Fay Anderson’s watercolour illustrations
Among the numerous previously listed contributors to The Cape Orchids
is the botanical artist, Fay Anderson. She was born in northern India and
educated in India and England. She emigrated to South Africa in 1952 and
studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. For one year,
she was employed as a botanical assistant to Professor Edwyn Isaac of the
Botany Department, University of Cape Town, mostly painting seaweeds.
Since then, Fay has been a freelance botanical illustrator painting watercolours for: The Ericas in southern Africa (Baker, H. A. & Oliver, E. G. H. 1967); The Proteas of southern Africa (Rourke, J. P. 1982); The Moraeas of southern Africa (Goldblatt, P. 1986); The Woody Iridacaea (Goldblatt, P. 1993); The Gladiolus of southern Africa (Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 1998) and numerous plates for Flowering plants of southern Africa. Fay’s work is represented in the Hunt Mellon and Shirley Sherwood botanical collections, and two of her illustrations appear in Blunt and Sterne’s The Art of Botanical Illustration.
Throughout her career as a botanical illustrator, Fay has been interested in Cape orchids. In 1996, her Kenilworth home suffered extensive fire damage. Although many of her favourite paintings were lost, some of the surviving works are presented in The Cape Orchids. Fay has since continued to illustrate obscure orchid species for this book.
Since then, Fay has been a freelance botanical illustrator painting watercolours for: The Ericas in southern Africa (Baker, H. A. & Oliver, E. G. H. 1967); The Proteas of southern Africa (Rourke, J. P. 1982); The Moraeas of southern Africa (Goldblatt, P. 1986); The Woody Iridacaea (Goldblatt, P. 1993); The Gladiolus of southern Africa (Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 1998) and numerous plates for Flowering plants of southern Africa. Fay’s work is represented in the Hunt Mellon and Shirley Sherwood botanical collections, and two of her illustrations appear in Blunt and Sterne’s The Art of Botanical Illustration.
Throughout her career as a botanical illustrator, Fay has been interested in Cape orchids. In 1996, her Kenilworth home suffered extensive fire damage. Although many of her favourite paintings were lost, some of the surviving works are presented in The Cape Orchids. Fay has since continued to illustrate obscure orchid species for this book.
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| Satyrium bracteatum; Table Mountain, Cape Peninsula (October 1991) | Pachites appressa; Langeberg, Swellendam, western Cape Floristic Region (December 2000) |
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| Disa tenuis; Table Mountain, Cape Peninsula (March 1965) | Disa tenuifolia; Table Mountain, Cape Peninsula (December 1988) |
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| Disa atricapilla; Kouebokkeveld, western Cape Floristic Region (December 1992) | Disa graminifolia; Steenberg, Cape Peninsula (February 1966) |
