Tag: botanical art workshops

Learn with me! February 19 – 22, 2026. Barcelona

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Learn Botanical Art with Me!

Botanical Art Workshops 2026

‘So this is Spring…’
Fritillaria meleagris 
Watercolour on paper
Mary Dillon ©️2025

‘Spring Is In The Air’

Botanical Art Workshop with Mary Dillon

February  19 – 22, 2026

Art Valles, 152 Carrer Pallars, Barcelona

9 am to 3 pm each day  – €480

Register: amina@artvalles.org

This 4 – day workshop is for botanical artists who wish to deepen their understanding of botanical illustration with a focus on spring bulbs. The workshop will combine wet and dry watercolour painting techniques, color theory, and detailed observation to capture the delicate beauty and intricate structures of spring flowers. Participants will enhance their skills in realistic rendering and learn new methods for working with botanical subjects.

Mary Dillon returns to Barcelona to offer this exciting workshop. 

Whether you are a beginner or experienced, this will be 

the perfect opportunity to enhance your skills and increase

your competence using Mary’s simple and effective 

approach to drawing and painting spring flowers. 

Course Content:

‘Getting to know your plant…’

Examining the structure of the plant more closely. 

Light and shade to create form in your drawing.

‘Grow in confidence with painting techniques…’

Tips and tricks to simplify colour mixing and matching. 

Learn, practice and apply controlled washes and layers.

Master watercolour techniques for painting flowers and leaves.

‘Finish with a Wow!’

Use dry brush watercolour to create detail, texture and depth. 

Elevate your painting to the next level. 

9 am to 3 pm each day  – €480

Register: amina@artvalles.org

Published on by MARY DILLON2 Comments

Summer Blooms in Clos Mirabel

July 18 – 25, 2026

Join me  at Atelier Clos Mirabel in 2026 for a week long botanical art workshop in the French Pyrenees ~ South West France. Enjoy wonderful surroundings, delightful accommodation and delicious meals.

About this course: 

Escape to the breathtaking Pyrenees for a week of creativity and inspiration! Join me for an immersive botanical art retreat at Clos Mirabel, where you’ll explore the beauty of summer blooms and refine your artistic skills in a serene, stunning setting. Connect with fellow artists, discover new techniques, and let the vibrant surroundings inspire you. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to create, relax, and grow — all while surrounded by the enchanting landscapes of south west France.

  • Dates: from 18 July 2026 to 25 July 2026
  • 25 hours of tuition per week
  • Medium: Watercolour
  • Level: Beginner / Experienced
  • Language: English
  • Full Board Accommodation: 1595€ to 2895€ per week based on room choice & single or shared occupancy + tuition fee
  • Tutor’s Fee: 600 Euros

To reserve your place and accommodation at Clos Mirabel:

https://atelier.clos-mirabel.com/rates-accommodation

Non-painting guests: we are more than happy to welcome non-painting guests, accompanying partners, family or friends. There are plenty of activities to experience around Clos Mirabel, that will make your holiday unforgettable 

Botanical Painting Holiday – Programme Outline:

Saturday
4.00 – Check-in time from 4pm onwards.
Guests arrive, settle in and explore Clos Mirabel
6.00 – An introduction to the course by Mary Dillion over welcome drinks
7.00 – 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Sunday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 1.00 Getting to know your subject…. Choosing, Lighting, Observing, Drawing, Composing
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Return to Studio to continue work with individual tuition
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Monday
8.30 – 9.15 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
9.30 – Depart Clos Mirabel
10.00 – 12.30 Morning visit to the higher slopes of the Pyrenees to observe alpine plants in their natural habitat, followed by field sketching
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at local Auberge
3.00 – 4.30 Studio: Colour mixing and matching, practicing wet watercolour painting techniques and laying the first washes.
6.00 – An evening talk on prominent local landscape artists by Xavier over aperitif
7.00 – 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Please note this programme may be subject to change depending on the weather.
Please ensure you bring sensible walking shoes, layers, waterproof jacket, water bottle, sunscreen and a hat.

Tuesday
8.30 – 9.30 Breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Studio: Mixing greens, painting petals, painting leaves, painting shadows
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Studio: Layering washes for impact
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Wednesday – Free day (Lunch is not provided)
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
Free day to explore the locality. We suggest wine tasting in local vineyard, explore Pau or beyond.
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Thursday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Studio: Learn and practice dry brush techniques. Building form and create texture in your painting.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Studio
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Friday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 1.00 Studio: The Wow Factor! Finishing with finer details using dry brush techniques. Troubleshooting your painting. Bringing it all together.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Studio
6.00 – Evening exhibition in the art studio of Atelier Clos Mirabel with aperitif
7.00 – 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace

Saturday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet Breakfast and departure (Check-out time 11am)

I look forward to seeing you there!

Mary 🌸

New work

Published on by MARY DILLON7 Comments

‘The human being is the most adaptable animal’.

This was one of my Dad’s favourite sayings, usually quoted as he stood washing dishes looking out the kitchen window at the birds, the hedgerows and the fields here on the outskirts of Kilkenny in the south east of Ireland. He had a fascination for nature, people and all of life so who knows what thoughts he mused over as he reached for his synopsis of Darwinian theory.

Had he lived, Dad would have been ninety this past week. I’ve wondered over the past few months what he would have made of the huge challenges we have been faced with. I think, like so many, he would have been wise, resilient, resourceful, self reliant but empathetic and very conscious of others. He would have adapted. We’ve all had to adapt, to change our plans, our ways of working and being – with the hope of better things to come.

