Sally Heinrich, Zinia King & myself.  This exciting exhibition will show the journey from start to finish
 of an illustrated work, a great opportunity to see the working process. 
 Each artist demonstrating different skills & styles.
 
Please see the invites & links below and come join the festivities.
 All welcome to the opening on the 12th.
 Or drop in during a lovely day out in the Adelaide Hills.
Both exhibtions run for 4 weeks.
 Free entry & open daily 10am - 5pm.

https://www.facebook.com/HahndorfAcademy/ 
 http://hahndorfacademy.org.au/
 Adelaide Fringe

Also
 
In conjunction with the exhibition, I'll be running a workshop for kids.... keep posted for details!

 Happy New Year!  Here we are already at the beginning of 2016. 
 
 I'm pleased to say that I have a number of my framed originals currently on display for sale in a
 couple of lovely venues.

 "Out of the Cot" 
 is a gorgeous childrens bedroom furniture shop located at 322 Magill Rd, Kensington Park here
 in Adelaide.  They have an amazing range of all sorts of beautiful goodies for childrens bedrooms &
 specialise in childrens beds & bunk beds.
 Their details are here.

 I have the following 3 original artworks available for sale here from my ilustrated childrens book
 "Lilli Pilli's Sister - written by Anna Branford & Published by Walker books.
 More details on the book here.

 Please excuse the colour of the photos..... they were taken indoors some time ago.
 These works will be displayed at "Out of the Cot" until Easter this year.

  The next venue is a delightful little gallery called
 
 "The Artjarh Tree".

 This sweet space is run & organised by Artist Ray Meandering and her beautiful works are dotted
 around the gallery & perfectly compliment the other artists works on display.
 

 The Artjarh Tree is located next to "The Little Leaf & Bean Cafe" at 6/19 Coromandel Parade
 in the lovely Adelaide Hills suburb of  Blackwood.  More details here.

 A selection of beautiful works are currently on view by a variety of artists.
 I have 5 works on display. 

 Banksia blechnifolia
 Macleays Spectre
 Kunzea baxteri
 Nodding Greenhood
&  Isopogon anemonifolius.
 
 The Artjarh tree will be open casually,
 Monday to Friday 4.30 - 6.30pm.
Then every Saturday & Sunday from 11am till 3pm.
 This will be until the end of February.
 
If you would like to view any of the works out of these hours please feel free to contact
 Ray Meandering on 0437 845 403 to make an appointment.