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Drawing on natural history
Wooden box of natural objects collected from the beach
Drawing on Natural History
There’s a lot of enjoyment in taking the time to carefully observe and document found natural objects from the environment, such as seed pods, shells, and plants. This is the art of Natural History Illustration.
Observing and drawing connects us to nature and help raise our awareness of nature’s biodiversity and our relationship to the environment, even if we live in urban areas.
One of my studio jobs has been to create a Natural History collection. I’ve been sorting through the natural objects I’ve collected over the years – including those from high tide wanders and forest camping adventures. Its amazing to see all my scattered, random finds being brought together and organised into boxes. I’m a bit embarrassed by how many banksia pods I’ve collected!
I’ve also recently learnt how to pin insects and have been gifted a large box of pinned insects from UQ student collections.
And then, there’s my favourite – Esmeralda, the taxidermied rock pigeon. She’ll need her own blog post!
To make the most of the studio’s new Natural History Collection, I’ll be hosting casual Social Sketching Sessions. These 3 hour sessions will run every month and are designed to be relaxed and social, an opportunity to chat with other artists whilst everyone works on their own drawing or sketching project.
There’s no tuition but you are also welcome to access the studio’s library whilst you’re on site, there are a number of drawing and sketching reference books available to peruse.
Interested? Click HERE to find out more.
Wooden box of natural objects collected from the beach
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- Mangrove Propagule caps
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- Natural History specimens
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- Drawing banksia cones is one of my favourites!
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- A page from my sketchbook
