2007 Workshops and Demonstrations

Artist Portfolio

For more information on these workshops, contact the organizations below, or e-mail Keyserkill Studios, Inc. directly
Date(s) Location Description

July 2007

Four Saturday sessions, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

July 7, 14, 21, 29

Landis Arboretum
P.O. Box 186 Esperance, NY 12066
(518) 875-6935
Arboretum e-mail

Botanical Drawing at the Landis Arboretum

  • Note:  The workshop is open to all levels of artistic experience.    Whether you're a gardener, an artist, a student, or just someone who would love to get a lot closer to the natural world, learning to really look at plants is what this workshop is all about!

The four-Saturday workshop explores the art and science of drawing and painting plants. Plant structure, growth patterns, and botanical terminology alternate with rendering techniques to produce scientifically accurate plant portraits. 

We'll concentrate on the vascular plants, their roots, stems, leaves and flowers; specialized tissues, and reproductive organs.

Methods of rendering include pencil, continuous tone graphite, pen and ink, and an introduction to the classical watercolor rendering of botanical specimens.

Observation of plant details includes hand lens and microscope studies and discusses techniques of measurement and proportion.

Also covered are special problems in rendering, drawing from field notes, greenhouse plants, and from mounted herbarium specimens.

Bring your own snacks and beverages

CDs containing all of the text materials and PowerPoint presentations will be distributed at the first session.

Snapshots from the workshop and some participants'work
Paper by Len Herskovitz: "Perspective at Small Visual Angles"    Note: this paper is not on your CD, but expands on our discussion of perspective.

 

2006 Workshops

For more information on these workshops, contact the organizations below, or e-mail Keyserkill Studios, Inc. directly
Date(s) Location Description

July 2006

Four Saturday sessions, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM

July 8, 15, 22, and 29

Landis Arboretum
P.O. Box 186 Esperance, NY 12066
(518) 875-6935
Arboretum e-mail

Botanical Drawing at the Landis Arboretum  July 2006

Snapshots from the workshop and some participants'work

Tuesday, March 7 2006
7:00 PM
Colonie Art League
Colonie Town Hall
Rt.9 Newtonville, NY
[across from Siena College]
Botanical Spirals: some Maddening Topics in Botanical Illustration

Doing those luscious watercolor renderings in classical botanical illustration is the easy part! The hard part is to somehow get a decent drawing.
If you ever tried a serious study of a pine cone, or tried to draw a stem bristling with what seems like a million leaves pointing every which way, you're likely to run screaming into the woods. Botanical illustrators, who are often at least nominally sane, have methods ("dirty tricks") to make this first step easier.
We show how to recognize common patterns of growth and development, which are frequently spirals. We'll demonstrate how to set up specimens, what to look for, what to measure and when to "eyeball". We will follow a typical botanical illustration assignment from setup to preliminary drawing, to the transfer to our rendering surface, to the stages of watercolor development.
Handout for this session includes some theory and practice topics, along with our favorite reference materials and suggestions for further adventures in drawing plants.

Handout for participants -- large file, have patience!
Step by Step: An Apple Painting Diary

 

 

2005 Workshops

 
Date(s) Location Description


July, 2005

Landis Arboretum
P.O. Box 186 Esperance, NY 12066
(518) 875-6935
Arboretum e-mail
Botanical Drawing at the Landis Arboretum: July 2005
Snapshots from the workshop and some participants'work

2004 Workshops

 
Date(s) Location Description


July, 2004

Landis Arboretum
P.O. Box 186 Esperance, NY 12066
(518) 875-6935
Arboretum e-mail
Botanical Drawing at the Landis Arboretum: July 2004
Snapshots from the workshop and some participants'work

Date(s) Location Description
One session:
Saturday, May 15 2004
9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center
87 Nature Center Way, Voorheesville, NY 12186
(518) 872-0800
 
Drawing from Nature: Macro and Micro Aspects
Morning Session: Field sketching and observation of wildlife and vegetative habitat on trails or from the gazebo in case of rain.   Materials required: sketchbook and your favorite drawing instruments. Optional equipment: Hand lens, field watercolors.   Emphasizes black-and-white sketching, with perhaps watercolor (or coffee!) washes.
Afternoon Session: The Micro aspect. Specimen sketching (bones, skulls, fossils, etc.) from the Nature Center's collections. Materials required: sketchbook. Optional materials: Charcoal or conte crayon, newsprint pad, HB pencils or technical pencils (0.3mm or 0.5mm), white plastic eraser, Strathmore 500 drawing pad or other good quality drawing paper. Covers drawing specimens in detail, measurement and proportion techniques, using hand lenses and the Stereo Microscope.
Bring your own lunch and beverages.
Handout for participants (.pdf format)
Pictures from the workshop!

Portfolio: Drawings and Paintings

All images © T. Vellozzi / Keyserkill Studios, Inc.
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Pen and Ink Drawings

Watercolors

 

Sketchbook:  Ink, Pencil, Wash, & Watercolor

Oil Studies: in the field