A Week in Dedham, England

After a 10 hour flight from Los Angeles, I arrived at Heathrow at 9:30am.

Then off to London on the Heathrow Express.  Hopped on the Tube to Victoria Street Station then with luggage in tow, just a quick walk over to Westminster for the SBA Annual Exhibition

The cover for the SBA Exhibition (Society of Botanical Artist) was created by the wonderful Ann Swan.

Quick taxi drive over to the RHS Exhibit (Royal Horticulture Society) 

Both exhibits were wonderful.  Such wonderful art could be seen by some amazing artists.  Loved seeing the students art from the SBA Long Distance Learning program.

Just an hour by train from London is the historic town of Dedham.  Ann Swan holds week long workshops at Dedham Hall twice yearly in April and September.  

Dedham Hall is a 15th century manor house in the beautiful Constable Country.

Art courses are held in the large 2 story studio, originally the old barn.

This was my home away from home during my stay.  I had the entire upper flat with views in all directions.

Every morning a group of us ladies went for over an hour walk on the many footpaths in the area.  Every morning going in a different direction.

Its always fun getting the ladies to clown around on our walks.

Miss you all....... Mia, Sandra, Gill & Helen

The Daffodils were in full bloom around Dedham Hall and the surrounding area.

Color Pencil students hard at work!

Just another great meal.  We're always having a great time!  

Love these ladies :) 

Thank you Ann Swan for another memorable colored pencil workshop in England!

While having fun in Dedham, I did work on a new drawing of an Orchid.  This is blown up approx. 5X actual size.  It took me all week just to get this far.  Those little red islands on the leaves took days.  Now I'm starting to color in the green of the leaves.

Miss you all!  See you next year.

Lori V.

Orchid Show

March 8- 10, 2013

Earl Warren Fairgrounds

Santa Barbara, California

Off to the Orchid Show in Santa Barbara!

Looking forward to buying some beautiful Orchids to draw.

Thinking of making note cards of various varieties of Orchids, so this will really be helpful

The theme this year was Orchids in Focus, so many of the displays had a motion picture theme.

One of my favorite displays was from a local grower Zuma Canyon Orchids.

Such beautiful award winning displays of white Orchids

My favorites were all the crazy looking Orchids

Love all the color combinations

This is the variety I purchased and can't wait to start drawing

There were many beautiful entries in the art area.  Next year I hope to enter all my Orchid Greeting Cards.

Met another botanical illustrator Linda Ann Vorobik from Washington State.

She had some beautiful greeting cards, bookmarks and amazing silk scarves for sale at her booth.

Nancy at I at the Orchid Show. 

What a great time we had!

Happy Drawing friends :)

Casa del Herrero

Casa del Herrero, located in Montecito near Santa Barbara, California

This estate is included on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark.

I visited Casa del Herrero in January to meet with Molly Barker the director about arranging to have an artist from England to teach a Botanical Art class later in 2013.  The estate is planning on hosting art workshops in the coming years.

The 1920's estate was designed and constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture,

The principal architect of the house was George Washington Smith, one of the architects credited with creating the Santa Barbara's rich legacy of Spanish Colonial Revival design.

The estate covers 11 acres in Montecito with gardens designed in the Moorish style.

In the early 1930's George Steedman worked with architect Floyd Brewster on the design of his workshop. Steedman became interested in silversmithing in the mid 1920's and in 1927 studied with George Gebelein, the foremost American silversmith, in Boston

To take a tour of Casa del Herrero and for more information on the estate, visit their website at www.casadelherrero.com

Stay tuned for more details in the months to come.

Huntington Gardens Botanical Drawing

The Huntington

Founded in 1919 in Pasadena, California.

The gardens cover 120 acres including Rose Gardens, Japanese Gardens, Chinese Gardens plus a dozen other specialty gardens.

Botanical Drawing workshop with art instructor Lisa Pompelli.

 

Always so much going on at The Huntington, even in December

 

 

Diana launches her arrow ... seemingly into the dome of the gallery outside the Huntington Library. There's a legend that sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington used an 18-year-old Bette Davis as the model.

 

Art instructor extraordinaire, Lisa Pompelli working with a student

 

 

 

 Conservatory & Workrooms

 

Art students hard at work

 

One of my botanical drawings done in graphite that I worked on during the 3 weeks of class.

 

Looking forward to future classes with Lisa :)

Denver Botanical Gardens

Ann Swan Workshop

at the Denver Botanical Gardens

October 2012

 Sead Pods and Leaves and all things Leafy

Ann Swan, hard at work!

 

Seed Pod drawings from some of the students.

 

 

 

My maple leaf drawing - Colored Pencil & Graphite

 

 

Holiday Chalet

A Victorian Bed and Breakfast in Denver

 

 

Burrrrrr..... It got a bit chilly in Denver when I was there.

Added to the magic in Denver

 

 

 

 

Faber Castell Factory in Germany

While on a holiday in Germany, I talked my husband into making a stop at the Faber Castell Factory near Nuremberg, Germany.  Faber Castell was founded in 1761 and is still owned by the descendants of the original founder, Kasper Faber, 250 years later.

 Their pencils are one of my favorites and I couldn't help but go into the shop and buy some pencils I needed and a few other goodies.

The showroom of the Faber Castell shop is beautiful.  Everything is out for you to look at and touch.

Its fun to see all the new merchandise!

The Faber Castell Factory!

The original Castle!

Beautiful statue of founder, Kasper Faber.

Happy Painting to all my art friends!