Autumn’s in bloom
Artist Kasia Hebda will present a two-day immersive weekend workshop to give your creativity strong technical foundations. It’s an introduction to botanical drawing and watercolour, where you’ll get to take home a finished artwork each day with Kasia’s expert guidance.
Perfect for beginners and experienced artists alike, this workshop combines hands-on drawing and watercolour techniques to help you create two stunning botanical artworks in just one weekend. In 2023 Hebda started teaching watercolour classes, which have been hugely popular.
“The idea of this workshop came from the experience of my students, who quite often struggled with drawing the basics,” Hebda says. “When they came to my painting classes, I noticed that they didn’t really understand the difference between the value in drawing and painting, in general it’s a very important feature to understand to be able to improve your painting – you need to understand the value and contrast.”
She decided to combine it into this workshop, where on day one the focus will be on the drawing, and day two will shift focus to painting. While you’ll get the most benefit out of attending both days, the classes are designed so that you don’t need to participate in both days. The first day is all about building strong foundations in drawing and understanding how contrast works in art. Then on day two you’ll be building on that, working with colour and in watercolour.
“Working with light is very important, but it’s also quite counter-intuitive for people who have experience more with acrylics or oils, which are opaque techniques. So usually when you’re painting with opaque techniques like acrylics or oils, you can start from the dark and then you can add highlights at the end. In water colours, it’s the other way around because you’re using the colour of the paper to reflect the light shining through the layers of paint.”
Hebda has a background in art restoration and in art conservation, so she understands the physics and chemistry that makes everything happen. She studied for six years back in her home country of Poland and has a total of 12 years of art education under her belt. This information is something she incorporates into her teaching.
“It’s not only about coming and doing a pretty picture and leaving with something you can frame, but it’s about building those lifelong skills that help you understand what is actually happening when you’re painting and drawing.”
The workshop is open to all skill levels – suitable for beginners to more advanced artists. She’s had students who say they can only draw stick figures in the past, which she says if you can hold a pencil and write, you can draw. As a starting point, she recommends replacing scrolling with creating micro sketches to help improve your skills in art.
“When you’re doing something at home, it’s really hard to say what you’re doing wrong. Sometimes you can’t put your finger on it and keep doing the same thing over and over.”
By heading into a class or workshop, you have support from someone who can help focus on the area you’re struggling with and answer any questions. If you can’t make it to the workshop, never fear, Hebda is planning more courses in the future.
The Full Bloom Weekend Art Workshop will take place at Kasia Hebda Studio at School House Studios in Country Lane on Saturday, 18 and Sunday, 19 April, 10am – 1pm. You can find out more info and get tickets at Humanitix.
