Title Poster from the 2025 Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition

Dear fellow artists, colleagues and supporters of the Margaret Flockton Award,
 
Recently we have received queries from many of you, regarding the timing of the Margaret Flockton Award 2026. Our response has been a little tardy while we considered the recent decision that the Award will not proceed from 2026 onwards. After almost a quarter of a century of commitment to this annual showcase of the best of international botanical illustration, we know that many of you will be as saddened to hear of this conclusion as we were.

Since 2003 the Margaret Flockton Award and Exhibition has been a mainstay of the annual event calendar for the Botanic Gardens of Sydney. From our first exhibit of original drawings in the Red Box Gallery, then to the decade in the Maiden Theatre, travelling exhibitions to the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens Mt Tomah, then on to The Calyx, out to the foyer of the brand new National Herbarium of NSW Mt Annan and finally back to our original home at the Gallery at RBG Sydney, we have bent and swayed with locations, budgets, digital evolutions and pandemics. For 22 years, tens of thousands of viewers enjoyed our exhibition in-person and then online, as it fostered the love of plants and created scientific awareness through botanical illustration. In total, over 990 entries were exhibited, with over $154,000 in prize money awarded for botanical illustrations of the highest scientific, technical and artistic merit. 

The Margaret Flockton Award and Exhibition would not have been sustainable for all of these years without the incredible commitment and support of the Maple-Brown Family, through the Foundation & Friends of the Botanic Gardens. Such support changed the lives of many artists, not only through the generous prize money offered and the opportunity to sell individual artworks, but by inspiring artists the world over to see and appreciate the work of their peers. We have watched novice artists develop over the years, inspired by the community, to become professional botanical illustrators. For giving space for these opportunities, we are extremely grateful to the Maple-Brown Family.

Public engagement was a real success story of the Margaret Flockton Award, annually representing the work of the National Herbarium of NSW and global botanical research institutions to the curious public. This flagship event of the Botanic Gardens of Sydney relied on the support of Science Leaders and Executive teams, plus the amazing assistance we received from our wonderful invigilators, drawn from the Foundation & Friends, Volunteer Guides and Mounting Room Volunteer cohorts, and fellow Botanic Gardens of Sydney staff. These generous people spent countless hours manning the exhibition space and sharing their incredible experiences and knowledge of plants, art and science. The Exhibition also took the yearly opportunity to share historically important documents and artifacts from the Daniel Solander Library collection, offering floor talks and tours for the general visitation as well as Foundation & Friends’ membership and donors.

And of course we thank you, our incredible entrants, without whom the Award would not have enjoyed such success!! Astoundingly, some artists have submitted illustrations for most, if not all, of the 23 years – your commitment and passion is memorable, thank you. For every artist who contributed, know that your work was greatly considered, appreciated, admired and discussed by both judges and the public who deeply engaged with our niche nexus of science and art. Conversations often exceeded half an hour as visitors to the exhibitions asked every type of intriguing question, plus the old faithful – ‘why do they use drawings instead of photographs?’ Your works were a vehicle to enlighten and inspire, and their influence has been broad.

Finally, we honour the legend who was Margaret Flockton, the first botanical illustrator at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney (1901-1927). The Margaret Flockton Award and Exhibition was designed to internationally highlight the immense contribution that Margaret made to Australian botanical taxonomy, as well as rewarding those who similarly strive to excel in this narrow field of illustration today. Twenty-three years since our first exhibition, we feel the Award has achieved all of those aims. Margaret’s name is now known and respected by a community of scientific illustrators around the world, as is the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, with illustration embedded in taxonomic research here since 1901.

From us, Lesley and Catherine – we can’t believe how our talk on International Womens Day in 2003 could lead us this far. It has been the most wonderful experience growing the Margaret Flockton Award with all of you over the years. We have looked forward to opening every single illustration, welcoming new artists on the scene and catching up with regular entrants. We have sincerely loved the communication and community around the Margaret Flockton Award, and the inspiration has quite literally changed how we draw! We will definitely miss seeing what is at the cutting edge of botanical illustration each year.

