(PLEASE NOTE….. Chinese version now available ..! In HK bookshops and on Amazon)
Seven years in the making….
Having at the age of 60, taken up botanical art/illustration, and obtained a Distinction from the Society of Botanical Artists in UK, I realized that I needed to turn it to some worthwhile cause…..
But what ?
A chance conversation with Bill Flanz, one of the trustees of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (Hong Kong) produced an introduction to Markus Shaw, the Chairman of WWF(HK), who put me in touch with Professor Richard Saunders, Head of the Biological Sciences dept at HKU (right) and his Post-Doctoral Fellow assistant, Pang Chun Chiu (left)
Richard had long had the aim of producing a high-quality book documenting the amazing diversity of trees we have here in Hong Kong. (With its position straddling both temperate and sub-tropical zones, Hong Kong has 390 native indigenous species.)
I showed Richard and Chiu some of my work, and the three of us immediately realized the possibility of producing a work which would be a “crossover” book - being both a scientific textbook and a fine art book. We struck up a great relationship and friendship, and worked together for some seven years…..
We had many adventures on Lantau Island and Hong Kong’s New Territories looking for different species……
.. and sketching and documenting them….
….. in all weathers…!
Nothing could compare with the sense of wonder when we found that elusive tree we had been looking for….
……… even if we could not always agree on what species it was…!
Seven Years’ Hard Work…..
We eventually settled on 109 of the most significant trees here, and I spent seven years painting them all – it was not only a considerable task to paint all the pictures, but botanical illustration also has to show the various stages of fruiting and seasonal changes, so if I missed the flowering of one species for example, I would have to put that study to one side and wait another year…!
And so, with all this work in the field and at my art desk, it all came together, with Richard and Chiu’s text….
The book was launched in May 2019. It is available in bookshops in Lantau, Hong Kong and elsewhere, and on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk …. and there are some testimonials and reviews here….
(Published by Earnshaw Books Shanghai ISBN -13: 978-988-8552-03-0)