Great Burnet, Sanguisorba officinalis by Jackie Isard.jpg

JACKIE ISARD BOTANICALS

BOTANICAL & NATURE ARTIST
TUTOR • AUTHOR

“Hold nature in your hand and take a look at the intricate beauty within. Treasure our wildflowers and pollinators. It's so easy to just walk by.....” Jackie Isard

WELCOME!

BOTANICAL & NATURE ARTIST • TUITION • AUTHOR

Jackie Isard, from North Bristol UK, is a Fellow member of the Society of Botanical Artists and an RHS Gold medal winner. She is a self-taught artist with a great passion for painting flowering plants, meadow wildflowers and pollinators. Painting the beauty of decaying plants and natural history subjects is also one of her great loves. Her work is very detailed and botanically accurate. In 2021 she wrote her first book on the subject of colour mixing for botanical artists. Jackie has paintings held in the RHS Lindley Library, The Shirley Sherwood Collection and The Hunt Institute. Jackie became an SBA DLDC diploma tutor in 2024. She teaches at venues around the UK and South West, see Workshops page. She also has a few online courses, see Online tuition page. She loves to teach and is a very attentive tutor who loves to inspire and encourage!

MORE ABOUT JACKIE

LATEST NEWS

BAWW 2025 (Botanical Art Worldwide). I have prepared a painting of Fragaria vesca L. (wild woodland strawberry) for this exhibition and it has passed the judging stage. It shows the lifecycle of the plant and two pollinators. The Grizzled Skipper butterfly uses this plant as a larval food plant. The Golden Fringed mason bee mulches the leaves and uses them as camouflage for its snail shell nest. I'm thrilled to have got this far and look forward to the exhibition in Birmingham in May!

BAWW 2025 (Botanical Art Worldwide). I will be preparing a painting for this exhibition in July/Sept 2024. The subject matter is so very interesting this time, 'Crop Diversity'. There are different categories and I have selected the 'Wild Relatives' one and will be painting a foraged food. This is the second Botanical Art Worldwide Project and this time will celebrate biodiversity in the crops that have been closely associated with the human species over thousands of years. If you are UK based this is the link to enter: https://www.assocbotanicalartists.com/post/botanical-art-worldwide-2025

The Hunt Institute Exhibition 2025. I'm very honoured that my painting 'Vessels of Life' has been selected to join The Hunt Institutes' prestigious permanent collection. I never thought this painting would go so far! Painted in 2016/17, it won a CBM (Certificate of Botanical Merit) at the SBA exhibtion in 2017. I am very grateful to the Hunt for this incredible opportunity and hope it is a useful educational tool in their botanical documentation archives.

Teaching and painting for the archive in Transilvania. I have been selected to be a tutor at Copșa Mare in October 2024 and also to team up with Sally Pond in 2025 to paint local grasses together. Thank you James de Candole!

The Society of Botanical Artists DLDC tutoring, 2024. I have been selected to be a tutor for the DLDC Diploma course run by the Society of Botanical Artists later this year. I am very honoured to have this opportunity. Thank you Simon Williams!

The Hunt Institute Exhibition 2025. I am delighted that my painting 'Vessels of Life' has been accepted to be exhibited by the Hunt in Pittsburgh in 2025. This is such a great honour!

RHS The Garden Magazine article! I was thrilled to be asked to write an article for The Garden Magazine for the June Issue. I was sent a set of questions to answer about my RHS entry exhibition. The article was a two-page spread showing parts of two paintings that are now held in the Lindlay Library and The Shirley Sherwood Collection. Water Avens (Geum rivale) - Lindlay Library and Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) - The Shirley Sherwood Collection. Thank you, RHS for featuring my work! Here is a link to the article.

RHS Botanical & Photography Show 2023! I was delighted to receive a Gold medal award last year and two of my paintings are now held in the prestigious RHS Lindlay Library and The Shirley Sherwood Collection. These were Water Avens, Geum rivale and Cuckooflower, Cardamine pratensis. This year the show runs from the 16th June - 9th July. There are some incredible entries this year too! For further info and to book tickets https://www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/rhs_botanical_art___photography_show_2023. Admission: Free for Saatchi Gallery Members & RHS Members.

RHS GOLD medal award April 8th 2022! I was delighted to receive a Gold medal award for my exhibition work at the RHS Botanical & Photography Show that is showing at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea from the 9th - 29th of April. Do pop up and see the exhibition there are some incredible entries this year. For further info and to book tickets https://www.saatchigallery.com/exhibition/rhs2022. Admission: Free for Saatchi Gallery Members & RHS Members.

I'm exhibiting at RHS this year! Jackie will be exhibiting together with other artists at the Royal Horticultural Society Botanical and Photography Show. The show will take place at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea from the 9th to the 29th of April. Jackie is a first time exhibitor this year and the title of her exhibit is ‘Wet Meadow Wildflowers ~ their pollinators and as food plants’. For an overview of her work journey please download this document.
You can book tickets on the link below.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-london-shows/rhs-botanical-art-and-photography-show

In November 2020, Jackie started writing a new mini-book series for beginner botanical artists. The first is 'The Little Book of Watercolour for Beginner Botanical Artists', available in pdf form only. Email me to buy, £6.50. Payment via Paypal to jackieisard@googlemail.com.

In 2020, Jackie has written a book 'Watercolour Mixing Techniques for the Botanical Artist' which was published by The Crowood Press in March 2021. It is available at all major bookshops, Amazon and as a kindle version worldwide. For an in-depth look at my book please watch this talk I did with NESBA (New England Society of Botanical Artists) on YouTube : https://youtube.com/watch?v=g8YZxOYdGrI&feature=share