Boston Flora

Tag: Botanical Drawing

  • Monday, January 5, Wednesday, January 7, Friday, January 9, & Monday, January 12, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Eastern – A Graphite Adventure: How to Solve Botanical Drawing Problems, Online

    Drawing plants isn’t always easy, especially when you’re faced with foreshortened petals, tricky tonal values, or overlapping shapes. In this four-session Massachusetts Horticultural Society online class in January, 2026, Carol Ann Morley will explore numerous ways to approach these visual problems and how to solve them with confidence. Learn how to build spatial depth and show space using techniques like atmospheric perspective. With step-by-step guidance, you’ll gain skills to simplify what you see and conquer the curves of a curled leaf, the surface pattern of a gourd, or the layered shapes of a flower.. Register at https://www.masshort.org/upcoming-classes

  • Saturday, November 1, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Drawing Botany: Exploring the Diversity of Fruits, Seeds, & Pods

    This November 1 Massachusetts Horticultural Society class is for those new to botanical art as well as more experienced artists who desire a short refresher in plant morphology.

    Bring your sketchbook and spend the day learning about the form, structure, and function of plants and their components through close observation and immersive drawing exercises intended to enhance your ability to draw plants accurately. The focus of this class is fall fruits, seeds and pods.

    A selection of plant materials and specimens will be provided to draw during class. If you have a garden or indoor plant or a botanical specimen (such as a seed pod) you would like to draw, please feel free to bring it to class. Lauren Meier is a botanical artist and landscape architect. She received a BA in Botany from Pomona College and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She worked as a field botanist and plant ecologist before specializing in historic landscapes and has published many articles, contributed to several books, and frequently lectures on topics related to landscape preservation and restoration, treatment of plant material, and the work of the Olmsted Firm. Her publications and projects have received many national and local awards. Meier is currently completing a Certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration from Massachusetts Horticultural Society, formerly the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, where she combines her specific interest in the interrelationships between science and art.

    The class takes place at The Garden at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, from 10 – 4, and is $125 for Mass Hort members, $150 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org

  • Mondays, October 16 – November 27 (excluding November 20), 11:00 am – 2:00 pm Eastern – Pen and Ink, Online

    Pen and ink, among the most versatile and useful media, can be used to create high quality, easily reproducible drawings. Learn how to produce different strokes and how to create tone by using stipple, line, and crosshatch techniques. Carol Ann Morley will present a six part class, online, for the New York Botanic Garden Prerequisite: Botanical Drawing II or equivalent. Please note, this course requires the purchase of materials. Please refer to the materials list on the registration page for more information. NYBG members $460, nonmembers $505. Click HERE for complete schedule and information.

  • Tuesdays, September 26 – October 31, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm Eastern – Techniques of Botanical Drawing and Painting, Virtual or Hybrid

    Celebrate the vivid and vibrant palette of fall fruits and wildflowers through exercises and projects, and work on your drawing and watercolor techniques in this class with Sarah Roche designed for the more accomplished botanical artist. Focus on the many aspects of achieving the accurate representations of botanical subjects through demonstrations, individual instruction, and close scrutiny of plant structure. Artists enrolling in Techniques should have successfully completed at least two Foundations courses and have the permission of the instructor. Classes meet on 6 Tuesdays, September 26 – October 31, from 10 – 1. Member price $315, nonmembers $365. Register at www.masshort.org

  • Thursday, October 22, 10:00 am – Botanical Drawing and Painting, Online

    Thursday, October 22, 10:00 am – Botanical Drawing and Painting, Online

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay is pleased to present its October meeting via Zoom on Thursday, October 22 at 10:00 am, featuring popular past presenter Sarah Roche on the topic of Botanical Drawing and Painting. Sarah is a botanical artist and Education Director of the Botanical Arts program at Wellesley College Botanic Garden. She will teach a limited number of Garden Club members to draw and paint from live botanical specimens, from your own outdoor spaces. Sarah, an experienced teacher, will demonstrate and guide members of all abilities through the project. GC members who register will be sent a materials list and Zoom link prior to the date of the program. An email notice for registration will be sent.

