Last day botanical art workshop holiday overlooking the Oslo Fjord

July 6, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

What a day! Busy, busy and some lovely botanical art finished using both coloured pencil and watercolour.

I have to say that I was amazed at the results. Those who hadn’t painted before and those who hadn’t done botanical art before used the week extremely constructively and beneficially. Some of the results really astounded me. The change was huge. They know which ones they are!

Absolutely all of the finished paintings were very good and every person progressed. All I can say is that I am grateful to those who came – for coming. In achieving so much, they gave me a huge thrill.

The last supper!

Served by Sarah,

In the celebration of:

Some of the plants are not common , so in case you are wondering what they are;
Gentian, Pink Cornus, Magnolia, Harebell, Blåklokke, Hydrangea Paniculata, Rose, Multe (Norwegian) or Cloudberry.

5th day botanical art workshop holiday by Oslo Fjord.

July 5, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

If I start writing a little bit weirdly, it’s because I gave fallen asleep writing this. Today I am tired, but not because of the course itself.

We have had another super day in the Thon Hotel, Åsgårdstrand. Even the well travelled amongst us feel that the hotel is really looking after us well.

This care and attention to detail by the hotel, has meant that we can immerse ourselves in botanical painting. Everyone has worked hard to perfect their individual techniques – and it’s paying off.

The afternoons are meant to be used on doing what we want to do as this is a holiday. However, except for short excursions, the majority have just wanted to work. I have taught and given individual attention in the morning and in the afternoon I am with them in the studio, but can give them help and advice when it’s asked for. In the meantime I paint only in the afternoons And evenings.ikpj

I have been painting a plant that we begged and borrowed in Åsgårdstrand, on the condition that I sent a card of the finished painting. I have been working to achieve this before it dies. The plant is a Cornus and I carried on after supper this evening and until midnight.

Anyway the pictures. I hope you will agree that the improvement is very good.

4th day Botanical art workshop holiday by Oslo Fjord

July 4, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Again a lovely busy day with some really good results. Practice certainly makes perfect. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of some of the finished paintings today, but promise to do so tomorrow. But I am very thrilled with some of the results so far.

I have promised the others on the workshop holiday to tell you and show you a little of how the Thon Hotel Åsgårdstrand is looking after us. They have been absolutely marvellous and do everything they can to make our stay as comfortable and worthwhile as possible.

You have already seen the room that we are using as a studio, with its view facing east over the Oslo Fjord. You have also seen some of the pictures taken from my room and possibly realise how early the sun is up. The hotel is even making sure that our plants don’t suffer with the early morning sun and warmth, by closing blinds etc. for us.

The food has been amazing and they have even catered at extremely short notice for people with a combination of allergies and still made them feel excited about the flavours in the food they were getting.

There is quite a choice of food right from breakfast through to supper and they make a point of normalising gluten and lactose intolerance as a minimum.

These are pictures of just one coffee break!

When the coffee arrives, the room empties very quickly!

This afternoon we went to a Viking House museum not too far away and got a different perspective on how the Vikings lived and were appreciated.

When we got back, we still were served our tea! and in the same style as these pictures. A choice of a very healthy or a very unhealthy snack – or a combination.

Getting back from a light evening walk with my visiting family at 24:00, I took this at 01:00.

3rd Day Botanical art workshop holiday by the Oslo Fjord

July 3, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Everyone is getting into the thick of their botanical art pictures. Some have chosen quite small plants which is quite difficult to do. Others are learning new techniques and have been so patient in practising them.

It isn’t often that one gets a whole week to go into such detail and I am very pleased to see such improvement. Some have practiced getting smooth washes, others intricate detail and some have not done botanical art before. I think and hope they might have become smitten.

Today the sun was shining all day and those new to Norway understood about the very special clear light here. Both sea and sky seem extra blue and nature in general seems more sparkling than we are used to in the UK at least.

This afternoon we visited a lady’s garden. We had seen some lovely and unusual specimens in her garden and one student was brave enough to ask to visit her. The lady had a beautiful pink Cornus (Dogwood) in her garden. She promptly cut off a piece and kindly gave it to us to paint.

2nd day botanical art workshop holiday by the Oslo Fjord

July 1, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Something must be going right as they are already talking about ‘next time’.

Now I’m not sure if they are saying this only because Norway is so beautiful, or if it is because it is a good workshop! They (and I) do love the food.

What I will say is that it is very difficult getting everyone on time to meals during the day, or keeping up their fluid levels with the lovely fresh water readily available. But, we are having a lot of fun and being extremely well looked after by the Hotel.

