Eco life drawing session // dear plants…

An inside look at our latest life drawing session;

How the workshop went…

Meg Woodward-Hay is a local artist and gardener, who came to share her opinions and knowledge about the natural world and the way we see plants and the environment. We reflected on ‘dear plants…’ the current exhibition that surrounded us as Meg worked with The Blueberry students and the community garden to create the exhibition.

We began by drawing 4 squares on our paper, then filling these squares with textural elements we observed in the room. We considered how the gallery space used to be a greenhouse and how this is is reflected in the current exhibition. As we began to draw and warm up Meg introduced herself and how she worked with The Blueberry students to create the exhibition.

Next we moved on to making natural inks. Discussing how this is possible, different techniques, and the difference of natural dyes to manufactured ones. As Meg continued to share her knowledge, we painted her with these paints we had created and natural items foraged from the community garden. We thought about shadow and light, how this medium affected our process of capturing Meg and the surrounding space.

After this we switched to charcoal and focused on detail instead. Comparing the two different mediums and how we were varying our technique to capture different elements of Meg and surroundings in front of us. We then combined the two practices together, seeing how two very different mediums interacted, how it affected our process and how we could capture Meg and the information she was sharing with us.

Meg gave us tips on how we as individuals can work towards a more sustainable lifestyle, the way we can incorporate these practices into our creative works and to reflect on how we interact with nature and our pace of life.

Event Programme: This event was in response to our current exhibition dear plants… a collaborative project with staff and students from Crescent Arts, Blueberry Academy and the plants and creatures in our Woodend Community Garden, for more information about the exhibition click here
To see the other events as part of this programme click here