A lifelong love of gardening and painting, and the discovery of Pierre-Joseph Redouté and Rory McEwen, convinced Alison to combine her passions and to seek training in botanical illustration.
A course with botanical artist Dianne Sutherland was followed by gaining a diploma in botanical illustration at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in 2018.
She is a member of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA), the Société Française d’Illustration Botanique (SFIB) and the Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA).
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“I would say my aim is to represent flowers and plants in their most beautiful and honest form: light and delicate with elegant but simple compositions.”
![](https://www.alisonharley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/compose_1-1.jpg)
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“I love the freshness and the transparency of watercolour which is my favorite medium, but I also like to work in ink, graphite and occasionally coloured pencil. “
![](https://www.alisonharley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/desk_comp.jpg)