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by Ted Tegart, LA Arboretum, posted by Deb Shaw
If you love plants and like to draw, this workshop on botanical drawing is custom-made for you! Join instructor Cristina Baltayian for a three day workshop on drawing autumn leaves in colored pencil on wood.
Drawing is a fundamental skill in botanical art and its importance should never be underestimated. In these three days, you will:
- Hone your 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
This exploration in colored pencil on wood will show you how to start and finish a botanical portrait of a leaf. If your curiosity is piqued and you wish to investigate further, please join the on-going Tuesday Botanical Art classes from 10am-2pm.
Three Day Workshop:
Thursday November 12, Friday November 13, Saturday November 14
10am-3pm (includes lunch break)
$255 Arboretum members for workshop
$275 non-members for workshop (Includes Arboretum Admission)
You may bring your lunch or purchase it at the Peacock Café
ALL LEVELS WELCOME. SUPPLIES WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE START OF THE CLASS, although students may bring their own colored pencils if desired.
Pre-registration required: please call 626.821.4623.
Cristina Baltayian holds a Botanical Illustration Certificate from Cornell University. She has a background in drawing (graphite, charcoal, pen and ink), two-dimensional design, watercolor, and colored pencils. Her work is in public and private venues, and has been shown at Filoli, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Chapman University, Virginia Robinson Garden and in an adjunct Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California group exhibition presented by the botanical gardens at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, and The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California.
by Beth Stone
A wonderful series of weekly classes has just concluded at the LA Arboretum and Botanic Garden. This Otis College course was taught by Olga Eysymontt. Each class in the series built upon the preceding progressing from contour drawing to shading exercises then on to visualizing basic forms as they apply to increasingly complex botanical subjects. Artistic composition was also a theme throughout.
For some students the material was brand new, for others it was review, for myself it certainly filled in some gaps. Without question, all the subject matter and techniques which Olga covered are foundational to botanical art.
Olga makes great use of a combination of demonstration, class discussion and one-on-one guidance. Each class included at least one opportunity to share our progress with and learn from one another. Each session concluded with a homework assignment. I found this particularly valuable and just the right level of effort to keep me engaged between classes. Practicing the concepts on my own really helped to reinforce each lesson.
By the end, each of us had several completed works…and one more work in progress to keep that momentum going.
Watch for Olga’s next series coming up in January 2016. I highly recommend it!
BAGSC News 