You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2014.
by Cristina Baltayian and Jill Berry, posted by Deb Shaw
Thumbnail of colored pencil artwork by Cristina Baltayian, © 2013, all rights reserved.
BAGSC member Cristina Baltayian will be teaching two classes in June at the Los Angeles Arboretum, as well as classes in her studio:
JUNE CLASSES AT THE LOS ANGELES ARBORETUM:
Fruits
Tuesdays, June 3, 10, 17, 24
10am-2pm (includes break for bring you own lunch or at Peacock Café); Oak Room
$255 members; $275 non-members
Introduction to Botanical Illustration: A 4-day Workshop
This introductory workshop on botanical drawing covers the fundamental skill of drawing in botanical art. In this intensive workshop, participants will learn skills and techniques of graphite pencil and its range of beautiful tones from light silver to rich black, ideally suited to botanical drawing. In these four days, students will learn how to start and finish a botanical portrait, as well as:
- Hone observation skills
- Be guided through sketching and line drawing exercises
- Discover how to arrange shapes on a page and make a pleasing composition
- Translate a 3-dimensional subject onto a 2-dimensional surface
Additional botanical art instruction is provided in the on-going Tuesday Botanical Illustration classes from 10 am – 2 pm.
Four Day Workshop:
Wednesday, June 25
Thursday, June 26
Friday, June 27
Saturday, June 28
10 am – 3 pm (includes lunch break)
$325 Arboretum members for all four days
$345 Non-members for all four days (Includes Arboretum Admission)
You may bring your lunch or purchase it at the Peacock Café. Plants for drawing subjects, will be provided by the Arboretum.
Pre-registration required: please call 626.821.4623.
CLASSES AT CRISTINA BALTAYIAN’S STUDIO:
Cristina also teaches classes at her studio on Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 1 pm to 4 pm. For more information, please email her.
Cristina Baltayian has a background in drawing (graphite, charcoal, pen and ink), two-dimensional design, watercolor, and colored pencils. Her work has been shown at Filoli, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Chapman University, and Virginia Robinson Gardens. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and The Botanical Guild of Southern California.
by Deb Shaw
Deborah Shaw, pen sketch of branch of Nicotania glauca
Graham (Tree tobacco), an invasive species in California. © 2014, Deborah B. Shaw
BAGSC member Deborah Shaw will be teaching “Journaling in your Garden” workshops during the month of June at the J. Paul Getty and Bowers Museum.
At The Getty Center:
On Sundays, June 1 and June 15, 2014, 3:30 – 5:30 pm, Deb will be teaching “Drawing from the Masters: Creating a Garden and Wildflower Journal.” These workshops are part of the Getty’s tradition of sketching from original works of art every first and third Sundays of the month. “Creating a Garden and Wildflower Journal” will focus on the value of journaling, what to look for, and how to draw leaves and flowers. The workshop is free, and all experience levels are welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. Sign-up begins at 2:30 pm the day of the workshop at the main information desk, no preregistration required.
The Getty Center is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049. Admission is always free; parking is $15.00.
At Bowers Museum:
Deborah also will be teaching a two-part series on Tuesdays, June 10 and June 17, 2014, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the John M. Lee Court at Bowers Musuem. Drawing and Painting Wildflowers and Flowers from your Garden will cover what to look for when looking at flowers and leaves, perspective tips, and graphite and color techniques to quickly capture plants and wildflowers in your journal.
Costs for individual classes are $15.00 for Bowers members, and $25.00 for non-members. Both workshops are available for Bowers members for $25.00, and $35.00 for non-members. A $15.00 materials fee is payable at the time of the class. Advance reservations required to enable the accurate purchase of supplies: e-mail or call the Education Department at 714.567.3677.
