Class Schedule July-December 2026

Botanical Illustration: Farmer’s Market Finds in Colored Pencil on Stonehenge Kraft Paper | July 14, 15, 17 | IN-PERSON

This three-day focus session explores Colored Pencil on Stonehenge Kraft paper – a perfect combo for rendering vibrant fruits and vegetables. Day One will include practice exercises to understand the nuances of colored pencil on Kraft paper.Days Two and Three will be focused on creating and completing an accurate and appealing composition.

Instructor: Gail Goodrich Harwood

Prerequisite: Botanical Drawing, Color Mixing, and Colored Pencil I or equivalent experience. Equivalent experience must be approved by the instructor prior to registration.

Required/Elective: Elective

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NEW! Botany for Botanical Illustration: Tropical Fruits | July 25, August 1 | IN-PERSON

The course addresses structural diversity of fruits of flowering plants, with emphasis on edible fruits of tropical origin, such as bananas, mangos, coconuts, citrus fruits, pineapple, passionfruit, dragon fruit, papaya, lychees, guava, star fruit, etc. The art portion of the class will focus on producing watercolor works of provided tropical fruit specimens.

Instructors: John & Sheila Hayden

Prerequisite: Introduction to Watercolor for Botanical Illustration

Required/Elective: Elective

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Introduction to Botanical Drawing I | September 3, 10, 24, October 1 | IN-PERSON

This class is designed to provide foundational drawing skills and inspire a sense of wonder and connection to the natural world. You’ll learn to think like an artist, get curious, ask questions, and play — all while learning how to draw. We start with an overview of botanical art and learn about the benefits drawing provides for the brain and our physiology. Drawing habits and dealing with the inner critic are also discussed. Using pencil marks on paper, participants explore sketchbook work, basic line qualities, light on forms, and transforming reality into three-dimensional illusions. Sketching, contour drawing, negative space, and measured drawing are also covered. Experimentation, questions, and observations are encouraged in a relaxed and inspiring environment.

Instructors: Stephey Baker & Claudette Baker

Prerequisite: None

Required/Elective: Required

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Botanical Drawing II: Shading & Structure | October 2, 9, 23, 20 | IN-PERSON

This course takes the next step in your artistic journey, sharpening your ability to see subtle shifts in light and shadow while deepening your focus and observational skills. Using graphite, you’ll explore grayscale rendering and value mapping, learning to blend smooth transitions between highlights, midtones, and shadows, resulting in refined, visually rich botanical drawings that convey structure and realism. Nature remains our greatest teacher. Together, we’ll observe how light sculpts botanical forms, sketch directly from life, and refine our understanding of contrast. You’ll create a personal value finder, experiment with artistic tools, and gain confidence in shading in a supportive, engaging environment where curiosity and practice make learning fun.

Instructors: Stephey Baker & Claudette Baker

Prerequisite: Introduction to Botanical Drawing I

Required/Elective: Required

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Botany for Botanical Illustration: Fungi | October 17, 24 | IN-PERSON

Although no longer considered formally to be members of the plant kingdom, fungi make fascinating subjects for botanical illustrators. The class opens with a session to help you understand the structure of these distinctive organisms through lecture and observation under the guidance of botanist John Hayden. Descriptive morphological terms and scientific names are discussed and used. The illustration session, coordinated by Sheila Hayden, is devoted to graphite illustrations of fungi related to the morning’s discussion. Emphasis is placed on observation, accurate representation of details, and labeling.

Instructors: John & Sheila Hayden

Prerequisite: Introduction to Botanical Drawing III

Required/Elective: Elective

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NEW! Botanical Illustration Intensive: Gorgeous Gourds in Colored Pencil | October 22 | IN-PERSON

Nothing says “October” like ornamental gourds. Striped, curved, bumpy, and beautifully colored, these small “sculptures” make great botanical art subjects. In this one-day “intensive”, you will study gourd characteristics, texture, and patterns to put together an interesting composition. Use texture techniques and color maps to create your composition – from underpainting to layers of colored pencil to finishing details. Application of watercolor washes, baby oil, or alcohol blenders are optional.

Instructor: Gail Goodrich Harwood

Prerequisite: Botanical Drawing, Colored Pencil I

Required/Elective: Elective

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Botany for Botanical Illustration | October 31, November 7, 14, 21 | IN-PERSON

Botanical illustrators need to be well versed in the intricacies of plant form. Morning sessions help you learn to understand the structure of flowering plants and to study and draw a diversity of plant parts under the guidance of a botanist, John Hayden. Students keep an illustrated study journal. Scientific names in botanical illustration are discussed and used. In the afternoons, students will practice close observation of the plant specimen provided and produce a different graphite drawing to be included in each students’ portfolio with Sheila Hayden. Emphasis is placed on observation, accurate representation of details and labeling.

Instructors: John & Sheila Hayden

Prerequisite: Introduction to Botanical Drawing III

Required/Elective: Required

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Introduction to Botanical Drawing III | November 12, 19, December 3, 10 | IN-PERSON

In Part III of the introductory botanical drawing series, you continue to draw inspiration from nature while building on the foundations established in Parts I and II. You deepen your observational skills, refine your interpretations, and develop greater precision in your drawing. This course guides you in translating what you observe into marks on paper, creating the illusion of form and cultivating a deliberate drawing practice. You study both natural and artificial light, exploring how light direction and color temperature influence depth, realism, and form. Through guided exercises, you refine your graphite shading techniques, sharpen your artistic eye, and create small color-matching studies using colored pencils.

