Current Classes
Offered by ASBA Individual Members & Member Institutions
Online botanical art course
The course is suitable for everyone wanting to develop and improve their abilities in this field of art. You will;
· Learn to observe botanical detail in plants and know what to look for.
· Learn to put down on paper what you have seen.
· Compose and draw plants in an attractive and informative way.
· Learn about the impact of tonal value and form in painting.
· Gain more understanding of your chosen media - watercolour or coloured pencil, but also graphite and pen and ink.
· Complete by the end of the course at least:
o One botanical picture in graphite.
o A pen and ink drawing in your chosen style.
o A botanical picture incorporating graphie and colour.
o One fruit and vegetable study in colour.
o Two full compositions of a flowering plant and a fruit and vegetable arrangement.
Each of the six modules in the course is sent via a dropbox link with an assignment at the end of each one. High resolution scans or photographs of the assignments are sent to me and a detailed and constructive feedback is then returned with the link to the next module.
Each module contains several tutorials and from the second module onwards there are links to some of my videos demonstrating technique. The course is expected to take no longer than 18 months, but can generally be completed in under this time, depending upon the amount of time given to it. However, botanical art is a slow art form and I don't suggest rushing it.
The course is ongoing, but I limit the numbers enrolled at any one time to ensure each person gets individual attention.
Botanical Basics Online Subscription Program
These 30-minute instructional meditations will support a routine of practice with a minimal time commitment. This course is designed to build confidence in your core drawing skills, increase your set of techniques and encourage a relaxed time to create
Read details here: https://www.drawbotanical.com/botanical-basics-course-overview/
Phone: 917-607-7366
Email: info@drawbotanical.com
The Practice of Botanical Drawing - Online Subscription Program
Step-by-step guidance and visual instruction using colored pencil and watercolor pencil. Study natures forms, patterns and colors throughout the year using seasonal botanical subjects.
View complete syllabus and enrollment details here: http://www.drawbotanical.com/course/complete-course-the-practice-of-botanical-drawing/
Botanical Art Workshop
Learn basic drawing skills and watercolor techniques to create a botanical illustration. Evolve basic drawing skills through studying and sketching a plenty of leaves, vegetables, flowers, and branches from the nature. Suitable for those with no or little experience of painting with watercolor, and for those who wish to improve the skills of botanical illustration. A lot of exercises will give you certitude in drawing the plants.
Maximum of 8 students in take.
I'm looking forward to share all my knowledge about watercolour painting with you.
Advanced Expressive Watercolor
This course builds on Intermediate Watercolor Techniques. Students complete a botanical watercolor painting of native North Carolina plants of her/his own choosing, using the elements learned in Intermediate Watercolor Techniques. Prerequisites: Intermediate Watercolor, Color Theory.
Botanicals in Colored Pencil, Watercolor and Ink
This class is designed to increase your skills and confidence in the use of the various art media taught at the Garden. The instructor demonstrates techniques to combine watercolor, ink and colored pencils to create vibrant botanical paintings. Students receive one-on-one instruction to evolve their own unique drawing and painting. This course is a non-credit course. Prerequisites: Beginning Colored Pencil, Pen and Ink, Intermediate Watercolor.
Botanical Portraits: Fruits & Vegetables in Colored Pencil
Fruits and vegetables aren't just good to eat—they're also great to draw! In this four-day workshop, you can do so in detail. What's your fancy—a pair of pears, a cabbage leaf, something tropical? The choice of subject will be yours. Helen's demos and personalized instruction will guide you in layering techniques to achieve luminous color, necessary values, and challenging textures.
Advanced Drawing and Painting Botanicals with Colored Pencil
The focus of this course is accurately rendering a variety of flowers, using live plant materials. We will focus on compositional skills and the utilization of different substrates including black and tinted papers as well as Mylar. Students will further hone the skills developed in Session I and II.
Prerequisite: Drawing and Painting Botanicals with Colored Pencil, I & II: Techniques & Applications.
Botanical Painting for Beginners/Intermediate
Learn how to portray flowers and plants in watercolor. Rose Pellicano will teach the students in a step by step method the traditional techniques of botanicall painting, observational skills and correct color mixing. Lecture, demonstration and individual attention and reference to the masters of botanical art will be part of the course .
Flowers will be supplied by the instructor. A materials list will be supplied upon registration.
