Sketching birds with Trevor Smith
Course Suitability: Suitable for all
Maximum Participants: 12
Course Description:
A one day workshop aimed at introducing and exploring the subject of sketching birds. Suitable for anyone with an urge to draw!
The day will include:
• A look at simple avian anatomy, focussing on the movement of the skeleton and feathers and their effects upon form and structure.
• Simple sketching techniques for capturing an image.
• A brief discussion on suitable materials for use in the field.
• A brief look at foreshortening effects.
• Adding colour to a sketch.
• Putting it all into practice using reference material.
Participants will need to provide the following materials:
1/ A good quality pad or book of cartridge paper, or loose sheets.
2/ A selection of B grade pencils, charcoal, or graphite drawing pencils.
3/ An eraser.
4/ A colour medium; for example: Watercolour, coloured pencils, pastels etc,
for applying colour to sketches if desired. (one medium is enough)
While colour can be applied onto cartridge paper with good results, watercolour, or pastel paper or board may be preferred by some participants.
NB – Reference material will be supplied on the day, but participants are advised to bring photographic reference of desired subjects, if the intention is to draw a particular species.
About the artist:
Trevor is a wildlife artist whose inspiration comes from British wildlife; working from life wherever possible.
Sketching in pencil and watercolour, his sketchbooks provide a unique connection to a living subject that is of great value to him; they provide a record of his encounters with wildlife and, acting as aide memoirs, allow recall of past events with clarity.
The immediacy of watercolour makes it his chosen medium with which to achieve this.
Trevor is self employed and has spent much of his career working in wildlife conservation.
‘Britain’s wildlife and wild places are under threat as never before. As wildlife artists we are better placed than many to witness this decline, but can also be influential in highlighting the loss of biodiversity by helping to shape opinion to reverse that loss’.
Trevor has taught fellow artists and novices alike to sketch birds, for many years now, specialising in passing on his experience of sketching from life, in the field.
To secure your place on this course a £25 non-refundable deposit is required.
All courses are £59 per day for members, and £75 for non-members
Painting still life with Lucy Burton
Course Suitability: Suitable for all
Maximum Participants: 12
Course Description:
In this workshop we are going to consider lots of compositional ideas and guidelines, arranging and lighting our fruit on a transparent plate with different coloured backgrounds. We will be looking to create interesting and unusual compositions, shadow shapes and colour relationships. We will then sketch out our composition on canvas, before applying the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour mixing, brushwork and how to paint shadows effectively.
What will be supplied:
A selection of fruits (or vegetables)
Coloured backgrounds
What to bring:
A canvas or board 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 black sharpie and a ‘fine liner’ pen (or similar)
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
About the artist:
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’
• Exhibited with ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’
Places are on a first come first basis.
To secure your place on this course a £25 non-refundable deposit is required.
All courses are £59 per day for members, and £75 for non-members
Book here – £118 / £150, £25 deposit required to book
Course Suitability: Absolute beginners, Beginners, Improvers
Maximum Participants: 12
Course Description:
Everyone has their favourite season. Winter is often overlooked because of the harshness of winter weather at times and shorter daylight hours. However, Liz wants you to look at Winter through a different lens: softer colours and light; deeper, dramatic contrasts; extraordinary views ‘through’ a wooded landscape; the ‘other-worldly’ quality of snow and its effect on a landscape.
Liz always aims to provide a really accessible course for all levels of textile art experience. She will teach you several textile techniques which feature in her own textile artwork, including; fabric painting, wet felt making, needle felting, applique of considered materials, stitch and collagraph printing. You will use a selection of these techniques (or all!) to create a Winter landscape of your choice.
Please bring along any photos, sketches, dried or fresh plants that you would like to use as inspiration. Additional materials will also be available.
Materials Required:
Please bring a variety of Winter landscape photos to inspire the artwork you’ll produce during the course.
You may wish to bring an apron and gloves as we will be using paint.
Liz will provide the required art materials for course participants. The cost per person will be £5.00 which will be paid to Liz by the participants.
About the artist:
Liz is a textile artist and teacher. Her textile artwork is exhibited in galleries, community settings, including Gloucester Cathedral, and featured in a national publication. She has 40 years experience of teaching in all types of educational settings. She delivers art workshops in her studio and further afield, including at national events. Liz is delighted to have been Artist in Residence at Nature in Art, including in September this year. She has also lead large textile art projects, for a regional arts festival, arranging and featuring in UK-wide exhibitions. Liz’s passion for natural landscape is expressed in her colourful and textural textile artwork.
This selling exhibition of contemporary crafts draws inspiration from the urgent themes of the UN’s International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. The works celebrate the beauty of glaciers, polar regions, ice, snow, and water; life-giving and fragile. Exhibits range from ceramics, wood, glass, jewellery, enamels, prints and more.
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Amongst the makers represented are Colin See-Paynton (wood engravings), Amanda Lawrence (glass left above), Carole Bury (mixed media), Robert Cox (wood), Nigel Calvert (glass), Avril Farley (ceramics, right above), Grahame Tucker (wood), Siddy Langley (glass), Ben Venuto (printmaking), Linda Heaton-Harris (ceramic sculpture), Paul Hannaby (wood), Sarah Kinnersley (jewellery), and Grant Sonnex (Furniture and ceramics) .
As has been the case in past years, the majority of the exhibits in this exhibition will be for sale.
