Internationally acclaimed Salcombe Gin is commissioning award-winning artist Nina Marks to paint the 13 botanicals used in the distillation of their flagship and multi-award winning Start Point gin.

The first eight paintings in the collection will be exhibited for the first time at the Royal Horticultural Society London Art and Photography Show (July 23 to 25), which will showcase the best in horticultural art and photography from around the world.

To date Nina has completed paintings of Juniper (Juniperus communis), Red Grapefruit (Citrus x paradisi), Lime (Citrus x latifolia), Cardamom (Elletaria cardamomum), Orris Root (Iris pallida and Iris germanica var. florentina), Lemon (Citrus limon) and Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) and is working hard to complete Angelica (Angelica archangelica) which will form a central part of the botanical series exhibits.

Angus Lugsdin, co-founder of Salcombe Gin, says: “Nina’s attention to detail is phenomenal and her accuracy in reproducing each botanical plant to its true size, texture and colour, puts her amongst the finest of those working in this intricate form of art.

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"We are looking forward to displaying her incredible work at our distillery in Salcombe, following the RHS exhibition.”

Angus continues: “Botanical illustration is an exacting discipline and whilst modern photography has the ability to document a plant, it is recognised that only a fine paintbrush, quality materials and an artist with skill and painstaking patience can accurately capture the beauty and intricacy of an entire plant.”

Nina, who lives and paints in Pudleston, near Leominster, says: “I’m delighted to have been commissioned by Salcombe Gin. Not only do they have great skill in producing exceptional gins, but they also have an incredible eye for design and apply an unrivalled attention to detail across everything they do.

“One of the greatest challenges in painting this series of botanicals is sourcing the live specimens, given that the majority are not native to the UK.

"It has been necessary to travel many miles to locate and collect plants or a part of a plant in order to have the live specimen in my studio.

"It would be impossible to be truly accurate without having access to the live plant as a photo cannot give the measurement, true colour or finite details required.”

Angelica (Angelica archangelica) is Nina’s next focus, which she estimates could take up to 400 hours to paint and will form a central part of the series.

In order to accurately paint this plant, she has grown her own live specimens.

"It’s a stately but enormous biennial plant and has a huge number of tiny and intricate green flowers that are virtually impossible to define and paint without the use of a powerful magnifying glass."

A member of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA), Nina didn’t start seriously painting until 10 years ago although she had always had an interest in art.

However, on leaving school she found herself facing the decision of whether to accept offers from the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music, Birmingham College of Food or the Handsworth School of Dress Design.

She made the decision, she says, on a very practical basis: "I couldn't see myself practising the piano every day, but I thought that I would always need to cook so I went to Birmingham College of Food," she explains. "But hindsight being what it is I wish I'd gone to art college."

But since leaving school she had barely picked up a paintbrush, concentrating instead of a career that saw her running her own equestrian glove business, a business which dovetailed perfectly with her husband's saddlery company.

It was on a visit to her mother's garden that inspiration struck: "There was the most amazing rose in bloom and I thought 'that really is gorgeous - it's almost paintable', and my mother just said, 'Well, paint it!'.

"So I took the rose home and went into the loft to retrieve my son's paint tin from school, cleaned it up, found a brush and I so enjoyed developing the painting that I was hooked."

Having picked up a brush and started painting again for the first time in decades, it was another visit to her mother that led her to the botanical illustration that is her passion.

"I spotted a banner outside the village hall advertising a botanical art exhibition and as I had a little time to spare I went in and thought 'I can do that'. Then I got chatting to a very nice young lady and joined their little society.

"I'm wholly self-taught," she continues. "I just plodded on in my own little way and gleaned ideas from exhibitions and seeing how other people did things, but I didn't really know what I was doing. It's a completely different way of painting and a very exacting discipline."

Then a serendipitous encounter with another painter led to an introduction to Pandora Sellers, widely considered to be one of the finest botanical artists ever, and living and working in Herefordshire.

"She had the most amazing eye," says Nina. "She had trained as a textile designer so she saw plants differently.

She didn't teach me, but she did mentor me and got me to see plants in a totally different way.

She was also an absolute revel and said that rules were made to be brokens. There are no rules, she said, when you are paining, it's about what looks best, and a bit of artistic licence is essential.

She revolutionised the way I thought about painting and became an extremely close friend. I have a lot to thank her for."

Nina paints in watercolour on hot pressed paper, a paper with a smooth finish that enables her to depict the finest of details that are so important to botanical illustration.

In true purist tradition, no white paint is ever used since this reduces the translucency of the painting and any white that is observed is achieved by leaving the paper unpainted.

"I think the think I love about botanical art is that it's so incredibly intricate, and it suits me as someone who, when I do anything it has to be the most perfect I can make it."

In 2011 Nina was invited to exhibit her paintings at the RHS Orchid Show in London where she was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal for a series of paintings of the genus Paphiopedilum (slipper orchids) and in 2014 she exhibited again with a series of paintings of the genus Arisaema (cobra lilies) for which she was awarded a Gold Medal.

For more information about the Royal Horticultural Society or to book tickets for the exhibition please visit www.rhs.org.uk

For more information visit www.salcombegin.com or email ilovegin@salcombegin.com or call 01548 288180. To keep up to date with the latest news follow @SalcombeGin on Twitter and Instagram and ‘like’ SalcombeGin on Facebook.