enny Jowett and her husband Jonathan Savill are holding this substantial exhibition in aid of The Oxford Botanic Gardens. A percentage of each sale will go to support the work of the garden and the Harcourt Arboretum.

Savill paints the diverse places and landscapes in which he finds himself; these include Scotland, India and continental Europe. As a self-taught artist he feels a debt of gratitude to his art master at Eton, one Anthony Blunt, and time spent with Pietro Annigoni, in Italy while on military service during the Second World War. He approaches his subject matter with a delightful lightness of touch as exemplified in West Coast of Portugal II, in which a beautifully executed sweep of sandy beach dominates a depiction of the rocks and crags that mark Europe’s ends and the vista over a clear blue Atlantic.

From childhood, Jowett had always wanted to be a botanical illustrator, but careers advice at school was that she was too noisy for such work. So she opted for horticultural training instead. In the1970s, she was able to bring her considerable artistic and horticultural abilities together and has been a full time botanical artist ever since. She has been awarded four gold and three silver gilt medals by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) for her paintings.

Her work demonstrates well why watercolour is the chosen medium for botanical illustration. She uses it to capture the detail and essence of a wide range of plants, trees and shrubs. In her portrait of Paulownia tomentosa, a tree whose foxglove like flowers emerge before the foliage, Jowett gives us the complete picture with buds, flowers, leaves and fruit each painted as if growing simultaneously on a single branch.

In Euonymus europaeus, she celebrates the native spindle berry at its glorious autumnal height of glowing red leaves and pendulous rosy flowers. Autumn Splendour continues the seasonal theme where abutilon, hydrangea, chrysanthemum and vine entwine to create a wonderful portrait of just how beautiful nature is.

The exhibition continues until November 22. It is open daily, 10am-4pm (7pm Thursdays).