"Bookmarks" - radio interview with Sue Wickison

The interview features Sue Wickison, a renowned botanical illustrator, discussing her life, work, and artistic journey. Born in Sierra Leone, Sue developed her passion for natural history through expeditions with her father collecting botanical specimens.

Sue shares her experience working at Kew Gardens for 10 years, where she progressed from illustrating grasses to more complex specimens like orchids. She emphasizes that botanical illustration requires extreme patience and precision, with some paintings taking hundreds of hours to complete.

The conversation covers her current exhibition 'Outrageous Plants' at Hamilton's Welcome Swallow Gallery, which features unusual plants magnified to reveal their inner beauty. Sue discusses her African influences, including the memorable experience of rain hitting dry earth (petrichor).

Sue elaborates on her artistic process, using specialized sable brushes and working in multiple stages to achieve the desired detail and intensity. She addresses the potential impact of AI on botanical illustration, suggesting that AI might struggle with the interpretative aspects of combining historical and contemporary specimens.

The discussion concludes with Sue's cultural interests,  as well as her major exhibition 'Plants of the Quran' which was shown at Kew Gardens, London.

Please listen 35 min interview on 'Bookmarks'