A KILCREGGAN artist has created a 3D paper portrait of former Linn Botanic Gardens owner and botanist Dr Jim Taggart.

Pam Scott spent three months creating ‘Formula for Elegance’, a piece which depicts Jim amongst plants and leaves.

His late son, Jamie, appears in a window behind him.

Jamie disappeared while on a plant-hunting trip to Vietnam in 2013. His body was found more than two years later.

The artist admitted she almost abandoned the project after Jim passed away in June 2019, while the artwork was still being created.

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Pam told the Advertiser: “I knew Jamie and I used to visit him quite often up at the Linn.

“He was a retained fireman here, and so was my husband.

“When Jamie died, I did a little piece for Jim, and when I took it to him we talked about the possibility of me doing this portrait and some other artwork based on the garden.

“I almost gave up when he died, but I decided to keep going and this is the finished piece.”

Much of the portrait, including its title, is inspired by Jim’s interest in the Fibonacci sequence, and in a formula known as ‘the Golden Ratio’.

Pam said: “It’s a formula that, according to this sequence, a lot of nature is based on.

“Jim was so passionate about it, and that’s why I wanted to include it.

“There’s a page from the Book of Exodus that’s about the ratio of one thing to another and it’s folded into a butterfly.

“There’s a sort of curling fern beside his head, so that refers to the sequence as well.”

READ MORE: Creator of Cove botanic garden, Dr Jim Taggart, dies aged 84

The portrait is now on show at Frames Gallery in Perth - but before it went to the gallery, Pam was able to share it with Jim’s family.

She said: “His son, Peter, saw it just before it went up to Perth and he was very taken with it.

“It was nice to see his reaction to the original in person.”

Pam was previously an illustrator with the BBC, before going on to design greeting cards.

She was inspired to take up her current style three years ago after working on a series of 3D cards.

She added: “It’s quite exciting. I look at things now – a landscape, a building, or a person – and see how they would look made out of paper.”

The artist is now working on an Alice in Wonderland series, with pieces on display at Stafford Gallery in London.

These and her other works can be viewed online at www.pamscottart.com/.

Limited edition prints of all Pam’s pieces are available to purchase, and commissions can be requested by contacting pspaperworks@aol.com.

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