These workshops complement lectures at the Bowers on Renaissance Gardens (June 7) and Wildflowers (June 21). Bryan C. Keene, assistant curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum will be giving the lecture about Renaissance Gardens. BAGSC members who participated in last Summer’s demonstrations at The Getty in conjunction with their “Gardens of the Renaissance” show will remember Bryan’s wonderful exhibition. Bryan will discuss the design, function, and meanings behind the many types of gardens planted in Europe between 1400-1600. Delve into illuminated manuscripts to discover how art, science, religion, myth, diet, and world travel shaped the evolving Renaissance garden.
The “Wildflowers” lecture and book signing will be given by Robert L. Allen. His recent publications, “Wildflowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains” can be purchased at the Bowers Gallery Store.
Bowers Museum is located in Santa Ana, CA, at 2002 North Main Street, 92706. Directions are included in the link above to Bowers Museum.
Enjoy the tradition of sketching from original works of art every first and third Sundays of the month at the Getty Center. In June, discover the practice of garden and wildflower journaling with botanical artist Deborah Shaw. Learn the value of journaling, what to look for, and how to draw leaves and flowers. All experience levels welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. This is a free program. Sign-up begins at 2:30 pm at the Information Desk. – See more at: http://getty.edu/visit/cal/courses/#sthash.ZK5yoRze.dpuf
Enjoy the tradition of sketching from original works of art every first and third Sundays of the month at the Getty Center. In June, discover the practice of garden and wildflower journaling with botanical artist Deborah Shaw. Learn the value of journaling, what to look for, and how to draw leaves and flowers. All experience levels welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. This is a free program. Sign-up begins at 2:30 pm at the Information Desk. – See more at: http://getty.edu/visit/cal/courses/#sthash.ZK5yoRze.dpuf
Enjoy the tradition of sketching from original works of art every first and third Sundays of the month at the Getty Center. In June, discover the practice of garden and wildflower journaling with botanical artist Deborah Shaw. Learn the value of journaling, what to look for, and how to draw leaves and flowers. All experience levels welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. This is a free program. Sign-up begins at 2:30 pm at the Information Desk. – See more at: http://getty.edu/visit/cal/courses/#sthash.ZK5yoRze.dpuf
by Lesley Randall/Leslie Walker, posted by Deb Shaw
Asclepias speciosa, Lesley Randall, pen and ink on illustration board, © 2014.
BAGSC member Lesley Randal will be teaching a two-day workshop on Pen and Ink for Botanical Illustration at the San Diego Botanic Garden:
Saturday & Sunday, August 9 and 10, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
San Diego Botanic Garden
Ecke Building
230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas, California 92024
Pen and ink is an elegant art form and the traditional method used in botanical illustration. This class will cover the different techniques used to convey shading, the importance of using different line weights and choosing the appropriate paper.
The class will focus on the legume family with a short lecture of the diagnostic characters given by instructor Lesley Randall. Students are not required to draw a plant from this family, however. Students must provide their own plant specimen to draw, with flower, fruit or seed pod if possible. Students are encouraged to have some pencil sketches completed of their subject to bring to the class. This will allow maximum time for working in pen and ink. All levels of experience are welcome.
Coffee, tea and water will be provided, but please bring your lunch. A materials list will be provided upon registration. There is ample parking at the SDBG, but of course, we always encourage carpooling.
The class is presented by San Diego Botanic Garden and the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California. Registration is on a first come, first served basis, maximum class size is 20 people. Please register online (the online registration will be available starting June 9) at the garden’s website, or mail checks “Payable to San Diego Botanic Garden” to:
Sam Beukema
San Diego Botanic Garden
PO Box 230005
Encinitas, California 92023
Cost: SDBG and BAGSC members $200, non-members $220. A materials list will be sent upon registration.
Questions? Email Lesley Randall.
