2023/2024
Class Schedule
Registration is Open! All classes are in person.
Session 1:
September 11 - October 23, 2023
Photo by Ronda Dick
Botanical Drawing for Beginners
Registration Closed!
Botanical drawing is a combination of careful observation and copying what is seen. Since drawing is the "bones" of a good painting, this class is a good place to begin if interested in pursuing botanical art OR if you are interested in revisiting and improving your drawing skills. In this class we will explore supplies, practice techniques, and sharpen our observation skills through exercises. We will be focusing on six of the seven elements of art: Line, shape, form, value, texture and space. To gain the most from this class some homework will be encouraged. Click here for materials list.
Dates: Saturdays, September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Instructor: Ronda Dick
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
White Gourds in Watercolor
Registration Closed!
Painting white is a study of color. Creating form is accomplished by color. Subtle washes of primary colors red, yellow and blue, with emphasis on value is key. Learn the stages of painting white. Our subject will be gourds with twisting stems. Click here for materials list
Dates: Mondays, September 11, 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, October 3
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 2:
October 30 - December 16, 2023
Painting by Pierre Joseph-Redoute, Image provided by Minneapolis Institute of Art
Beginning Botanical Watercolor
CLASS FILLED!
Learn essential techniques used in traditional English botanical watercolor painting. Brushes, papers and paints will be explained. Students will choose a painting by P. J. Redoute to transfer and paint a copy of it. Learn how to properly load a brush with color for flat washes, graded washes and dry brush.
Dates: Saturdays, November 4, 11, 18, (skip 25), December 2, 9, 16
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Click here for materials list.
Painting by Jane Hancock
Colorful Fall Vegetables
in Watercolor
Registration Closed!
Golden, red and purple beets, white turnips with violet tops, multicolored squash, rainbow carrots - the produce shelves of our markets offer an array of color if we just look for it. Choose one item or several from your market as your subject. We'll examine how light falls on our vegetables to reveal their round or cylinder forms, and together we'lll examine their colors; are they earthy and subtle, or bright and clear? How do the colors vary from the lit areas to the shadowed ones? In this class we'll explore how we can render those forms and approximate that range of colors by mixing paint using layering and dry brush techniques. Click here for Materials List
Dates: Mondays, October 30, Nov. 6, 13, (skip 20) 27, December 4, 11
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Instructor: Jane Hancock
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, November 7
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 3:
January 8 - February 12, 2024
Photos and Drawing by Scott Stapleton
Colored Pencil
Registration Closed!
This class is for those who have yet to experience working with colored pencils. Students will learn the basic techniques by way of solving common botanical art problems, each one designed to introduce a new level of competence. The second half of the class will be devoted to a not too ambitious drawing of a botanical subject of the student's choosing. Because this is an introductory class, a 12-pencil set - Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils are recommended - plus a few more to round out the warm/cool spectrum of primary colors (see the materials list), is required. And because few pencils will be available, many of the exercises will be devoted to learning how to mix them to get the hue you're after. If you already have a respectable set, you're welcome to use it instead. Learning will be a joint enterprise. The goal will be to equip you to strike out on your own, a confident, competent colored pencil botanical artist.
Dates: Mondays, Jan. 8, 15 22, 29, February 5, 12
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 pm
Instructor: Scott Stapleton
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
Watercolor II
Registration Closed!
Put into practice the principles you learned in Watercolor I. Working with simple plant subjects, students will be shown step-by-step demonstrations in making a counter drawing and then a realistic watercolor painting. This class will focus on realistic expression of form, structure, and color. Additional emphasis will be placed on flat wash, graded wash, glazing, wet-in-wet and dry brush watercolor techniques.
Dates: ` Saturdays, January 13, 20, 27, Feb. 3, 10, 17
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, January 9
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 4:
February 26 - April 1, 2024
Illustration by Linda Powers
REGISTRATION CLOSED!
Building Botanical Designs
Put This exciting class will focus on botanical design created during the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the century. Fabric, wallpaper and print work of William Morris will give you inspiration for your own designs. While scientific accuracy can be an integral part of this work, it isn't required, which then opens up new ways to work with botanical subject matter.
Dates: ` Mondays, February 26, March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Patricia Schmidt
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
Spring Flowers in Watercolor
Registration Closed!
Flowers are the harbinger of spring and will be the subjects of this class. Students will draw and paint in watercolor the flower with leaves. We will first develop an accurate and satisfying composition and then progress to the watercolor techniques to create translucent petals and veined leaves. Please visit your local market or garden center and bring a potted flowering plant of your choice. (I recommend avoiding white flowers.) Previous drawing and watercolor experience will be helpful. Please note this class meets 5x for 3 hours each.
Dates: ` Saturdays, March 16, 23, 30, April 6, 13
Time: 9:00 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, February 6
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 5:
April 15 - May 20, 2024
Painting by Ronda Dick
Dry Plant Subjects
Registration Closed!
