Botanicals with Linda Fairfield

  • Registration Deadline
    Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 4:00pm
  • Saturday, June 18–Sunday, June 19, 2016
  • 1:00pm – 4:00pm
  • MAWA, 611 Main Street

The art of botanical illustration has existed for millennia to identify species, particularly medicinal and toxic plants. Spurred on by advances in the printing press, taxonomy and the rise of the amateur botanist, these renderings became exquisitely detailed by the 1700s. Usually rendered in watercolour, illustrative botanical paintings continue to adorn field guides and scientific studies. Join the tradition in this two-day workshop led by artist Linda Fairfield, in which she will discuss history and examples, and coach beginners in how to create their own botanicals, using the medium of their choice.

Registration deadline: June 15
Please bring a plant you wish to use as your subject, as well as your own paints, pencils and/or markers and paper. Painting clothes or smocks may be advisable.

  • Linda Fairfield is a Winnipeg artist whose work focuses broadly on the natural environment that she identifies specifically as “the garden”. She developed a strong interest in botany and botanical illustration and began seeking out and collecting Manitoba wildflowers. Working in graphite and watercolour from live specimens, she has collaborated with the Manitoba Museum to produce a substantial collection of illustrations of Manitoba wildflowers. Some of her botanicals have been reproduced in field guides (Wild Flowers of Churchill) and other publications. Because she works from live plants, which restricts her botanical production to summer, she spends the remaining months drawing and painting other subjects relative to “the garden” – landscape, birds and animals.