Katharine Amies

Katharine Amies is one of Britain's leading botanical artists, capturing the intimate essence of plants in a way photography rarely can. She trained at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 2000, and her work is held in the Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew Gardens — the largest collection of contemporary botanical art in the world.

Leading British botanical artist

Course

Botanical Painting

Having taught for over 10 years, Katharine Amies has come to see that given the right guidance, anyone can learn to paint if they want to. In this course Katharine invites you to join her in the deeply absorbing and creative process of translating what we see in nature onto a piece of paper, using watercolour. Discover the tools and techniques you’ll need to be able to paint a variety of botanical specimens, from fruit to flowers. The lessons are a practical, step-by-step guide to enable you to produce beautiful artwork, regardless of your experience. Throughout the detailed video lessons, Katharine reveals rules to follow to give you the confidence to keep painting and produce paintings you’ll be proud of. Covering everything from essential kit and colour palette, to techniques for achieving convincing three-dimensional form and shine, this course is sure to get you started on your artistic journey.

16 Lessons

Included with membership

Lesson plan — 16 lessons

01 Botanical Painting

01 Meet Katharine
02 The materials you need
03 How to create the illusion of form
04 A pencil drawing of a shallot
05 How to paint a spherical specimen in colour - Part 1
06 How to paint a spherical specimen in colour - Part 2
07 How to create shine
08 How to paint grapes with bloom
09 White on white: Painting a Japanese anemone
10 Painting a rose - Part 1
11 Painting a rose - Part 2
12 Working with yellow and tackling a leaf - Part 1
13 Working with yellow and tackling a leaf - Part 2
14 How to achieve pattern and detail
15 Final words
16 Christmas holly

Start learning Watch a free lesson

“An excellent course which is very well paced and organised. It simply and clearly communicates the basic technical skills of botanical art. Within a couple of lessons one is practicing and improving. Katharine Amies is a wonderful, encouraging and inspiring teacher.”

Jamary

“Create Academy has been such a great resource. I'm in the middle of renovating a bungalow with a very large garden and the courses have offered a wealth of information to dive into and explore new ideas. I'm loving Ni...”

Harvey Jun 10, 2026

“Absolutely love Create Academy! The instructors are extremely informative, and it is beautifully filmed. Create Academy is great value for money and plan on renewing my subscription yearly because there are such inter...”

SG May 31, 2026