ArtPlantae Today

Artist Andie Thrams has announced her teaching schedule for the new year. The new schedule includes classes about botanical field studies, forest art and a special Hawaiian retreat designed to reconnect you with nature through art and yoga!

Andie Thrams, Coloma, CA
Andie is a painter and book artist devoted to creative work in wild places. She teaches in California, Oregon and Hawaii. Her work is widely exhibited and honored, and is held in many private and public collections. View Andie’s 2012 IN FORESTS calendar at her Etsy store.

• Spring Retreat: Wildflowers, Watercolors & Field Journals
  April 13-15, 2012
  With field journal and lightweight tools in hand participants will gather on the South Fork of the American River poised to make marks, capture colors, record visions, explore habitats. Participants’ work will dance between care and abandon, using watercolor, ink and gouache to invite the magic of spring into our art practice. The pace will allow time for quiet meandering, optional Sunday morning yoga, and sunset painting by the river. Andie will share her ever-evolving field techniques for capturing light, color, gesture and detail, using the journal as a way to experiment and develop ongoing creative themes. Location: Camp Lotus, Coloma, California. Details & Registration: Contact Andie Thrams
• Field Trip: A Day at the Museum
  April 17, 2012
  Spend a day at the San Franscisco Museum of Modern Art to view art, discuss trends in modern and contemporary art and learn about the Museum’s fantastic resources. Fill your field journal pages with sketches and observations about your day at the museum and compare notes with other artists. Limited to six students. Food and coffee at museum restaurant. Details & Registration: Contact Andie Thrams
• Accordion Color Book
  April 28-29, 2012
  Learn how to create an accordion-folding book. Explore watercolor techniques through step-by-step exercises that will demystify color theory as you build a reference book of paint mixing strategies. Using watercolors, both systematically and intuitively, you’ll create spring-inspired color studies applying techniques that transfer to work in ink, gouache, acrylic and oil. You’ll complete a beautiful book, an inspiration source for future projects. Location: San Francisco Center for the Book. Cost: $260. View Details/Register
• Native Botanicals: Field Studies in Drawing & Design
  June 2, 2012
  Create studies of native plants in black and white using pencil, ink and gouache. Discover field-friendly ways to render positive/negative space; reveal gesture and detail; create strong compositions; and explore your own creativity. Participants will leave class with an understanding of the principles of design and a collection of beautiful studies for future reference. Location: Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden, Berkeley, California. Cost: $120 members, $130 non-members. Details/Register
• Native Botanicals: Field Studies in Watercolor 
  June 3, 2012
  Create summertime watercolor studies in the garden. Working with watercolor and gouache, participants will learn how to mix color accurately, create beautiful shimmering surfaces, and build layers using wet into wet, dry brush and glazing techniques. Participants will go home with a series of studies that conjure up the complexity of wild flora and inspire future painting in the field. Location: Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden, Berkeley, California. Cost: $120 members, $130 non-members. Details/Register
• Watercolors in the Wild: Sierra Flora
  July 29 – August 3, 2012
  Create lively field studies of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Discover field-friendly ways to use watercolor and gouache to mix accurate color; create shimmering surfaces; explore light and shadow; build layers using wet into wet, dry brush and glazing techniques; render gesture and detail; and reveal your own mark with ease. We’ll consider botanical imagery in past and contemporary art and take gentle daily forays into the wild to work with new techniques. Participants will go home with a collection of Sierra flora watercolors to use for future reference. Location: San Francisco State University Sierra Nevada Field Campus, Sattley, California. View Details/Register
• The Artful Cookbook: Celebrating Food, Community & Story
  Co-taught with Rebecca Welti
  August 18-19, 2012
  Bring cookbooks, treasured recipes, photographs, poems and other food-related memorabilia to use as inspiration. Participants will collage, paint, write and draw to create layers of embellished imagery within a series of projects on paper. Share meals and stories with fellow participants, sprinkle herbs and spices into your paintings and onto your food, savor flavors and ideas, while creating recipe-inspired art. Location: Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon. Cost: $215. Member registration begins February 27. Public registration begins March 12.
  View 2012 Schedule/Register
• Book Arts for Kids & Adults: Creative Fun & Exploration
  Co-taught with Inga Dubay
  August 20-21, 2012
  Kids, teens, friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles are all invited to celebrate the creative spirit through exploring the book arts. Families will discover easy and fun-to-make book structures. Participants will use ink, watercolor, sticks, feathers, reeds, pens, brushes and crayons to explore lighthearted and beautiful ways to make drawings, paintings and calligraphic writing. For all levels, ages 8 and up. Location: Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon. Cost: $120. Member registration begins February 27. Public registration begins March 12.
  View 2012 Schedule/Register
• Wild Forest Wild Art: Tree-Inspired Painting
  August 23-26, 2012
  Andie will demonstrate her ever-evolving field techniques for working in layers to capture light, color, gesture and detail, evoking what is seen and felt under the trees. Working indoors and out, through sequenced studies, participants will create images revealing their own responses to the unique complexity of wild forests. Participants will complete a series of forest-inspired mixed media drawings and paintings. Location: Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon. Cost: $415. Member registration begins February 27. Public registration begins March 12.
  View 2012 Schedule/Register
• Big Island Retreat: Wild Art & Wild Yoga in Hawaii!
  Co-taught with Dennis Eagan
  October 7-13, 2012
  Island of Hawaii
  Join Andie and her husband, Dennis, on the Big Island of Hawaii, and sink into that blissful place of wonder through the practices of art and yoga. Artists will explore art and yoga as pathways to deepening their connection to the energies of our planet: its plants, waters and creatures. Each day will offer art classes with Andie, yoga classes with Dennis, and open time for your own exploration; classes will be optional and open to all levels of experience. Art students will use field journals to record daily observations and experiences through drawing, writing and painting with watercolor. Subjects will include island color palette; sunrise, sunset and cloud painting; and tropical plant studies. Yoga classes will emphasize asana and pranayama for opening creative energies and for studying the five elements of yoga: earth, air, water, fire and space.
  Location: Kalani Honua Resort
  Details & Registration: Contact Andie Thrams
• Field Studies: Autumn Leaves
  November 7-8, 2012
  During forays into Hoyt Arboretum, participants will collect leaves and inspiration for studio work. Learn how to paint the thousand ambers, crimsons and rusts of Fall while building layers of watercolor, gouache and colored pencil to capture glow and detail. Participants will create beautiful studies for future reference and inspiration. Host: Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon. Location: World Forestry Center, Portland, Oregon. Cost: $212. Member registration begins February 27. Public registration begins March 12. View 2012 Schedule/Register
• Private Creativity Coaching & Artist Mentoring
  In addition to the workshops listed here, Andie also works privately with a limited number of students. This year individual instruction is offered in two eight-week sessions only.
  Session 1: March 15 – May 15
  Session 2: September 15 – November 15
  Details & Registration: Contact Andie Thrams

Andie’s classes have also been added to the Classes Near You sections for Northern California, Oregon and Hawaii.

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