On Thursday and Friday I gave two drawing workshops at this years Druid Camp, near Gloucester. I had never been to a Druid camp before and this was a wonderful opportunity for me to share my approach to drawing and to explore some more arts and crafts at the festival. Those who came to my classes ranged from beginners to practising artists, and everyone really enjoyed drawing natural forms with natural forms! I had feathers, sticks, pine cones, shells, stones and all sorts collected from my walks and it was really an opportunity for people to experiment with mark making by using the feathers and such to draw with.

I had worries about camping, since I’d not done it since Brownie camp, but there is something rather invigorating about waking up in a field, breathing fresh air all day, and being like minded with other nature and earth lovers. In my understanding, Druidism closely appreciates and celebrates the human connection with nature and the earth. Above was one of our timetables for the day, which was different from day to day, providing and enriching variety of workshops.

I had a range of diluted inks to work with, which had the potential to have more painterly effects ranging in opacity and tone. In my ink drawing (centre above) I chose to study the central flower from a monkey puzzle tree, which had a bold and patterned composition.

Here are some of the drawings that came out of the class, despite the crudeness of using something as simple as a feather everyone came out with really personal and creative brush marks in response to the natural forms. I hope all those that attended felt inspired to carry on with some of these techniques.