Julia has a love of estuaries and salt marshes, particularly those not far from her Somerset studio. Working with Andy Don, an international eel expert, she has discovered the incredible – implausible sometimes! – life of eels, which has resulted in a whole new series of adventures and artwork. This project became the catalyst for her to learn about and enjoy our fabulous coastline in general, and the important role we all have in managing our rivers, coastline and seas, especially in the light of her new-found understanding of eels, a critically endangered animal. Come and hear about the dramatic life of eels and the challenges they face, how Julia felt compelled to capture some of these themes in her relief editioned prints and how our wildlife is truly showing its connection to the global world. Julia will also briefly talk about her latest series of prints focussing on the Shad, a critically endangered fish. (The image below shows the Shad at Upper Load Weir near Tewkesbury.)
Starts 7pm, followed by a finger food buffet and the talk. Finishes around 9:15pm.
£12 per person.
Book a ticket HERE.
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
Maximum Capacity: 10
Course Description:
Painting can be very therapeutic, but the enjoyment can quickly disappear if you find yourself frustrated with what you produce. This course is about reintroducing you to the fun of painting, loosening your painting style and teaching you how to take the pressure off the end result. It will teach you how to be inspired to create relaxing abstract paintings but also how to feel relaxed when creating them. Through guided exercises you will learn different painting techniques, as well as practical tips to free up your painting style. We will explore different materials, surfaces and subjects, painting to music and other ways to help you unwind and take pleasure in painting. There will be laughing as well as moments of calm and reflecting. A fun filled day learning something new and giving you the chance to relax. Suitable for all abilities, even those who have not picked up a paintbrush before.
Materials List
The tutor will provide the required materials for course participants. The cost per person will be £10 on the day of the course. Please wear old clothes / apron.
Artist Profile
Christina is an abstract artist based in Gloucester. Inspired by the natural world she works with inks and paints to create layers of translucent colours resulting in soothing and relaxing art.
Christina has had lots of experience in the arts and running workshops and at one stage was even the Education Officer here at Nature in Art.
She has exhibited work on the London underground, Saatchi Art and is represented by Wychwold Art Gallery. She had a pop up shop in John Lewis and produced artwork for Gloucestershire Hospital to improve their mental health in Crisis room. Her website: https://www.makerwhodoesntmake.com
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
This course has unfortunately had to be cancelled due to illness.
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
Beetles are one of the earth’s greatest evolutionary success stories. Of all insect species that walk our planet, beetles make up a whopping 40%. There are 350,000 different species described in science & some think that may be as many as 2.1 million. If all flora and fauna was stretched out in a long line, leaf-to-leaf, claw-to-claw, twig-to-twig, tentacle-to-tentacle, etc every 5th thing would be a beetle.
Beetles are predators, pollinators, prey and pest controllers. They are also big, beefy & beautiful. In fact they are crying out to be studied and painted. Come along to this unique watercolour workshop and find out how to use art to pay homage to these fabulous animals.
Materials List:
Please bring the following:
- Watercolours: Neutral Tint (W&N), Titanium White, Cobalt Violet Deep Hue (Sennelier), Helio Cerulean (Schmincke) , Indigo, Ultra Marine, Orange, Madder Lake (Schmincke), Brilliant Blue Violet (Sch) ,
- Pens: – UniPin Fine Line Waterproof and Fade Proof pen. Mitsubishi. 0.05. Black
- 0.3mm Propelling Precision Pentel Pencil (HB)
- Brushes: Rosemary No. 2 SER 301 Pointed Round, Rosemary 0 SER 307, W&N Sceptre Gold 000 101 Series (Sable/Synthetic range) , W&N Foundation brush No.5, Rosemary Micro detail 15/0.
- Masking Fluid (Pebeo Drawing Gum is good)
- MaskingTape
Artist’s Profile
Cath Hodsman AMRSB, is one of the U.K’s foremost entomological artists, illustrators and teachers. Based in the Cotswolds, she has exhibited; showcased her art; or taught at many relevant esteemed venues throughout her career, including the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, R.H.S Wisley and the Natural History Museum, London. Cath believes that the best way to celebrate the importance and relevance of insects in a happy, healthy ecology, is to capture their micro beauty and anatomical intricacy. She uses microscopes in her work in order to capture beauty that is invisible to us.
