Bente King

After 15 years as botanical illustrator at Cornell University, I paint plant portraits in watercolor, colored pencil, and pen/ink. My aim is to express the unique character of each plant, keeping the painting botanically correct to the best of my ability. It is a pleasure through teaching, to help others discover the beauty in details of plants.

Professional Experience :

L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Botanical Illustrator: 1980 – 1995

Teaching:

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY “introduction to Natural Science Illustration” 1990 – present Cornell Plantations, Botanical Illustration: 1981 – present Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca , NY: 1995 The Royal Danish Horticultural Society, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1992, 1994, 1995 Exhibits: Evora, Portugal: 2000 H. F. Johnson Art Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY “Images from the Natural World”: 1999 Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, NY: 1999 The Royal Danish Horticultural Society, Copenhagen, Denmark “That Wonderful Garden”: 1992, 1995, 1999 Sola Gallery, Ithaca, NY, “Our Garden World II”: 1993, 1996 1998 Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Seventh International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA: 1992

Bente King passed away in 2005

Products by Bente King

The following products include artwork and/or writing by Bente King. Most products are a collaboration of the wonderful artists and writers who have contributed to Acorn Designs over the years.

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Apples on a Branch with leaves on front of Large Journal in Birch for Acorn Designs

Apple Branch Journal

$29.00

Apple Branch Every spring when the apple trees bloom we need to remember that hope, too, begins anew. It is a natural process for a fruit tree to bear. Apples and other fruits have been grown without chemicals for centuries. Conventional chemical methods of orchardry have only been used during the past hundred years or…

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Apple Branch Notecard

Apple Branch Notecard

$3.00$24.00

Apple Branch Every spring when the apple trees bloom we need to remember that hope, too, begins anew. It is a natural process for a fruit tree to bear. Apples and other fruits have been grown without chemicals for centuries. Conventional chemical methods of orchardry have only been used during the past hundred years or…

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Painting of Wild Grapes growing on Barn Door on cover of Large Journal in Birch for Acorn Designs

Barn Door Journal

$29.00

Barn Door Grape tendrils curling over an old barn door, bright green leaves shining in the sun, soft grays and oranges in the weathering wood. Life and decay side by side; the cycle of life and death continues. Life does persevere; plant life creeps over an unused building, grass grows out of cracks in concrete,…

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Barn Door with Wild Grapes Notecard Acorn Designs

Barn Door Notecard

$3.00$24.00

Barn Door Grape tendrils curling over an old barn door, bright green leaves shining in the sun, soft grays and oranges in the weathering wood. Life and decay side by side; the cycle of life and death continues. Life does persevere; plant life creeps over an unused building, grass grows out of cracks in concrete,…

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Foxgloves artwork on a Small Journal in Birch for Acorn Designs

Foxgloves Small Journal

$20.00

These tall stately cottage garden flowers are native to Southern Europe and Asia. Used for hundreds of years by herbalists to treat mostly external injuries such as swelling, bruises, and cleaning old sores, it is now the source of digitalis, a very important plant medicine used as a blood circulation stimulant and to treat heart…

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Holly Lokta Card for Acorn Designs

Holly Lokta Card

$5.00$8.00

Holly is a mostly evergreen shrub or small tree of which there are several hundred species found in many places around the world. Hollies were once abundant in woodlands and along hedgerows. Many songbirds as well as wild turkeys enjoy the fruit of the holly. Since ancient times, holly has been symbolic of immortality and…

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Holly Small Journal in Birch for Acorn Designs

Holly Small Journal

$20.00

Holly is a mostly evergreen shrub or small tree of which there are several hundred species found in many places around the world. Hollies were once abundant in woodlands and along hedgerows. Many songbirds as well as wild turkeys enjoy the fruit of the holly. Since ancient times, holly has been symbolic of immortality and…

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Spruce Lokta Card for Acorn Designs

Spruce Branch Lokta Card

$5.00$8.00

Spruces are ornamental, steeple-shaped evergreen trees of cold climates whose needlelike leaves are somewhat four-angled, short, stiff and sharp. Spruces grow to the northern limit of trees; forests thin down to dwarf specimens extending far into the tundra. To the south, one species persists on mountaintops as far south as Georgia. Spruces are often used…

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