Imagine being able to paint every part of a living thing with incredible, microscopic detail, with every flick of a brush bringing the vibrancy of a petal to life?

Botanical illustration does just that. It is one of the most specific, and vital artforms that plays a major part in botanical discovery.

Every painting, or plate, that a trained botanical artist creates becomes the visual definition of its subject.

At Kew, this plate becomes cemented in history as part of our 200,000-strong botanical illustrative archive. This is a scientific tradition that dates back centuries.

She doesn’t spend much time with this vista; as the Smithsonian’s botanical illustrator, her gaze is on plants, dried specimens of dead plants, up close, and closer, under a microscope. Sometimes she hydrates stems and flower parts, coaxing zombie life into them. She can become so absorbed in the structures that four or five hours will pass without her realizing that the sun has long set behind the Washington Monument.