Botanical Art (Online)
Adult Online Class | Registration opens Tuesday, October 20, 2026 8:00 AM EDT
Botanical art starts with looking — really looking — before a single mark is made. This course is a strong first step into the practice — in the tradition of the botanical illustrators who first put pen to specimen centuries ago, but a contemporary version of that discipline: the same rigor of observation, without the stiffness of scientific illustration. We begin in graphite, working out form, edge, and light before color enters the picture, then move into dry brush watercolor as the term progresses. Each session includes a demonstration, time for questions, and hands-on studio time to work directly from your own specimens. By the end of the course you'll have a way of seeing a plant, and a way of rendering it, that's entirely your own.
What You Will Learn: - How to truly observe a plant before drawing it — gesture, contour, and structure- How to establish a consistent light source and build form through it- Botanical drawing in graphite, from loose gesture to considered line- The move into dry brush watercolor, and how to mix a full range of color from a small palette- How to carry a study through from first sketch to a finished botanical work
This is an online class hosted through Zoom. We recommend that you download the free Zoom application on your computer, phone, or tablet in advance of the first class.
You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to join the course via Zoom. The same link will be used each week.
- Start the term with these supplies:
- Drawing paper: 9"x12" spiral-bound pad, Strathmore 400 Series; or a Stillman & Birn Zeta Series sketchbook; any sketchbook with good-quality paper will do
- Canson tracing pad, 9"x12"
- Graphite pencils: 2H, HB, and 2B, with sharpener (Faber-Castell 9000, Staedtler Mars Lumograph, or Caran d'Ache)
- Tuff Stuff eraser stick and a kneaded eraser
- Magnifying lens or glass
- Ruler
- White artist's tape, one roll
Optional:
- Drawing board or other hard surface, angled slightly if possible, to work as a portable easel
- A separate notebook or sketchbook for preliminary sketches, notes, and research
- Hot press watercolor paper, for graphite drawing as well as painting
- Camera or phone/tablet, for reference photos
- Battery-powered OTT-Lite, if you need brighter working light
Midway through the term, you'll add:
- Viva paper towels — a few, very absorbent
- Two water containers: one for working water, one for clean
- A plastic or white porcelain palette with room to mix
- A good brush. If you invest in one supply for this class, make it your brush. I use a Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky, long tapered round, #4 or #6 — the point holds a needle-sharp tip with real spring — or a Raphael #8408, tan-tipped handle. Both clean up well and last for years.
- A travel watercolor set, six colors, one from each color bias — Daniel Smith is the brand I teach from and recommend
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Margaret Saylor
Margaret Saylor is a working studio artist based in southeastern Pennsylvania. She works primarily in egg tempera on panel and graphite on vellum, with paintings and drawings that focus on plants, fungi, and the intimate ecology of the forest floor — rendered with the precision of a field naturalist and the eye of a designer. Her work is held in the permanent collection at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University, and she teaches at Mt. Cuba Center, Longwood Gardens, Jenkins Arboretum, and Wayne Art Center, among others. A recipient of a botanical artist residency at Oak Spring Garden Foundation, she also serves as editor and designer of The Botanical Artist, the quarterly journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists.