18 JANUARY 2024  *FREE RECORDING STILL AVAILABLE*
7pm GMT (2pm EST, 11am PST)

BEST BITS 2023

Curated by Julia Trickey
 

During 2023 I hosted twenty online talks, giving you the opportunity to look over the shoulder of over thirty leading botanical artists from all around the world. In this FREE one hour presentation, I will share short extracts and images from the 2023 programme of talks. If you have not attended any of the webinars before, this is a great way of seeing what they are like and of getting an overview of last year's programme of speakers.

2023 speakers included: Asuka Hishiki, John Pastoriza-Piñol, Shevaun Doherty, Bobbi Angell, Rogerio Lupo, Carol Woodin, Bridget Gillespie, Chris Thorogood, Simon Williams, Margaret Saylor, Wendy Hollender, Sue Wickison, Esmée Winkel, Mary Ellen Taylor, Deborah Lambkin, Sarah Gould, RHS exhibitors, visiting tutors from the Transylvania School of Botanic Art and members of the Eden Project Floriegium.

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*FREE RECORDING STILL AVAILABLE*

8 FEBRUARY 2024  *RECORDING AVAILABLE*
7pm GMT (2pm EST, 11am PST)

GETTING GREAT RESULTS FROM COLOURED PENCILS

Janie Pirie
 

Janie will describe the various coloured pencils techniques used to create her beautiful and very painterly pieces of botanical art. Her talk will be illustrated with many images of finished artwork as well as a piece in various stages and will include a live demonstration.

Janie Pirie specialises in floral and botanical art using coloured pencils. Her meticulously drawn and striking compositions have immensely accurate detail together with great depth and a rich intensity of colour. She has received awards for her work including two RHS gold medals. Janie teaches extensively in the UK and exhibits regularly.

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janiepirie.co.uk

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£12  *RECORDING AVAILABLE UNTIL 15th FEBRUARY*                                    

22 FEBRUARY 2024  
7pm GMT (2pm EST, 11am PST)

NATURE PRINT - THE ARTIST AT PLAY

Yanny Petters
 

Nature print is an old form of illustrating plants by printing directly from the plants themselves. Yanny has recently been exploring a variety of techniques which were used in the nineteenth century before photography was developed. In this session she will show her experiments, talk about her discoveries as well as show you her process and how she has adapted the techniques to achieve delightful results.

Yanny Petters loves to explore different mediums and techniques. While her work is mostly painted on glass she has been exploring Nature Print as a way of capturing plants for many years. Her paintings are in a number of important collections including the Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew Gardens, London, the Office of Public Works State Collection, & the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

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www.yannypetters.net

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£12                                       

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4 APRIL 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

botanical illustrations for packaging

Sarah Jane Humphreys
 

Sarah will show you how to make your botanical illustrations stand out from the crowd and build a portfolio to attract commissioning clients.

£9 SPECIAL PRICE 

21 MARCH 2024  
7pm GMT (2pm EST, 11am PST)

BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOKS:
AN ARTIST'S GUIDE TO PLANT STUDIES

Lucy T Smith
 

Lucy will take you through her new book, discussing the wide range of techniques and projects it covers and detailing some of the work that went into creating the studies featured in it. Find out how keeping Botanical Sketchbooks can enhance your own botanical art practice, inspiring both discipline and creativity.

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Lucy T Smith (BVA, MCA, FLS) is an international award-winning botanical artist and illustrator. A freelance botanical artist for Kew Gardens for the past 24 years, hundreds of her illustrations have been published in scientific journals and books. Her work is held in important collections, including the Shirley Sherwood Collection. 

www.lucytsmith.com  www.instagram.com/palmsmithy

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£12 (£9 if booked before 21 February)                                             

18 APRIL 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

EXPLORING BOTANICAL COLLAGE

Penny Brown

Penny will introduce you to her prize-winning cut paper collages, explaining how she was inspired to develop this unusual technique and apply it to botanical subjects. She will explain her influences and her process, with numerous examples of finished collages and of work in progress. She will also talk about how she chooses and researches subject matter, and about her plans for developing the work in the future.