Instructors: Stephey Baker & Claudette Baker

Prerequisite: Introduction to Botanical Drawing II

Required/Elective: Required

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NEW! Botanical Drawing: Mixed Media Explorations | December 4, 11, 18 | IN-PERSON

This three-session studio intensive is a deep dive into color relationships — observing, interpreting, and marking with greater fluidity than you’ve allowed yourself before. Working with graphite, watercolor washes, and colored pencil, you’ll slow down and study the nuances of hue, value, and light that everyday looking skips past entirely. Color asks more of the eye than greyscale ever does: every hue carries its own inherent value, and nothing renders true until that relationship is actually seen — through sustained, focused attention, which is in itself a visual art technique. Join me as we study early December light — remarkably different from late winter, early spring, even summer. Sessions move between indoors and the field, weather permitting, so dress for the season.

Instructors: Stephey Baker & Claudette Baker

Prerequisite: Introduction to Botanical Drawing III or Color Mixing

Required/Elective: Elective

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NEW! Seasonal Greens in Colored Pencil and Micron Pen | December 9 | IN-PERSON

‘Tis the evergreen season: Holly, Pine, Juniper, Magnolia… In this one-day “intensive”, choose your subject(s) and create a “plant portrait” to frame or scan for commercially produced holiday cards – or draw/paint directly on blank greeting cards. Add a handwritten greeting as desired.

Instructor: Gail Goodrich Harwood

Prerequisite: Botanical Drawing, Colored Pencil I

Required/Elective: Elective

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Guest Artist Workshops

NEW! Creating a Sense of Depth in Illustrations: Methods and Strategies with Rogerio Lupo | July 8, 15, 22, 29, August 5, 12 | VIRTUAL

Harmonious composition, precise outline, and accurate shading have immense importance as components of a great illustration. However, conveying a good sense of depth is not secondary at all. Every artist eventually faces the challenge of having to deal with the nuisance of a flat result – meaning lack of perspective or three-dimensionality.

By observing landscapes and distances, one can draw inspiration to use the effect of atmospheric perspective and represent the proper scale of contrasts and neatness. Combining a few or all of those diverse resorts is also an option, so that the different challenges can be cleverly sorted and all possible solutions reconciled.

In this course, we will study the theory and the empirics behind those methods, examine examples of masterful illustrations, and mostly proceed to live demonstrations using graphite, colored pencils, and even a bit of pen and ink, to explore and apply all the procedures available for the purpose of obtaining a convincing and eloquent sense of depth.

Instructor: Rogerio Lupo

Prerequisite: None

Required/Elective: Elective

NEW! Introduction to the Perpetual Journal and Field Sketching with Lara Call Gastinger | July 28 | IN-PERSON

Join renowned botanical artist and author Lara Call Gastinger to learn basic skills for drawing outside and keeping a field sketching journal, such as a perpetual journal! We will explore and draw in the gardens after learning how to breakdown the complexity of a plant, compose a page, use a pen, add watercolor, and make important observations.

Instructor: Lara Call Gastinger

Prerequisite: None

Required/Elective: Elective

Class is followed by a book sale/signing with Lara Call Gastinger of her new book A Perpetual Journal Practice: Building a Connection with Nature Through Art.

NEW! Brush Up Watercolor | September 24, 25 | IN-PERSON

Looking to finish and refine your botanical watercolors to take them to the next level? Lara will teach color mixing with a limited palette, loading a brush with water and paint, dry brush techniques, and detailed brush control. Our focus will be smoothing out watery edges and washes to become crisp and clean. At the same time, we will work on conveying accurate textures and a range of values throughout a painting. We will use fall specimens such as nuts and simple leaves as our subjects when developing these skills.

Instructor: Lara Call Gastinger

Prerequisite: Must be enrolled in the Botanical Illustration Certificate Program. Intermediate Level.

Required/Elective: Elective

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Botanical Illustration Studios

Studio Sessions provide dedicated time for students to strengthen their botanical illustration skills in a supportive, practice-focused environment. Each session includes an instructional focus—such as value, form, composition, or digital reproduction—alongside ample time for individualized guidance and hands-on work. Studios are open to all Botanical Illustration Certificate students and serve as a bridge between structured coursework and independent practice.

Required/Elective: Elective

July Focus: Roots | July 26 | IN-PERSON

September Focus: In Glowing Color | September 13 | IN-PERSON

October Focus: Blending Tools: Powder, Liquid, Pencil, and More | October 25 | IN-PERSON

November Focus: Exploring Appropriate Backgrounds for Botanical Art | November 15 | IN-PERSON

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Art in the Garden Classes Providing Elective Credit

Introduction to Nature Journaling | October 31, November 1, 2026 | IN-PERSON

In this guided class, local artist and pollinator advocate Stephey Baker will show you how to capture the magic of nature using words, sketches, and numbers—no prior experience needed! Absolute beginners are welcome, and all art materials are provided, so you can jump in—no shopping list, no stress. We’ll begin with a brief, friendly orientation on basic materials and simple techniques. Then, through curiosity-driven exercises, you’ll learn to capture the beauty of nature using words, sketches, numbers in a way that’s uniquely yours.

Instructor: Stephey Baker

Prerequisite: None

Required/Elective: Elective (1 Credit)