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Now at Classes Near You > California:


Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden

www.arboretum.org

    Around the World in 127 Acres: More of the Arboretum’s Plant Collections
    Classes meet on Wednesdays from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (rain or shine). Instructor: Frank McDonough. Cost: $5 member/$7 non-member per class. All classes meet in the Arboretum Library. Wear your walking shoes. Dress comfortably. Bring water. Register: 626.821.4623

    • Pirate Plants: Plants of South America and the Spanish Main – April 7, 2010. Learn about South American plants and how they are used locally and throughout the world.
    • Survivor Plant II: Winter Blast – April 21, 2010. How did small tropical plants come to survive China’s temperate forests?
    • From the Stairway to Heaven to the Gates of Hell, Park II (Sacred, Spiritual, and Ritual Plants) – May 5, 2010. A look at the spiritual significance of selected plants in the Arboretum’s collection.
    • Bushtucker Walkabout – May 19, 2010. Discover wild foods growing in the deserts, jungles, and forests of Australia.
    • The Most Useful Plants in the World – June 2, 2010. Learn how people have used palms and bamboos for food, shelter, and more!
    • Eat or Be Eaten – June 16, 2010. Fascinating plant-animal interactions will be revealed on this walking tour through the Arboretum.

Art in the Park: Three-Day Nature Sketching and Journaling Workshop
Saturdays April 17, May 1 and May 8
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Cost: $75
This workshop series offers one full day of classroom instruction at the Quarter Path Recreation Center in Williamsburg, VA and two full days of plein air drawing at Waller Mill Park.  Linda Miller, botanical artist, Virginia Master Naturalist and a new member of the Native Plant Society, will help you see, sketch, and render the natural world. She designed this workshop using a number of traditional and creative techniques so each student (regardless of their style, sensibility, and ability) will develop their own personal approach to drawing.


Materials List
:

  • All Workshops: Sketching paper or spiral journal with blank pages appropriate for pencil or watercolor; pencils (2B & H); kneaded eraser; watercolor pencils or paint (optional)
  • Field Sketching: Comfortable chair or stool, sun protection, insect repellent, camera, binoculars or magnifying glass, your favorite field guides
  • Comforts: Water, snack and lunch. Dress for the weather.

Registration closes April 14, 2010. Please register at Waller Mill Park or by calling (757) 259-3778.

This workshop is listed at Classes Near You > Virginia, complete with links to both parks and a detailed course description.

ArtPlantae is excited to participate as a national partner in National Environmental Education Week (EE Week). Blending the theme for EE Week (Be Water and Energy Wise) with botany and botanical art education has been a rewarding experience. So many people have given their time to participate in the event. There will be so much to learn!

Here is a hint of what is to come during EE Week at ArtPlantae:

  • Learn how one city involves its residents in water conservation activities and how both the city and residents teach others about the importance of water conservation.
  • Learn how an illustrator partnered with habitat restoration experts to restore habitat and create an illustration garden.
  • Does your school have a schoolyard garden? You’ll want to know about this practical tool.
  • Learn how a rain garden benefits the ocean and connects people with plants and their food.
  • Read how a natural science educator created a series of books about ecosystems.
  • Teachers, have you been looking for a way to incorporate nature drawing into your lesson plans? There are workbooks you’ll want to see!
  • Learn how an illustrator has created a venue to teach botany and botanical art from the ground, up.

EE Week is just around the corner!
To receive daily updates during EE Week, sign-up to receive news by email.

The state of Michigan has been added to Classes Near You!:

Gail Guth, Guth Illustration
www.guthillustration.com
Natural science illustrator and graphic artist, Gail Guth, has been bringing nature to life through illustration since 1976. Below are classes she will teach at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, MI. Detailed course descriptions and registration information can be viewed here.

  • Sketching Animals – May 8 & August 21, 2010. This program will focus on capturing animal shape and motion in live subjects. Zookeepers will bring in animals for viewing. Participants will also walk through the zoo to sketch other animals.
  • Fur, Feathers & Scales – May 15 & September 11, 2010. Study the basic structure of fur, feathers and scales and learn how to capture texture and other details on paper. Zookeepers will bring in animals for viewing. Participants will also walk through the zoo to sketch other animals.
  • The Next Steps: From Sketches to Finished Works – June 12 & September 25, 2010. Learn how to take your sketches from an idea to a finished piece of art. Participants will also walk through the zoo to sketch animals and other subjects.
  • Make Your Own Sketchbook or Nature Journal – April 24, 2010. Make your own sketchbook and learn how to create a portable field kit. Sketchbooks will be hand-sewn. A small materials fee will be collected.
  • Watercolor Landscapes: Introduction to Field Sketching with Watercolors – October 9, 2010 (alternate date: Oct. 16). Capture Michigan’s Fall colors in watercolor! Learn about light, shadow, and watercolor techniques while painting your way through the zoo’s Swamp Adventure Walk.