Wintering Out- Acanthus mollis

Wintering Out – Acanthus mollis ©️Mary Dillon

As a botanical artist, I am fascinated by the notion of temporal change in the plant world. Every moment in the life cycle of a plant is just that, a moment in time, even when it seems that all life has left the plant, change continues to occur. The dynamism of growth, from the first sprouting of a seed to the last moment of change in colour and form of the dying plant, utterly captivates me. 

While walking in Birr Castle Demesne last winter, I was captivated by the shiny gloriously coloured seedpods of the acanthus as it faded back into the herbaceous border. Moving from warm yellows to greens and into inky deep blues, I was drawn in both by the colours but also by the complex twisty spiked forms. From the first moment this acanthus caught my eye, I thought of the Seamus Heaney anthology ‘Wintering Out’. How apt that his words ‘if we can winter this one out we can summer anywhere’ have encouraged us during these challenging days.

Nerines bowdenii

Nerines bowdenii ©️Mary Dillon

Initially, I intended to make a botanical illustration of Nerines bowdenii. However, life and other commitments prevented me from following my original intention. I kept the flowers in my studio and after about two months I realised that they had continued to change into the most mesmerising colours and forms. I was completely blown away by their beauty as they became more and more frail and delicate in the process of dying.

Bountiful- Punica granatum ‘Nana’

Bountiful- Punica granatum ‘Nana’ ©️ Mary Dillon

Bountiful- Punica granatum ‘Nana’ is twice life size. It captures some pomegranates with one dangling precariously from a tree. I found them growing in El Poble Nou, Barcelona, where I was teaching botanical art during autumn 2019. I just couldn’t take my eyes from the jewel like seeds glistening in the fruits. Having completed numerous sketches in situ and taken lots of colour notes and photographs to record details, I began to work on the painting back in my studio at home in Ireland.

It’s been a work in progress over the past few months when life has changed for us all. It brought me to the warmth and colour of the streets in Barcelona and to other pomegranate trees, particularly those I’ve seen in Skiathos in Greece where I first fell in love with pomegranates. It’s brought me to the warmth of the people I’ve met in those places. It’s been a place of solace and focus, a beckoning force taking me to a place apart when there was nowhere else. It’s been a place of joy and solace as I worked in my studio listening to stories on the radio of sickness and death – of resilience, togetherness and hope.

Wintering Out – Acanthus mollis, is currently showing in ‘Through the Artist’s Eye – Birr Castle Demesne’. www.birrcastle.com

Nerines bowdenii and Punica granatum ‘Nana’ will both be shown in ‘Exploring Botany – Botanical Art from Europe and Japan, Past and Present’, The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow, Poland. The exhibition will open when current restrictions have been lifted in Poland. www.manggha.pl

Learning the beautiful art of painting plants!

Published on by MARY DILLON6 Comments

 

What is it about flowers and plants that stirs us, that makes us stop in our tracks to take a second look? Is it colour, form, or the complexity or simplicity of their structure? For many of us, seeing a flower will evoke a memory, bringing us to another time or place.

 

Nasturtium, MD
Nasturtium, MD

 

Sweet Pea, MD
Sweet Pea, MD

 

White Tulip, MD
White Tulip, MD

 

Each of us will have our own personal response to this question. That’s the wonder of what makes us just as, if not more diverse and intriguing as these beautiful objects of interest that capture our imagination. If you are like me and you also love to paint then you too will be compelled to learn the art of painting plants!

 

 

Fuchsia magellica, Deora De, Mary Dillon
Fuchsia magellica, Deora De, Mary Dillon

 

Life throws us lemons every once in a while and happily for me some time ago, just when I most needed a focus, I embarked on a course in botanical art and illustration. For me the SBA distance learning diploma course was a huge challenge, stretching me in ways beyond my expectations. In time, painting botanical art proved to have powers of healing both in body and spirit!

 

 

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Canna ‘Black Knight’ WIP Mary Dillon

 

 

Learning the skills required to paint botanical art was invaluable. Albeit from a distance, I reaped the benefit of constructive criticism and unwavering encouragement from experienced tutors, like Margaret Stevens, Founding Director of the SBA course, among others. Simon Williams became the new course Director in the latter months of my studies, ably forging the way forward for the course.

 

Having spent many years as an Arts Educator both with students in post primary school and in providing continuing professional development for teachers, I firmly believe in the value of face to face tuition. While the SBA diploma course fulfilled so many of my needs, I felt I needed to learn directly from others too.

 

I’m grateful to inspiring artists and teachers, Susan Sex, Fiona Strickland and Robert McNeil for their generosity of spirit marking them out as true teachers. Just as we learn to love from those who love us, I feel we learn to teach from those who teach us.  Margaret, Simon, Susan, Fiona and Robert all belong to a wide group of artists and teachers, whose wish is not just to keep their artistic talents to themselves, but who want to share their experience with others, simply because they love painting and plants!

 
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Botanical Painting Days

In recent times, I’ve enjoyed the privilege of guiding people as they explore this beautiful art form.
Whether you’re a beginner or experienced and keen to learn some new exciting approaches to painting plants in a systematic and enjoyably relaxing way, these days are for you.

Come along and join me!

Where:         Kilkenny City

When:           Saturdays, March 28th, April 18th and June 6th. 10am – 3pm

 

If you’d like to join me for a day painting flowers and plants,

Contact :        +353872224260 / dillonmary@eircom.net

 

 

Painting Tulipa 'Rococo' MD
Painting Tulipa ‘Rococo’ MD