Beautiful Botanical Walls - Hannah Coleman, Dreamwall

Beautiful Botanical Walls

Spring is just around the corner so we can say goodbye to the cold winter it won’t be long before our beautiful spring flowers are in full bloom.

Spring flowers are beautiful and rich in fragrance, spring is the time of renewal, and what a perfect way to bring the spring freshness into our homes by adding beautiful botanical prints to our walls.

Botanical Illustration: A Brief History

With the coming of the Renaissance, an interest in naturalism resulted in an emphasis in drawing from life, and the intimacy of the subject and a greater accuracy were seen. Examples are the herbals of Brunfels and Fuchs. Although by no means primarily botanical artists, Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer produced extraordinary drawings of plant subjects. Beautiful herbariums appeared most were etchings and watercolors and include works by Daniel Rabel, Nicholas Robert and Claude Aubriet.

The most famous botanical illustrator was Pierre-Joseph Redouté, who worked in watercolor. Early in his career, he collaborated with a famous botanist, Charles Louis L’Heritier.

Rather than plant collections coming to them, botanical illustrators and naturalists in the Nineteenth Century travelled to far away countries, often-accompanying naturalists and botanists to document the native plants. Ferdinand Bauer and Walter Fitch are examples of this tradition. Not only were they drawing from life, they were truly in the field, studying plants in their native settings.

The history of botanical illustration reflects the developments in art and science through the ages. Contemporary botanical illustration draws from these traditions and innovations. Current media include watercolor, pen and ink, graphite (pencil), gouache, and less commonly, acrylic and oil.

The latest spring Botanical fashion for our walls.

Today’s wallpaper designs often reference the past with restyled patterns - think William Morris designs with so many beautiful traditional inspired designs to choose from http://www.william-morris.co.uk/

Florals have remained in fashion on feature walls for the past few years this coming season the trends are light, fresh and easy to live with.

Pastel shades have made a huge comeback into the interior world, and many designs have maintained the fine detailling captured in the range of tones used in watercolour and ink.

Sanderson (established in 1860) have been creating timeless classic wallcoverings and offer a beautiful collection of Botanical prints for this season, a favorite is the ‘A Painters Garden’ new collection bursting with pattern creating fresh contemporary style to any home. http://www.sanderson-uk.com/

Zoffany The ‘Fleurs Rococo’ wallpaper is a perfect collection to create this seasons botanical look onto your wall, from Periwinkle pretty pastels to my favorite Manchu design. http://www.zoffany.com/

Little Greene London wallpapers collection will certainly bring elegance into your home with extensive research with English Heritage. The London Wallpaper collection has been inspired by eight historic wallpapers from the English Heritage archive. On offer are stunning flocks, with beautiful metallic finishes and every roll of wallpaper sold a generous donation will be pledged to English Heritage. A favorite in the collection and perfect for any home owner to create a traditional Botanic feature wall is the Broadwick st. c.1775 wallpaper. Found in a row of elegant 18th century houses in Broadwick street Soho London. This design is remarkable in that it was based on a botanically accurate reproduction of a plant Clusia Rosea. http://www.thelittlegreene.com/

Of course it if you want to inject the spring botanical trend into your home, but do not want to indulge in floral wallpapers there are plenty of other options available, the key is less is more with botanical prints.

How about a do-it-yourself pressed botanical art piece.
Put the plant or leaf of your choice that you want to press in tissue paper and put inside the pages of a big book (let them dry out for a few days). Once dried, place in a pretty frame, use the glass to sandwich the pressed plant and voila you now have your own Botanical art piece.

Hannah Coleman

Hannah Coleman is the owner of Dreamwall (wall coverings with a difference) established in 2003, Hannah is a specialist in imitation brick, stone and slate products. Hannah's passion is interior wall coverings, interior design, loves textured surfaces and reviewing the latest wall covering trends.