What’s On

Art Course
with Jackie Garner 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

This 2-day course will focus on producing detailed paintings of natural objects such as feathers, seeds and shells, using a pure watercolour technique.
We will cover working with layers of colour, wet into wet, and lifting out colour to create texture, pattern, iridescence and form.
Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Artist’s Profile
Jackie Garner trained at Medway College of Design before becoming Nature in Art’s first education officer. She is now a professional artist who specialises in portraying wildlife, taking inspiration from encountering wildlife in its natural habitat. Jackie teaches and lectures regularly, and is a contributor to Artists & Illustrators magazine. She has exhibited with many art societies, including the National Exhibition Wildlife Art, the Society of Wildlife Artists, BirdScapes Gallery, Royal Institute of

Painters in Water Colours and has held solo exhibitions in London and Gloucestershire. Jackie is the author and illustrator of The Wildlife Artist’s Handbook.
Jackie is happy to discuss the course with students. Visit her website for contact details: www.jackiegarner.co.uk

Art Course
with Jill Moger 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

This 2-day course will start with a discussion about the importance of the presentation of a piece of wildlife art produced in clay. All of Jill’s ceramic animals are presented on an appropriate and realistic base and you will be constructing your very own for your piece on the first day.
On day 2, you will model a realistic gecko. Jill will teach you how to hollow out your clay sculpture and the different ways to finely model features and texture skin. She will also talk about the various glazes and how to apply these and she will bring an example to demonstrate on.

If students have an available kiln to fire their finished piece they may wish to take it home but if not, Jill will take the work back to her studio in York, dry it, glaze and fire it and return it to Nature in Art a few weeks later for students to collect.
Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Beginners – Improvers
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials List
Please bring a full apron and any small tools that you might like to experiment with on clay.
All other materials will be supplied by Jill Moger, at a cost of £10 per participant,
payable directly to her on the day.
Please note: for those who wish Jill to use her kiln to fire their finished piece, an additional charge of £6 will apply, payable directly to Jill on the day.

Artist’s Profile
Jill is an established ceramicist of many years’ experience and her subject matter is wildlife but with a particular emphasis on reptiles. She uses stoneware and porcelain clays to create finely detailed work which is fired in an electric kiln up to five times to enhance colours and lustered glazes.
www.jillmogersculptures.co.uk

Art Course
with Richard Box 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

This course is for all of you who long to paint in watercolours but have been deterred by the erroneous myth that they are supposed to be ‘difficult’. Richard will dispel that myth and teach you, step by step, how to paint a simple still life and achieve marvelous effects with numerous layers of translucent colours without ‘getting mud’!
Most problems about painting are concerned about mixing colours. So the course will start with exploring the nature of colour with coloured pencils.

This will give you the confidence to transfer your newly discovered knowledge to watercolours. If you follow Richard’s ‘recipes’, you will be thrilled at what you can achieve.
Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Art Course
with Yvette Green 10am-5pm
Maximum Participants: 8
Garden mosaics are designed to interact with their environment, reflecting and refracting light so that they change throughout the day.
On this 1-day course you will produce a stained glass bird mosaic which can be used to brighten up your garden or pot plant in the winter months. You will be able to make a bird of your choice .
Skills covered on the course will include mapping out your initial design, basic glass
cutting, stained glass mosaic techniques and grouting techniques.
This course is ideal for all levels, although glass cutting skills are a bonus.

Course Cost
Members: £40
Non-members: £50
Course Suitability: Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials List
Apron
Sealable jar or container to take home grout powder if needed.
All other materials will be provided by Yvette Green, at the cost of £6 per participant, payable directly to her on the day.

Artist’s Profile
Yvette Green is a stained glass mosaic artist working from a small house studio based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Yvette trained in Botany and Education before working in mosaics for the last 8 years. She works primarily with stained glass and glass inclusions and produces mosaics for all areas of the home, specializing in garden mosaics.
Her work is inspired by the intense colours of nature. She has taught a number of courses in the Gloucestershire area.
www.baobabtreemosaics.co.uk

Art Course
with Mike Amphlett 10am-5pm
Maximum Participants: 12
If you still haven’t read the camera manual or, if you have, but cannot comprehend much of the ‘jargon’, then this 2-day course is for you!
On day 1 Mike will run through the menu systems and settings of your camera, particularly those that are of most concern to new users, but specifically focusing on those settings which are of most use to those working with natural subjects. He will also cover how to use different lenses/focal lengths to best effect. There will then be time during the afternoon to practice what you will have learnt about menus and settings, followed by a Q&A session.
On day 2 Mike will add some more ‘depth & breadth’ to what was covered on the previous day. Weather permitting, you will be able to start taking some images using the experience you will have gained from day one. After lunch, there will be the opportunity to have Mike review and critique what you will have done and, suggest ways in which you might improve your technical and creative abilities.

Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers

Materials List
Notebook and pens
Your camera and accessories and, most
importantly, your camera user-manual
For both days, laptop PCs would be
extremely useful
Mike Amphlett will provide course handouts for you to keep.

