Helen Byers
www.helenbyers.com
Helen Byers is an artist and illustrator who is active in several genres and mediums. She was born in Brazil, grew up in northern California and Mexico, and now lives in Massachusetts. She qualified for the PhD in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara and taught literature and writing at the college level before moving to the Pacific Northwest to work as a freelance literary editor. After moving to Boston in 1988, she embarked on a career as an author, illustrator, and editor for educational publishers.
Since 2013, Helen has turned full-time to her lifelong love of art, teaching botanical drawing and painting in Massachusetts at Tower Hill Botanic Garden (Boylston), the Concord Art Association, and Fruitlands Museum (Harvard). She is also a regular instructor in New Mexico, at Ghost Ranch (Abiquiu), where her courses include a field-sketching workshop focused on high-desert fauna and flora, co-taught with biologist Janet Darrow.
Sensuous Succulents: Botanical Drawing in Colored Pencil
Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Massachusetts
March 14–15, 2015
10 AM–4 PM
This workshop will celebrate the forms and features of succulents—xerophytic plants that need little water because they store it in their cells. Join us to learn and practice using colored pencil to record the intriguing textures, colors, and contours that you see. Our goal will be more to learn from small-scale studies than to produce finished works, and we’ll spend extra time on color layering and blending. All levels welcome.
TO REGISTER: email education@towerhillbg.org or call 508.869.6111
Introduction to Botanical Illustration
Tin Mountain Conservation Center, Albany, New Hampshire
May 23–25, 2015
This exciting new three-day workshop will cover the basics of botanical illustration in graphite, ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. Amid Tin Mountain’s scenic setting in the White Mountains we will explore conventional uses and effects of each medium and technique. Indoors, our plant subjects will be provided; outdoors, we’ll see what we may find! Relaxed sessions, daily demos, and plenty of individual attention. Some drawing experience helpful.
TO REGISTER: email cblodgett@tinmountain.org or call 603.449.6991
Flowering Trees & Shrubs: Botanical Drawing & Painting
Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Massachusetts
May 30–31, 2015
10 AM–4 PM
Take another look at textures in this two-day workshop focused on woody stems, shiny leaves, and delicate petals. Discover what beautiful and detailed effects you can achieve, working in layers with colored pencil or watercolor. Try both techniques, or concentrate on one. Will your subject be a rhododendron or weigela, dogwood or magnolia? You and Mother Nature will decide! All levels welcome; drawing experience helpful.
TO REGISTER: email education@towerhillbg.org or call 508.869.6111
Botanical Drawing & Painting: Plants of the High Desert
Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, Abiquiu, New Mexico
June 15–21, 2015
The unique altitude and climate of Ghost Ranch’s 20,000+ acres host a surprising diversity of trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers. In this spectacular setting, learn and practice two illustration techniques for rendering them artfully and accurately. Relaxed classroom sessions will be devoted to detailed work in colored pencil and watercolor, drawing and painting in layers. Field excursions will offer chances to locate and identify plants in several habitats. Instructional demos, individual attention, and inspiration from “the land of enchantment” will combine to make this an unforgettable week! All levels welcome.
TO REGISTER: Register online or call 877.804.4678, ext. 4155 or 4121
Information about Helen’s classes have been posted to the Classes Near You pages for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Mexico.
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