Events & Courses

As the gardens embark on their re-wilding project, join me on a draw-walking exploration of the ‘wild’ wood in their extensive landscape.

Come and develop your wood narrative in a large, custom-made concertina sketchbook. We’ll be using a ‘frottage’ technique combined with pen, charcoal, ink and bleach to make brave drawings.

See the Wild Wood’

This title stems from the phrase “Can’t see the wood for the trees” – an idiom that means someone is unable to understand a situation because they are too focused on the details. I hope to open people’s eyes and minds to the multi-faceted qualities of wood – to understand it and celebrate it.

Our aim will be to capture the diversity of wood in a narrative sketchbook form as we draw-walk the gardens. 

Draw-walk – A guided exploration of the environment; with time spent observing and recording with specific materials and techniques relevant to the stimulus.

Narrative – A telling of some actual or fictitious event or connected sequence of events, recounted by a narrator to an audience.  

We will start the day with a guided exploration of the gardens and surrounding landscape. We’ll make notes, drawings and execute texture-colour studies in your concertina sketchbook – one page after another. We’ll return to the studio to develop your wood narrative. I like to keep materials simple using a ‘less is more’ approach. Pen, charcoal and ink form the core of my own practice, but I often seek to combine/contrast those with more unusual media. All artwork can be taken home at the end of the session.

You don’t need to be great at drawing. Success in this workshop will depend on your ability to look, learn, be brave and enjoy yourself.

Cost £65