Connect with nature and experience the joy of producing a beautiful botanical drawing and painting, inspired by the gardens at Hay Castle.

An introduction to painting beautiful botanical studies. You will receive both fresh and dried subjects - seed heads and pods - to work from, or you can take inspiration from plants growing in the Castle grounds!

This course is run in partnership with Debbie Devauden Beautiful Botanicals. 

What will I do and learn?

• Gain an overview of how to start a Botanical Illustration and what to look for in your chosen specimen
• Learn how to use pencil, drawing pens, and watercolour to produce a finished image
• Understand how to choose and mix the best suitable colours to match your specimen.
• Be able to add very fine details with specific brushes.

Who will I learn from?

Debbie Devauden

Debbie Devauden is a botanical illustrator and experienced teacher who has worked for the National Trust and Field Studies Council. She is chair of the Gloucester Society for Botanical Illustration. Debbie teaches regular weekly classes at her home studio near Abergavenny. She has exhibited with the Society of Botanical Artists in London and her paintings and commissions have travelled to Japan, Australia and America. Debbie aims to make all her workshops fun and relaxed and where students will be amazed at what they can achieve in just one day.

Key information

Date - Saturday 5th August 2023. 10am – 4pm

Location - The Clore Space, Hay Castle. If you’re travelling by car, please park in the Hay-on-Wye public car-park.

What you need - All materials are provided, paper paints, bushes etc. for use on the day. Don't forget reading glasses if you wear them! You should wear suitable clothing. Please bring a water bottle and a packed lunch for a picnic, or Hay has a variety of places to buy lunch. Tea & Coffee available to buy from the Hay Castle Café

Under 18s should be accompanied by an adult.

How much does it cost?

We would like our short courses to be as accessible as possible cost-wise, whilst ensuring we are still able to cover material and teaching costs. We, therefore, ask you to pay what you can towards this event based on our tiered system. For this course, we have 12 spaces. We have tickets available at £50 (reduced rate), £75 (actual cost), and £100 (pay it forward).

Consider contributing more on the scale if you:

• have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs
• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own the home you live in
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

Consider contributing less on the scale if you:

• have difficulty covering basic expenses
• are supporting children or have other dependents
• are an elder with limited financial support
• have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

We have one fully-funded spot on this course available to a successful bursary applicant. If you are unable to pay for the course and would like to be considered for a free place, then please complete this form. You will be contacted by a member of our team 2-4 weeks prior to the course starting.

Tickets are non-refundable. Depending on the uptake of the course we hold the right to cancel it, in which case you will be refunded.

Please note that spaces on this course are limited. We operate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Accessibility

This course is rated as 1 (fully accessible) on our scale of accessibility. Read more about our accessibility policy here.

Please see our booking terms & conditions upon checkout for more information.

We will follow the most recent COVID measures and protocols in order to keep everyone safe and healthy for the duration of the course.