“If you can paint a leaf, you can paint the world” John Ruskin
Every leaf is unique. Learn to observe their structure, veins, shape and posture. Draw them in botanical detail with movement, perspective and foreshortening. Discover how to paint highlights, shadows and texture and how to mix, match and paint any leaf colour. Explore different colour combinations. Layer colours to produce transparency and luminosity. Create interest and enhance your leaves with complementary colours and glazing. All skill levels welcome. Class demonstrations and individual tuition. A workshop for every botanical artist!

This introductory workshop will ease you into botanical art. It is designed for those people interested in botanical art as a hobby and will take students from the very basics through to being able to paint a plant and finish a specimen in watercolour. Christine is the owner and Director of CIBA and BIBA. She established these teaching institutes as a way for students from Canberra and Beechworth and surrounding regions to be exposed to the very best tutors from around Australia. Christine has qualifications in graphic design and worked in advertising as an art director and production manager. She has studied at Queensland University, the University of Virginia, Radcliffe College (Harvard) and the ANU. She has exhibited in ‘Botanica’ and ‘Canberra Botanical’. Christine is Director of CSIRO Discovery, Canberra.

Steph Goss moved to the Macedon Ranges in Victoria, from Adelaide, where she studied art and design as well as photography while completing a teaching course. She has specialised in the watercolour painting skills necessary to produce wonderful fruit and vegetable images. Steph has had very successful solo exhibitions and has exhibited and sold her work in many exhibitions around Australia and in Europe. Currently she is producing two series of fruit cards, some of which have been chosen by Maggie Beer to sell as specialty items in her store in the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Steph has conducted painting workshops at the Botanical Art School of Melbourne for the past 8 years as well as at the Adelaide, Geelong and Bendigo Botanic Gardens. 

In 2009 Dolores impressed us with her unique style for painting bugs and butterflies! She is back for a workshop devoted to lichens. Australia has an enormous diversity in its lichen flora, with a strong endemic component in floras of south eastern Australia that has affinities with southern New Zealand and southernmost South America. With BIBA students, Dolores intends to study, explore and represent a very primitive form of plant life, that only survives with air, water and nutrients that surround their natural habitat. This workshop will concentrate on lichens that grow on bark, wood or rock, with associations of fungi and bryophytes (mosses).

Dolores has exhibited widely and has received international awards for her paintings. She have moved from traditional watercolour painting on paper to pen and ink and watercolour on drafting film, a technique that took her four years to develop. Dolores incorporates skillfully her drawings of a botanically correct specimen with contemporary design, creating a unique and new form of botanical illustration. She regularly presents classes in Melbourne.

Study how to paint chestnuts in all their glory. The technique is applicable to other subjects that require such a detailed and exacting painting style. John studied a doctorate in botany at University of Vigo, (Spain). This resulted in a strong academic background in botany which he combines with his passion for botanical art which ultimately influences his distinctive composition and painting style. John says of his work: “My style is strictly accurate realism but minimal in composition – it could be described as either Japanese inspired or having art nouveaux influences. John teaches internationally and his paintings are in public and private collections around the world. He is a recipient of many awards as well as an artist featured in the prestigious Highgrove Florilegium.

This workshop is a must for all students who have completed the introductory course. Mary Ann is always ready to share her extensive art knowledge and particularly her botanical art dry brush technique. Mary Ann studied art at Riverina College of Advanced Education, Wagga Wagga, graduating in 1981 with an Applied Diploma majoring in Graphic Design. She worked as a graphic designer before deciding to take a long-term passion in gardens. She gained a certificate in Arboriculture Techniques in 1995, followed by an Advanced Certificate in Urban Horticulture at Ryde TAFE. In February 1998, she began teaching Botanical Art at Ku-ring-gai Art Centre, Roseville. With the encouragement of her class, she was part of a committee that in early 1999 formed the Botanical Art Society of Australia Inc. Mary Ann became the first elected president of the Society in May 1999. Mary Ann has exhibited in many major art exhibitions. Mary Ann now lives in Orange, where she now works as a horticulturist in a garden centre as well as maintaining her teaching and painting of botanical art.

This will be an important workshop for any experienced botanical artist wanting to incorporate more detailed work using pen and ink in their paintings.The feedback from students who attended Mali’s class in Canberra in 2009 was excellent. Mali works on paper using traditional techniques but also aims for a fresh, contemporary look. She studied fine art at Prahran College and majored in printmaking. She also studied horticulture and botanical illustration at V.C.A.H. Burnley and has worked at the National Herbarium of Victoria since 1992 as a botanical illustration. Mali has a fascination for scientific detail and natural history. In Melbourne Mali conducts classes on botanical watercolour painting using microscopic dissection drawing and vellum painting.