New Year in September ???

Of course the title of this blog post refers to the academic year ! 

For me, a lot of my teaching takes place at Peter Symonds College AHED in Winchester, Hampshire.  So I am automatically tuned into the academic year.

For me it is an exciting time of year, new courses, new students, returning students, and of course so many inspirational subjects as we enter the Autumn.  There is a lot to be happy about.

The Summer holidays have been busier than normal with the opportunity to provide teaching at home for small groups of students and I also have several art projects I am working on long-term.  I also had been booked to teach a workshop for the Bristol and North Somerset Botanical Painting Society, on the subject of feathers, it was also nice to venture further afield with my teaching.

Garden painting day - Summer 2014

 

Introducing the delights of painting feathers

 

 

So what is in plan for the Autumn you may ask ??

 

The courses I am running at Peter Symonds AHED can be found on my website.  They include:

• Botanical Art - Drawing & Painting Techniques - Beginners
• Botanical Art - Drawing & Painting Techniques - Improvers/Intermediates - This course is full
• Botanical Art - An Introduction to Drawing & Painting Techniques - NEW EVENING COURSE
• Understanding Colour - using watercolour effectively - NEW AFTERNOON COURSE
• There are also two Saturday workshops, one in the Autumn and the other in the Spring.

The last course is a very new one, and I am delighted that I have been given the opportunity to share my knowledge and passion of colour.  During my other courses we always spend a couple of sessions on colour theory and mixing, but it is never long enough, so to be able to design a whole course on the subject is very exciting !

 

In October I am teaching my first residential Botanical Art course, for 5 days.  It is taking place at the delightful Kingcombe Centre, set in the middle of the Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve, which consists of historical meadows, woodland and the most amazing ancient hedgerows.  All of these habitats are abundant with subjects for painting and in the Autumn the hedgerows are dripping with fruits and berries !  You can read more about the course here.

 

Black bryony berries © Sarah Morrish

 

 

With the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust I will be teaching 2 workshops this Autumn.

• Natural World Print-making at Swanwick Lakes Nature Reserve on Saturday 18th October.
• Drawing & Painting Autumn Fruits and Seedheads at Swanwick Lakes Nature Reserve on Saturday 8th November

For details on booking etc, have a look on Natures Details Workshops & Courses page.

 

Now for saving a very good piece of news until last, I will be having a second solo exhibition in November.  This will be taking place at Hardings Framers and Gallery in Warsash and will last for two weeks.  There will be a variety of work on display, both botanical and natural history themed, varying in size, and also cost, so there will be something for everyone.  More news to follow soon.