Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Photography, Special Announcements, Special Events on July 16, 2012| 2 Comments »
Become an artist/explorer in 2013!
Natural science illustrator, Mindy Lighthipe and photographer Nancy Richmond have announced their 2013 Artistic Adventure Tour to Costa Rica.
Learn about the plants and animals of Costa Rica while learning how to draw, paint and photograph the lush environment that surrounds you.
To view the complete itinerary and to view images from previous trips, click here:
Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities on July 16, 2012|
NEW!
Fruits from the Orchard
August 24-26, 2012
In this three-day class, Catherine Watters will teach you how to capture the the elegant shapes, fine textures and bold colors of fresh fruit. For advanced beginners to advanced artists. Cost: $375 WCBG Friends Members, $470 non-members. Download Details
Here is what else you’ll find at Wellesley College Botanic Gardens:
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 seminars with visiting instructors including Susan Fisher, D. L. Friedman, Kathie Miranda, Carol Ann Morley, Kate Nessler, Elaine Searle, Catherine Watters and more. The courses offered through this program cover all aspects of botanical art. The following is only a glimpse of what this program offers:
Additional Learning Opportunities
Daylilies at Collamore Field Gardens – July 17-19, 2012; 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM. Learn about daylilies at Collamore Field Gardens, an American Hemerocallis Society Display Garden featuring over 650 varieties of daylilies. Sketch lilies in the garden during peak bloom and learn how to transform your sketch into a watercolor painting in the studio. Botanical artist and instructor, Sarah Roche, will show you how! Cost: WCFG Friends Members $225, Non-members, $275. To register, contact wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu or call (781) 283-3094.
Introduction to Botanical Art – Mondays, August 13-17, 2012; 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM. Explore the world of botanical art in this course designed especially for beginners. Sarah Roche guides your experience through structured exercises, projects, and demonstrations. She exposes you to the basic techniques and methods of botanical drawing and watercolor painting. If you have an interest in plants and botany and a yearning to record what you see on paper, then this class is for you. Sarah Roche is a botanical artist and teacher and the Education Chair of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Cost: $250 WCBG Friends Members, $300 Nonmembers. Download Details
NEW! Fruits from the Orchard – August 24-26, 2012; 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM. In this three-day class, Catherine Watters will teach you how to capture the elegant shapes, fine textures and bold colors of fresh fruit. For advanced beginners to advanced artists. Cost: $375 WCBG Friends Members, $470 non-members. Download Details
This information has also been posted at Classes Near You > Massachusetts.
Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities on July 13, 2012|
One of the things I admire about the paintings of featured guest, Heeyoung Kim, is their fullness and how three-dimensional they look. I asked Heeyoung how she teaches her students to see in three dimensions.
Posted in botanical art, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews on July 11, 2012|
Today, featured artist Heeyoung Kim talks about her work in progress.
Heeyoung, since it is not always possible to document a plant’s life cycle in one season, I assume you must have paintings on hold. How many drawings or paintings do you have in-progress at any given time?
Heeyoung:
Right now, 58 drawings and paintings are in progress.
Early spring flowers are very difficult to finish up as a serious painting. They bloom very early when the weather is still too severe for me to sit hours in the woods. Quite often we have snow which damages the fragile spring flowers, or shorten their blooming time. And too many flowers bloom all together, which makes me feel just hurried, but not doing a lot. So I have a lot of drawings started, but never have enough time to color them.
Mid-summer plants are also challenges. I have to stop going to the woods when it is too hot and too buggy and ticks are all around. When you find 7 ticks from your hair, you say, “Oh My God! Let’s stop!”
I am thrilled, though, thinking of the day when I finish all of them.
Do you have field projects in progress? Tell us what you’re working on!
Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, Learning Opportunities on July 11, 2012|
Here is the latest at Classes Near You > England :
Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute
www.hlsi.net
Cultural arts center and library in London founded in 1839. In addition to their courses in botanical drawing and painting, the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute offers courses in art, art history, ancient and modern languages, music appreciation and the history of London.
Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, Learning Opportunities on July 9, 2012|
The City College of Glascow announces botanical illustration classes for Fall and early Spring 2013. Here’s the latest at Classes Near You > Scotland:
Botanical Drawing & Painting
Posted in botanical art, drawing, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews on July 4, 2012|
Featured guest, Heeyoung Kim, shares how she collects field data:
After you locate a plant in the field, how do you approach recording the plant’s information? Do you begin with a written description of its identifying characteristics or do you prefer to think visually and create a sketch first?
Heeyoung:
When I am introduced to a new plant either with help from my “plant scout” or through a book, I can usually see it from its blooming season. I do start sketching parts of the plant, but I prefer working with the whole composition after I see its full life cycle in the next year.
Both written and graphic records are essential for a proper description, I believe. I usually start measuring botanically distinctive features of the plant with the metric system first. I then draw them from different angles and in various stages with color notes or sample coloring with colored pencil or watercolor. I know we are used to inch and feet in America, but in most other countries they use the metric system and they require you to write scales in centimeters and millimeters when you do scientific illustration and write a plant legend. For color notes, sometimes I just write down the paint tube names I will probably use to paint the plant. I find this works very well for me, as I can directly envision the painting process while I am looking at the plant.
I record all of my notes on one large paper, which I always have with me whenever I go out for sketch.
Botanists and illustrators strive to document conifers around the world.
ArtPlantae Today 