Sarah Crowe
Botanical and Nature artist/illustrator
Education
Botanical Illustration diploma
2019-2021
Society of Botanical Artists
Awards/Funding
John Muir Trust, 2021
Alpkit Foundation, 2021
Profile
I am a self-taught botanical and nature artist, living and working on the Orkney Mainland. I work primarily in Coloured Pencil and graphite, combing with ink and acrylic for specific work. I draw my inspiration from my previous professsion as a plant biogeographer and conservationist; focusing on illustrating wildflowers within their natural habitats and the insect life they support. My professional creative practice is also central to my mental well-being; helping to keep me grounded and connected to the natural world.
Exhibitions
Headspace Showcase, St Magnus Centre
Curated collection, 10 October 2025
An event by artistic members of the Orkney Blide Trust. I produced a 10 minute presentation of my creative development progress, along with poetry and prose about the inspiration. The work included the first draft of a large mixed composition; The Alpage and the Apiary and work from 2023, Salix repens which was my unsuccessful attempt to exhibit at a botanical exhibition and made me realise I needed to keep working on my technique.
Christmas Exhibition, Pier Art Gallery, Stromness
Alpenrose and Cleopatra Buttery, December 2024
An illustration depicting the Alpenrose, which I kept in Coloured Pencil and Graphite, this time I added a Butterfly in watered-down acrylic, overlayed with Coloured Pencil a technique I’d learnt in 2024
UK Colour Pencil Society Annual Open exhibition
Online, September 2023
I exhibited my first piece of full traditional Coloured Pencil botanical work, outside of a local exhibition. The piece, which illustrated a branch of Alpenrose in bloom is a subject matter I practice and illustrate each year to help improve my colour application technique
Christmas Exhibition, Pier Art Gallery, Stromness
Late Glacial Relict: Primula scotica, December, 2021
My first exhibited piece after graduating with my Botanical illustration diploma, illustrated P. scotica (enlarged) in combined Traditional and Watercolour Pencil, with a Ink outline of Orkney in the background.