I had the great pleasure of instructing a drawing workshop at Shawnigan Lake School last week as part of the MISSA 2024 programing. This two-day workshop was called Imaginative Nature Drawing and involved drawing with graphite, ink and watercolour.

I enjoyed preparing the projects, slide shows and content for this weekend and was reminded again of just how important imagination is. It helps us handle stress, achieve goals, maintain a positive outlook, grow our problem solving skills, strengthen our brains and even can help us live longer. Imagination is considered a skill, which means we can strength and build it through practice.

One way to activate our imagination is through creating combinations. During one of the workshop projects, the participants drew plants outside… but with a twist. They were to draw a variety of botanical species plein air (drawing outside) as though each plant were a twig sprouting from the same branch. The resulting drawings were whimsical yet also felt reminiscent of historical botanical illustrations. I love how each drawing turned out so unique!

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Another way to help boost our imagination is to find a fresh perspective. Such as, in this workshop, creating “botaniquariums”. Observational drawing allows us to immerse ourselves in the natural world and make discoveries. “Oh! I didn’t realize that _____”. “I’ve never noticed that ____ had ____ before.” It is amazing what you will see when you pay attention by looking. There are endless drawing possibilities within each microcosm the participants created.

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It was a full weekend of focus, creativity and community. For lunch we meet at the dining hall to eat together, which was catered by Shawnigan Lake School. This was an good halfway break in the day as it offered the opportunity to connect with other MISSA people, share about the projects we have been working on and recharge for the afternoon. At the end of the day many of us walked to the lake (which was just across the street) and cooled down with a well deserved dip. I have always been a summer camp person, and this type of an art retreat, where you have the opportunity to sleep over, eat together and enjoy the grounds, very much suites me. I am already looking forward to next year!

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Before I end this post, I also wanted to share the final project from our weekend: microramas. This project used imagination to problem solve as the participants created shadow boxes that incorporated three mystery words in some way or form. I would also like to say a big thank you to my friend Shirley for giving me with her mint tin collection. It was a fun way to end the workshop! 🙂