Help preserve our future
West Dean is part of a registered charity and relies on the support of generous donors, friends, legacies to help us deliver world-class education in conservation and the creative arts and maintain our award-winning gardens.
Liz Leech
Liz trained as a botanist and research botanist at the Universities of Exeter and Melbourne. She has successfully taught for 30+ years; ecology at Flatford, A level Biology in Schools, and tutors groups on all aspects of botany (for artists).
She studied botanical art under Anne-Marie Evans, gaining her Dip.Bot.Art in 2002. Her work is mainly in Hampton Court Palace Florilegium archives and in private collections. Author of the successful book "Botany for Artists" (Crowood Press), sold worldwide.
She is an active member of Hampton Court Palace Florilegium, the Institute of Analytical Plant Illustrators and the American Society of Botanical Artists.
Describe your approach to teaching: My teaching aims to inform and to help artists to understand and observe plants so they paint with greater confidence and accuracy. I have a relaxed and humorous style, giving individual help as needed. I support my teaching with well illustrated presentations and thorough course notes.
What inspires your own work: I am excited by the amazing variety and detail of plant forms and their myriad of adaptations to different habitats. Close observation inspires and enhances my paintings, helping me to capture the 'essence' and individuality of the plant.