Lili Heller’s ever-popular Drawing Inspiration From Nature workshop is split into two different classes, held one weekend after the other.

PART 2

Due to public demand, here's a Follow-Up from the very popular, Drawing From Nature Workshop. This 3-hour course is perfect for returning participants of the previous 3-hour workshop for Beginners.

This time we will focus on the theme of landscape. First, we will draw plants and trees, making observational sketches from printed references to choose from using graphite. Then we will make one drawing of a simple landscape using charcoal to work on contrast. After this, we will make one fully shaded graphite drawing of another landscape.

Suitable for complete beginners as well as for people who want to catch up on concrete explanations and on helpful, easy to understand and solid drawing technique basis and tricks.

All the material will be provided (table easels, wooden drawing boards, mechanical sharpeners, drawing clips, HB and 6B pencils, 9B graphite sticks, charcoal, compressed charcoal, putty rubbers, A3 drawing quality paper, scrap paper, rubbers, pieces of cloth, cotton pads, cotton buds, tissue...).

Course breakdown:

• How to improve your observation skill and your sketching technique (Remainder on how to start an observational drawing and what are the main steps to build it up)

• Use different ways to handle a shading tool (graphite/ charcoal) to obtain different textures

• Concretely understand and improve contrast, depth and 3D illusion

• How to start when it is a landscape drawing

• Simple use of aerial perspective

• How to use other tools like rubber or piece of cloth to obtain cloudy or stormy sky

PART 1

The course will start with short essential technique exercises on paper then will focus on observational sketches and fully shaded drawing (from nature picking collection of small elements like leaves, flowers, stones...)

Suitable for complete Beginners as well as for people who want to catch up on concrete explanations and on helpful, easy to understand and solid drawing technique basis and tricks.

All the material will be provided ( table easels, wooden drawing boards, mechanical sharpener, drawing clips, HB and 6B pencils, 9B graphite sticks, drawing quality paper, scrap paper, rubbers, pieces of cloth).

Course breakdown:

• Understand more how our vision capacity works, what makes us see volume and how to improve your observation skill

• Go through different ways to handle a pencil and ways of shading using a different range of pencils

• Concretely understand contrast, depth and 3D illusion tricks

• Use different hand pressure and movements to obtain various texture effects

• Know how to see better the main axis and shape of the object model

• Be able to know how to start an observational drawing and what are the main steps to build it up

• Know more about contrast and background shading importance

• How to do gradient effects in pencil

• How to use other tools like rubber or piece of cloth to achieve different effects.

Drawing teacher: Lili Heller

Born in 1981 in France, Lili Heller is a professional Visual Artist based in Dublin. She had a studio at Richmond Road Studios for six years. She also has over fifteen years of experience as an Art teacher for children, teenagers and adults.

She obtained her Visual Arts Masters in 2004 in the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Marseille (France). In 2005, she then received a Masters of Theoretical Art Studies from the Université de Provence in France.

Since 2002 she has had many solo exhibitions in France and Germany and has participated in numerous group shows in France, Canada, Slovenia, Ireland and China. Her artistic work is in numerous public and private collections in France, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Canada, Brazil, China, Thailand.

Lili ran BLOCK T’s Education Department until 2014 and create SKILLSETS until 2014. She was also a co-initiator of the International Exchange Programmes and one of the main initiators of the LINK Culturefest, the 2012 BLOCK T arts and culture festival in Smithfield.

She has taught in Trinity Arts Workshop and Youthreach.

Lili is a highly experienced, devoted and passionate art teacher.

www.liliheller.com

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Using tinctures distilled from locally foraged flora, honey and beeswax, we will conjure up a soothing skin balm. The afternoon’s conversation will focus on the healing properties of native plants and the value of connecting with nature in an urban environment. 

Tuition includes afternoon tea and your own jar of healing balm to take home.

With Feargus De Brún

In this workshop, you will learn green wood and traditional woodworking techniques through the process of making a beautiful 4-legged stool using green Irish Ash logs and hemp for the woven seat.

This workshop builds on numerous furniture making skills which include:

•Cleaving wood from logs

•Shaping wood with drawknives and spokeshaves

•Mortise and tenon joinery

•Oil and wax finishes

•Seat weaving with hemp cord

•You will come away with a unique greenwood stool crafted by your own hand

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GALLERY

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CLASS MENTOR

FEARGUS DE BRÚN

Feargus leads a wonderfully meditative process in woodcrafting. His workshops effectively demonstrate the beneficial impact of making a direct connection with nature through traditional tools, techniques and natural materials.

Jewellery Making Workshop

Transform a native medicinal plant into a piece of jewellery

In this workshop we identify and collect local medicinal plants, and transform this native flora into silver using precious metal clay. Each participant will finish 3-4 silver ornaments in the four-hour workshop and choose one to take home as their own. The moulds you make will become the basis for a dictionary of local medicinal plants in silver for the Bí URBAN shop, a product range that will support long-term mission to build a greenway through North Central Dublin.

Bí URBAN staff, Miceal Murray of Taking a Leaf and our Resource Library will support participants, providing information on the identification, folklore and medicinal properties of the plants. 

The workshop symbolically connects the Botanic Gardens (plants) with the National Museum at Collins Barracks (decorative arts), the path of the Lifeline Greenway, while introducing participants to the folklore & medicinal properties of the flora thriving in North Central Dublin.

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CLASS MENTOR

KAETHE BURT O’DEA

Kaethe is an independent healthcare design consultant based in Dublin, Ireland.

A diverse range of experience contributes to her research approach including careers in the arts, nursing, organic farming, product design, and cross-disciplinary sustainable design development.

