Gael Sellwood has worked as a botanical and natural history artist for nearly thirty years. In 2020 she moved from Hertfordshire to Somerset, and she continues to use material from her extensive garden, as well as the surrounding wild landscape, which provide much of her inspiration. This latest body of work has all been created in her new studio. With formal qualifications both in botanical illustration and business for artists and makers, painting is now her main occupation.
Gael’s work continues to detail found objects, affected, renounced and used by nature, or those found in vintage collections of her own, or from within her family. Usually working in watercolour on paper or vellum, her paintings take the viewer to the hedgerow, wayside or garden, recreating a season, a feeling, a scent or an experience for posterity.Her favourite subjects are often dried, curled and care worn, rather than pristine and perfect. She focuses on creating texture and form in her work.A keen maker and an inveterate collector, some of her collection features in her latest work.
A Gold Medal winner with both the RHS and the Caledonian RHS and a member of the Society of Botanical Artists, Gael has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both at home and abroad. In 2014 she was awarded both a Gold Medal by the RHS and the coveted ‘best in show’ award for best botanical exhibit; this was for a series of hydrangeas in autumn and winter. She has work in the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, USA, in the RHS collection at the Lindley Library, and in the collection of Dr Shirley Sherwood, as well as numerous private collections at home and abroad.
Gael has been featured on several BBC programmes including Countryfile, painting on vellum. Her story and her work have also been featured in Country Living magazine, Country Homes and Interiors and Good Housekeeping magazine.
Her first book THE MEASURE OF THE YEAR was published in 2018 to coincide with her first solo show at the gallery. She has been a fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists for over 15 years and was until 2021 Co-President.
