What's included:
-
All necessary Art materials: portable easels, non-toxic solvents and brush cleaner, charcoal, graphite pencils and paper, drawing paper, paintbrushes, standard canvas - simply arrive ready to learn and create 🌻
-
Morning tea
-
Lunch
-
Public talk on Sunday 9 August by Maggie May Jeffries (gratis glass of wine)
-
Professional Demonstrations and Practical theory: drawing and composition principles; real-time collaging techniques; brush techniques for blending; creative decision-making and artistic problem-solving.
-
Personalised guidance: feedback on your work, dedicated time for questions, 1:1 guidance throughout the day, with support tailored to your artistic goals. ​
-
At the conclusion of the Masterclass you will have gained confidence in your abilities, and a deeper understanding of composition, botanical painting and the virtues of moving slowly through the process.
Maggie May Jeffries is an early career artist from lutruwita/Tasmania, based in nipaluna/Hobart. Inspired by a sense of childhood wonder, Jeffries’ botanical oil paintings explore the nature of remembering by layering plants, shadows and light. Central to her creative practice is her fascination with the detail found in our natural world.
Her paintings become documentations of her experience, recalling the ways she would explore as a child. The ‘rewilding’ of her painting process allows for compositions to evolve naturally through the collection of plants assembled from numerous sources, interweaving sensory experience, and memory.
Maggie May Jeffries, Billy Bramble, 2025, oil on linen, 152 x 122 cm, courtesy the artist.
Midwinter Botanical Masterclass
Saturday 8 August
9am
9.30am
10am - 12pm
Gathering at the studio, morning tea, meet and greet.
Introduction by OAR host Elizabete of the Masterclass, "WORK" studio space and artist-educator Maggie May Jeffries.
-
Warm up drawing exercises - charcoal sticks on newsprint, looking for shadows, and highlights.
-
View finders- choosing compositions - charcoal
-
Longer drawings and the opportunity to get into details - graphite pencil
-
Drawing up compositions on canvas to prep after lunch activity.
-
For those moving quickly - starting on "blocking in" underpainting using acrylics, to add depth and detail with oils after lunch.
12 - 1pm
1pm
4.30pm
LUNCHTIME (time may vary)
Making a start on oils, we begin post-lunch with group demonstrations and working one-on-one.
We will cover:
-
intuitive colour mixing - not colour theory
-
capturing finer details
-
brush techniques for blending, fine lines and textures.
-
discussion on collaging in real time - "rewilding" botanical paintings
Wrapping up the workshop, we will chat about how these skills can be applied to botanical painting, and ways to continue this process at home, with an emphasis on how each painting has its own timeline, and the virtues of patience with allowing details to emerge naturally.