Summer is the perfect time to pack your art supplies and head outside. Connect with the natural world. Look around with curiosity and wonder.

The lessons in this class are designed to help you create directly from and with nature. They’ll share techniques for creating in some ways you might not have thought of for your botanical sketchbook.

When working in your sketchbook slow down, be present. In doing so you’ll be able to more easily re-connect with your creativity. Let go of perfection. Let go of judgement. Experiment and play.

Skills:

Be open to and discover inspiration in the natural world
Let go of perfectionism and any pressure to create “perfect looking pages”.
Look at sketchbooks as a place to explore, experiment, play, be curious and have fun.
Be willing to break the “rules” in order to embrace inspiration and generate ideas.
Play with different media and learn which materials will work best for creating botanical sketchbook pages.
Learn to capture the beauty of the season in very low-pressure ways
Learn to make leaf rubbings as a way to study the architecture of leaves, their shapes and veining. Experimenting with different papers and writing instruments helps to learn your materials as well.
Learn to create flower and leaf images with the practice of flower pounding.
Use natural materials to create prints with cyanotype paper.
Learn to play and experiment with different art materials to imitate cyanotypes. Learn to use masking fluid with paint.
Practice looking around in nature for color and then capturing that color with watercolor on paper. Try mixing colors carefully and thoughtfully and also simply playing with paint while exploring outside.
Learn to paint simple flower petals in watercolor and add details to create a more finished look.
Learn some techniques for sketching, including drawing on top of shadows and experimenting with mark making while carefully observing botanical subjects.
Learn techniques for create interesting sketchbook spreads when you add pieces created on separate pieces of paper to the pages of your sketchbook.
Learn to take your line drawings off the page by creating with chalk on concrete, sketching with thread on fabric and digitizing images to print temporary tattoos.

Tammy Birch Andrade

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