Capture the colors of Spring with these new classes at Lasdon Park and Arboretum. Now at Classes Near You > New York:


Lasdon Park and Arboretum

Lasdon Park Brochure
Located in Somers, NY, the 234-acre Lasdon Arboretum is home to the botanical art program directed by botanical artist Laura Gould. Laura is a botanical artist whose primary medium is colored pencil, graphite, and watercolor. Course descriptions, registration information, and Laura’s online gallery can be viewed at Barking Dog Studio. Additional workshops will be offered throughout the year by visiting instructors. Please check back for updates.

  • Colored Pencil for Experienced Students – Wednesdays, April 7 – May 19, 2010; 9:30-12:30. Prerequisite: Graphite Drawing (The graphite class is a foundation course taught on Thursday mornings. See below.) Cost: $250
  • Graphite Drawing (All Levels) – Thursdays, April 8 – May 20; 9:30 – 12:30. For beginners and experienced students who love the beauty of graphite. This class prepares students for other courses in the program. Please join us. Cost: $250
  • Graphite and Colored Pencil – Saturdays, April 10 – May 22, 2010; 9:30-12:30. Students of all levels are welcome to join the class. Learn at your own pace while enjoying the company of fellow artists. Cost: $250

Working with the team at Google Maps, artist Bill Guffey has established a unique travel and learning opportunity for painters and sketchbooks artists worldwide. Each month he uses Google Maps to select a location where he and fellow artists will “meet” to paint in their sketchbooks. A new location is announced on the first of each month. Artists go to the chosen location using Google Maps and roam the streets using the Street View feature to choose their composition. Completed drawings and paintings are scanned and sent to Guffey before the end of the month. This fun painting experience is open to all levels of artists.

If you have been wanting to add a sense of adventure to your day, then visit the The Virtual Paintout website and see what “traveling artists” have created.

The following guides have been added to Herbarium > Science Library > Plant Guides:


Chickering, Carol Rogers. 1973. Flowers of Guatamala. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN: 080610813.
This book contains 50 color illustrations of Guatamalan plants from different regions. The climate belts of Guatamala and the readily visible plants of each belt are described. Chickering traveled throughout Guatamala and painted each plant on-site. The plants featured in this book are: Achimenes longiflora, Amoreuxia palmatifida, Aphelandra schiediana, Bixa orellana, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Calliandra houstoniana, Canna edulis, Cassia indecora, Castilleja tenuifolia, Cattleya aurantiaca, Cestrum aurantiaca, Chiranthodendron pentadactylon, Cobaea villosa, Cochlospermum vitifolium, Cordia alba, Dahlia maxoni, Dahlia popenovii, Fuchsia splendens, Gliricidia sepium, Guiacum sanctum, Heliconia bibai, Ipomoea carnea, Jacobinia umbrosa, Kohleria elegans, Lobelia laxiflora, Lycaste virginalis alba, Malvaviscus arboreus, Odontoglossum grande, Oncidium splendidum, Petrea volubilis, Plumeria rubra, Portlandia platantha, Psittacanthus calyculatus, Quercus skinneri, Robinsonella cordata, Rondeletia cordata, Salvia wagneriana, Sprekelia formosissima, Tabebuia donnel-smithii, Tagetes spp., Tecoma stans, Tillandsia rodigueziana, Tithonia longiradiata, Triplaris melaenodendron, Weldenia candida, Wigandia kunthii, Yucca elephantipes, Zephyranthes brevipes, Zinnia elegans, Fuego bouquet.

Chickering’s work is included in the collection at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. She painted a collection of mariposa lilies for Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden and has exhibited her work at the California Academy of Sciences and Descanso Gardens. Chickering received a medal from the Garden Club of America for her work combining botany and art.


Schroter, Ludwig and Carl Schroter. (19??) Flore des Alpes
This field guide for tourists contains 207 flowering plants depicted in color and ten plants in black-and-white. Text is written in French, English, and German. This book is the 20th and 21st edition. The year of publication is unknown. Comparisons to other editions of this book place the publication date around 1910.


Yocom, Charles F. 1964. Shrubs of Crater Lake. Crater Lake Natural History Association.
While a ranger-naturalist at Crater Lake National Park during the summers of 1951 and 1952, Dr. Charles F. Yocom drew the shrubs growing in the park. This small and informative field guide contains descriptions of 81 of the park’s 103 shrubs. Fifty-four of the shrubs were illustrated by Yocom. Two herbs are also included in this book. This handy guide ends with a six-page glossary of botanical terms.


Gilmour, John. 1947. Wild Flowers of the Chalk. The King Penguin Books.
A small guide to the English Chalk and its common wildflowers. The author makes reference to the fact that this book is part of a series of small guides about plants growing on the lime soil of the Chalk Outcrop. Sixteen color plates are included in this book. They were created by Irene Hawkins and represent the following plants: Gentiana amarella and G. germanica, Polygala calcarea, Thymus serpyllum, Thymus serpyllum, Hippocrepis comosa, Asperula cynanchica, Filipendula hexapetala, Phyteuma tenerum, Scabiosa columbaria, Helianthemum nummularium, Anemone pulsatilla, Onobrychis viciifolia, Blackstonia perfoliata, Anacamptis pyramidalis, Ophrys apifera, Cephalanthera grandiflora, and Astragalus danicus.


Don’t miss…

All inclusive botany field trips to the Alps