Botanical Illustration with a close-up twist: Using macro-lens photos to paint the abstract patterns and forms in nature

Using a clip-on macro lens (provided by the tutor – the lens simply clips on your phone) for your smartphone, we’ll…

• First take super-close ups of natural objects on our phones, trying to capture the elements of nature we don’t normally notice.
• Then paint and draw from the close-up photos, and explore the abstract patterns, colours, and details of feathers, leaves, seeds, flowers, rocks, shells, and even lichens and fungi (where available). Your tutor will also bring a box of already-printed photographs to use as inspiration (see the images above as examples) and a selection of natural objects.

Your painting may show natural objects in an entirely new way!

Will a close-up photo of an Iris look like a hairy caterpillar? Will the inside of a foxglove look like an alien? We’ll find out!

You’ll be encouraged to create illustrations from your photographs as…

• A painting of any size.
• A bookmark.
• A greeting card.

For students who work faster, they can of course create more paintings, bookmarks, and cards.

In this workshop you’ll…

• Learn the basics of botanical illustration and macro-lens photography.
• Take home a set of your close-up photos to print at your leisure
• Take home your illustrations and paintings to adorn your home, or share as gifts.

Betty Adamou

Betty Adamou is a multi-disciplinary artist, with a career spanning fashion, digital game design and illustration, and botanical painting.

Betty’s career started in Women and Menswear Pattern Cutting, and selling clothing near London’s Portobello Road.

In later years, she went on to work in the completely different field of market research, but still maintaining her love of art and design, going on to then invent a new methodology of online research using games.

As a game designer for research across 10+ years, Betty’s artistic talents were geared towards the digital world, and she has won several awards for innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2017, she was approached to publish a book on her research methods using games. Her book has been published in 3 languages and sells worldwide.

In 2016, Betty, with her husband and dog, moved to Suffolk, where the coast and abundance of natural spaces inspired her to take up ‘macro nature photography’; taking close-ups of flowers, plants, lichens, fungi and more, to reveal the intricate worlds within. Betty believes that this practice provides a new-found appreciation for wildlife, and that habitats really do come in all shapes and sizes.

Her macro-lens photography, and the paintings she derives from the photos, provides her audience with a renewed passion for nature.

Since the Coronavirus lockdown, Betty has been teaching this course to inspire a new form of botanical illustration, and is delighted to teach this innovative course at Flatford Mill Field Centre.

Find out more: www.bettyadamou.com

Email:  [email protected]

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  Expert Tuition
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  Free Wi-Fi

What to bring

Come prepared with suitable clothes (that you’re not worried about getting paint on) Bring…

• A few thin paintbrushes for detail work e.g. sizes 0,1, 2 and 3.
• Fatter brushes for larger stokes e.g. backgrounds e.g. sizes 5 or 6.
• A light pencil, eraser and sharpener.
• A selection of watercolours and/or acrylics.
• A5 multi-technique or watercolour paper pad, around 200 to 250gsm. We can then cut down to smaller sheets during the day where needed.

Students are also welcome to bring (optional)…

• Any of your own natural objects to draw from, including natural objects of sentimental value.
• Your own macro-lens, if you wish to buy one. Macro-lenses can be bought online from Amazon and similar sites for around £6. However the tutor will have enough macro-lenses for every student on the day so it is not necessary to bring your own, unless you wish to!

This course is suitable for anyone interested in seeing the natural world in a new way; from complete beginners, as well as those with more experienced in ‘traditional’ botanical illustration and/or botanical photography.