Jill Smythies Award for botanical illustration: Mrs Susan SexA self-taught artist, Susan decided to specialise in botanical art fourteen years ago and is now one of Ireland’s foremost botanical artists. Awarded Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medals in 2000, 2001 and 2002, Susan was commissioned by to paint a new definitive series of stamps for the Irish National postal service, An Post, and to date some 30 stamps have been released in 5 issues of the Wild Flowers of Ireland. Susan exhibits her work in the Watercolour Society of Ireland’s annual exhibition and is also a tutor on watercolour painting courses, passing on her knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for this medium and for botanical subjects in particular. In recent years Susan’s illustrations have featured in a number of publications including Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, The Plantsman and several books. The Jill Smythies Award however, particularly recognises her significant contribution in producing all the artwork for two major works on the orchids of Ireland: a magnificent large-format book, Ireland’s Wild Orchids, published in 2004 and the related Ireland’s Wild Orchids – a Field Guide, published in 2008. |
 Susan receiving Jill Smythies Silver Medal Award from Dr. Vaughan Southgate, President Linnean Society of London. |