Fall Botanical Watercolor Workshop

Offered entirely online: livestreaming classes and personalized feedback on completed work.
with Mira O’Brien (Artist and Berlin Drawing Room Founding Director)

Learn botanical watercolor techniques from your home and tune in to the transition from summer to fall. While instruction will take place through an interactive livestreaming format (Zoom), care will be taken to emphasize the individual sensual experience of drawing from living specimens and working with watercolors.

Specimen Collection: Each class will include instructions for specimen collection, so that we can all work from direct observation. Simple instructions provided days in advance will direct you to pick up a rust colored leaf from the sidewalk, grab a weed sprouting out from a crevice, purchase a piece of seasonal produce and other actions intended to call attention to oft overlooked instances of nature in our everyday environment. For anyone who is not able to go outside at all, photographic references will be available.

Watercolor Painting: The livestreaming classes will introduce watercolor techniques through live demos and interactive instruction. Techniques will include line drawing with watercolor tea wash, building up layers with washes, adding detail with special watercolor effects, mixing colors and more. 

All levels are welcome.The painting made in this workshop are inspired by the figure of the Naturalist, who was both artist and scientist. These recordings are just as much about the subjective process of observation as they are about the recording of scientific data.