Lantern Hours
Botanical Illustration Evening
Fourteen places, first Thursday of the month through the season. Draw from the collection under working light while the rest of the building is dark.
2 hours14 places$65.00Ages 14 and overMay 1 to September 30
Fourteen places, first Thursday of the month, May to September. Two hours, from half past six.
The group works in the north range at a bench under proper task lighting, which is the one part of the building that is not lit for the birds. The plants come to the bench rather than the other way round, so nothing is drawn in the canopy and nothing gets trodden on.
No experience needed and nothing to bring. Boards, paper, pencils and a reasonable set of watercolours are provided, and they stay here. If you have your own materials you are very welcome to use them.
What you draw
Whatever is flowering that week, which is the point of running it monthly. The phenology record kept since 2011 exists partly because the collection has to be planted to a schedule the birds can eat from year round, and one useful side effect is that we always know what is about to open.
Six of the drawings made in these sessions are now the botanical line drawings used through this site and on the signage in the entrance range. They are credited on the wall by the doors.