ArtPlantae Today

Lasdon Arboretum Revises Botanical Illustration Classes

January 18, 2010 by Tania Marien

Please note these updates in Classes Near You > New York:

The following classes at Lasdon Park Arboretum have been rescheduled. See date changes in bold.

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.

Watercolor Color Pencil Workshop – Saturday, January 9; 9:30-12:30. Snow day January 10. Learn how to mix watercolor washes with colored pencils. Watercolor colored pencils dissolve into lovely watercolor washes. Colored pencils are used to enhance the details. These two media complement each other and are fun to mix! All levels welcome. Cost: $250
Colored Pencil for Experienced Students – Wednesdays, February 17 – March 31; 9:30-12:30. Prerequisite: Graphite Drawing (The graphite class is a foundation course taught on Thursday mornings. See below.) Cost: $250
Graphite and Colored Pencil – Saturdays, March 20 – April 3; 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
Graphite Drawing (All Levels) – Thursdays, February 18 – April 1; 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

Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities |

Nine-week Introduction to Botanical Illustration

January 18, 2010 by Tania Marien

New at Classes Near You > Washington:

Louise M. Smith Botanical Art
www.greenstems.com
Louise teaches at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Gage Academy of Art and the University of Washington Natural Science Illustration Certificate Program.

Botanical Illustration – Tuesdays, February 16 – April 13, 2010; 7-9 pm. A nine-week introduction to botanical illustration. Participants will learn how to create accurate botanical drawings and then learn how to apply watercolor using various techniques. This class is taught at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Cost: $230 Pre-registration required. View details.

Posted in Learning Opportunities |

Beautiful Botanicals Out-of-Print, But Still Available at ArtPlantae Books

January 18, 2010 by Tania Marien

$28.99 (out-of-print)

There are two copies of Beautiful Botanicals in stock. The price listed is the original list price. Used copies of this book begin at $45.

The following review is from the Watercolor section of the library:

King, Bente Starcke. 2004. Beautiful Botanicals: Painting and drawing flowers and plants. North Light Books. ISBN: 1-58180-494-6
This book is an inspiring reference and a practical one too! Bente Starcke King provides a general overview of the following: art supplies, workspaces, flower morphology, foreshortening, composition, shading techniques, signing & dating artwork, framing, concealing mistakes, and exhibiting one’s work. She also leads artists through 18 demonstrations that allow students the opportunity to apply what they learn from her. She teaches students techniques in the following media: graphite, pen & ink, ink wash, transparent watercolor, watercolor w/pen & ink, and watercolor w/colored pencil. Feature demonstrations include: graphite (how to transfer a drawing, curled leaf on acetate); pen & ink (spruce cone, cyclamen); ink wash (curly grass, daffodil), transparent watercolor (onion, snowdrops & winter aconites, bluebells, daffodils, Trillium & violets, magnolia, rose hips); watercolor w/pen & ink (Mountain Ash, Echinacea); watercolor w/colored pencil (tulips, Virginia creeper, irises, dog roses).

See this title and more at ArtPlantae Books

Note: The title page in one of the copies is inserted upside-down. A tiny “oops” during the printing process that does not affect the contents of this practical reference.

Posted in ArtPlantae Books, botanical art, Special Announcements | 1 Comment »

Tax Information for Artists, Writers

January 11, 2010 by Tania Marien

The following information was forwarded by a reader. Here is information about a tax workshop as it was posted on the pasculture public email list at PasadenaCulture.net.

Tax Tips Specifically for Artists

This timely three-hour workshop provides important information for anyone who is self-employed, but is especially geared towards artists, writers, performers, and dancers. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to: being an employee vs. being self-employed, having a Hobby vs. having a Business, how to keep records to protect yourself in case of an audit, the difference between expenses for employees an those for self-employed people, understanding self-employment taxes and taking advantage of various deductions including entertainment, research, automobile and other expenses unique to artists.

Everyone attending will be provided with a wealth of information to take with them, including some guidelines on how to keep good records and a listing of current websites that are resources for those in business for themselves. PLEASE NOTE: This class does not cover tax issues for non-profit organizations.

