Space is limited; reserve your spot. Rain or shine. Includes lunch.
No previous experience required, all skill levels and backgrounds are welcome.
Overview:
Welcome the spring equinox and embrace renewal by connecting to the earth through the grounding depth of black. We’ll begin with a walk to gather materials, then gather in the barn studio for hands-on work, breaking midday for a farm-to-table lunch around the fire. Participants will learn to create inks and watercolor and tempera paints from charcoal and botanicals, producing rich, natural blacks. You'll leave with artist materials to incorporate into your own work. Feel free to bring charcoal from meaningful places or fires to use in your creations.
What You Will Learn:
- Identify natural materials that create a range of grays to deep black
- Practical methods for making artist-quality wild inks, watercolors, and tempera paints
- Techniques for painting with natural inks and paints on paper
Workshop Highlights:
- Guided foraging walk
- Take home artist quality paints and inks that you have made in the barn studio
- Farm-to-table lunch around a fire in the field (or greenhouse if rainy or too cold)
- Perfect for artists, nature enthusiasts and botany lovers, no experience necessary
Location:
- Jill’s barn studio in Chatham, NY on a serene 200-acre farm
- 25 minutes from Hudson, 25 minutes from Great Barrington, 2 hours north of Manhattan (access via Amtrak to Hudson)
Required materials:
We offer two options for materials to accommodate everyone's needs: you can bring your own tools or Jill can purchase them for you for an additional $65 available at checkout. Jill will provide all other necessary materials for processing and painting and have any purchased materials waiting for you.
Here are the specific tools you will need (available for purchase; see above):
- Mortar and pestle made of marble, stone, ceramic, or metal (wood is not suitable)
- Tempered glass palette (approximately 11 x 14 inches, plus or minus)
- Glass muller
- Small fine kitchen sieve
What to Bring:
- Required materials above
- A few jars with lids (used, clean jars with lids 12-24 oz is perfect)
- Sketchbook for color swatching and note-taking
- Weather-appropriate layers and waterproof shoes or boots
- Harvesting basket or tote for gathering
- Bring charcoal from meaningful places or fires
- Hands ready to work, questions and a belly ready to eat a delicious meal from the farm
Contact jill@farmandfieldny.com with questions or for recommendations on transportation and where to stay if needed.
Refund policy: Refunds are not available due to the long-term planning involved in our workshops. However, we offer credits that can be applied toward a custom workshop or a future workshop date.