sketching in the garden |
Yanny Petters

Thursday 25th July

9.30am - 4pm

€135

INCLUDES ENTRY FEE TO GARDEN & LUNCH

LOCATION: JAPANESE GARDENS, POWERSCOURT ESTATE, ENNISKERRY

About this workshop

Sketching in Watercolours in the Japanese Gardens at Powerscourt House. This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of this delightful garden, full of colour and delicate forms. The bridges and pathways amongst the Japanese planting give plenty of charming angles to work from. The day will include demonstrations by Yanny leading you through simple ways to make a watercolour sketch to record your day out. The day will be relaxed and fun. Yanny will help you gain confidence in working outside with selected equipment. 

Entry fee to the gardens and a set lunch together in the beautiful Avoca cafe is included in the course fee.

Materials Needed

A4 or A3 sketch pad with 300gsm watercolour paper or similar.

Masking tape, (sharp) 2H and 3B pencil

Water soluble colour pencils, set of 12 or more Caran D’Ache(Museum Aquarelle) or Derwent Inktense, pencil sharpener

Two round pointed watercolour brushes, large (about 8mm thick) and medium (about 5mm thick)

Flat brush, 2 sizes, 

Palette, can be a white ceramic plate or tile

Windsor and Newton or Cotman Artists watercolour: Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizerin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Violet (Or Pans set with same colours)

Kitchen towel, Water vessel/jam jar 

folding stool or light chair 

*light easel optional  

MEET YANNY PETTERS

Yanny Petters has been painting exquisitely detailed portraits of wild plants since the 1990s. Fascinated by colour, form and detail, her love and interest in botanical art stemmed from her work as a sign-writer where plant themes were common in decorative design. Yanny has explored many mediums including oils and painting on glass, a technique she specialises in. She has a deep knowledge of watercolours which she has been sharing through workshops for many years and here at the Schoolhouse for Art since it's foundation.

Yanny  has  had  many  successful  exhibitions  since 1995. She exhibited with renowned landscape painter Michael Gemmell in ‘The Living Bog’ which featured her Paintings on Glass of Irish Bog Plants, at the Davis Gallery, Dublin in 2003. She was honoured to be included in ‘1000 Years of Botanical Art’ at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, in 2005 as part of the Dr. Shirley Sherwood collection. Since that she has had paintings exhibited in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, London, as part of ‘The Art of Plant Evolution’ (2009) the 'Botanical Art in the 21st Century' (2014) and in  Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art (2019).

Her work was recently acquired by The National Gallery of Ireland and The National Museum of Ireland. A number of her works are in the  Dr. Shirley Sherwood Collection, the most prestigious collection of botanical art in the world.

Other collections include:

Office of Public Works State Collection, Wicklow Mountains National Park, Co. Wicklow, Connemara National Park,  HSE Community Nursing Unit at Clonskeagh, The Watercolour Society and many private collections. 

 ABOUT POWERSCOURT GARDENS

Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow was named no. 3 in the World’s Top 10 Gardens by the National Geographic, second only to the Palace of Versailles and Kew Gardens in London. Powerscourt is the only one of the three that is not state owned.  Dating back to the 13th century, Powerscourt is a vast country estate noted for its magnificent Palladian style mansion and 47 acres (190,000 m2) of formal landscaped gardens in the picturesque village of Enniskerry, County Wicklow. Set on a commanding hilltop position, against the backdrop of the Sugarloaf mountains, a sweeping terrace on the mansion’s southside opens onto a breath-taking, ornamental garden and lake. 

The Gardens offer visitors a sublime blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statues and ornamental lakes, secret hollows, and rambling walks.  Managed by Head Gardener, Alex Slazengerand a team of gardeners, Powerscourt Gardens were designed from 1731 onwards, with the desire to create a garden which was part of the wider surrounding landscape. Powerscourt Gardens include The Walled Gardens, The Italian Garden, The Dolphin Pond, The Japanese Garden, Pets Cemetery and Pepperpot Tower, among other features and attractions.

Powerscourt Gardens - National Geographic Award: The prestigious accolade comes from National Geographic’s “Top Ten” series of the best trips, adventures, and places to visit in the world.