CLASSES, WORKSHOPS, TALKS
Get information on Lucy’s upcoming courses, teaching dates and mentoring opportunities
Lucy is an experienced teacher and public speaker. She teaches regularly at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and delivers courses, workshops and talks for many other venues and private groups.
On this page you will find:
Upcoming courses, talks and workshops
Full listing of Lucy’s courses at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Previous courses, talks and workshops
“Lucy T Smith was extremely attentive, polite, pleasant and generous in teaching the techniques. I intend to attend all the courses where she is the tutor. This was my second course at Kew and I am extremely happy with the result I was able to achieve in the classes. Thank you!’ ★★★★★ “
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS KEW, lONDON
SORRY, NOW SOLD OUT
Monday 15th - Friday 17th April 2024
Held in person at Museum No. 1, Kew, opposite the Palm House.
Botanical artists and illustrators use their sketchbooks to make detailed studies of plants. Learn how to observe plant form, structure and colour and record these in your sketchbooks using pencil and watercolour (and any other media you wish to try!).
We will based in the classroom, but students are encouraged to try drawing from life outdoors or in the Gardens’ glasshouses if they wish.
Microscopes will be available for those wishing to dive even deeper into plant observation and drawing.
Hot off the press: signed copies of Lucy’s new book, Botanical Sketchbooks: An Artists’ Guide to Plant Studies will be available to buy in class, and you can also view original work from the book.
Sketchbook study of Gustavia longifolia. See the Botanical Sketchbooks Gallery for more examples.
TALKS AND WORKSHOPS
TRANSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL ART AND ILLUSTRATION IN ROMANIA
MASTERCLASS SORRY, NOW FULLY BOOKED!
Saturday 1st - Friday 7th June 2024
Join me for a Botanical Illustration Masterclass in beautiful Transylvanian countryside in the heart of Romania.
This course is open to a small group of 6 students only. We will gather local native wildflowers in the surrounding meadows and forests to study, draw, ink and paint.
In 2016, I had the privilege to visit another part of this beautiful, unspoilt region to illustrate three plants for the Transylvania Florilegium project, and can’t wait to return.
For more information and bookings, visit the Transylvania School of Botanical Art and Illustration’s website here
Sketchbook study of Euphrasia rostkoviana from Zalanpatak, Romania, for the Transylvania Florilegium published by Addison Publications
ONLINE:
Lucy doesn’t have a dedicated online classroom (yet…) but takes part in offers from other experienced online providers!
This is a three-day online course with the New York Botanical Gardens
4th , 5th and 6th April 2024
10am - 3:30pm ET (Easter Time) each day (2pm - 7:30pm GMT)
“Award-winning botanical artist Lucy Smith joins us from Kew to share her different approaches to painting green leaves. In this three-day online workshop, you'll learn how to achieve the perfect, naturalistic green using watercolor. Smith will guide you through the layering process that ensures even coverage of color over all the leaves in your composition, progressing from tonal washes to fine detail. Prerequisite: Botanical Watercolor I.”
Nymphaea thermarum, watercolour, published in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 2009
BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION COURSES AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW
Please click on the course name to be taken to RBG Kew’s website:
FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION Friday 1st - Tuesday 5th September 2023 (5 days) PAST
BOTANICAL DRAWING: INTERMEDIATE Monday 17th October – Wednesday 19th October 2023 (3 days) PAST
BOTANICAL PEN AND INK: BEGINNERS - Monday 13th - Wednesday 15th November 2023 (3 days) PAST
BOTANICAL PEN AND INK: INTERMEDIATE Wednesday 23rd - Saturday 25th November 2023 (3 days) PAST
FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION EXTRA COURSE ADDED DUE TO DEMAND! Monday 15th - Friday 19th January 2024 PAST
BOTANICAL WATERCOLOUR: INTERMEDIATE Tuesday 13th - Thursday 15th February 2024 (3 days) PAST
BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK STUDY: INTERMEDIATE Monday 15th April — Wednesday 17th April 2024 (3 days)
FLOWER DRAWING AND DISSECTION: INTERMEDIATE Monday 13th — Tuesday 14th May 2024 (2 days)
COURSES AT OTHER VENUES:
BOTANICAL ART TALK “BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOKS, AN ARTISTS’ GUIDE TO PLANT STUDIES” hosted by Julia Trickey - PAST, but you can watch a recording.
BOTANICAL ART CONVERSATIONS online workshop day with Julia Trickey’s Botanical Art Talks: “Sketchbook Study Stages” 17th February 2024 PAST
TRANSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL ART AND ILLUSTRATION IN ROMANIA Masterclass - Capturing the wild flora of Transylvania, 1st - 7th June 2024
BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK COURSE at LANDMARK ARTS CENTRE, TEDDINGTON Tuesday 15th - Thursday 17th August 2023 PAST
PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS AND TALKS
Lucy’s schedule is booked up well in advance - please get in touch if you would like to discuss and book her for a class, workshop or talk. The list below shows the range of topics she has covered in the past. In addition to covering familiar themes, she is also keen to engage with new ideas.
The Wonderful World of Water Plants, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew April - September 2023
Wildflowers and the importance of Botanical Sketchbooks, South West Society of Botanical Artists (SWSBA), Taunton, July 2022
Capturing Seasonal Plants:Botanical Illustration, Clayhill Arts, April 2022
Waterlilies, Waders and Watercolour: Kew Mutual Improvement Society, 8th November 2021
Pen and Ink Illustrations for the Palms of New Guinea - Portfolios and Passions, America Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) online conference 2021
Making your drawing “measure up:” Flower Dissection in Graphite - workshop, (ASBA) online conference 2021
Orchid Painting Workshop: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Adventures of a Botanical Illustrator: Sydney Parkinson on Cook’s First Voyage - Whitby Museum
Botanical Art and Illustration at Kew - Birkbeck Garden History Group, Birbeck College, University of London
Walter, Waterlilies and Waders - The Victoria Waterlily Project - Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists
The Worldwide Day of Botanical Art at Kew - organiser & presenter (“Largest, Smallest, Oldest”), Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, RBG Kew 2018
Joseph Hooker and his Artist Walter Hood Fitch: the continuing tradition of botanist and artist collaboration - Joseph Hooker bicentenary conference, RBG Kew
Royal Horticultural Society Botanical Art Exhibition - demonstration of botanical illustration techniques, RHS Halls, London 2018
Botanical Illustration techniques: Tutor - Pen and Ink, Working from Specimens - Diploma of Botanical Painting at the Chelsea School of Botanical Art (previously English Gardening School) (2010 - 2020)
Composition in Botanical Art - talk, Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society, also Leicestershire Society of Botanical Illustrators
Science and Art at Kew - talk with Dr William J. Baker, Linnean Society of London
Painting Snowdrops, Painting Late Summer Flowers and Fruits, Painting Autumn Fruits - Chelsea Physic Garden, Chelsea, London
Flower Dissection Art - Canary Wharf Garden “Bloom and Grow”, for Arts & Gardens
Lost in Translation - talk, Travellers’ Tails programme National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London 2014
From Roots to Riches - contributor to BBC Radio 4 documentary and publication, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
London Open House Weekends and Friends Open Days - Display of botanical art at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Big Draw - “See More” plant drawing workshop at Kew Gardens
