Ann Swan SBA

Ann works primarily in coloured pencil and is well known for her fine detail, vibrant colours and strong contemporary style. She champions the underdog in the plant world, drawing our attention to Brussels sprouts or beetroots feeling they are just as beautiful as the iris or the tulip.

She is also passionate about coloured pencils believing that they are easy to master, forgiving and accessible so that even a complete beginner can soon produce work of quality.

She began to exhibit in 1990 and now shows her work worldwide. Exhibitions include The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1994 and the Hunt Institute’s 8th International Exhibition in Pittsburgh USA. She is a regular exhibitor at the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows and with the Society of Botanical Artists. In 2006 the Royal Horticultural Society purchased her drawing of Parasol Mushrooms for their prestigious Lindley Collection housed in Vincent Square, London and in 2008 they also purchased a picture of a Prickly Pear drawn in Spain.

She has been awarded a Silver Gilt and 4 Gold Medals by the RHS plus a Silver medal at the 14th World Orchid Conference. Her work is represented in the Shirley Sherwood Collection and features in many private collections around the world from Japan to North & South America, Australia, Turkey, Sweden, France and Germany.

Last year Jersey Pottery commissioned Ann to produce six floral designs for china marketed as their ‘Botanical’ range of table and giftware and she has just completed four new designs for their ‘Mediterranean’ range. She has also recently undertaken a major commission for the Southern Bulb Company of Texas USA to draw their Heirloom bulbs for a series of 17 limited edition prints and china products.

Ann runs workshops at her new studio in Wiltshire and also teaches for the RHS at their Wisley Gardens and The English Gardening School at The Chelsea Physic Gardens. She teaches holiday courses at Dedham Hall, Suffolk in spring and autumn and in Andalucia in Spain in January and October each year. She is artist in residence at Nature in Art, Gloucestershire for a week in August and The National Botanic Gardens of Wales in June. Last year she taught in New Zealand, the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Sonara Desert Museum in Tucson USA and more recently at the Chelsea Physic Garden and the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.

Ann is currently working on a book for Harper Collins entitled ‘Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils’ due to be published in 2009.