Her consultancy, desireland, focuses on the socio-cultural relationships that influence human well-being within the built environment and the promotion of integrated healthcare systems.

With Liadain Aiken

New life in old garments

Knitwear designer Liadain Aiken is a keen darner and feels that mending a garment adds new life and appreciation to a preloved garment.

Bring at least one well loved woollen garment in need of repair to the workshop. We will examine the wear & tear, and work out the best approach for that specific garment, taking into consideration it’s function, where the hole is, the type of yarn and stitch.

On the night we will start by learning the weaving technique. This is the easiest approach, works for most garments and is quick to perform.

We will also touch on another technique called Swiss Darning. Bring a variety of garments for discussion. All yarn and darning needles will be provided.

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CLASS MENTOR

LIADAIN AIKEN

Liadain Aiken believes that a quality woollen garment is something that should be treasured for years, even generations. Her belief in longevity extends to the philosophy of their designs. Liadain finds her muse in that which is universal, timelessly beautiful and emotive; inspired by the rolling landscapes of her native Ireland, or playful, irreverent colours that are sure to produce smiles!

https://www.liadainaiken.com/

With Kaethe Burt O’Dea

Join the plastic free revolution

A three-hour workshop.

Become a leader in the Plastic Free Revolution! Learn how to make your own natural reusable food wraps using beeswax, resin and vegetable oil. You will come home having made 3 waxwraps (small, medium and large) worth €20.

Tea and our homemade “compost” biscuits will be served.

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CLASS MENTOR

KAETHE BURT O’DEA

Is an independent healthcare design consultant based in Dublin, Ireland. A diverse range of experience contributes to her research approach including careers in the arts, nursing, organic farming, product design, and cross-disciplinary sustainable design development. Her consultancy, desireland, focuses on the socio-cultural relationships that influence human well-being within the built environment and the promotion of integrated healthcare systems.

With Kaethe Burt O’Dea

Saponification

A three-hour workshop.

There is something very empowering about making something as basic to our everyday needs as soap! Learn the art of saponification from Bí URBAN’s master soap maker using our carefully researched ingredients.

You will come away with the confidence you need to make your own soap at home, a recipe and a bar of our exotic Bí soap!

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CLASS MENTOR

KAETHE BURT O’DEA

Is an independent healthcare design consultant based in Dublin, Ireland.

A diverse range of experience contributes to her research approach including careers in the arts, nursing, organic farming, product design, and cross-disciplinary sustainable design development.

Her consultancy, desireland, focuses on the socio-cultural relationships that influence human well-being within the built environment and the promotion of integrated healthcare systems.

With Kaethe Burt-O’Dea

Designing your aroma

A 1h + session – in your own time over a cup of herbal tea and honey.

We believe that scents can unlock deep connections to memory and provide a fascinating journey of personal discovery. We invite you to sample our extensive collection of essential oils at your leisure, following your instinct to create a blend that is uniquely your own. We support you in the process, providing advice about the strength and quality of the oils and will keep your signature scent recipe on file for you to replicate or adapt into the future.

“Creative blending is a aesthetic alchemical. a process of ‘learning to listen through the nose.’ To be receptive is to be empty. Every drop shifts the orchestration of olfactory vibrations, the ‘song’ of the blend. A blend is not made at once, rather it evolves. It organically grows and interacts, not only the essential oils, but also with the blender. (British Herbal Pharmacopoeia1983, p.14).”

You will come away with a 10 ml roller ball bottle of your signature scent - wrapped in gold paper in an organic cotton Bí Bag.

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CLASS MENTOR

KAETHE BURT O’DEA

Is an independent healthcare design consultant based in Dublin, Ireland.

A diverse range of experience contributes to her research approach including careers in the arts, nursing, organic farming, product design, and cross-disciplinary sustainable design development.

Her consultancy, desireland, focuses on the socio-cultural relationships that influence human well-being within the built environment and the promotion of integrated healthcare systems.

A SIX-PART SERIES HELD ON SUNDAY AFTERNOONS IN MAY & JUNE

Become the queen bee

This holistic series highlights the importance of all 99 Irish bees: honeybees, solitary bees and Bumblebees. The course offers hands-on learning with the local beekeepers who supply Bí URBAN. You will come away with enough knowledge to set up your own honeybee colony

Bees and Human Health

An introduction to bees and their contributions to human well-being followed by a Honey Tasting session.

The Honeybee Apiary

Caring for honeybees: location, equipment, maintenance, disease control, the six products of the hive and their many uses.

Urban Beekeeping

Bees doing better in cities, why is this and what are the special challenges involved in maintaining an urban apiary?

Building for Bees

Bait Hives, Commercial Hives, Wild Bee boxes and recent Innovations (get up close to a Flow Hive) - A hands-on workshop.

Apiculture Outdoor Classroom

Learning Journeys to visit local urban honeybee apiaries and wild bee habitats. An introduction to wild bee monitoring and bee Hunting.

Gardening for bees and beekeeping for conservation

Field Trip to Tanguy de Tourgeot of Dunmore Country School, Durrow, Co Laois, who will introduce us to his research into chemical-free beekeeping methods.

Folk art

Chip Carving is a wood carving technique dating from the mediaeval period which uses one simple knife to create delicate patterns in wood. The technique offers an opportunity to experience a one to one, Zen-like relationship with a natural material and can be picked up in an afternoon.

Feargus will provide everyone with a sharpened knife and a piece of wood.

You will come away with your own block of linden wood and the beginning of a carved design to finish.

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CLASS MENTOR

FEARGUS DE BRÚN

Feargus leads a wonderfully meditative process in woodcrafting. His workshops effectively demonstrate the beneficial impact of making a direct connection with nature through traditional tools, techniques and natural materials.