Tutor: John Wiltshire
Date: Tuesday 4th June 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £75
Location: Classroom

Improve your watercolour technique and develop as a watercolour painter with John Wiltshire. This course is designed to build on your existing experience with watercolour and provide you with tools which will help you to continue to grow as a watercolour painter. Over the session you will be introduced to various approaches and methods to apply your own painterly vision to your practice. We will look at the Botanic Garden and how to approach this exciting and vibrant subject for yourself ‘en plein air’. You will be briefly revisiting the basics of watercolour technique and introduced to practical applications of a limited palette technique. Materials will be provided, but you are welcome to bring any materials that you would prefer to use.

Tutor: Caroline Henricksen
Date: Thursday 27th June 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £75
Location: Classroom

Taking inspiration from the Botanic Garden, come and join Caroline Henricksen for a fun relaxing and creative day paper collaging flowers. Caroline will take you through the process she uses to create her botanical collage pieces, starting with you creating your own collage surfaces using paints, foliage, vintage paper, magazines, old books, wallpaper, and even toothbrush and scissors. Just about anything can be used to collage. Playing with patterns and textures can produce some interesting and quite beautiful results. This workshop is aimed at beginners through to more accomplished artists who want to try something new. Caroline will be on hand throughout to give lots of one-to-one tuition. Students are welcome to bring in their own materials that they would like to work with (for example old prints, poems, books) but everything is provided on the day. Just turn up and create!

Tutor: John Wiltshire
Date: Tuesday 2nd July 2024 and Wednesday 3rd July 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £150
Location: Classroom

Improve your oil painting skills with professional painter John Wiltshire. On this two-day course in oil painting technique, professional artist John Wiltshire will demonstrate techniques and approaches to oil painting in the open air. With enough time to create your own painting this is a rare opportunity to work in the beautiful historic setting of the Botanic Garden and explore oil painting over an extended period. Use the techniques of ‘il primatura’ and ‘a la prima’ painting and expect to learn some of the ‘tricks of the trade’ that will enhance and accelerate your own painting so that you will come away with practical insight into how to develop as a painter. Materials will be provided, but you are welcome to bring any materials that you would prefer to use. This course is suitable for beginners or those looking to improve their painting technique.

Tutor: Janie Pirie
Date: Thursday 4th July 2024
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Cost: £55
Location: Online

Sit in the comfort of your own home and follow Janie with this step-by-step lesson on ‘painting’ a beautiful rose bud using coloured pencils. This online workshop will give you the chance to learn some of the basic techniques of illustrating a botanical subject using coloured pencils. Using a limited colour palette Janie will show you how to achieve a beautifully painterly effect with coloured pencils, incorporating smooth gradations, showing you how to tackle fine details and using shine to create form. The price includes a kit of coloured pencils, sheets of art paper, and rubbers. The pack will be sent out in advance of the course and contains everything you will need to complete your drawing, including simple instructions for how to do a preliminary drawing to prepare for the course. Suitable for beginners or for those wanting to brush up on their techniques.

Tutor: Janie Pirie
Date: Wednesday 17th July 2024, Thursday 18th July 2024, and Friday 19th July 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £180
Location: Classroom

There is nothing more exciting than learning how to show the glossiness of bright summer berries. Cherries are particularly beautiful, but there are many others to choose from, such as blueberries, redcurrants, blackcurrant, raspberries… the list goes on. This course will cover drawing, composition, and colouring with good quality-coloured pencils. The result will be a piece of work that is dripping with juiciness! This course is suitable for beginners and those wanting to develop their drawing technique. A suggested materials list will be provided a few weeks before the start of the course.

Tutor: Janie Pirie
Date: Wednesday 4th September 2024, Thursday 5th September 2024, and Friday 6th September 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £180
Location: Classroom

A cook’s cupboard isn’t complete without a variety of herbs and spices. However, they don’t get to be observed when used in culinary situations. This three-day course will give you an opportunity to study them closely and find a beauty you didn’t know existed. There are so many varieties of pepper, from very small (and fiercely hot) to large. Lemongrass, ginger, chives, mint, sage, dill, coriander, parsley – an endless list of exciting subjects. You could choose to illustrate several on one page – those that you would need to make a curry or a Thai dish perhaps, or you can just make a study of herbs or spices. Drawing and composition will also be covered, as well as the best techniques to apply to coloured pencil work to make it look ‘painterly’ and three-dimensional. This course is suitable for beginners and those wanting to develop their drawing technique. A suggested materials list will be provided a few weeks before the start of the course.

Tutor: Penny Price
Date: Wednesday 11th September 2024, Thursday 12th September 2024, and Friday 13th September 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £180
Location: Classroom

Join botanical artist Penny Price to cover the learn the basics of watercolour technique by focusing on onions and garlic. The shine on an onion and the papery quality of a garlic bulb are challenging but rewarding. Cut open to reveal patterns or left whole, these shiny, reflective materials provide an opportunity to develop your watercolour technique. Starting first with pencils, we can study their shape and paint them in watercolour. Some specimens will be provided, but you are free to bring some of your own choice too. Open to all levels with group and individual guidance. A suggested materials list will be provided a few weeks before the start of the course.

Tutor: Lizzie Harper
Date: Tuesday 1st October 2024 and Wednesday 2nd October 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £135
Location: Classroom

This workshop takes two days to experiment with botanical illustration in pencil, covering line drawing on day one and tonal studies on day two. We’ll touch on composition, do some basic botany required for accurate illustration, have tutor demos, and the chance to draw parts and/or whole plants from the garden. Plants from the Botanic Garden will be provided, but you are free to bring some of your own choice too. Open to all levels with group and individual guidance. A suggested materials list will be provided a few weeks prior to the course.

Tutor: John Wiltshire
Date: Monday 4th November 2024 and Monday 11th November 2024
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Cost: £95
Location: Online

Draw the Botanic Garden from the comfort of your own home with professional painter John Wiltshire. During this online course we will take our time to pay attention to the pinetum area of the Botanic Garden so that you will be able to distinguish one tree from another and describe the essence of these differences in drawings. Using various approaches with pencil and graphite, you will learn to improve both your mark making and your observation on this course. The price includes a kit of required material. The pack will be sent out in advance of the course and contains everything you will need to complete your drawing. This course is suitable for all levels.

Tutor: Penny Price
Date: Wednesday 13th November 2024, Thursday 14th November 2024, and Friday 15th November 2024
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £180
Location: Classroom

A three-day workshop designing a floral painting in watercolour, with a gilded background using gold leaf. Gilding techniques will be taught, and help given on final designs. Plants from the Botanic Garden will be provided, but you are free to bring some of your own choice too. Open to all levels with group and individual guidance. A suggested materials list will be provided a few weeks before the start of the course. Penny will supply the gold leaf and acrylic gold.