Coloured Pencil: Spring in Yellow

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Yellow is notoriously difficult for the botanical artist to portray, without the end result looking ‘dirty’ because of the use of greys for shadows. This course will explore the possibilities of using anything but grey to produce good shadows on yellow flowers. First of all a colour-mixing chart will be created using whatever you have in your collection, before drawing a simple flower and colouring it using good quality coloured pencils to illustrate a flower that has an amazingly three-dimensional appearance on your paper.

Tutor: Janie Pirie is an award-winning artist who specialises in floral and botanical art using coloured pencils, is joining us at RHS Garden Hyde Hall to teach you the skills needed to create some amazing artwork of your very own.

Arrival Information: 

• Please arrive 15 minutes before the workshop starts to register your arrival and make your way to the classroom. 
• This workshop will take place at the Clore Learning Centre, located at the top of the hill, adjacent to the Gardeners’ Rest Restaurant. 

For this workshop:

• Tea and coffee will be available throughout. All of the taps in the Learning Centre provide drinking water so we also suggest the use of a reusable bottle througout the day.
• You are welcome to bring along a packed lunch, or the restaurant will be open from 10.00am to purchase food/refreshments. Please note that the restaurant can get busy during peak times, so when you arrive at the classroom, please ask a member of staff about pre-ordering.
• You are welcome to stay in the gardens afterwards, should you wish to have a wander round.

Each student will need to bring the following:
 

• Coloured Pencils – Faber-Castell Polychromos are recommended, but there are many good makes on the market. Students are urged not to purchase cheap sets from craft shops, as they lack sufficient pigment and are therefore difficult to use. It is also recommended that you do not buy a small tin of 12, 24 or 36 as these contain all the primary and/or harsh colours that are rarely needed. Janie sells Polychromos and Prismacolor so students can purchase individual pencils on the day.
•  A good pencil sharpener – desktop ones are recommended.
• Two erasers – 1 x hard plastic and 1 x kneadable putty
• An HB pencil for drawing, sketching, and tracing
• Good quality art paper – HOT PRESSED 300gsm – any make
• Fine tracing paper 63gsm
• Masking tape
• Cartridge paper or A4 printer paper for sketching

Janie sells some of the above but does not carry more than three or four of the larger items.