Papercutting with Sarais Crawshaw
Course Suitability: Suitable for beginners and improvers
Maximum Participants: 12
Course Description:
Learn about the origins of papercutting and its spread worldwide. Look at how to simplify images in positive and negative space, and make networks of joins to hold a papercut together. Experiment with different tools and types of cuts, folders and tears to create different effects and to use contract or colours to enhance the images. Create a one or two-layer papercut picture.
What to bring:
A materials list will be supplied, alternatively students can order from the artist.
About the artist:
I have always been curious about the natural world and my work reflects this fascination with wildlife and wild places. Since 2000, I have been developing my own ideas in papercut, alongside my other artwork in acrylic paint and pastel. I try to capture the behaviour and character of animals, and to picture them in their wild habitats. I am President of the Wildlife Art Society International.
Places are on a first come first basis.
To secure your place on this course a £25 non-refundable deposit is required.
£59 per day for members, £75 for non-members
We were very sad to have had to report early last year, the passing of the renowned glass engraver and long-time trustee of Nature in Art, Michael Fairbairn (1935 – 2024). He had been a wonderful encourager of Nature in Art and has left a remarkable legacy of engraved glass in public and private hands. To honour Michael’s contribution to Nature in Art and to give people the opportunity to re-aquaint themselves with his remarkable work, this is a unique selection of his engraved glass, mostly borrowed from private collections, many never previously displayed in public.
At the age of 13 Michael won a scholarship to attend the Stourbridge Secondary School of Art. He wasn’t keen, but his parents insisted he took up the opportunity. Fortunately for Michael, he was encouraged by his tutor George Webb who one day gave him a lead crystal tumbler to engrave and a picture of a roe deer. He gave him hints and tips on how to control the wheel and how much abrasive to use. So began a remarkable career.
Michael excelled at the college and went on to gain a National Diploma in Design which led to a three year scholarship at The Royal Collegeof Art which he completed after his National service.Michael graduated in 1961 with a Silver medal for work of special distinction in glass engraving and was immediately commissioned to make a piece to fit into the crook belonging to Rev. Bardsley, Bishop of Coventry.
Following a short spell in industry Michael moved into secondary education teaching engineering drawing at Cirencester Comprehensive. But, in 1968, he was given the opportunity to take up the tenancy of a farm, which he later purchased and farmed for decades. He kept up this passion for engraving whilst running a farm and the commissions he would get helped run the business.
Michael was one of the founding members of the Guild of Glass Engravers and was a life member of Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen. His experience and training enabled him to accomplish many engraving styles but his speciality was wildlife themes and settings. Such was his enthusiasm for this subject that in the 1970’s he undertook the daunting task of producing a series of engraved items of threatened and endangered species. Over 50 species were each depicted on three separate items – 150 pieces that took over 4 years to complete. Part of the proceeds were given to World Wildlife Fund.
Throughout his long career, the majority of his output was commissioned including many from royalty and government.
His detailed, painstaking approach and mastery of the technique is refreshingly set apart from the modern mania for computer-aided design and mass-produced work and stands out as a testament to the enduring significance of meticulous craft-based skill. Visitors to this show will be encouraged to look at the glass, all the while remembering that it has been engraved, not by moving the tool over the glass, but by moving the glass over the tool, sometimes engraving on both sides of the glass.
We sincerely thank all the collectors who have loaned work for this display.
Fresh from its launch at the Natural History Museum, London, see the 100 winning and commended images from the very latest competition. Selected from over 60,000 entries from 113 countries this is an awe-inspiring show. Get a glimpse of the show here.
Bringing the family? Download the NHM’s printable activity trail here!
Young Artists Exhibition
Join us as we celebrate the young artists of Gloucestershire, in their interpretations of Our Great Outdoors: Art Inspired by the Natural World’.
Free to enter, in the Education Centre
Course details:
Join Textile Artist Anne Ward for a day of mindful, collage stitching. Bringing nothing more than a supermarket size bag of fabric scraps,threads, trims buttons and beads, sewers will create a personal fabric collage suitable for the front of a special greetings card or as a piece of textile art. Stitches will be taught and trims used to embellish.
This is intended as a mindful process bringing people into the present moment with a project that is small enough to pick up and work on in a spare 5 minutes once the class is over.Try not to buy fabric scraps, beg from friends and family if you don’t sew, the results will be worth it and will be good.
Materials and additional costs:
Materials
- A Supermarket size bag of fabric scraps, less upholstery weight, more cotton weight.
- A basic sewing kit – pair of scissors, any needle, any ordinary sewing cotton.
- Notebook and pen.
- No ideas necessary but bring some if you want. They normally emerge as we go.
The tutor will provide the following for £7 (cash).
- A selection of embroidery threads.
- A card each
- Backing fabric
- Some trims
- handout
Suitability:
Suitable for all
Spaces:
12
Price: £62 / £79
PLEASE NOTE THIS COURSE IS NO LONGER RUNNING
Course details:
During this course we’ll investigate the possibilities of this fascinating medium.
Traditionally scraperboard has been used to achieve exquisitely detailed artwork by scratching through black India ink to expose the white chalk layer beneath.
Day 1: We’ll review and try out the different types of scraperboard available and then use the many tools available for making textural marks to achieve a beautiful piece of black and white art. We’ll also look at how this may then be coloured to achieve another effect.
Day 2: Using a white chalk surface, we’ll use black ink in specific areas to then create our next piece of work. Lastly we’ll investigate the ways we can cover the white surface with coloured inks and use our scratching out skills to achieve a different, but still detailed piece of scraperboard art.
Materials and additional costs:
Supplied by tutor for £12 (cash)
Suitability:
Suitable for all
Spaces:
12
Price: £124 / £158