A Q&A with RHS Orchid Artist Deborah Lambkin

When did you discover your particular interest in orchids, and how did this develop?

Moving to London in 1999, I started to work for Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, drawing scientific illustrations for botanical books and journals. I still work there from time to time where I paint and draw plants mostly for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the longest running botanical journal in the world.

Orchids are the second largest plant family and form a significant part of the natural world so coming across them at some stage is almost unavoidable. My own fascination with orchids began when I was engaged as the RHS Orchid Artist.

Can you tell us about how you became the RHS Orchid artist and what does this role entail?

The RHS Orchid Committee is unique among RHS plant groups in that they have continuously retained an artist to paint their awarded orchids since 1897, when Nelly Roberts (1872 –1959) started as the first artist. Nelly held the role for an astonishing 56 years, painting over 1,000 orchid portraits, an achievement likely to remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future!

In 2005 the position had become vacant and one of the botanists I had worked with at Kew encouraged me to apply.

Since then, I have painted over 500 orchid illustrations for the RHS Collections at the Lindley Library, London which now numbers over 7,000 orchid portraits. These paintings are exhibited regularly at the RHS Gardens and I endeavour to share my orchid paintings through teaching, talks and exhibitions whenever possible.

When I began in that role, I had no particular preference for orchids over other plants but over the years I have learned so much. Notoriously orchids have a reputation for capturing the hearts of those who spend time with them. Orchids are so numerous and interesting it would be difficult to not be drawn in.

What’s something that would surprise people about being a botanical artist?

It isn’t all just painting and drawing, I spend a lot of time on preparatory work for illustrations, as well as classes, talks, articles and exhibitions. Painting time feels like hard earned time to indulge myself in my favourite escapism.

Can you tell us about your process, how do you create your paintings?

I usually work from life, having plant material to refer to on my desk, usually living plant material but sometimes dried or preserved specimens. Sometimes I examine, draw and photograph a plant in the wild and work from that gathered information when I am back at my desk.

It is very important to start with an accurate drawing in light pencil. I go back and forth from paper to plant, continually drawing and measuring my plant until my drawing is complete. This is followed by arranging my drawings in functional and attractive compositions.

I paint in layers in water colour starting with the paler colours and working in stronger colours, maintaining the white of the paper as the highlights. I paint in the base colours and the shadows first and add any markings or patterns on the flowers last. I often paint a ‘glaze’, a final layer of transparent paint to enhance the depth of colour.

For the early layers of a painting I use a small brush, working down to a really small brush for the tiny details. My paper is good quality watercolour paper that has a smooth surface, which is good for finely detailed work.

What does a typical day in the life of an artist look like for you?

Every day can be different depending on which aspect of my work I am focusing on. It might be a day in Kew Herbarium studying a dried plants on herbarium sheets and talking with a botanist to identify aspects of a plant to be highlighted in a scientific illustration.

Or a day as RHS Orchid Artist, I may attend an Orchid Expert Group meeting. We have monthly meetings in locations across the country. Orchids will be judged by the group and if they receive awards, I will take the flowers home to paint for the RHS Collections.

I also spend many long days, intently focused on painting or stippling ink, escaping into an audiobook in my headphones.

Do you have any favourite gardens to visit or places to immerse yourself in nature?

I think I have investigated all the little green places in London over the years I have lived here. I love Brunswick Square with its magnificent ‘Baobab’ Plane trees. Formerly a part of the Foundling hospital grounds, what history they have overseen!

Further afield, I spend a lot of time walking in the South Downs. At this stage, I think every one of my family and friends have been inveigled into plant hunting of some sort with me.

In early 2025, I joined an orchid hunting trip to Madagascar. We spent our days creeping through the forests, spotting orchids and recording our finds in sketches and photographs. It was an intoxicating experience being immersed in thick rainforest with plants in every dimension around me. I look forward to returning in January of 2026 for a longer expedition and thereafter I plan to produce a series of paintings based on the Orchids of Madagascar.

Who are some other botanical artists working today we should check out?

There are many wonderful artists all over the world producing beautiful and important work. For instance, Sharon Field, firefighter turned botanical artist. Her project 3,000 Days and Counting, in response to climate change is creating a scroll of paintings over 3,000 days.

Also worth checking out is the Plants of the Qur’ān by Sue Wickison, Sue has spent years illustrating the flora mentioned in the text of the Qur’ān. Another is Lucy Smith, known for her beautiful paintings of the enormous floating leaves and giant flowers of the Victoria amazonica waterlilies. She has also created over 700 illustrations for Kew, 250 of which were published recently in Palms of New Guinea.

Most experienced artists also spend some of their time teaching the next generations of upcoming artists. Diane Sutherland, Laura Silburn, Mary Dillion, Julia Trickey and Margaret Best to name but a few, are all wonderful artists themselves too.

Finally, as we are the Garden Museum, can you tell us about your own relationship with plants, gardening and nature?

On a simple level, I have realised that spending time with plants, whether its repotting, dead heading, clipping or even turning compost takes me out of the busy world and makes me feel good. It is stress reducing, soothing, peaceful and with the added benefit of making my surroundings more beautiful.

I am incredibly lucky that my love of plants and art has given me a career. I hope that my work, in any small way, may inspire in others a love and a deeper understanding of our natural world.

Follow Deborah on Instagram: @deborahlambkin

Rory McEwen: Nature’s Song is open until 25 January 2025
Nelly Roberts: Orchid Painter is open until 31 January 2025