Artist’s Profile
Mike has been photographing since 1978, beginning with insects for his work at Oxford University’s Zoology Department – he then ran the department’s photo-unit until 1991. In 1982, he was seconded by the RSPB as field-assistant on a film about Pink-footed geese in Iceland. In 2004, Mike moved to digital and, in 2005, acquired his first D-SLR. 20 years of tutoring photo-classes helped him understand the often simple things which prevented many camera users from progressing. He is a good listener and a patient instructor.

Art Course
with Ann Swan 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

In this 2-day course you will learn how to create deep, vivid but clean colours without compromising the form of the plant. You will be able to say ‘goodbye’ to muddy colours, as Ann will show you how to choose accurate colours for layering and shading without losing the brilliance of the colour.
You will also learn in which order to apply techniques such as resist, underpainting and embossing and the importance of planning your approach to coloured pencil work.
By the end of the course you will be able to use the techniques demonstrated, to tackle
multiple coloured and textured plant material with confidence.

Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Art Course
with Liz Robertson 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

The aim of this 2-day course is to produce a triptych landscape, based on a photograph or sketch of your choice. Triptych is a popular format for depicting landscapes and will add dynamism to your work.
Liz will firstly teach you several methods of printing and you will be able to make print blocks to your own design. You will then have the chance to embellish your print with different types of stitch techniques. To finish, you will then have the option to add beads and other small objects to your piece.

Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials List
Please bring a photograph or image that you wish to base your landscape on.
All materials will be supplied by Liz Robertson, at the cost of £5 per participant, payable directly to her on the day.

Artist’s Profile
Liz Robertson is an exhibiting textile artist. Her work uses a variety of textile media and techniques. The inspiration for Liz’s work comes from her love of natural landscape.
Liz is a teacher with over 35 years teaching experience in schools, colleges and adult education settings. She delivers textile and art workshops at various locations throughout the UK.
facebook.com/All-Things-Textile-by-Liz-Robertson

Art Course
with Trevor Smith 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

This 2-day course will focus on the sketching, drawing and painting of birds, with the emphasis on working from life.
The course will cover topics such as basic sketching techniques, simple anatomy, and the use of watercolour in sketching. For the more ambitious, there will be the opportunity to have a go at sketching birds in flight, which is more of a challenge.
This course is aimed at a range of ability levels, with Trevor on hand to demonstrate particular techniques and to help you develop and improve your observational skills

when sketching birds.

Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials
A range a B grade pencils (eg 2b – 6b)
An A4 or A3 cartridge paper pad
An eraser ( if desired)
A colour medium such as watercolour
pencils or a field box of watercolours with a couple of brushes (perhaps a number 4 or 5, and a 10 or 12 round)
A container for water

Artist’s Profile
Trevor’s deep interest in wildlife dates back to childhood and grew concurrently with a
desire to record the birds and animals he encountered on his visits to local nature
reserves and wild corners of Worcestershire.
Trevor has been teaching students the essentials of bird art for over twenty years now, but still get a kick from seeing people thrill to the subject and often surprise
themselves with hidden latent ability. He has also published a book Sketching Wild Birds in 2001 as a means of encapsulating my experiences of recording images from life.

Art Course
with Jamie Boots 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 12

On this 2 day course you will learn all about working with graphite pencil from experienced artist Jamie Boots.
Graphite pencil can be used to produce so much more than just a sketch.
Jamie will show participants that whether or not you are using a pencil that is blunt or sharp, pressing lightly or hard, or using a variety of tones, that the effect of fur, the texture of skin and the glassy look of an eye can be achieved.
The subject for this art course will be: a Rhino.

Course Cost
Members: £80
Non-members: £100
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials List
All materials will be supplied free of charge to use during the course by Jamie Boots.

Artist’s Profile
Originally from New Zealand, Jamie is a self taught artist whose work is produced in
graphite pencil. Jamie first exhibited his work in 2004 and has won a number of awards for his artwork.
In a very short period of time a hobby became a profession and with a limited number of originals being available each year his drawings have become highly collectable.
www.jamieboots.com

Art Course
with Furzie (Michelle Hickman) 10am – 5pm
Maximum Participants: 10

On this 1-day course you will learn how to needle-felt with wool.
You will be introduced to the basics of needle-felting, taught how to make a wire armature to form the basis of your sculpture and how to mould the wool to the frame.
You will be amazed how the wool sculpture seems to develop a character of its own. Once you have become confident in using the basic skills and techniques you are only limited by your imagination!

Course Cost
Members: £40
Non-members: £50
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
ART COURSE BOOKING FORM

Materials List
A materials pack will be supplied by Michelle Hickman, at the cost of £15 per participant, payable directly to her on the day. The materials pack will include a felting kit and tools to keep, plus all the wool and materials required.

Artist’s Profile
Michelle taught herself needle-felting and, for several years now, has been selling sculptures and commissions of her animals all over the world, as well as running courses and workshops.
She enjoys passing on her love of wool and needle-felting and is keen to share what she has learned.
www.furzie.co.uk