Jackie Isard

Jackie is an award winning artist based in Bristol who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design in 1989. This was her career until a few years ago when she tried her hand at Botanical painting in 2015, now her present career. She is passionate about plants and the beauty of nature and her favoured medium is watercolour. She is a self-taught artist painting in great detail. Her work is mainly on watercolour paper but she does work on vellum too. Painting the beauty of decaying plants is also one of her fortes. In her work, she spends a great deal of time researching her subjects and studying their botany under a microscope to ensure she paints true botanical form. She strives for accuracy in her work. 

In 2014-2015 Jackie studied Garden Design and was awarded a Distinction. After doing this course her passion for plants grew and in 2015 she started painting in watercolour.

In 2017 Jackie was awarded a CBM (Certificate of Botanical Merit) for her painting ‘Vessels of Life’ exhibited at the SBA show in London.

In 2018 her painting of Origanum Majorana was featured in the book ‘The Illustrated College Herbal – Plants from the Pharmacopoea Londinensis of 1618’ organised and published by Jane Knowles, Henry Oakley and Gillian Barlow. Royal College of Physicians.

In 2019 Jackie was awarded Full membership with the SBA becoming an SBA Fellow.

In 2019 Jackie was awarded the Margaret Granger Memorial Award for her Protea neriifolia ‘Snowcrest’ painting at the SBA exhibition, Mall Galleries, London.

In 2020 Jackie wrote a book on colour mixing for the botanical artist. ‘Watercolour Mixing Techniques for Botanical Artists‘ (published by The Crowood Press in 2021). 

In 2022 Jackie entered six paintings of Wet Meadow Wildflowers to the renowned Royal Horticultural Society Botanical and Photography Show and won a Gold medal. She was a first-time exhibitor. Of these six paintings, Cardamine pratensis, Cuckooflower is now held in the Shirley Sherwood Collection and Geum rivale, Water Avens is now held in the RHS Lindlay Library. 

In 2023, Jackie will team up with Chris Thorogood and Mark Brent of the Oxford Botanic Gardens to paint rare natives, parasitics and wetland plants.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.isard

Blog: https://jibotanicals.com/

Instagram: @jackieisard

Website: www.jibotanicals.co.uk