Sketch History - Chelsea Physic Garden

This month we travelled virtually to a hidden gem in Chelsea - a 4 acre patch of green that has been supplying the world with botanical knowledge for the last 400 years.

We looked at a map and I pin pointed areas such as the rock pool that's decorated with clam shells which were brought back from Tahiti by Captain James Cook. The garden is linked to many explorers including that of Sir Hans Sloane, who rented the grounds to the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries in 1673. With that conversations around the transatlantic slave trade were made to highlight the fact that many of the explorers who were collecting plants, seeds, shells to bring back, were enslavers.

No matter what time of year you visit the gardens, you will find colour and an array of textures to enjoy. There are beds for cooking, beds for medicine and beds for poisonous plants. The plants to heal and kill tend to interest people the most, such as the Taxol plant used to cure cancer and the Madagascan Periwinkle used to help those with diabetes and hypertension.

The plant I love the most is Aconitum Ferox, its bright blue and pretty, but highly poisonous. I told my group the story involving a woman scorned with jealously who bought some crushed roots from the plant (the deadly part) and proceeded to put them into a curry and served it to her ex lover, who died soon after consumption.

So what did we sketch?

These are the berries found on the Taxol Plant and I thought they would be quite fun to draw. We had 20 minutes on the clock.

Why not give it a go yourself. Start with the little dark circle found in the middle of the berry and see where your pencil takes you.

Here are some sketches made by group members during the session.