Stephen Benjamin, a CPA whose clients include actors, writers, artists and other people in the entertainment industry, will teach this class. Mr. Benjamin is also an entertainer in his own right and makes the workshop fun as well as informative. He even has prizes to give out to some lucky attendees!

Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Time: 6:30 – 9:30pm
Location: Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro Street, in Little Tokyo near Downtown Los Angeles
Cost: $35 (BOA / CCI members), $40 (Non-Member)

Posted in Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements |

Nature Journal Class at Glacier National Park

January 11, 2010 by Tania Marien

The state of Montana has been added to Classes Near You. If you are traveling to Glacier National Park this summer, keep this journaling class in mind:

Glacier National Park
www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm
The Glacier Institute oversees “learning gone wild” at the nation’s 10th national park whose centennial will be celebrated in 2010. View the Institute’s complete catalog at www.glacierinstitute.org.

Nature Journaling – July 18, 2010. Short hikes and quiet moments absorbing the natural landscape define this one-day sketching workshop. A materials list and course outline can be viewed here. Interested individuals can register by phone (406-755-1211) or online.

Posted in Learning Opportunities |

Botanical Illustration for Handmade Journals & Custom Stamps

January 11, 2010 by Tania Marien

New workshops at Classes Near You > California:

Jane LaFazio, Plain Jane Studio
www.plainjanestudio.com
Jane is a mixed media artist and a member of the San Diego Sketchcrawl group. In addition to the sketching classes below, Jane teaches workshops in collage, mixed media, and quilting. A detailed class schedule can be viewed on her website.

Bella Italia: Orvieto Sketchbook – May 23-29, 2010. Go to Italy! Spend a week at a bed-and-breakfast with fellow sketchbook artists. Each morning Jane will help you with seeing, drawing, and the application of watercolor paint. This trip includes local sightseeing, wine tasting, a cooking class and shopping at the local market. View all details here.
Floral Rubber Stamps: Design & Carve Your Own – International Quilt Festival, July 22 (2:00 pm -5:00 pm). Participants will design their own rubber stamp by changing and simplifying an image of a flower. They will then carve their design into a printmaking block.
Sketching and Watercolor Journal Style: Flowers and Plants – Art Unraveled 2010, Thursday August 5 (9:00 am – 4:30 pm). Learn how to draw plants in an illustrated journal. Gain experience with watercolor as you add color to your journal pages. Participants will create an accordion book for their paintings. View details
Duet: Watercolor Flower and Hand-carved Stamp – Art Unraveled 2010, Friday August 6 (9:00 am – 4:30 pm). Do it all in this class! Draw from life, design your own stamp, and paint your final composition. View details
Sketching & Watercolor, Journal Style – December 2 & 3, 2010. Sponsored by the San Diego Watercolor Society. View details

Posted in Learning Opportunities |

Artists & Naturalists Have A New Source For News

January 4, 2010 by Tania Marien

Social media is not for everyone in spite of all the hype. Quite frankly, sometimes you just don’t feel like making friends. All you want to do is read and learn in peace.

To create exactly this type of a peaceful user experience, ArtPlantae has established a news area that is viewable without any obligation whatsoever. And since it serves as the source for the news bits posted to Facebook and Twitter, readers of this new news source receive the same information that Fans and the Twitterati receive. So if you have been avoiding congested social media channels like the plague, you now have the opportunity to receive information that does not require opening an account, logging-in, or having your photo appear on the Web every time you surface. All you need to do is read, glean bits of information, nod your head, and be on your way.

Here is how all of this works.

ArtPlantae shares news bites and interesting articles with its readers on Facebook and Twitter in between the usual Monday morning email updates. When the news stream is ripe with stories, information is posted on an (almost) daily basis. This information is now being funneled through the ArtPlantae News Feed, a very simple straightforward place to pick up as many morsels of news as you feel like having. Feel free to drop-in anytime.

If you would like to have your morsels fed to you, then subscribe to the feed and never worry about having to leave your inbox to search out what’s new. Subscribing to the feed means you will receive an update at the end of any day on which updates were posted. If no news is shared, no update is sent. It’s that simple.

However you choose to participate, we hope you

Posted in Blog News | 4 Comments »

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