Designer Of The Month: Dame Elizabeth Blackadder

When discussing landscape and flora art very few British artists have made the kind of impact like that of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. Elizabeth was born in Falkirk and lived with her grandmother who encouraged her to help out with the gardening. It was during this time that she first began to develop an interest in plants. Later, she studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and then at Edinburgh University where she graduated with first class honours in 1954.

Despite her success at Edinburgh University it was at Edinburgh College of Art that she worked for almost a quarter of a century. This work coincided with much travelling throughout Europe; she was awarded many travelling scholarships and painted landscapes in Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia during the 1950’s. This love of travel as well as her desire to collect pretty knick-knacks and mementos is what really adds another dimension to her already vibrant botanical depictions. During the 1960’s she travelled to France, Spain, Portugal and Scotland to immerse herself in a range of landscapes and further develop the scope of her work. The culmination of these trips, as well as multiple visits to Japan in the 70’s and 80’s, was in her being appointed an OBE in 1982. This prestigious award was then promoted in 2003 to DBE.

It is quite easy to see why Dame Elizabeth Blackadder is quite often considered the greatest Scottish female artist. She is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy. 2011 saw a celebration of her work at the Scottish National Gallery which coincided with her 80th birthday. Her paint and print-works have been internationally adored with her emphasis on detail making her work really stand out. Duncan Macmillan (Scottish Art 1460–1990) describes her paintings of flowers and plants as ‘based on a description that is so fastidious it becomes poetic’.

We have been printing Elizabeth’s work on to a range of fabric products for many years now and love her bright yet delicate designs, some of which can be seen below.