Educator, author and nature journaling mentor, John Muir Laws presented a Zoom workshop on ‘Cool tricks to help you draw plants!’

Here is a recording of that event for those who missed it:

I have a bunch of fun strategies to help you draw flowers, branches, leaves, curling petals, and other crazy plant stuff. This class will be useful for everyone. If you are a teacher, you will learn a lot of tricks you can incorporate into your lessons (everything I do is open source). This is going to be fun so gather your materials, journal and pencil, and come along.

What to Bring

• Playful curiosity and sense of humor

• Piece of white paper and scissors

• Journal and pencil

• A curling leaf

• A palmately veined leaf (like a maple)

• A lobed leaf (like a white or black oak)

• A permanent black marking pen (like a sharpie)

• A piece of clear or translucent plastic (like the cover of a plastic folder for a school report)

• A printout of the plant drawing worksheet (if you cannot print it out, view it online and carefully copy what you see onto a piece of paper before class).

Optional

• Watercolors and brush (if you use them)

• A white gel pen (if you have one)

• A white colored pencil

• A set of colored pencils (if you use them)

• A dead ball point pen (no ink left, not even a little bit)

John Muir Laws offers knowledge and experience through his free workshops. If you would like to make a donation to his work you can do so here.

If you want to learn some more plant sketching techniques from John Muir Laws, take a look at these videos:

John Muir Laws gives some helpful instruction on ‘How to Sketch Wildflowers and Plants’, looking at flowers from different angles and showing some techniques for tackling foreshortening.

John Muir Laws presents a workshop on ‘Drawing Trees’, giving techniques for capturing realistic trees and creating depth in your sketches.

Nature journaling prompts and ideas

• Investigate a leaf – Find a leaf that interests you and look at its texture, margins, veins, shape and size. Does it have hairs?

  What does the leaf tell you about the plant? Some rainforest plants have an adaptation called a ‘drip tip’ which is long tip tapering end which functions to allow water to quickly drain off the leaf’s surface. Can you identify any features of your leaf that tell you about its function?

•  Find two plants from the same family. Sketch them side-by-side and compare their features. What is common to both plants? What is different?

• Find a plant which is coming into bud, and regularly follow it’s journey by recording the process of the flower as it opens, right up until it sets seed.

Nature journaler, educator and author Paula Peeters (Paperbark Writer) shares her adventures of journaling in the garden in her blog post ‘Nature Journaling for Gardeners’.

Learn more…

Here are some links to inspire and encourage you to find out more about plants across the world. There are some wonderful online ‘tours’ available.

Travel to the tropics, the desert and the mountains without leaving the house… Visit behind the closed gates of Kew Gardens. Kew is blooming, why not check it out here.

The gorgeous colours of the RHS Wisley garden is one of the treats in the many virtual tours brought to you by Gardens Illustrated. They have put together 11 virtual tours available here.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison shared the dream of a national botanic garden and were instrumental in establishing The United States Botanic Garden. It’s a living plant museum that informs visitors about the importance, and often irreplaceable value of plants to the well-being of humans and to earth's fragile ecosystems. Take a virtual here.

The Botanical Art and Artists website is a treasure trove of fabulous artworks, history, education and lots more. Artists share their love of botanical art and illustration and provide such a rich resource of learning and visual enjoyment. You can join them here.

This is the story of a fearless pioneer whose vision impressed none other than Charles Darwin. Come on an intrepid journey following the footsteps of the remarkable Marianne North, from the jungles of Borneo and across 150 years. Find the story and her paintings here.