  • Wednesdays, February 6 – March 13, 9:30 am – 1:30 pm – Foundations of Botanical Drawing

    Through demonstrations and tutorials, Education Director of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens (WCBG) Sarah Roche will introduce you to the traditional art and science of botanical drawing and painting. Instructional focus includes observational skills, drawing, composition, design, and watercolor techniques. For the fall, this class will focus on mixing greens, building up the intensity of a painting through washes and glazes to give complex and rich detail. Starting with studies and exercises, we will work together to complete a final painting with accurate color, texture and detail. The class takes place at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley. $295 for Mass Hort and Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, $345 for general public.

    Must pre-register at https://www.wellesley.edu/wcbg/learn/adult_education

    Image result for foundations of botanical drawing

     

  • Monday, June 4 – Wednesday, June 6, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm, and Thursday, June 7, 9:30 am -12:30 pm – Introduction to Botanical Art

    Explore the world of botanical art in this Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens course designed especially for the beginner.  Sarah Roche guides you through structured exercises, projects and demonstrations, exposing you to the basic techniques of botanical drawing and watercolor painting.  The four day class will be held at the Wellesley Community Center  Monday through Wednesday, June 4-6, from 9:30 – 3:30, and on Thursday , June 7, from 9:30 – 12:30. Friends price $250, nonmembers $300.  Register on line at www.wellesley.edu/wcbg/learn

  • Sunday, February 18, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Botanical Studies in Graphite

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Helen Byers in this one-day workshop on Sunday, February 18 from 10 – 4 to refine your drawing skills. Choose a subject from Helen’s collection of “treasures”-maybe a bit of bark or lichen, a dry leaf or seedpod, a small cone-and draw it in detail. We’ll explore the exciting possibilities of using graphite to render a full range of neutral tones and textures. Individualized instruction will include demos and helpful tips. A list of recommended supplies will be sent to registrants. To see galleries of Helen’s work and slideshows from her courses, visit helenbyers.com.

    Helen Byers is an artist, writer, editor, and educator with a background in literary and educational publishing. Her drawings and paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows in the West and East and are held in various private collections. Her illustration credits include six children’s books and six literary book covers. Her teaching of art has included courses and workshops in botanical drawing and painting, watercolor painting, figure sketching, still-life drawing, and field sketching / journaling.

    Helen’s work is included in 2 prestigious recent exhibitions: The19th Annual International Juried Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists & the New York Horticultural Society, Nov. 1 – Dec. 30, 2016 in NYC; and “Woody Plants of New England,” an exhibit of the New England Society of Botanical Artists at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, July 8 – Sept 11, 2016.  $80 for THGB members, $90 for nonmembers. Register online at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—botanical-studies-in-graphite

  • Wednesday, March 22 – Friday, March 24, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Illuminating Botanicals with Gold Ink

    In this Berkshire Botanical Garden three day studio class with botanical illustrator Carol Morley, students learn to add a decorative element to their botanical drawings by embellishing the flowing lines of a drawing of a flower or leaf with 18-carat-gold liquid ink. They will also learn to add details to a drawing with the point of a luminous silver or gold Prismacolor pencil. Students should bring along a few favorite botanical drawings to the class. They can then transfer one of them to a dark paper, add a bee or two and a butterfly, and weave in some gold lettering, which will transform the drawing into a glowing illuminated botanical illustration. Students will discover how easily spectralite liquid gold flows from the nib of a crow quill pen and how it looks and feels. For those with no crow quill experience, there is the option to work solely with luminous colored pencils.

    Carol Ann Morley is a professional artist and dedicated teacher working in Milton, NH. She founded the Botanical Art and Illustration Certificate Program at the New York Botanical Garden and teaches botanical art and drawing at the New York Botanical Garden, Wellesley College Botanic Garden, and Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, ME.

    This class meets at Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday, March 22, 23, & 24, 10 am – 4 pm. Bring a bag lunch. A materials list will be e-mailed to you upon registration. Gold ink and paper can be purchased from the instructor. At the moment, the class is fully registered but if you’d like to be placed on a waitlist, please contact the BBG office manager at (413) 320-4794.

  • Saturdays, March 11 – April 1, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Art of Botanical Drawing

    Explore the beauty and variety of plant forms using pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. This four-week course on Saturdays from 9:30 – 11:30 on March 11, 18, 25 and April 1 will introduce botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening, shading, and color. All skill levels are welcome. Instructor: Erica Beade. Fees: $110 Arboretum members/$130 nonmembers. Advance registration required at www.hmnh.harvard.edu.  Image from www.science-art.com, copyright ENBeade 2000.