Classes listed on ArtPlantae Today are for the benefit of members of our creative community. Their inclusion is not an endorsement by ArtPlantae LLC. As with anything, please investigate your choices thoroughly. Then get outside and be inspired!
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Helen Byers
www.helenbyers.com
Helen Byers is an artist and educator with a background in literary and educational publishing. Her drawings and paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows in the West and East and are held in various private collections. Her illustration credits include six children’s books and six literary book covers. She teaches courses and workshops in botanical drawing and painting, as well as field sketching and nature journaling, to students at all levels.
For more information about Helen Byers and her work, including slide shows from her courses, visit http://www.helenbyers.com.
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Botanical Drawing and Painting
Concord Art Association
37 Lexington Road
Concord, Massachusetts
Wednesdays, May 1–29, 2013
10 AM – 3 PM
Students will study and sketch live plants in the garden of the Concord Art Association (weather permitting) and also work in a controlled indoor setting. Instruction will cover conventional drawing and botanical watercolor painting techniques. Close observation and detailed rendering will be our goals. Daily demos and plenty of individual attention. Some drawing and watercolor painting experience helpful, but not required.
Cost: $250 members, $300 nonmembers
View Details/Register
Field Sketching Ghost Ranch Flora & Fauna
Helen Byers and Janet Darrow, PhD
Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center
Abiquiu, New Mexico
June 3–9, 2013
Join artist Helen Byers and biologist Janet Darrow at Ghost Ranch to identify and record the summer plants and creatures of Ghost Ranch’s several ecosystems. Hone your skills of observation and practice the art of nature journaling. Daily demos will provide instruction in field sketching and the basics of botanical illustration in watercolor. Participants have the option to submit artwork for possible inclusion in a nature guide about Ghost Ranch. This project was launched in 2009. This workshop is fun, informative and allows for individual attention and time for independent work. All levels welcome. Cost: $375
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Still-Life Drawing: Museum Artifacts and Bones
Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center
Abiquiu, New Mexico
June 17–23, 2013
Discover the fun of still-life drawing! Our subjects will be treasures borrowed from the Ghost Ranch museums of anthropology and paleontology — Hispanic and Native American artifacts, dinosaur bones and more. Our materials will include traditional drawing media on paper. Instruction will cover classical drawing techniques as well as composition, line, proportion and value. Daily demos, relaxed individual instruction and helpful group critiques. All levels welcome. Cost: $360
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Harvard Museum of Natural History
www.hmnh.harvard.edu
Serves as the public face of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard University Herbaria and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum. Founded in 1998, this museum receives over 190,000 visitors each year.
Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens
Certificate Program in Botanical Art and Illustration
www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends
This program offers several weekly and two- or three-day classes on botanical art and scientific illustration with Sarah Roche and Jeanne Kunze and and visiting instructors. The courses offered through this program cover all aspects of botanical art. Here is a peek at the 2012-2013 schedule:
- Graphite Fundamentals: Basic Drawing Skills
- Learning Botany by Drawing
- Leaves 101
- Plant Painting for the Petrified
- Photoshop Demystified
- Extreme Lumps and Bumps
- smART Business
- Colored Pencil Fundamentals
Summer 2013 Classes
Don’t miss these summer classes with visiting artist, Susan T. Fisher!
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Turn on the Lights!
Friday, July 26 – Sunday, July 28, 2013
9:30 AM – 3:30 PM BAC 14 132
Go beyond flat botanical drawings with Susan Fisher. Graphite exercises shift your work from blah to bright and show how values enhance any illustration. Create art to grab the viewer; express a three dimensional quality, and fully express the important characteristics of the plant. Make better choices at the beginning of a piece to avoid a big “fix” at the end. Using supplied colored pencils, discover unusual approaches to seeing color and eliminate poor color choices forever. All skill levels. Cost: WCBG Friends Members $350 / Non-Members $440
Optimizing Colors in Botanical Paintings
Tuesday, July 30 – Thursday, August 1, 2013
9:30 AM – 3:30 PM BAC 14 114
You understand how to mix color, now focus on a systematic method for manipulating color to create your vision. How do you optimize color mixtures in your botanical watercolors? Do you use washes or glazes? Do you mix colors on the paper or on the palette? When you need to make adjustments what do you adjust first – value, hue or chroma?
Increase your ability to make good color choices for different painting situations in a series of fun exercises with Susan Fisher. Learn to anticipate drying shifts and how they affect your work. Recognize various lighting aspects and see how they encourage or derail color choices. Focus on the challenging qualities of plant/vegetable specimens to practice color-mixing possibilities. A selection of watercolor exercises will guide students in the skillful use of warm or cool; light or dark; vivid or neutral colors; and related darks in botanical paintings. Although minimal drawing is needed, some watercolor experience mixing colors is required. Cost: WCBG Friends Members $350 / Non-Members $440
To register: email: wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu or call (781) 283-3094
Learn more about Wellesley’s certificate program.
View current schedule
Sarah Roche
www.sarahrochebotanicalart.com
Sarah teaches botanical drawing and painting at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, the South Shore Art Center, and the Copley Society. She is the director of the botanical art and illustration program at Wellesley and the current Education Co-chair of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Visit Sarah’s website for current class information.
Carol Woodin
www.carolwoodin.com
A freelance artist for over 20 years, Carol creates vibrant botanical paintings on vellum. Her work is in public collections and in the private collections of Dr. Shirley Sherwood and Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton. Carol is represented by Susan Frei Nathan Fine Works on Paper, LLC.
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Slipper Orchids in Watercolor (on paper or vellum)
GNSI Education Series Workshop at Reiman Gardens
University of Iowa, Ames IA
May 31 – June 3, 2013
This four-day class includes a field trip and a lot of time in the classroom observing and painting potted native orchids. Cost: $510 GNSI Members, $545 nonmembers.
Applications due May 15. Samples of artwork must accompany application. For more information and to register, visit GNSI’s website.
Painting the Flowers of Summer, Watercolor on Vellum
Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL
July 26 – July 28, 2013
9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
This class includes a demonstration of stretching vellum. Participants will select subjects from the garden and learn how to take a preliminary sketch to an advanced painting on vellum. Cost: $449 nonmember; members receive 20% discount. View Details/Register
Botanical Painting with Watercolor
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA
August 22 – 24, 2013
10 AM – 4 PM
Come to the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts to take a 3-day Master Class and learn botanical painting techniques. Anemones will be the focus of this class. Cost: $290 nonmembers, $260 members.
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