Botanical Illustration in Transylvania
The Weekend Workshops in Transylvania are a creative invitation into the heart of Transylvania, on an exceptional location, where we will rediscover tranquillity, and the simplicity and beauty of the scenery, we will recognize and admire the seasonal flora, and will exercise botanical illustration in various techniques, as a unique path for relaxation and connection with nature. The creative workshops will be completed by delicious meals, cooked by the locals, as well as by a serene and refined ambiance. By choice, touristic activities are available, to discover the area.
Saturday 11am – Sunday 1pm
Price 270euro
Included:
- 1 night accommodation in twin or double room
- Saturday lunch
- Saturday dinner
- Sunday breakfast
- Tools and materials for the workshops
*on request, Friday dinner and accommodation, as well as Sunday lunch, can be added
Lecturer: Irina Neacsu – architect, artist in botanical illustration and applied art (irinaneacsu.com)
Group: 9 students
This workshop is dedicated to beginners and intermediate in pencil, watercolour and lino cut.
Description:
Our workshop teaches botanical illustration from general to detail, and from the naturalist drawing and watercolour, towards stylisation and transfer to the engraving technique of lino cut. Saturday is dedicated to pencils and watercolour, as techniques of realistic depiction, therefore an exercise of observation, and discovery of the absolute geometry of plants, while identifying details and miniature textures. At the end of the day, each student will frame his/her favourite painting, achieved during the two sessions of painting. Sunday we learn how to stylize the drawing thorough its reduction to essential elements, and we transfer it into lino cut, exercise followed by manual imprint on textile – by choice, tote bag or cushion cover.
Location: http://www.experiencetransylvania.ro/guesthouse/richis-119/
Saturday
9am-10.30am – check in
11am-1.30pm – introduction, first painting session, learning how to use watercolour
1.30-2.30pm – lunch break
2.30-5pm – watercolour workshop
5-7.30pm – free time for relaxation and various activities to be discussed in relation with weather.
7.30pm – dinner
Sunday
9am – breakfast
10am-1pm – lino cut workshop
1.30pm – check out/ lunch (*by choice, as addition to the main package)
Botanical Workbook: Leafy Greens in Colored Pencil
Getting the greens right is essential in botanical illustration—but it can be tricky. Join Helen Byers in this two-day workshop to learn a color mixing method in colored pencil that saves time and reduces guesswork. You'll practice layering colors on paper, matching them to the greens of live leaf material, and recording the combinations in a color workbook you can expand for future use. A list of recommended supplies will be sent to registrants. All levels welcome.
Out of the Ordinary - Three Extraordinary Methods of Painting Botanicals
Out of the Ordinary
Three Extraordinary Methods for Painting Botanicals
Florence Art Summer Program at Villa Palmerino, Florence, Italy
July 17 - 21, 2017
Villa Palmerino is an historic villa nestled just below the famous Fiesole hill in Florence. The oldest part of the villa dates back to 1400. This beautiul country house is surrounded by the family gardens and vineyard, a peaceful and quiet oasis, yet minutes by bus to downtown Florence. The Villa's cultural assocation is dedicated to the support of art and artists. The villa hosts artists, writers and researchers from all over the world and many new friendships and creative exchanges are born there.
This workshop is an introduction to creating botanical art and decorative floral motifs in three unique techniques. All three combine historical mediums and supports. While these techniques are distinctly different they do share some common working methods.
Mische Technique - Learn how to combine egg tempera and oil layers to create a luminous botanical portrait.
Drybrush watercolor on vellum – Learn the basics of this classic botanical technique and medium using watercolor in a drybrush style on calfskin vellum.
Casein on gessoed panel – Explore the magical versatility of this ancient medium. Casein is an opaque, water-based painting medium that uses casein (a derivative of milk curd) as a binder and cleans up with water. Alternate: Casein on clay panel – Learn a modern take on fresco painting with casein on archival kaolin clay panels.
I will also be offering an introduction to silverpoint/metalpoint sometime during the week.
We will spend Monday-Thursday learning the basics of these methods. I will provide drawing templates for typical fruits and flowers that we can expect to find in the gardens, or you can work from your own drawing. We will be referencing live specimens for local color and details. On Friday, you can choose what technique(s) you would like to explore in more detail.
Day 1:
Morning - Intro to Mische Technique. Pick subject, transfer drawing to panel, ink drawing, apply layer of red oil (or alkyd) paint. I will demo each step.
