Just last week I had the great pleasure to lead a Nature Drawing Workshop with the Cranbourne Botanical Art Group who meet and work at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne: RBGC It was a very enjoyable day out - the weather was mild, somewhat overcast and the gardens were, as usual, beautiful. We did a lot of specimen drawing to begin with, mainly leaves that people had collected and brought with them as subjects.
Demonstration drawing - specimen drawing:
Liquid Amber leaf using Staedtler Mars Karat color pencils in my new Hahnemuhle 190 gsm journal.
Linda Weil ©
After specimen drawing we ventured outside to do some on site sketching - first some close observation in graphite, then after lunch some color work on site using 'zoom in- zoom out' techniques. This style of drawing concentrates on seeing the plant/tree as a whole (zoom out) and then zooming in to detail observations of parts of the plant, like a seed pod or flower. Composition across a double page spread with appropriate notes or prose can work really well.
Prostrate Candlestick Banksia - on site drawing using Windsor Newton pan watercolors and Adele black pen detail and washed in my Escoda 200gsm journal.
Linda Weil ©
And I enjoyed doing these so much I worked on a few other specimen drawings over the last week or so:
Rose Hips: Inktense pencils washed with Adele pen details in Hahnemule journal. Linda Weil ©
Unknown autumn leaf: Inktense pencils washed with Adele pen details in Hahnemule journal.
Linda Weil ©
It's always good fun to do a bit of journaling - no pressure to create a masterpiece drawing, just enjoy nature and respond to it on the page.
