Botanical art
Online art making course
11 March 2025 6 - 8.30pm18 March 2025 6 - 8.30pm25 March 2025 6 - 8.30pm1 April 2025 6 - 8.30pm8 April 2025 6 - 8.30pm
Live-streamed online
£260
Friends of the RA book first
Learn to depict plant life with precision and flair.
In this online course, artist Helen Allen will draw on our collection and the work of Royal Academicians such as Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RA and Philip Reinagle RA to introduce you to the field of botanical art. Helen will guide you as you build your ability to create detailed plant studies. You will use watercolour paint and graphite pencil to depict plant structures, discovering light, form, colour and character. By the end of the course, you will understand the basics of botanical art and have started your journey towards creating your own expressive botanical artworks.
Materials are not provided, but participants will receive a recommended materials list.
Helen Allen is the former director of Botanical Painting and Illustration at the English Garden School and the founder of the Chelsea School of Botanical Art. Helen’s work is held in the collections of Chelsea Physic Garden, Hampton Court Palace, the Royal Botanic Garden Kew and Grootbos Foundation Florilegium. Her work is also in the Highgrove Florilegium, and Transylvania Florilegium. Recently Helen was awarded a residency at Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Virginia, USA and invited to paint for its florilegium.
Live closed captioning (CC) is available for this event.
If the course is sold out please contact public.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk to join our waiting list.
£260
Friends of the RA book first
Related events
- Short courseFree
The Primary Art School
9 January - 12 June 2025
- Short course
Art and conflict
1 February - 2 February 2025
- Short course
Modernism around the world
4 February - 11 March 2025
- Short course
Portrait photography: ideas from modernism
15 February - 16 February 2025
- Short course
The Art of Carnival
1 March 2025
- Short course
Exploring ink: method and imagination
29 March - 30 March 2025
- Short course
Depicting the figure: Renaissance to Modernism
29 April - 27 May 2025
- Short course
Revolutionaries and Romantics: art and literature in France
17 May - 18 May 2025
- Short course
Oil painting: techniques and discovery
17 May - 18 May 2025
- Short course
Sketch with stitch
21 June - 22 June 2025
- Short course
Connoisseurship summer school: who painted what, when and how to tell
1 July - 5 July 2025
- Short course
Life drawing summer school
8 July - 12 July 2025
- Short course
Drawing with anatomy
15 July - 19 July 2025
- Short course
Expressive life drawing: observation and imagination
15 July - 19 July 2025
- Short course
Landscapes: van Gogh and his influence
2 September - 6 September 2025