Making and Doing in the Garden Studio

Description

Prompted by the re-wilded garden around artist, Amanda Thesiger's studio, and the change from summer to autumn, six distinct sessions offer different approaches to making. Through drawing, painting, printmaking, ink-making and collage you will be able to explore and develop your style. The studio ethos will be open-ended and relaxed, and there’ll be a range of different materials and processes to try. Rather than workshops in botanical representation, these sessions are freer and looser in interpretation, where you will be able to explore and follow more intuitive responses to the source material Week by week we'll focus on different media and processes, how we can use these, in conjunction with other materials or surfaces to create new works. Themes or subject sources may reoccur and flow through the course in a spirit of cross-fertilisation. At times we’ll work directly from the garden, connecting with natural forms found there, at other times experimenting in the studio. Amanda will be on hand to guide throughout, giving demos and supporting you in creating your own series of nature-inspired artworks. Here's a brief outline of the remaining sessions: Session 2 (Sept 4) focuses on watercolour, and includes an introduction to this subtle and sensitive media. We’ll be making a colourfield painting, working from a wet surface through to when the paper’s dry, adding details of organic forms over the top, as a kind of watercolour collage. We’ll be looking at flint, shells, birch bark and other textural, natural objects. Following that, Session 3 (Sept 11) is all about making natural inks; beautiful natural colours to draw and paint with. We’ll make at least five different inks from local plant materials, including berries, bark, galls and earth pigments, exploring a range of different processes. Session 4 (Sept 18) focuses on simple printing in a few different ways. Eco-printing works directly with leaves and flowers like raspberry, nasturtium, oak and ferns, pressed into damp paper. We’ll also be using a small print press and printing inks to make plant-based monotypes and transfer prints. In Session 5 (Sept 25) the emphasis is on mixed media and collage, incorporating a colour of your choice as a base for an image that develops from fragments of previously made work. Playing with apertures and positive/negative shapes, different collage elements will help to build an interesting, mixed media image. Session 6 (Oct 2) At the moment this session is open so you’ll be able to work freely on what you’ve been most interested in, retry something or finish up whatever needs resolving. An option will be to work in 3D with Y-shaped twigs, incorporating fabric and/or weaving to make standing forms. As always, I’ll support you through different processes and show you how materials work.

What's included in the price?

An active studio environment, all relevant materials and tools. A peaceful, wilded garden space to work in. Included in the course, but not limited to, will be; pastel & pen and ink, automatic and continuous line drawing, 360 immersive drawing, experimenting with scale and space, monoprint, frottage, ecoprinting, monotype, introduction to simple ink-making, introduction to watercolour, sampling work in collage and mixed media. An invitation to connect with nature and take your cues from what you find in the garden. Refreshments and companionship.

Cancellation policy

Easy - Cancellation and a full refund can be obtained up to 2 weeks before the course starts

Maker

Amanda Thesiger Art Workshops

with Craft Courses since 2024

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