This holiday is giving the less practised of us, more time to practice painting botanical art. It is also giving the opportunity to paint plants they haven’t painted before. Tomorrow I must take some pictures of some of what has been achieved so far. But in the meantime, some more pictures from today.

The first picture was taken from my bedroom window at 00:30 this morning.

First day botanical art workshop by Oslo Fjord

June 30, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

The sun shone in my window at 05:00 this morning – bright and powerful. I went back to sleep!

After a lovely breakfast in the Thon Hotel Åsgårdstrand, we started the workshop by choosing specimens to paint.

I had been very lucky to get some Norwegian plants from the mountains in Telemark as described yesterday. I had also got some standard flowers from the local garden centre, but nothing exotic from warmer climates. In addition to this, some of the students had been out and picked some flowers (with permission) round the hotel.

The plants chosen to paint were Multe or Cloudberry, pansies, Dianthus and the lovely Hydrangea Paniculata. Some people will be using watercolour, and some coloured pencil. It already looks very promising. So far graphite drawings have been done and traced ready to start painting tomorrow. Although one person has already completed one small picture.

The first picture is from my bedroom at 07:00 this morning. The remainder are from the room we are using to paint. Please make particular note of the final picture which is a view from our painting room.

Meeting the Norwegian Botanical art holiday group

June 29, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

At last we have arrived. I met up with seven students later on this afternoon. Unfortunately the eighth student was unable to come as planned and will be missed.

People haven’t come all the way to Norway only to have a holiday, but they have also come because of the workshop in botanical art. The weather for them is improving and that helps. Each of the ‘foreign’ students has commented on the beauty of Åsgårdstrand and the surrounding countryside, so I hope they will become almost as fond of Norway as I am.

During the day I have selected potential subjects from a nearby garden centre, but best of all are the plants collected in Telemark for the course. Hopefully you will see a little of them during the week, but I am very grateful to the lady who collected them for us. Takk skal du har Dagny!

These are a couple of pictures taken from my bedroom at 22:30 this evening. Sorry they are slightly unclear, I obviously didn’t keep still enough.

The Norwegian Botanical art workshop holiday about to start

June 28, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

I am in Norway, in my daughters house, in the lovely town of Tønsberg. I have at last got this far.

I have been chasing my tail for over a week and you can be allowed to feel really sorry for my husband who has borne the brunt of it. Every day , I thought today I would paint – but no. What has happened?

Apart from putting everything together and packing for this workshop, I have marked assignments and spent hours on preparation for the Palmengarten exhibition in Germany.

But worst of all, one of our cats – in fact my daughter’s cat on permanent loan to us, suddenly became seriously ill and nearly died. We have spent a lot of time at the vets and he was hospitalised and on drips to give him some fluids. But, we were allowed to bring him home on Wednesday and we can safely say he has definitely used up one of his nine lives. We now have a lovely cat sitter looking after the animals whilst we are away.

We travelled to Norway yesterday and tomorrow will be trying to find some suitable plants in preparation for everyone’s arrival tomorrow afternoon. I will also be meeting a lady from the Botany Society who has taken a trip up into the mountains to get some special Norwegian Flora for us.

Today was rather cloudy and colder than it has been. In fact my daughter tells me today was the coldest day since March! I have been going on about the beautiful warm weather they have had here. But my tall, strawberry blond daughter is beautifully brown- so it must be true.

Hopefully I will get a few minutes each day to keep you updated about the workshop holiday.

Photos from the small picture of a dead rose head in watercolour. Try as I might I didn’t get a chance to finish it before I left. The other picture is showing a little bit of the chaos in sorting for the Norwegian workshop.

Culmination of the botanical art Rose workshop

June 19, 2014April 4, 2015 | Gaynor's Flora

Three lovely days with lovely people. And what’s more there was improvement and each grew in confidence about their abilities. Some used watercolour and others coloured pencil.

One person hadn’t been on one of the workshops before and in fact hadn’t used the medium for a number of years, or even done any botanical painting. I was impressed about how quickly the technique was picked up and the result was very good.

The roses didn’t always behave as intended. We had some cloud and a lot of sun. And, blow me down but the flowers opened up and followed the sun! We drowned them in a bucket of water each night, but there was one sort that didn’t even benefit too much from that. One rose was picked on the first day and we noticed that there was only one tight bud left that was unlikely to open up until the end of the week!

That night the one rose disintegrated entirely! The student painting it felt a little despondent, but we looked up the garden and there, in front of us was an absolutely splendid open bud. The petals were rich and velvety and we couldn’t believe our eyes. The flower lasted that day and long enough for her to complete it. Luckily, there were plenty of leaves available.

Pictures from the workshop: