Program / Event Details

Artist-Naturalist Molly O. Hoopes will teach a lesson on traditional watercolor techniques, including color-mixing, color theory, wash, graded wash, drybrush, and wet in wet.  Students will practice the techniques and work on a scientifically accurate drawing of a flower or other natural object.  Or we can use graphite, pen and ink, colored pencils, pastels, or scratchboard if you prefer and if you provide the materials.  I can provide all materials for watercolor lessons.

You choose the subject matter, or it can be based on season and availability: flowers, animal skulls, taxidermy animals, leaves, nuts and seeds, insects, rocks, or shells.  I will bring the objects you choose from our collections, and I will adapt the science lesson part of the program based on your chosen subject.

Flowers: Students will learn about pollination and flower anatomy, draw and paint a flower and label the parts. Students will learn about color theory and practice traditional watercolor techniques.  They will learn about the history and uses of Botanical Art.

Skulls: Students will learn how to tell a carnivore from an herbivore and predator from prey by studying the teeth and the eye socket locations.  They will use graphite to draw a skull.

Rocks: Students will learn the three main types of rocks and will draw, paint, and identify one.

Shells: Students will learn about Climate Change and will draw a shell in watercolor and/or colored pencils.

Taxidermy: Students will learn about taxonomy and the differences between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds, and will draw in pastels or watercolor from a preserved specimen.

Nuts & Seeds: Students will learn different ways that plants are able to spread their seeds, and will draw in graphite from natural objects.

Leaves: Students will learn why leaves change colors in the fall, which chemicals in leaves are also in foods they eat, and will draw and paint a leaf.

Career Exploration: Students will be provided with information on the history of botanical art, careers in the science illustration field, and opportunities for further study (college, graduate level, and certificate programs) in scientific illustration.

All supplies provided.

Recommended for art, science, and Biology students.