Botanical art: Where science and craft meet

It is a weekday morning in October at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and a group of people - in ones and twos - are armed with sun hats and safari chairs, looking ready for a picnic. But no food is in sight as they unfold their groundsheets and empty their tote bags.

Seated in pairs, underneath two cannonball trees - so named because they bear fruit that resembles cannonballs, the group from the Botanical Art Society (Singapore) instead take out watercolour palettes, writing instruments and other stationery.

"Botanical art is the coming together of art and science," says Ms Carrie-Ann Lee, 47, president of the society, which was formed in June 2019. "When there was no photography, botanists used to travel the world with artists, who would document samples on their journeys - that's how botanical art came about.

"Today, it is done in a more leisurely manner."

Their works may be for pleasure, but the group's artists and enthusiasts make no compromise on the one quality that distinguishes their craft from other floral paintings - accuracy.

Says founding member Sunanda Widel, who is in her 60s: "Botanical art needs to be very botanically accurate in terms of colour, size, proportion and capturing the various parts of the plant."

Most whip out rulers or dividers. With an outstretched arm, they hold the tool between their eyes and the object they are about to document. And with one eye closed, they start to take measurements and make markings on their choice of canvas.

Besides bringing like-minded enthusiasts together, the group aims to promote interest in botanical art and greater understanding of what it is.

Their Friday morning meet-up is just like their meetings in pre-Covid-19 times - almost. For The Straits Times' coverage, the group of nine people has been issued a filming permit by the National Parks Board. Members have to keep within Covid-19 guidelines, which allow for masks to be removed only for photography.

Curious passers-by look on, some stopping to observe as the members go about their sketches.

Among the onlookers are football coach Rosman Senin and his four-year-old daughter, Hanna Safiya.

The 42-year-old says he brought Hanna to the gardens to draw, and was pleasantly surprised to find others doing the same. He points at the members, coaxing his daughter to sit down and join them, but she is hesitant.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Hanna nods, and the father-daughter duo begin to put graphite on paper.

"I want to teach her to slow down more," says Mr Rosman. "Life is too fast-paced and we don't often set aside time to sit down and focus on something."

He tries his hand at sketching part of the cannonball tree, but Hanna has other ideas - she draws her mother with herself, standing in the rain.

"I didn't know this group was going to be here, but what they are doing is great - we are lacking an art culture in Singapore," says Mr Rosman.

Ms Lee, who works in marketing, says the society comprises members from diverse backgrounds. In the group of nine are a lawyer, a scientist and an engineer.

For some in the group, botanical art is more than a hobby.

For Ms Debbie Teo, 43, it represents recovery.

In 2013, she was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.

"I couldn't use my hands any more, I couldn't even hold chopsticks without (my hands) going numb," said the freelance visual artist and swimming coach.

She did not regain full mobility in her hands even after surgery.

"So I decided to do my own hand rehabilitation - I decided to draw," says Ms Teo, another founding member of the society. "It really helped to stabilise my hands."

It is no surprise that botanical art became her go-to art form, as she had read botany as an undergraduate and art for a master's degree.

She adds that the meet-up is a relief from the stress of the pandemic. "When you can still do art for yourself or for leisure, it means that we can still cope."

For lawyer Melissa Tang, botanical art is an escape from the rat race and a chance to be successful outside of work, on her own terms.

"We chase success in our art, but in a different manner from work," says the 42-year-old. "As I learn to draw and improve, there is satisfaction that doesn't depend on what others think - it's for myself."

Ms Widel, who is a fellow of the Britain-based Society of Botanical Artists, says: "If you love plants and if you love painting or drawing, the Botanical Art Society (Singapore) will help you from the very basics, we have members at all skill levels.

"It's wonderfully enjoyable, brings us out into nature - you get to enjoy sunshine, fresh air, birds, cicadas. It's really a great pleasure."