Lesley began her career in Davis California where she prepared illustrations for scientific publications. Her work has appeared in numerous journals as well as a few floras, including the Jepson Manual and An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park. In recent years she has exhibited her work in international juried botanical art shows in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. While she works primarily in pen and ink, Lesley also enjoys working in color pencil and graphite. In addition to botanical art, Lesley makes leather masks and mosaics out of glass. She is currently employed at San Diego Botanic Garden as curator of plant collections where she finds many different plants to draw.
by Deb Shaw
Poster for the GNSI 2014 Conference, © 2014, GNSI
Many BAGSC and ASBA members also belong to The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI). If you’ve wanted to attend a GNSI Conference, or learn more about this wonderful organization, this is a great year to do so. The GNSI Conference will be held in Boulder, Colorado this year in July and will include a field trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens, as well as presentations, workshops and field trips important to botanical artists.
GNSI 2014 Conference Registration Is Open and Early Bird Discounts go until the end of May!
Join the GNSI in Boulder, where the mountains meet the plains!
Come and enjoy a one of a kind experience and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow illustrators in a beautiful setting. The Conference is filled with presentations, workshops and field trips designed to inspire. Some concentrate on technique, with experts in drawing, painting, scratchboard, block printing, Photoshop, Illustrator, and digital devices sharing their expertise. Others focus on the gritty details of making a living in this challenging, but exciting career. With so many choices, participants can customize their learning experience under the inspirational setting of Boulder’s Flatirons and modern Colorado University campus.
Register before May 30th and SAVE $50 on Full Registration!
Review the offerings on the conference website:
- Live Animal Drawing
- Building Backgrounds for Animal Subjects
- Sculpting Insects in Polymer and Wire
- Beginning Photoshop
- Make Your Own Sketchbook, Then Use It!
- Sketch A Storybook
- Discovering Scratchboard Techniques
- Colored Pencil Possibilities
- Painting Small Animals
- Osteology Sketching
- From Sketch to Print
- Intermediate Photoshop
- Modeling in 3DS Max
- Adobe Illustrator for Science Illust: Symbols
- Sculpting Fossils, 2-day workshop
- Watercolor, 2-day workshop
- Social Media for Artists
- Personal productivity with your iPad
- Contract and Copyright
- Shanahan Ridge
- Dinosaur Ridge
- Eldorado/Fowler Hike
- CU Extravaganza
- Wild Animal Sanctuary
- NOAA Tour
- Celestial/Dushanbe Teahouse
- Avery Brew Pub
- Denver Botanic Gardens/Natural History Museum
- Rocky Mountain National Park, 2-day trip
- Birth of the Beehive’s Mesoamerica Resiste Illustration
- Create Your Own Jobs and Get Paid to Travel
- Using illustration to Teach ‘Critical Looking’ in a Zoology Lab
- Making Photos and Art Press Ready
- Hand-Painted Linoleum Block Prints
- (Not Always) Funny Pages: Science Through Sequential Art
- Marvelous Mucus: Learning about the Little-Known World of Land Snails
- Tactile Graphics: Images for the Blind
- Gyotaku -What your Third Grade Art teacher didn’t tell you
- Japan and its Fish Markets – a look at the fish art and culture of Japan
- Saving a Tropical Jewel in the Heart of Vancouver
- Nature Based Sculpture
- iPad Tips and Tricks
- How to Work Faster Photoshop: Shortcuts and File Setups
- Ready, Set, Sell! Proactive Marketing Strategies
- Teaching Illustration as a Biology Course
- The case of the Missing Beak: Kati the Kea
- Saving the Kakapo from extinction–Expedition to New Zealand
- Creating backgrounds combining traditional and digital techniques
- Art Creation From the Client’s Point of View
- Lighting and Textures: Optimizing Your Renders
- Botanical Illustration–Then and Now
- Illustrating Nature: Stylized Realism for Children’s Books
- An Exploration in Public Health Communication
Hope to see you in Boulder in July!
by Tania Norris, posted by Deb Shaw
Multi-petalled flower, watercolor work in progress. © 2014, Akiko Enokido.