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Beginners – Improvers
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
On this one-day course, you will make plant climbers, plant supports, trellises and decorative Garden Hurdles, all out of willow and hazel grown in Somerset and Gloucestershire.
Helen will guide you through each stage of the process, whilst introducing you to the different varieties of willow/hazel which you can use to make your creations unique.
By the end of the day you should have been able to make 3-4 items to take home to put in the garden.
Materials List
The tutor will provide the required materials for course participants. The cost per person will be £12, to be paid to the tutor on the day of the course. (Please try and bring the exact change)
Artist’s Profile
Helen Lomberg has been making Baskets and using Willow and other Hedgerow materials for many years now. Twelve years ago she set up The Gloucestershire Arts and Crafts Centre in Westgate Street, Gloucester.
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
Join staff from Gallery Pangolin and photographer Steve Russell to view ANIMALIA, a stunning display of sculpture by Anita Mandl, and photographs by Steve Russell.
FREE, but donation appreciated.
BOOK HERE
If you have any trouble booking using the above link, please call 01452 731422 to book your place.
Course Suitability: Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
Create a bird’s eye view of the natural world using cruelty free non-toxic resin and materials from the natural world to make masterpieces free pouring onto mdf. You will have the opportunity to experiment using texture on a board to create dimensions of natural scenes from photographs or your creative minds! Perhaps an ocean atoll, wetland, riverbank environment, botanical garden, forest or a beach, the choice is yours.
We will explore creating dimension with both UV resin and epoxy to create a depth to the pieces. Adding botanicals and foraged natural elements. Over this two-day workshop you will get to experience making at least two pieces of art to take home.
Materials List:
The tutor will provide all materials at a cost of £25 (cash) per person, to be paid to Emma on the day of the course. Participants may bring home grown or locally foraged dried materials to put in their creations (i.e. sticks, shells bark, sand, dried flowers/leaves). These must be dried to put into resin to avoid mould occurring and humidity within the pieces.
Artist’s Profile:
Emma is a self taught mixed media artist who discovered resin during being furloughed in 2020 when she set up Nature’s Inspiration. She has experimented with many techniques and resins so can answer your queries on which is best to use. Having spent a huge amount of time of time growing, nurturing and drying botanicals she uses many in her resin work alongside those she forages locally within the countryside code.
Emma is part of a collective at Gloucestershire Arts & Crafts and The Beckford Collective and teaches workshops around the county in The Cotswolds, Worcestershire & Oxfordshire.
Emma was also awarded the LuxLife winner of Best Nature-Inspired Vegan Resin Art & Gifts 2023 – South West England under the The Perfect Gift Awards 2023 category.
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £110
Non-members of Nature in Art: £138
To book a place on this course, please click here.
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
Together we will work through a stage by stage process to create a painting of a bird or butterfly in Oils or Acrylics- using an ‘islands to oceans’ method of working. We are aiming to make the eyes come alive and create a painting full of energy and vibrant colour. I hope to inspire you with some new ideas and techniques to take away with you and apply to your own work.
Images will be supplied for you to work from …but if you want to work from your own image please bring it as both a photo and a print out (see below). For good (free to use) reference images see www.pixabay.com
The better the reference image – the better the painting!
Materials List:
What will be supplied:
- 8” x 8” gessoboard
What to bring:
- A colour photograph of your image on an ipad/ tablet. Or printed off at least 5” x 5”.
- A black and white print out of your square cropped image as large as you can make it on an A4 piece of paper eg:
- A selection brushes eg. Rosemary Ivory Short Flats nos. 2,3,5, Ivory Filbert size 0
- A selection of artist quality paints oils or acrylics eg. Daler Rowney starter set.
- Palette knife – eg. Winsor and Newton size 22
- Paper Palette and a box to take your work home in.
- Oils only: A jar and some low odour thinners/ white spirit substitute for cleaning your brushes, some rags or plenty of tissues to wipe brushes clean.
