Rosie Sanders

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Food & Drink

Nature

Photorealistic

Watercolor

Portuguese wine grape - An illustration by Rosie Sanders

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Five Gold medals by The Royal Horticultural Society

Classic, botanical illustration in a naturalness that you can almost smell.

The luscious realism of the flowers and fruit painted by UK artist Rosie Sanders is something to behold. Beautiful colour, exacting detail and unbeatable texturing mean you can just about see, feel and smell the delights she creates. Rosie grew up in the Buckinghamshire countryside and did her foundation hear at High Wycombe College. Using her painting skills and knowledge of flowers she has become a highly successful freelance illustrator. Her book Portrait of a Country Garden helped launch her new career and today she’s one of the UK’s leading botanical artists. Not surprisingly, nature is her key inspiration, and she attended the Constance Spry Flower School in London for a year.

Approach

Rosie is an instinctive painter. When a highly realistic finish is desired she’ll work with a live specimen of a flower, however for more general botanical illustrations she’ll just as easily use reference images.

Style

Realism with passion – that sums up Rosie’s style. Her artworks feel like paintings and not photographs, and many of her images have the feel of classical botanical illustrations, where the hand of the artist shines through via the quality of the drawing, vibrant colour treatment and the light touch of the watercolour wash.

Impressions

Interview

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Interview

Do you have any formal design training?Not really, I did a year's foundation course but don't think it has any relevance to what I do now. Where do you live now & what drew you there?I live in South Devon. I came on holiday here to visit my parents and ended up buying a cottage, and have lived here ever since. Couldn't imagine anywhere better.Where is your studio and can you describe it for me?I have two studios upstairs and a print studio downstairs where I have a Rochat and a large Hale etching press. The one downstairs has French windows opening out on to the garden and upstairs, one room looks out over the garden and hills beyond, and the other looks over the street. They have wooden floors and lots of plan chests. I have a separate room for the computer and all that stuff. Who or What is your biggest inspiration? It is hard to know quite where inspiration comes from and I think it may be all sorts of things. Artists that have inspired me in the past are Rory McEwan, Georgia O'Keefe, Joan Eardley, Giovanna Garzoni and lots of others. Apart from people I think it is light that inspires me. Do you collect anything?Books, I have thousands of them. What are your interests outside of illustration?Painting - that's different in my opinion, walking - I have a dog and walk a lot, gardening, playing the piano, photography, I love going to films and theatre, food and cooking, and the company of friends. Tell us about a favourite project you've recently completed.My Apple Book, it was a life's work and I'm really proud of it. What would be your dream job/commission?To be commissioned to do a book of my paintings. What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into illustration?Work like hell and believe in yourself. Always work to deadlines. Do you have any pets? A black Labrador called Apple and a black cat called Georgia O'Keefe. If you won the lottery what would you do with the money? Buy a farm on Dartmoor and have horses and a few pigs, buy a Ferrari and an old Landrover, and do holidays for very young people. What is your favourite game, computer or not?Sardines.

Favourites

Gallery: Park Walk Gallery Art Equipment/Tool: Compressed charcoal Food: Vegetarian Drink: A good malt whisky Shop: The Wholefood Shop in Kensington High Street and Hatchards Bookshop Magazine: Country Living