Beyond the Brush
Beyond the Brush is a regular series of lectures and demonstrations by botanical artists and others who have information to share with NESBA members. Zoom sessions are held once a month on a Wednesday from 11am - 12pm. Each session is recorded for benefit of members unable to attend the live session or who wish to review it. Below you will find videos from recent BTB seasons. We will occasionally bring back videos from past seasons (think holiday tags). Enjoy!
Videos from the 2024 - 2025 Season
March 12, 2025 - BTB with Rebecca Davies
We are pleased to introduce NESBA member Rebecca Davies, a British artist currently living in NJ. While in London she attended the Kew School of Botanical Illustration and has continued her training through the SBA Distance Learning Program. She is now a SBA Fellow. Rebecca is a highly skilled botanical artist who captures the intricate beauty of plants. She will share with us her work in watercolor, gouache and graphite. You can view her work on Instagram or her website www.rebeccadaviesart.com
February 19, 2025 - BTB with Mary Crabtree
Colorado artist Mary Crabtree shares with us the steps she has taken for her ongoing project on milkweeds destined for exhibition at the Royal Horticultural Society. From research on the plant (and it’s unusual pollination strategy), preliminary sketches and graphite studies, to completed watercolors, we'll learn what is involved in creating a coordinated series suitable for exhibition. Here is a link to the supplies Mary mentions in her presentation. Visit Mary’s website here.
January 15, 2025 - Special BTB: “Beyond the Exhibit”
Learn about the upcoming Spring Awakenings exhibit at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, including an interview with Lea Morgan Exhibition Manager as well as important information on framing, website navigation, the Intent to Exhibit form.
December 4, 2024 - BTB with Carol Woodin
This video is no longer available per request of the artist.
Carol Woodin discusses the Rory McEwen exhibition A New Perspective on Nature. She also presents a short primer on vellum and its handling, along with a demonstration of her watercolor techniques on vellum.
September 25, 2024 - BTB with Alice Rosa
An accomplished botanical artist and SBA Fellow working in colored pencil, Alice is also a studio artist at the Umbrella Art Center, Concord, MA. Find her on Instagram
Videos from the 2023 - 2024 Season
APRIL 17, 2024 - Elise Vernon Pearlstine, author of the book Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance, illustrated by Laura Call Gastinger, discusses fragrance from the point of view of plants—describing how volatile aromatics can be used to attract pollinators, protect against disease, and ward off predators. Elise also presents a short history of perfume and describes the key plants used by perfumers past and present. For more information about Elise, see her website. https://www.elisevernonpearlstine.com/
MARCH 27, 2024 - Jessica Daigle, an internationally exhibited and published artist, presentS some of her commercial and exhibition work along with some specific painting techniques used to develop them. Jessica also elaborates on her materials, how she prepares a painting to be submitted for exhibitions or publication, as well as her favorite fine art printing house. You can see more of Jessica’s work on her website: https://www.jmdaigle.com/
FEBRUARY 21, 2024 - History of Botanical Art with Carrie Roy, Curator of Art and Research Scholar at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, PA. Carrie presents a large range of items from the Hunt collection as she discusses the History of Botanical Art as well as the various printing / reproduction techniques that influenced its development.
JANUARY 24, 2024 - Beverly Duncan speaks on her fascinating SEEDS book project. Each book records the life cycle of a tree or shrub native to New England. Beverly tells the story of the flower to seed to sprouting to growth habits of one plant. Nineteen SEEDS books have been acquired by The Mortimer Rare Books Collection at Smith College.
NOVEMBER 15, 2023 - Accomplished artist and NESBA member Bobbi Angell presents her latest project, a book called Darwin and the Art of Botany. Working with Darwin expert Jim Costa, she selected art from the archives of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation to accompany texts by Darwin that had previously been published with no botanical artwork. To see more of Bobbi’s exquisite work, see her website. https://www.bobbiangell.com
OCTOBER 25, 2023 - Enjoy this presentation from our fellow NESBA artist Betsy Rogers-Knox entitled ‘From the Ground Up’. Betsy shows us how botanical artists have included habitats in their work, gives us a step-by-step approach on developing these types of compositions, and provides a short demo. View more of Betsy’s evocative botanical work at rogersknoxart.com
September 27, 2023 - Kelly Radding, one of our own talented NESBA artists, discusses her amazing 1.5-year-long journey of discovery, artistic experimentation, collaboration resulting in a published book of poetry containing her beautiful illustrations. See more of her work at www.kellyleahyradding.com
For a limited time only - review Sarah Roche’s Holiday Card Workshop