Optional extra items
- ‘Liquin’ painting medium if working in oils
- A ‘Stay-wet’ palette if working in acrylics
Artist’s Profile
Lucy is an oil painter and teacher, living in Leamington Spa. Whatever the subject matter, Lucy encourages students to apply the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour mixing, brushwork and composition. She paints commissions, sells her work and exhibits locally with ‘Leamington Studio Artists’ and has also worked as the ‘Artist in Residence’ at ‘The Artroom’ Gallery in Leamington, painted live at ‘Blenheim Palace Flower Show’ , been a wildcard artist on ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ and exhibited with ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’. Find out more about Lucy at www.lucyburtonart.com
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
COURSE CANCELLED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
This fun & interesting one day course will provide an introduction to making origami wildlife – animal, birds, insects, flowers, fungi and other natural forms, including “action models” that jump, flap, fly or just look beautiful.
Origami is the Japanese art of paper-folding, and this course is suitable for absolute beginners through to improvers. Tony will introduce students to, and explore with them, a range of basic and more involved origami techniques, styles and paper types and their application to the art.
Tony has a particular interest in “upcycling” paper products such as tourist leaflets, flyers, post cards, old magazines etc, and these materials will be used whenever possible and appropriate during the day. Expect a hands-on and fun course and leave with a boxful of paper creations, and ideas to explore further.
Materials List:
The tutor will provide the required materials for course participants. *The cost per person will be £3 per person (cash) which will be paid to Tony by the participants on the day of the course.
Artist’s Profile:
Tony O’Hare is an origami artist living in Monmouth. He has folded paper since childhood, and was Chair of the British Origami Society (BOS) from 2016-2022. He has created hundreds of his own designs on a variety of subjects, and has had 4 booklets of his original work published by the BOS. Tony tends to focus on the natural world and subjects close to home, often with a humorous angle to them. Tony’s origami motto is “Keep folding, Keep Smiling”.
See Tony’s website www.smiley-origami.me.uk or his Facebook page www.facebook.com/smileyorigami for more information.
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Beginners
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
We will be exploring different techniques in watercolour painting including loose watercolour, wet-in-wet etc. This course is suitable for the beginner so come along and have fun. We will aim to produce a painting of an animal of your choice.
Materials List:
Please bring with you a front facing picture of an animal or bird of your choice.
The tutor will provide the rest of the required materials for course participants. *The cost per person will be £10 (cash) which will be paid to me by the participants on the day of the course.
Artist’s Profile:
Maz is a retired primary school teacher and has been painting and crafting with nature for about 10 years. She regularly sells work at local craft fayres and is a volunteer at Nature in Art where she assists with the teaching of children and adults. Maz has previously run a beginner watercolour course at Gloucester Arts & Crafts Group.
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
To book a place on this course, please click here.
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
We will look at arranging and lighting a jar of seasonal flowers with different coloured backgrounds, creating interesting and unusual compositions and colour relationships. We will then sketch out our composition on the canvas, before applying the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour, brushwork and composition.
Materials List:
What will be supplied:
- A jar of Seasonal flowers
- Coloured backgrounds
What to bring:
- A canvas min A4, max A3, rectangular or square
- A selection brushes eg. Rosemary Ivory Short Flats nos. 2,3,5, Ivory Filbert size 0
- A selection of artist quality paints oils or acrylics eg. Daler Rowney starter set.
- A spotlight or anglepoise desk lamp
- Palette knife – eg. Winsor and Newton size 22
- Paper Palette and a box to take your work home in
- A phone or IPAD for taking photos
- Oils only: A jar and some low odour thinners/ white spirit substitute for cleaning your brushes, some rags or plenty of tissues to wipe brushes clean.
Optional extra items
- ‘Liquin’ painting medium if working in oils
- A ‘Stay-wet’ palette if working in acrylics
- A nice vase or jug from home that you may like to paint your flowers in.
Artist’s Profile:
Lucy is an oil painter and teacher, living in Leamington Spa. Whatever the subject matter, Lucy encourages students to apply the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour mixing, brushwork and composition. She paints commissions, sells her work and exhibits locally with ‘Leamington Studio Artists’ and has also worked as the ‘Artist in Residence’ at ‘The Artroom’ Gallery in Leamington, painted live at ‘Blenheim Palace Flower Show’ , been a wildcard artist on ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ and exhibited with ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’. Find out more about Lucy at www.lucyburtonart.com
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
To book a place on this course, please click here.