Head outdoors with Carol Govan and Ellen Duarte to observe botany in action in the Wellesley College’s meadows, in this three session class to be held July 11, July 18, and July 25 from 9:30 – 3:30. Bring flowering plant specimens to the Visitor’s Center to record them using pencil and pen sketches and dry brush watercolor. All experience levels are welcome. WCBG members $250, non-members $300. Register by calling 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu. Image by Ellen Duarte.
Expand your understanding of New England’s wild plants by learning interesting clues about their family relationships and classification. We’ll use microscopes to study woody and herbaceous plants inside and then we’ll head outdoors to look at the differences between the many plants we’ll find in the field. You’ll learn basic formulas for plant structure and how to apply these to other families. Bring lunch and a hand lens.
Fee $178 member of a sponsoring organization, $218 nonmember. Offered by the Arnold Arboretum with the New England Wild Flower Society, and taught by Carol Govan at Garden in the Woods, Hemenway Street, Framingham, on Saturdays, July 18, 25, and August 1. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1.
Carol Govan discusses the centuries-old tradition of creating pen and ink illustrations, which are valued for their rich detail and ability to be reproduced for scientific as well as artistic purposes. Examples of drawings from artists like Van Gogh and Rembrandt in addition to many botanical artists from the past and present will reveal the beauty of using ink. Carol will also discuss the materials used as well as techniques such as weighted line, cross-hatch and stipple, which enhance the simple contrast of black and white. The Wellesley College Botanic Garden lecture will take place Monday, April 13 from 1 – 3, and is free to members of the WCBG, $10 for non members. Register by calling 781-283-3094 or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu. Image by Ruth deMonchaux.
The Friends of Wellesley Botanic Gardens invite you to head outside with Carol Govan and Sarah Roche for three days, July 15 – 17, to observe botany in action in the College’s meadows and then record the flowering plants that you see using pencil and pen sketches and dry brush watercolor. The class will be held from 9:30 – 3:30 and the registration fee is $225 for Friends of Wellesley Botanic Gardens and $275 for non-members. Call 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.
Carol Govan (see work below) encourages you to achieve your own “voice” by getting comfortable with drawing techniques, especially for field sketching. Increase your accuracy, speed, and familiarity with the fastest way to achieve the correct color of an object. Learn how to apply tone to create a three dimensional object no matter what light you have and get that same dimension with color. Homework is to draw for a short time every day. This three day class, to be held Fridays, June 13, 20 & 27 from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, is offered by the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Members of the sponsoring organizations will pay $90, non-members $115. To register call 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.
Using different media including colored pencils, watercolors, and collage, the Wellesley College Botanic Garden will help you understand how color works. Carol Govan instructs on matching the local color and making objects look three dimensional. With just a few colors, play with highlights and shadows on those objects. Understand how using the same principles with different media will affect your image. The class, held on Wednesday, July 24 from 9:30 – 2:30 at the WCBG Visitor Center, is $60 for WCBG members, $75 for nonmembers. Register on line at www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends. Image from makingamark.blogspot.com.
Rosaceae, Liliaceae, Violaceae, Ericaceae. . . Expand your understanding of New England’s wild plants by learning interesting clues about their family relationships. Use microscopes and walk the Garden in the Woods to study live plants and find diagnostic characteristics. With instructor Carol Govan, examine woody and herbaceous plants belonging to several families to observe their similarities and differences. Learn basic formulas for plant structure and how to apply these to other families encountered. Handouts will be provided before class begins so novices can become familiar with basic botanical terminology included in Go Botany and Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, which will help you enjoy looking at plant structure. Bring lunch and a hand lens to class. Fee $180 member, $216 nonmember, offered with the New England Wild Flower Society. Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu. The class will be held on three successive Saturdays, July 13, 20 and 27, from 10 – 2.
Many different members of the Ericaceae, or heath family, thrive in New England’s acidic soils. This Arnold Arboretum class, offered with the New England Wild Flower Society and taking place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on Tuesday, June 18, 9:30 – 12:30, begins with images and a description of the attributes of this family, including a demonstration of Go Botany to see the various genera. Along with botanist instructor Carol Govan, you will then walk outdoors to visit Garden in the Wood’s collection of azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries, cranberries, leatherleaf, dog hobble, and more, also looking for evidence of nectar thieves and buzz pollination. Fee is $40 for Arboretum and NEWFS members, $48 for nonmembers. Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu. Crowberries below courtesy of www.digitalnaturalhistory.com.
The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture presents a class with Carol Govan, who will help you follow plants through the growing season. Expand your creative botanical art and illustration skills through the close study of natural plant communities and seasonal changes. Between meetings, study independently and create accurate illustrations of a local habitat. Focus on gathering data in the field to understand how to identify plants and render them. You will draw faster when you understand what is important for identification and the difference between a field sketch and a plant portrait. Experiment with different media. The six day course will take place June 29, July 12 and 13, August 9 and 10, and September 14, from 9:30 – 2:30 at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden in Wellesley. WCFH members $360, non-members $450. To register, call 781-283-3094, or log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.
Past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Carol Govan introduces you to illustrations from a variety of eras and artists who tried to preserve the ephemeral qualities of plants for different reasons, in this three session class at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden on Thursdays, June 2, 9 and 16, from 9:30 – 12:30. Learn why plant illustrations changed from fanciful copied images to accurate representations from direct observation. Learn the difference between an herbal, a floral, a florilegia, a botanical monograph, and many other collections of images based on who would use the finished book. See the many techniques involved in creating original images as well as reproducing them for a larger audience. A private viewing in Margaret Clapp Library Special Collections highlights the College’s extraordinary world-class collection of rare manuscripts. Bring a hand lens for looking at samples. Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members $100, non-members $125. To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.  Florilegium illustration shown below: And thou, divine LINNAEUS! … from The temple of Flora: or, Garden of nature, being picturesque botanical plates of the New illustration of the sexual system of Linnaeus, by Robert John Thornton, London : Printed for the publisher [i.e., the author], 1799