Akiko Enokido will be coming to the Virginia Robinson Gardens to teach us how to work on multi-petalled flowers and how to shade. Plus, students can also bring unfinished work to finish.
For those who have taken a class from Akiko before, you know that she not only brings her wonderful artist’s talent to share but also a teacher’s understanding of how to help those of us who aspire to be better artists.
I look forward to seeing you, and if you have any questions please email me and I will try to to help.
VIRGINIA ROBINSON GARDENS
BOTANICAL ART CLASS with Master Teacher AKIKO ENOKIDO
JUNE 24 AND 25, 2014, 9.30 – 3.30 daily
Classes will be held in the Pool Pavilion, Virginia Robinson Gardens, 1008 Elden Way, Beverly Hills.
Fee for the two day session is $200 for Friends of Robinson Gardens and $225 for non-members. A non-refundable deposit of $100 to hold space can be accepted but full payment must be received by June 20.
To make reservations visit http://www.RobinsonGarens.org or call Bianca at (310) 550-2068.
Mail check, made payable to:
FRIENDS OF ROBINSON GARDEN
1008 Elden Way, Beverly Hills, Ca 90210
A supplies list will be sent to all participants upon registration. Coffee, tea and water will be provided, but please bring your own lunch.
Akiko Enokido is a long time award winning member of Botanical Artists organizations in America and Japan and and has been accepted in the most important exhibitions in both countries. Her beautifully rendered paintings are known for their exquisite color, detailing and composition and are prized by their owners including the Hunt Institution, curators of the most important modern botanical collection in America.
by Deb Shaw
A. Boogert manuscript image, reposted from http://www.thisiscolossal.com. High resolution, zoomable image can be viewed on e-corpus.org from link in this article.
On April 30, 2014, Medieval scholar Erik Kwakkel posted about a book from 1692 he had come across in a French database about mixing colors in watercolor. Known only as A. Boogert, the artist/author hand-wrote and hand-painted a comprehensive guide in Dutch of more than 700 pages, describing how to make watercolor paints, how to mix colors, and how to change the tone by adding “one, two or three portions of water.”
Titled Klaer lightende Spiegel der Verfkonst, or Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, the manuscript is a visual feast of color and calligraphy. Luckily, every page is available to view online in high resolution, zoomable images on e-corpus.org. The original volume resides in the archives of the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. The bibliography for the book contains references to the Dutch East India Company, European textile export to India, and Indian textile export to Europe. Erik Kwakkel has translated part of the introduction; the book was intended to be an education guide to color.
Erik’s original blog post was quickly reposted by Colossal, Gizmodo, and greg.org, and from there has quickly spread across the web. If you read Dutch and find anything interesting while looking through the volume, feel free to comment on any of the blog sites.
In the meantime, enjoy!
A. Boogert manuscript image, reposted from http://erikkwakkel.tumblr.com/. High resolution, zoomable image can be viewed on e-corpus.org from link in this article.
by Leslie Walker
Come to this informative class to learn an important skill needed by all good botanical artists. Plant material will be provided, but if you have a subject that is presenting you with a problem, bring it with you so Lee can help you solve it.
Dates: Saturday, June 21 and Sunday June 22
Times: 9:30 am − 3:30 pm
Cost: $210 for BAGSC members, $235 for non-members
Bring your lunch
Send your check to Leslie Walker. Please include your preferred email address with your check, so Leslie can email you the materials list. The materials list will be emailed upon receipt of your payment. Registration is limited, based on receipt of payment.
Questions? Email Leslie.
The workshop will be held in Newport Beach at the Environmental Nature Center (The ENC). The ENC is located at 1601 East 16th Street, Newport Beach, CA 92663. (Click on the address for directions.) There is ample, easy parking at the ENC, and the classroom space and surroundings are beautiful. Hopefully, the butterfly house still will be open at that time too!
BAGSC News 