Botanical workshop, pen and watercolour, Summer 2023

This two day workshop was a gorgeous flower-fest of summer colour. The best fun was working out composition - how would we compose our page to not only get lots of drawing studies on there, but also to entertain the viewer and lead the eye around the page. 

We did this by working out several possible combinations before going on to watercolour paper, going straight to pen for the 'thumbnails'. In the photos below, all the pen drawings on the left-side are the compositional designs. This 'working out' time pays off by getting the brain into Planning mode, and postponing the 'jump in' factor! 

My demo sheet

Each plant had its own attractions as well as difficulties.

The Sea Holly has beautiful architectural spikes with complex clusters of seeds in the middle. 

The Sunflower has the density of petals and thousands of dark seeds in the centre... 

Heather examining the subject

Clodagh's lovely studies 

This was Clodagh's first ever class, and she did a lovely page of studies. 

Stokesia Laevis 'Klaus Jelitto'

 But the most tricky of all was the magnificently blue Stokesia (or Stoke's Aster). I bought it from a farmers market in lovely Dungarvan in July. The tricky part was deciding on the colour. This is where Nature wins every time! 

For info on classes email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk