About Sue

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About Sue

Having always appreciated the beauty of the garden and countryside, Nottingham based botanical artist Sue Vize finds her inspiration in the most simple of shapes found in our natural surroundings, such as seedpods, curling leaves, pine cones and unfurling flower petals.  Within the traditions of botanical illustration, Sue draws from life, capturing onto paper the very essence of the plant, recording every leaf fold and tiny detail.  Sue was first introduced to botanical illustration in 2000 when she joined a course run by St Helen’s House in Derby, sadly now closed.  Initially she went along to keep her mother company but found that the course unleashed a natural talent for drawing, long hidden since leaving school.  Now her illustrations are sought worldwide and she leads a busy life working full time on her own artwork, commissions for private collections, book illustrations, and teaching botanical illustration to adults in a series of evening classes, one-day workshops and residential breaks based in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire.

Memberships

  • Society of Botanical Artists 
  • The American Society of Botanical Artists
  • Sheffield Florilegium Society
  • UK Coloured Pencil Society

How Sue works

Sue says ‘A constant source of plant material is found in my mum’s beautiful garden.  No matter what time of year there is always something to be found worth drawing, and on a lovely summers’ day nothing is nicer than to be there to set up my pencils and paper and become ‘creative’, listening to the birds and the drone of the bees – the only downside is that you find it difficult to work amongst so many distractions!  It’s a far cry from my own garden, being constantly dug up by two cats, the odd passing duck and one scruffy chicken who delights in making dust baths in as many places as she can.

Botanical illustration requires hours of patience and a meticulous eye for detail, plus time put aside to record the plant before it withers and dies.  Each painting or drawing is gradually built up in layers of light ‘washes’ to create a realistic plant portrait, and it’s not unusual to take in excess of a hundred and forty hours to complete one picture.  I work in watercolour, graphite and coloured pencil but I have to say that drawing is my first love, and even when I’m using watercolour I often end up using the brush more like a pencil. Graphite is my first choice of medium, closely followed by coloured pencils, which I first discovered at an SBA exhibition at Penrhyn Castle in Wales.  Looking closely at the work that caught my eye I found that it wasn’t watercolour after all but coloured pencil.  Luckily for me the artist was there that day demonstrating and I was able to have a long chat with her and once home promptly ordered a set.    A little enthusiasm goes a long way and now although I teach all medium as part of my weekly class, almost everyone who attends ends up a convert too.’

   

Sue's mum's garden - Constant source of inspiration and cuttings!