So now we turn to a strange year of non-stop drawing, the first in 23 years! We remain available on email and Instagram (details below) where we will endeavour to post our own work, or anything else that we find inspiring, in lieu of your lovely MFA entries. We are considering an on-line retrospective exhibition of highlights from the Margaret Flockton Award archives, so please follow us on Insta for future announcements. Feel free to reach out or even visit our lovely studio at the National Herbarium of NSW if ever you are in Sydney.

Friends, thank you so much for the last two decades, it’s been incredible.
May your plants be well pressed, and your pencil ever-sharp….

Lesley Elkan and Catherine Wardrop

Botanical Illustrators
Margaret Flockton Award Curators
National Herbarium of New South Wales
Botanic Gardens of Sydney

@rbg_illustration

Catherine Wardrop

Lesley Elkan

What Next?
​A new award for contemporary botanical illustration?

The history of the award
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Banner for the page on this website dedicated to the Margaret Flockton Award

The Jill Smythies Award 2026 Winne : Diana Carneiro - pictured with samples of her artwork and her book about botanical illustration (Photo credit: Laurence Hill)

The Jill Smythies Award 2026

Diana Carneiro is a Brazilian artist and botanical illustrator based in Curitiba. Initially training in the biological sciences in 1968, she spent 25 years teaching science and biology before turning to botanical art full time. Later studying painting, she graduated from the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná in 1992. A 1997 Margaret Mee Foundation fellowship took her to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where study with artist Christabel King deepened her commitment to botanical illustration. Working in watercolour and pen and ink, Diana has produced approximately 400 descriptive botanical illustrations, including newly discovered species. Her work appears in journals worldwide, and she trains illustrators through the Centro de Ilustração Botânica do Paranáthe (Center for Botanical Illustration of Paraná or CIBP), of which she is a founding member.

Diana Carneiro pictured with the Linneaus painting at the Linnean Society in London (Photo credit: Laurence Hill)

About Diana Carneiro

'From observing plants, I have come to understand that every being on Earth carries the secret of life within. As a botanical illustrator, I aim to raise awareness—especially among children and young people—about the need to preserve and restore the environments on which our existence depends. To the scientists and artists of nature who shape the history of this honourable institution, my sincere thanks.'

Find out more about the Jill Smythies Award for Excellent in Botanical Illustration and past recipients

Established in 1986 by the late Mr B E Smythies FLS, in honour of his wife, the late Florence Mary Smythies ("Jill"), whose career as a botanical artist was cut short by an accident to her right hand. Awarded to a botanical artist in recognition of excellence in published illustrations in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics.

Herbarium Specimen Painting page 2 (56cm x 77cm) by Rachel Pedder-Smith

The Herbarium Specimen Painting (2006-2009)
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The painting as a whole displays one or more specimens representing each flowering plant family, in DNA classification order.

Rachel Pedder-Smith’s 18ft Herbarium Specimen Painting, which is on display at Kew Gardens, is not only scientifically accurate, it’s an exquisite and groundbreaking work of art.
Herbarium Specimen Painting at Kew Gardens | The Telegraph

At five meters long, this large-scale watercolour montage of plant bits is a rather thrilling piece of art, with some equally impressive botanical credentials: Over 700 carefully chosen Kew Herbarium specimens were used in the making, painstakingly chosen and then painted by Pedder-Smith. Some of these had been collected by British natural history luminaries, including Darwin, Hooker and Bentham. A minimum of one plant part from each of the 506 flowering plant families classified under the APG II system are depicted, making it a truly global expression of plant diversity, as well as a striking visual representation of the depth of botanical treasure held by Kew Gardens.
​Rachel Pedder-Smith brings life to dried plant specimens | Plant Curator

