Drawn To Nature – Caroline Ross
Join us for five days of immersion in natural art materials at Long Ridge Farm with Caroline Ross, author of ‘Found and Ground’ and ‘Drawn From the Wild’ (Search Press).
During this course you will learn how to ethically source and forage ingredients for pigments, paints, pastels, charcoal, sketchbooks and more. Materials will come from nature, from urban environments, from so-called waste-streams and even from around your own home. Drawing together techniques from the Stone Age to the Renaissance via the wilds of 8th Century Celtic Scottish Islands, we’ll work hands-on with earths, gums, sticks and metals, getting truly elemental.
Each day we’ll focus on a different element, with plenty of time to draw, paint and experiment at the end of each new topic. By the end of the course you’ll go home with a bundle of beautiful sustainable art materials and more importantly, the ability to make these almost anywhere, with little or no money needed. A few weeks after the course, all participants will receive a tailor-made list of suppliers, basic recipes, books and links mentioned during the course.
Caroline will have signed copies of ‘Found and Ground’ available and will be launching her new book ‘Drawn From the Wild’ on one of the evenings during the course, you are invited to the event. Between them, the books will cover the topics from this course.
Topics will include learning how to make:
- Pigments and fine natural paints
- Artists’ quality pastels and charcoal
- Simple sketchbooks and ancient drawing tools
- Silverpoint and metal-point grounds and methods – the most beautiful way of making permanent drawings ever seen!
- How to use, store and maintain all your creations.
Join us, so that you never again be without the means to make your art. Beauty and creativity needn’t cost the Earth.
Date: August 19 – 23, 2024 5 days
Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm
Place: Long Ridge Farm, 116 Paine Road, Westmoreland, NH
Caroline Ross is an artist, writer and teacher living by the sea in Bournemouth specializing in foraged, ancient and repurposed, ecologically sound art and craft practices. She studied at Shelley Park College for her Foundation, Kingston University for her Bachelor’s Degree and Chelsea School of Art for her Masters in Painting.
Her debut book ‘Found and Ground: A Practical Guide to Making your own Foraged Paints’ was published by Search Press in June 2023. The follow up book about ancient and foraged drawing materials, ‘Drawn From the Wild’ will be published June 2025. Using what nature provides and repurposing what humans discard are a large part of her practice. After the rooks have feasted on the riverbank, the empty mussel shells become paint palettes. The seasonally moulted flight feathers of local swans and geese become quill pens and brushes. Chalk dug out from their setts by badgers is left in piles in the woods, where she gathers it and take it home to make gouache and pastels. Caroline makes paints from foraged earth pigments from around the UK, and art tools and inks from natural, wild, and found materials such as oak galls, rusty nails, elderberries, bay leaves and cherry tree gum. The fluctuations of materials and the botanical ink stains or ochre paints forming prepared grounds on paper, all suggest forms with which she works.
Caroline teaches workshops on many aspects of art, as well as how to make many wild-crafted art materials. Her drawings, paintings and illustrations can be found in books, online periodicals, and private collections. She is a regular contributor and member of the Dark Mountain Project and has had many pieces published in their books since 2015. She is also a member of the Wilderness Art Collective. For more work and workshops see foundandground.com/or instagram.com/foundandground . For her long-form writing on the embodied life and art where Earth matters, go to https://carolineross.substack.com/
Don’t like using a credit card? You can pay by check. Mail to Long Ridge Farm, 116 Paine Rd, Westmoreland, NH 03467 and include your contact info with payment.
The workshop setting at Long Ridge Farm takes place on a New England farm in the Southwest corner of New Hampshire, within 2 hours of Boston, MA; 1.5 hours of Hartford, CT; and 20 minutes from I-91, Keene, NH; Brattleboro, VT; and Walpole, NH. The workspace is set in a great hall within a chestnut post and beam barn with an open environment yet protected from the elements. Foraging is at our fingertips! A portable toilet and washing area are within a few steps of the workspace. The space is spectacular and welcoming. Although we do not have onsite lodging there are plenty of options within 15-20 minutes of the farm.
Workshop Cancellation Policy
Late cancellations are really difficult on planning, preparation and travel costs for instructors.
All cancellations 60 days or more, prior to the start of a workshop, can receive a full refund (course fee) less a $25 cancellation fee, per workshop.
Cancellations within 60 days from the start of a workshop are non-refundable.
If Long Ridge Natural Dyes cancels a class for any reason, registered students are refunded fully (course fee) less $25 cancellation fee. Once a class begins, there are no refunds or credits for early departure, late arrival, or missed class for any reason.
No pets are allowed and only the enrolled student is allowed to attend.
Thank you for understanding our policy.
