Drawing from Nature: Fall Botanicals
A Workshop with Watercolor and Ink
Saturday, September 20 / 9 AM – 12 PM
General public: $52, VINS Members: $47

This class is full! Join our waitlist here.

We will begin this final class of our 2025 Drawing from Nature Series by exploring the beautiful hues of fall botanicals. Early Autumn is awash in color, from the purple asters, yellow goldenrods, orange pumpkins, and the changing greens and reds of the trees.  We will spend our first hour exploring the VINS fields and woods, photographing and collecting inspiration along the way.  Then, we’ll bring our references (both photos and botanical specimens) indoors and spend the rest of the workshop creating color-filled art in our nature journals.

Learn tips and tricks for drawing as well as for creating vivid pages that depict personal natural history experiences.  Drawing, sketching, and watercolor experience are not necessary, all skill levels welcome.

Participant Details:
Spend a full day at VINS. Purchase discounted admission to the VINS Nature Center for $5. Discount available only to registered participants on the day of the workshop.

This workshop is designed for adults 18 and up. Interested youth 10 and up may participate with an adult. No registration fee required for an adult accompanying a youth participant unless the adult also plans to participate in the workshop.

Suggested Materials:

• A water bottle
• A high-quality journal with heavyweight, mixed media, or watercolor paper
• HB pencil or mechanical pencil,
• An eraser
• Micron pen size 01 and/or 005
• Optional: your preferred art medium such as watercolor, gouache, or colored pencils

Instructor Bios:
Cynthia Moulton
Cynthia finds that observing and recording in a field journal enhances our engagement with the natural world. Teaching courses in ecology, animal diversity and biological illustration at Castleton University for the last 25 years has allowed her and her students to explore science through pen and ink, graphite and colored pencil.

Lois Moulton
Lois has been passionate about science illustration for years, creating numerous personal nature journals from her travels and time outdoors. As an educator at Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts, she has been incorporating art as a tool for observation into her science classes since 1995. Lois specializes in watercolor and pen & ink.