It contains:
- at least one specimen from each flowering plant family in the chosen classification system (506 families)
- 703 separate herbarium specimens
- at least one specimen collected in each year since the Kew herbarium was founded in 1853
 - specimens collected by natural historians such as Darwin, Spruce, Welwitch, Hooker, Bentham as well as specimens collected from important expeditions
- specimens collected by current Kew staff who can recount stories of the day they collected the specimen
- specimens which are considered to be the oldest specimens in the herbarium, dating from late 1696 and 1700
- a section of an olive leaf wreath collected from an Egyptian tomb
- an extinct plant
- plants used for human consumption

• The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew ​Exhibition Archive

About Rachel Pedder-Smith
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The Herbarium Specimen Silk Scarf

Livistona chinensis (Chinese fan palm), attributed to Vishnuprasad, c. 1825

​The Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks

The entrance to the Garrison Chapel at Chelsea Barracks. Photo credit Jack Hobhouse.

Garden Museum, Lambeth

McEwen’s luminous depictions of flowers, leaves, butterflies, and decaying vegetables breathed new life into the genre. Infusing modern creativity into the centuries-old genre with his distinctive use of light and space, McEwen blurred the boundaries between botanical illustration and modern art.

Two paintings by Rory McEwen - 'Old Fashioned Rose Beech Mast & Clover Leaf' and 'Old English Florist Tulip' (Shirley Sherwood Collection)

Exhibitions about India at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew

(Left) The Singh Twins and (right) Flora Indica

Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum, Phansakdi Chakkaphak

Gillian Barlow at the presentation of the new Royal Signature Painting to King Charless III by the RHS

What is a "Royal Signature" painting?
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The painting’s main colour palette is gold, with touches of crimson, vivid pink, coral pink, light mauve and purple and the plants featured include: Magnolia sprengeri, Magnolia campbellii, Quercus rubra ‘Bolte’s Gold’, Acer palmatum ‘Sango-Kaku’, Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’, Lindera obtusiloba, Geranium pratense ‘Wisley Blue’, Acer × conspicuum ‘Phoenix’, Cornus ‘Norman Hadden’, Geranium sanguineum, 
Geranium × oxonianum, Corydalis flexuosa, Narcissus ‘February Silver', 
Narcissus ‘Jetfire’ and Crocus.

Exhibition of the Royal Signature Paintings
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About Gillian Barlow GM (1994, 1997, joint 1999); Veitch GM
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I feel privileged that Susannah agreed to collaborate on a talk about her work, in August last year.​ To honour her contribution to botanical art, I have made the full length version of this talk available on YouTube.

​Julia Trickey

Thank you Katherine for a lovely tribute. Susannah was farewelled last week at St Judes in Bowral. Her great capacity for friendship, kindness and compassion throughout her life was celebrated as generously as she had taught, and lived. She will be missed, but remembered with love by so many.

"As a painter, Blaxill takes ordinary produce and elevates it, with extraordinary skill, to the extraordinary. In effect, art overtakes science, for as concerned as Blaxill is with getting her botanical subjects correct, she is fascinated as an artist by the colours and forms of plant growth and decay. She is inspired by the perfection of imperfection and in Blaxill's work I notice for the first time the beauty to be found in the decaying process."

"There is an extraordinary complexity within the simplicity of the subject matter and that is the gift which commands the viewer to look again."

"What makes Blaxill an outstanding artist... is that she compels the viewer to see the everyday in a new way... The good and the great have always had this capacity to take the obvious and infuse it with all the wonder of creative discovery. "
Michael Reid, Lecturer at The College of Fine Art, University of NSW, Australia & Art Critic, The Weekend Australian.

Susannah Blaxill 2018

I believe she is one of today's best botanical artists and an example of Australia's depth of quality in this field.
Dr Shirley Sherwood - about Susannah Blaxill - in Contemporary Botanical Artists

It is with great sadness that I inform you that artist, Susannah Blaxhill, has passed away on July 1 2025. After leaving high school in Armidale NSW she moved to England and ultimately became a world renowned botanical artist, creating the most intricately beautiful artworks, leading the way in depicting fruit and vegetables. I was privileged to be in Susannah’s class at school and to have lessons from her in the early days of her teaching botanical drawing......

