Botanical illustration: communing with nature for creative expression
About this Event
Botanical illustration: communing with nature for creative expression
Image: Ithell Colquhon, Earth Process, 1940 (source: Tate)
Meeting the day after full moon, this session of Esoteric Etchings will delve into the natural world, exploring botanical form to connect with our intuition, as part of nature ourselves.
Plant magic is the practice of working with botanicals to heal, dream and connect with our own animal intuition. Different plants have distinct properties, powers and hold symbolism for each of us, as well as meaning in the collective unconscious. Working with these in our art and creative practice unlock a host of opportunities to expand creative expression and hide meaning in our works. Botanical symbolism has been used in art throughout history, holding the dual function of creating an aesthetic motif while also providing moral and philosophical notes to the audience, if they chose to look for it. The surrealists took this a step further, diverging from the fixed coding of different plants and their symbolic meaning, using botany to represent unconscious desires, anxieties and emotions. Distorted images of plants, imposing or entangled with the human anatomy, were used to reflect the unconscious mind and reflect its often disturbed state.
In this session, we will work with the plants around us to practice botanical illustration. The session will touch on techniques to accurately capture plants for scientific illustrations, as well as allow you to work freely to create drawings and designs inspired by the scenery, rather than just working to replicate it. We will explore plant properties and symbolism, working with the plants around us. You will have time to wander the gardens and find inspiration from your surrounding, sketching what captures your imagination.
This session will be untutored by life model and occult enthusiast, Rebecca Collins-Thompson. While it is a facilitated session with exercises and prompts, it is untutored by design, allowing your practice to be self-led and focusing on unlearning expectations around how you should approach your art to find pure creative expression.
Foraged tea from the garden will be provided alongside a light feast to be enjoyed in the break. In the spirit of communing, if you would like to bring a contribution to share with the group, such as fruit or a small dish, it would be very welcome.
Basic drawing materials (paper and graphite pencils), will be provided. Please feel free to bring a sketchbook if you prefer, and any more exciting materials you'd like to experiment with. This event will be going ahead whatever the weather, to connect with the earth in its natural state. If it looks like it will rain we will explore different materials such as wax crayons that work better in the wet weather, and use nature as our co-creator, for example playing with ink splatter and rain bleed. There is also a covered area in Edible Landscapes London where we can work with some protection. Make sure you are dressed for spending three hours outdoors.
If you have any questions please email [email protected].
i: @esoteric.etchings @rebecca.collins.thompson @edible_landscapes_london
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 24.54
