botanical artist

I appreciate botanical art. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people who specialise in this discipline, at least not in Singapore.

Most of the botanicals I see are prints of old pieces painted many years ago. In fact, most of the better ones are now in the archives, having been painted from as far back as the 1700s. It was little wonder then, that I got very excited when I chanced upon Anna Lu at the Singapore Garden Festival in 2008. Back then, most of the popular pieces on zingiberacae were snapped up by NParks for their archives. I ended up with 6 pieces consisting mainly orchids, irises and some seeds.

Anna exhibited again during the recent Singapore Garden Festival. Due to severe austerity measures, I had to stop myself from getting overboard. Although she did paint musas and etlingeras, they were rather expensive. So, I ended up getting just one painting on periwinkles, much like the one featured here, which she donated to the Cancer Society in London.

Anna was born in Singapore and studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) in the late 1950’s. Although Anna is a trained Fine Artist she has always been interested in botanical painting. She started exhibiting her botanical work in London at the RHS shows in 1999-2004 and was awarded 3 silver-gilt and 2 silver medals. She also exhibited at the Society of Botanical Artists shows.

In 1999, she was invited to take part in the ‘Watercolour Challenge’ broadcast on UK television. She painted flowers in one of the Chelsea Flower Show exhibition gardens.In 2004 she enrolled on the one-year botanical painting course at the Chelsea Physic Garden directed by Anne Marie Evans, and in 2005 was awarded a Diploma (Merit) in Botanical Painting.

Anna is also a member of The Society of Floral Painters.