Penny has always worked as a professional artist, initially as a theatre designer, then as an illustrator. Natural History commissions led her to botanical painting and drawing. She is a fellow of The Society of Botanical Artists and a tutor on their Distance Learning Course, where her best-selling book, ‘Botanical Drawing’ is a set text. She exhibits widely and is represented by The Gallery at Sculpture by the Lakes.

pennybrownillustrations.com

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£12 (£9 if booked before18 March)                                              

2 MAY 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOURS

& INKS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Julia Patience

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Julia will show how she manipulates her photographs to make a perfect composition, using Photoshop tools. She will demonstrate how to use inks to give more intensity to watercolour paintings and take you through the stages of a project, from photographs to the finished painting.

After a thirty year career in graphics and illustration, Julia's decision to paint full-time co-incided with a move to Hong Kong for six years, where she could devote all her time to painting and where her love of exotic flowers bloomed. She became a Fellow member of the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) in 2016 and has exhibited internationally with them. She has now spent five years as an SBA council member.

www.juliapatience.com   www.instagram.com/julia.patience

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£12 (£9 if booked before 2 April)                                            

16 MAY 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

THE POWER OF PLACE: PLANT COMMUNITIES IN BOTANICAL ART

Lara Call Gastinger
 

Lara enjoys using her background in plant ecology to express a larger story about plants and where they grow. She will talk about strategies for reference photos in the field and how she creates these layered compositions. 

Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lara was the chief illustrator of the botanical reference book 'Flora of Virginia'. As well as a degree in Biology and a master's degree in Plant Ecology she has two RHS gold medals (2007, 2018) and work in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Lara has gained international recognition for her inspiring 'perpetual journal'.

www.laracallgastinger.com   www.instagram.com/laragastinger

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£12 (£9 if booked before 16 April)                                            

30 MAY 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

LICHENS IN THE LIMELIGHT:
SCALE, COLOUR AND WONDER

Christiane Fashek

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Christiane will describe her process of capturing lichens on paper: from collection and scaling up to identification and rendering. She’ll discuss how she became captivated by these fascinating organisms and how she approaches teaching lichen basics to artists of all ages. 

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Lichens are the focus of Christiane’s recent work and coloured pencil her preferred medium. She uses scale, perspective, and colour to highlight their fascinating features. Christiane is an instructor at various botanical gardens and offers workshops virtually and in-person. She was awarded ASBA’s 2022 Esther Plotnick Artist Grant to teach primary school students about lichens and botanical art and is the recipient of ASBA’s 2023 Lizzie Sanders New Artist Award. 

www.instagram.com/christianefashek  www.instagram.com/lichensinthelimelight

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£12 (£9 if booked before 30 April)                                              

13 JUNE 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

UNDER-TONAL DRAWING AND GRANULATING PIGMENTS

Mindy Lighthipe

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Join Mindy Lighthipe as she demonstrates her technique to create an undertonal drawing to portray form and texture. After completing the tonal drawing she then uses granulating pigments to bring the subject to life. 

11 JULY 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

THE FRAGMENTS

Úrsula Romero (Inky Leaves)
 

This talk is a chance to see Úrsula in her new studio, learn more about her art school and to find you why she chose ‘Úrsula’.

Úrsula Romero is an internationally recognised artist, described as a 'rebel flower painter' and known for using flowers and leaves as her muse, augmenting their magnifications, scale and negative space. 

25 July 2024  
7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT)

CAPTIVATED BY COLOUR

Crystal Shin

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Crystal will explain have she has evolved
her own method of discovering the subtle shades beyond and beneath 'local colour' and she will demonstrate her coloured pencil technique for building rich and radiant coloration.

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Korean-born, Crystal was the primary illustrator of the University of Washington’s 2nd edition of Flora of the Pacific Northwest. She works for the University’s Herbarium and Paleontology department, and her illustrations have appeared in scientific journals and the New York Times. She loves to capture the luminous colours and details of plants in coloured pencils. Crystal teaches online and in person for groups, gardens, art schools, and her own classes, as well as the  ASBA.

www.crystalshinart.com  www.instagram.com/crystalflorafossil
 

£12 (£9 if booked before 25 June)