About Susannah Blaxill
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While in England, I planted a garden in a rather unpromising sandy and very windy field in Norfolk.  Knowing little about plants I steeped myself in gardening literature and one of the spin offs of growing all sorts of plants, both flowers and vegetables was that I had time to examine them all in great detail. I had always drawn on and off through my school years but stopped when I embarked on tertiary education. As my gardening and drawing interests became my focus, I began to draw full time. 
Interview with Susannah Blaxill

Pears 1991, Watercolor 42.5 × 34.5 cm Exhibited in the 7th International Exhibition of Botanical Art at the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh (Lent by Jessica Tcherepnine)

Agapanthus africanus 2012, watercolour and gouache on vellum by Susannah Blaxill Collection of Shirley Sherwood Exhibited at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens in 2018 Photographed by me!

Susannah Blaxill is one of the best renowned botanical artists, whose reputation is recognized world-wide for her ability to take a moment in an ordinary plant form’s life cycle, anywhere from the beginning of growth to the dying and decaying plant, and turn it into a “portrait” that will take your breath away. 
Royal Botanic Garden Melbourne - Botanical Art 21 March 2011 (via Internet Archive)

​Susannah Blaxill's Botanical Art
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There is nothing worse than discovering that something is not right when 50%, or even worse 90% of the painting is completed. It is actually a waste of time to rush this early stage. 
Composition: Susannah on the importance of spending time working out the best way to portray the plant

Red Onion by Susannah Blaxill

I think that drawing and painting onion skin gives me more pleasure than almost anything else.  
Interview with Susannah Blaxill

White Orchids Number 1 by Susannah Blaxill Drawing in Charcoal - H100cms x W148cms

I often have students who to get the shadow they continue with the color that they've used in the darker part of the painting but for me it doesn't 
really work I want to tone it down considerably and change the color 
Susannah Blaxill talking in the video about how she works

It’s become one of Australia’s most internationally famous artworks, but few people have probably heard of Armidale born, self taught artist Susannah Blaxill.
​The Canberra Times

Beetroot by Susanna Blaxill Height 480 mm x Width 640 mm | Shirley Sherwood Collection

I'm guessing very many watercolour painters and others would probably think that Susannah has wonderful control over her watercolour glazes. Maybe that she applies a stipple in places using a brush designed for a miniaturist.

However yesterday I discovered that virtually all of this painting was painted using dry brush HATCHING techniques and optical colour mixes. Virtually anywhere I looked at the painting using my magnifier - apart from the leaf storks - I could see lots and lots of tiny hatching marks in different colours. None of this was apparent when viewed normally.
​Susannah Blaxill's beetroot and a magnifying glass 

''Look at every one of these green bits built up with 15 layers of paint,'' she added. ''And the same with the red. Then stand back and see how she uses the white of the paper.''
​A spot of light -- really just unpainted paper -- glowed from somewhere inside the beet, making the vegetable float in pure white space like an abstract object in a void.
Yet, ''Beetroot'' is more beetlike than any beet I have ever seen. Its crinkled red and green leaves, its vermilion stems edged with purple, the sheen on its rounded hairy root are accurate, yes. But there is an intimacy to this beet, a vigor so condensed that it verges on surreal.

​Susannah Blaxill - the teacher
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I have found over the years that it is more important to give students information and skills that they can build on rather than attempting to encourage them to produce finished paintings. ​
Susannah Blaxill on the importance of teaching and how to teach

Susannah Blaxill - Exhibitions
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A solo exhibition of her work in London in 1992 received rapturous reviews, including this one from the usually staid Country Life magazine: “Painted with a botanist’s eye and an artist’s visual sensibility, the isolated images start out from their black or white backgrounds and demand to be seen afresh; but we are not used to seeing ordinary vegetables presented in such an idealised and brazen way, and it is subtly disquieting,” wrote viewer Polly Chiapetta. “One almost wants to blush and avert one’s gaze.
The Canberra Times January 30th, 2006