Plants that are beyond their expiration date are not done with inspiring us! They just have a new life, one where they are retired from growing and now have the opportunity to be quiet and still. Their beauty transitions from fresh flowing vibrant shapes/colors to dried fading and subtle shapes/colors. In this class we will appreciate this stage of a plants life by looking carefully at our subject and creating a composition that will show it off at its best. We will be attentive to the understated colors and learn to mix them with the paints in our palette.
Dates: ` Mondays, April 15 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Ronda Dick
Fee: $230
Textures in Watercolor
Registration Closed!
Rendering realistic textures in watercolor is a challenge for every botanical artist. During this six-week class we will focus on four different textures, from hairy to thorny, to shiny white. This class is for those who have some watercolor experience.
Dates: April 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15, 22`
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Kathy Creger
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, April 2 and May 7
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
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Session 6:
June 3 - July 8, 2024
Drawing by Scott Stapleton
Color Pencil II
Registration Closed!
The value of this class is its use of the technique the instructor knows and loves best—dense, saturated colored pencil colors on toned paper, plus its emphasis on new ways of thinking about botanical art and its consideration of the habits you’ll need to persevere as an artist. It builds on the introduction to colored pencil he taught earlier this year, but it does not require that class. It is, however, more than an introduction. Solving artistic problems (as opposed to technical ones) is at its heart, and hence, instruction will include tutorials—the class as a whole sharing its knowledge and insight—as well as individual instruction by Scott. Fruits and vegetables with shiny surfaces will be the subject. For which pencils and other supplies, see the materials list. In general, more is better. Click here for materials list.
Dates: ` Mondays, June 3, 10, 17,24, July 1, 8
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Scott Stapleton
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
Leaves & Greens
Class Filled!
Expand your knowledge on the many shades of nature's most prominent color - green. Leaves are complex and this class will refine your leaf drawing and painting skills. You will learn about leaf morphology and hone observational skills. Emphasis will be placed on drawing foreshortened turning leaves with accurate veins. You will use flat washes, graded washes, glazing colors, and wet-in-wet to create leaves in the foreground and background with dry brush to add texture.
Dates: Saturdays, June 8, 15, 22, 29, July 6, 13
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, June 4 and July 9
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 7:
August 5 - September 16, 2024
Painting Stages by Jane Hancock
Pears in Watercolor
The familiar shapes and various colors of pears make them an attractive subject for botanical art. Their rounded forms invite us to study how light falls on them and reveals their solidity, and how those gradations of light affect colors. As we explore rendering the beauty of these fruits, we’ll practice botanical watercolor techniques of washes, layering patches of color, and dry brush.
Dates: ` Mondays, August 5, 12, 19, 26,
September (skip 2) 9, 16
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Jane Hancock
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
Mushrooms in Watercolor
Mushrooms are not classified as plants bu make for fascinating subjects. Fall is the prime collecting season for the ephemeral Minnesota mushrooms, depending on weather. Learn about their physical characteristics and then we will draw and paint them in watercolor.
Dates: Saturdays, August 10,17,24, (skip 31)
September 7,14,
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Dates: Tuesday, August 6
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Session 8:
September 23 - November 2, 2024
Painting by Kathy Creger
Autumn Leaves
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower" Albert Camus
Explore mixing the beautiful, yet subtle colors in autumn leaves. You'll learn wet-on-wet techniques, color mixing and a bit of dry brush for surface detail.
Dates: Mondays, September 23, 30, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Kathy Creger
Fee: $230
Drawing by Marilyn Garber
Drawing in Silverpoint
Silverpoint drawing is the process of using a silver stylus to deposit fine metallic lines on a prepared surface. Over time, the silver naturally patinas through oxidation of the metal and becomes as dark as a pencil rendering. Drawing in silverpoint reached its peak during the Renaissance era, and prodded the pencil as a drawing tool. Leonrdo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer worked in silverpoint. This class will focus on botanical subject and will introduce students to drawing in silverpoint techniques on various grounds.
Dates: Saturdays, September 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26, Nov 2
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Painting by Marilyn Garber
Painting on Calfskin Vellum
In this class we will create a small painting on Calfskin Vellum. Each student will need to provide their own vellum which you must order at least 30 days before class begins so you must register by October 4th. An estimated vellum cost is between $50 and $100 per sheet, depending on size. Instructions for ordering will be provided to class registrants. We will review the various types of vellum and parchments available. Each student must come into class with a finished graphite drawing and several photographs of the living subject. Plant subjects only.
Saturdays, November 9, 16, 23, 25, 30, December 7, 14
Time: 9:30 am to 12 pm
Instructor: Marilyn Garber
Fee: $230
Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Florilegium Studio Days
We will be wrapping up the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium on December 31, 2024. It has taken us 14 years to get to this point! If you are working on a Florilegium painting, please join us at these monthly, first Tuesdays, get together to work on your painting and give and receive encouragement! There is no class fee for this monthly activity.
Last day to turn in Florilegium paintings: November 12th
Dates: Tuesday, September 10, October 8, November 12
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 pm