Marjorie Blamey
Encyclopedia
Marjorie Blamey OBE is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

, particularly noted for her botanical illustrations for which she has been described "the finest living botanical illustrator", "the best contemporary botanical illustrator" and "the top illustrator in Europe" in reviews around the world.

Life and Work

Blamey spent her early years on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 where she was encouraged to paint and draw. An editor from a London publishing house spotted her work at a display of amateur art in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 and her career as a full-time book illustrator was born. Before that she and her husband Philip had successfully run a small dairy farm near Liskeard
Liskeard
Liskeard is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Liskeard is situated approximately 20 miles west of Plymouth, west of the River Tamar and the border with Devon, and 12 miles east of Bodmin...

 for 20 years and she had also worked on the stage and in photography. She took up illustrating professionally at the age of 48, Her first commission was for a book on magnolias by the Cornish horticulturist Neil Treseder. Another early book, and Blamey's first major success, was Wildflowers Of Britain And Ireland, published by Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 in their famous Pocket Guide series. Translated into all European languages, it has sold more than a million copies and is still in print. She illustrated this book and the text was written by the late Richard Fitter, probably the most successful author of natural history field guides ever. Fitter's son Alastair contributed the distribution maps. Marjorie Blamey has stated "It was a privilege to work with Richard. He was such a vivid writer." She soon became regarded as one of the leading botanical illustrators in the world.

Over the years, Blamey has built up an archive of more than 10,000 paintings of flowers from the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....

 to the Mediterranean, which are used in publications worldwide. These illustrations are all carefully kept in files as well as on the computers of the Blameys and their editor in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is part of her husband Philip's role to look after the archive. She has won three gold medals from the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...

 and two from the Alpine Garden Society. Marjorie Blamey's books have also received accolades. Cassell's Wild Flowers Of Britain And Northern Europe was selected as Book of the Year by the journal Natural World in 1989, while Wild Flowers Of Britain And Ireland was the Book of the Year choice of the Botanical Society of the British Isles in 2003. Another book, Wild Flowers By Colour, was the Editor's Choice of BBC Wildlife Magazine in 2005. She is also a founder member of the charity Plantlife International which concentrates on the conservation of plants.

In 2007 Blamey was presented with an MBE at a special ceremony in Fowey. She felt that a trip to Buckingham Palace would be too tiring and was presented with her award for services to illustration by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Since 1742, all the Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Cornwall.*John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1554*John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath 1556–?...

 and Lady Mary Holborow at the Fowey Hotel. Marjorie Blamey's daughter, Anne Irons, said of the occasion: "We had a brilliant time, it was just wonderful. The whole family is so proud of her. A group of 20 family members, including grandchildren, children and my aunt and uncle, met at the hotel to see Lady Mary hand my mother the award, and read a citation. We then enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch."

Marjorie Blamey lives with her husband Philip at their home in the Cornish
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 village of St Germans.
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