Brackenwood Workshops, Bristol 2023-2024

Themed all-day courses at Brackenwood Plant & Garden Centre, Pill Rd, Bristol BS8 3RA
Delicious home-made food cafe on site


All workshops include helpful tuition throughout each day and come with a set of notes to take home.

Please email me to join any of the below courses. £37.50 per day, £75 or two day courses, 10am - 4pm (Max 12 students )

Flower studies and a little Botany - ENDED
May - Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th
10am - 4pm    £75
Watercolour experienced needed
We will select plants from Brackenwood (or bring your own) to study and create a floral page, that will include botany details with notes, in black fine liner, watercolour and graphite. We will learn a bit about plant botany and use reference books and my detailed course notes to work with. You will have a chance to practice dissection (tools provided) and learn how to draw a dissected flower accurately. You will also have a chance to look at flower reproductive parts under a microscope. This is a great way to learn how to draw plants accurately and understand their anatomy! 

Painting beautiful Orchids - POSTPONED, new Date TBC
June - Saturday 10th
10am - 4pm    £37.50
Watercolour experienced needed
Orchids are amazing flowers and their botany is exceptionally interesting. Loved by pollinators they can be tricksters and some wild ones give a false promise of nectar! Learn more about these beautiful orchids and how to paint them on this one-day workshop. We will borrow orchids from Brackenwood for this workshop.

Drawing leaves, perspectives, and shapes - ENDED
July - Saturday 8th
10am - 4pm £37.50
All levels welcome
Leaves can be one of the trickiest things to draw. On this one-day workshop, I will show you the techniques to accurately draw leaves and master foreshortening.

Painting leaves, shapes, colour, and form - ENDED
July - Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed
Leaves are the trickiest things to paint and I have to admit they are not one of my favourite subjects! It is, however, very good to know the techniques to make a leaf look realistic with correct colour and form. On this two-day workshop, I will show you the techniques to accurately paint leaves. Bring a selection of leaves.
 

Painting a little branch of crabapples - ENDED
September - Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed
A chance to paint these gorgeous little fruits on a little branch with leaves. Composition will be key to making a beautiful small painting. On this two-day workshop, I will show you the techniques to paint these super little fruits and create a perfect little painting to take home. Bring some crabapples on a branch if possible.

Painting Fruit, patterns, textures and colour - ENDED
October - Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed
We will study how to paint fruits beautifully with a fruit subject of your choice. Patterns, textures and wonderful colours are common in fruits so it is a lovely subject to explore and refine your skills! Bring along a choice of fruits.

Pen and Ink (Natural history illustration with fine liner pens) - ENDED
November - Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th
10am - 4pm £75
All levels welcome
This media is so useful to master and helpful when drawing flower dissections or detailed and refined botanical sketches of plants. It is a very relaxing media for any subject. The choice is yours! Bring along a photo of an interesting gnarled tree, a landscape, buildings, birds, animals or subjects like seeding acanthus, a bird's nest, seed heads, fungi, nuts, bark, dried sunflowers, shells, sea creatures, seaweed or create an illustrated page of different subjects. Using Uni-pin fine liners (size 0.03 or 0.05, black and/or sepia) we will practice making an outline a drawing and then learn how to create texture by applying dots, lines, and hatching techniques. Work with fine liner pens, or you may work with a dip pen and inks. A dip pen handle, nibs x 2, a small pot of indian ink, and Bristol Board sheets x 2 will be available to buy for £10, if you don't have your own set. Bring a subject along and please ask me if you are unsure what to bring.

Painting Holly, shiny and dark
December - Saturday 9th
10am - 4pm £37.50
Watercolour experienced needed
Holly is another hard leaf to paint but well worth the effort if you know the techniques. I will teach you how to achieve that shine and depth of colour. As this workshop is so close to Christmas you may want to create a painting for a Christmas card. Bring along some Holly  berries and ivy welcome too!

2024 WORKSHOPS

Painting bark, wood and lichen
January - Saturday 13th - Sunday 14th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed

Woodland subjects are so exciting to paint. All those lovely brown and lichen green tones! They also have such interesting patterns and details, ideal for using different watercolour techniques! Come and join me to learn how to paint these fascinating subjects. Make a page of different autumnal pieces or concentrate on one beautiful subject, your choice! Bring some lichen, bark and wood along. 
 

Colour mixing with a limited palette
March - Saturday 2nd - Sunday 3rd
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed

Mixing with primaries is so simple once you know how. Using a limited palette we will paint a small composition of plants or nature subjects. I will teach you the colour mixing theory and demonstrate how to match colour to your subjects accurately. Bring along nature subjects or choose from the selection of plants at Brackenwood. Nature subjects can include autumn leaves, dried flowers, nuts, seedheads, seaside items and shells, fungi, wood/bark, lichen, insects, butterflies etc.
 

Pen and Ink with watercolour wash
May - Saturday 11th - Sunday 12th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed
Watercolour washes can look very effective over pen and ink and make wonderful sketchbook studies. Use fine liners or a dip pen with permanent ink, then loosely colour with watercolour washes. Select subjects from the garden centre or bring your own.

Painting Woodland Treasures and Fungi
October - Saturday 19th - Sunday 20th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed

We all love the woods! Paint or draw any of the following: Fungi, a woodland scene, an interesting tree, a branch with lichen or dried leaves, a colourful leafy area on the woodland floor, the choice is yours! Work from a photo or live subjects. Bring along fungi and other woodland treasures!
 

Mastering Neutral tones and Fine Details - Painting an Acanthus bract
November - Saturday 16th - Sunday 17th
10am - 4pm £75
Watercolour experienced needed

Rendering good colour tone, form and detail is essential to create realism in your work and during the course I will help you to achieve this. The course aims to teach students how to observe detail in an Acanthus bract which we will paint together from start to finish. 

You will also have a chance to select another small subject to paint if you finish before the end of the course. I have a box full of goodies to choose from or bring a small subject of your own choice!

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If you are interested in any of the above workshops please do let me know as soon as possible to ensure you have a place booked. Pay on the day with cash or make a bank transfer prior to the course date (ask me for bank details). No deposit is required but please let me know at least 3 days before if you cannot attend so I can offer up your place to someone else. Thank you.
To book please contact me:
Email: jackieisard@googlemail.com 

Mobile: 07813 864472