Visual Arts Workshop

Botanical Drawing – Early Blooms
with Dorota Haber-Lehigh
Saturday, February 13 | 1:00pm to 4:00pm
via Zoom | Zoom link will be sent the day before the workshop

 

Botanical Drawing – Early Blooms

February brings harsh winter and delicate blooms all at the same time.
We can spot skunk cabbage emerging from the wetlands and flowing Oregon grape attracting early pollinators. Daffodils, tulips, or other early flowering branches might be easier to procure and bring home to draw. Join Dorota Haber-Lehigh as she explores early blooms botanically, with an eye towards scale, form, structure, and color.

Participants will begin in a sketchbook using a pencil, micron pen, and testing colors. While continuing in sketchbook or using the paper of our choice, we may focus on a single petal, the whole flower, or sections of the flower. The realistic style will be featured in demonstrations, but individual styles are encouraged and celebrated.

Materials
• Variety of plant subjects of our choice: daffodils, tulips or other flowering branches, etc. Live specimens     are preferred over working from photographs.
• Sketchbook of choice
• Pencil (either H or F)
• Kneaded eraser
• Hand -held pencil sharpener, such as Alvin Brass Bullet
• Pigma Micron Pen (005) black
• Good quality drawing paper: Choose one from the list
• White Paper (Dorota works on either Stonehenge Aqua hot press 140 lbs or Fluid 100 watercolor paper 140 lbs hot press. You can buy one sheet and cut it into smaller pieces

Other good colored pencil paper is Strathmore Briston Smooth. If you like a brown surface Dorota recommends Toned Tan Sketch paper sketchbook by Strathmore, Kraft by Stonehenge (Legion Paper) or Mixed Media Toned Tan by Strathmore. You do not need all this paper, just choose one or two to try.
• Set of artist quality colored pencils (Prismacolor Premier, Faber Castell Polychromos, Pablo by Caran d’ache, Derwent Colorsoft)

Optional
• Embossing tool (Pergamano Fine Stylus 0.5 mm- amazon.com)
• Colorless blender of your choice, for example Caran d’ache wax colorless blender, or Copic colorless           blender marker, number 0

Supplies may be found at
Salt & Paper in Manzanita

Dots ‘N Doodles in Astoria

Online retailers
Dick Blick
Amazon

Dorota Haber-Lehigh is an artist, educator, and naturalist with a passion for plants of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Poland, Dorota loves foraging for berries, mushroom hunting, field sketching, and collecting specimens. Dorota holds a Diploma in Botanical Illustration from the Society of Botanical Artists in London. She also has degrees in Art and International Studies with a focus on indigenous cultures, and a master’s degree in teaching. She is a member of Oregon Botanical Artists, Pacific Northwest Botanical Artists, and the American Society of Botanical Artists. Recently Dorota was an Artist in Residence at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington.  Dorota exhibits and teaches drawing regionally. Dorota is interested in the healing power of plants and nature and enjoys drawing plants that have medicinal properties. She has authored two ethnobotanical coloring books: “ABC of Native Plants of the Coastal PNW” and “Native Berries of the Coastal PNW. In 2019 she was commissioned by Columbia Memoria Hospital to provide 25 illustrations of Native Plants. More about Dorata   email:[email protected]