Afternoon - Intro to dry brush watercolor on vellum - Demonstration. Series of exercises to show techniques.
Day 2:
Morning – Continue with dry brush watercolor using simple subject (perhaps a grape from the Villa's vineyard!)
Afternoon – Mische Technique. Demo and class painting of 1st white egg tempera layer. Apply layer of yellow oil (or alkyd) paint.
Day 3: Morning – Intro to Casein on panel (or clay panel) - Demonstration. Series of exercises to show techniques
Afternoon - Mische Technique. Quick demo/painting of 2nd white egg tempera layer. Apply layer of blue oil (or alkyd) paint
Day 4: Continue with Casein
Morning - Continue with casein using a simple subject
Afternoon – Mische Technique – final egg tempera layer and starting local color in oils (or alkyds)
Day 5: Free to explore any technique(s) more in depth with my assistance.
Florenceart.net website listing of course - http://florenceart.net/courses/summer_radding
Villa Palmerino website - http://www.palmerino.it/index.php?id=3&lang=en
Harvest: Botanical Illustration in Colored Pencil
How is your appetite for drawing veggies? Join us to create a botanical portrait of a vegetable that "calls" to you. We'll work in layers to achieve accurate proportions, luminous color, necessary values, and fine detail. Daily demos, tips, and personalized instruction. A list of recommended supplies will be sent to registrants. Intermediate level. (Note: Botanical art students with some experience working in watercolor will be welcome to use that medium instead of colored pencil.)
Fresh Art-Pencil and Paint in the Garden
Recording the beauty and freshness of flora “in situ” is a plein air botanical artist’s greatest desire. In this class, learn to capture the spontaneity of flowers and floral subjects using expressive graphite and watercolor washes. Explore new ways to see and develop perspective with “quick draw” methods. Discover the expansive and harmonious nature of a limited palette when you develop your own Color Palette Exploration Chart. Learn how to enhance and build value-rich form and spatial quality layering transparent color. Experiment with contemporary approaches to composition. With classroom instruction and exercises, and plenty of one-on-one guidance in the field, you will be ready to complete an illuminated chronical of your day in the garden!
Botanical art workshop holiday
The botanical art holiday will be a mixture of botanical art teaching every morning, with five local trips planned for the afternoons and experiencing the cuisine of the Dordogne area of France.
The holiday includes airport transfers from either Limoges or Bergerac airports to Le Manoir, a marvellously restored manor house in St Sulpice.
But of course, you will be more interested in the botanical art teaching than you will your surroundings, although they are superb. You will:
- Choose your own subject,
- Design your composition
- Do a clean line drawing of your design
- Create a tonal study as reference
- Paint your picture using the medium you prefer.
I will be there to help you all the way.
You arrive on Saturday and early on Sunday you will start on your artwork. The number of students will be restricted, therefore I will demonstrate as necessary at each stage and in your chosen medium - either watercolour or coloured pencil. Where needed, each person will also have periods of individual tuition.
In the afternoons, although excursions are planned, my time will be divided between those who choose to carry on painting and want my guidance, and the trips.
For more information, please look at my website.
Larger Than Life
Whilst it's great to have the skills to be able to paint something we have just picked from the garden, as we become more experienced as artists we start to look at the challenge of different ways to portray plants accurately. This three-day course with Martin Allen looks at how to take digital reference photographs and use them to enlarge small parts of plants to create an exciting new image. Martin will cover how to take useful photographs and the practical challenges of translating that photograph into a realistic image on paper using a straight-forward painting technique that can easily be refined with practice.
Master Class to Paint Heritage Apples
Anne-Marie Evans returns to Falls Church, VA, for the 10th consecutive year. We have two spots left in this popular and very-well-attended class. We meet in a large room and each student has a full table.
Anne-Marie will guide us in creating a painting of a heritage/heirloom apple. If you wish you may begin drawings ahead of time so you have more time to concentrate on painting. We will provide apples with leaves and some of the branches to those who need them. Virginia is a great apple-growing state and there are quite a few orchards specializing in heritage fruits.
Anne-Marie concentrates on developing a strong composition and then on creating a three-dimensional painting. She constantly roams the classroom, from student to student, helping them resolve their particular problems. She is truly a hands-on teacher and I always feel as if I have had a private class because of the special attention. Students are rarely able to complete a painting during a one-week class, but everyone learns a lot.
Contact us for more details, including a supply list.