Workshop - Wattles in watercolour 5 September 2026
Celebrate Wattle Day and artist Dawn Calthorpe’s love of Australia’s floral emblem in this special watercolour workshop at Calthorpes House.
Guided by artist Cheryl Hodges, participants will create a small painting of Golden Wattle while learning a range of watercolour techniques, including washes, dry brushwork for fine details, and simple ways to correct mistakes.
Two hour workshop, no experience is necessary, and all materials are provided.
Bookings through ACT Historic Places here
Paint Golden Wattle in watercolour - Beginners workshop
6-8pm Thursday 24 September 2026, Jerrabomberra Community Centre, Jerrabomberra NSW
Paint Golden Wattle in Watercolour
This workshop is aimed at beginners to botanical watercolours, and all materials will be provided. If you’ve been hesitant to try watercolour then this workshop is for you.
This will be a small class with attention provided to every student. Cheryl will bring specimens of the lovely local Golden Wattle, and she will explain the basics of botanical art. Cheryl will demonstrate watercolour techniques such as wet-in-wet, glazing and how to build up the intensity of the colour, painting both the leaves and the beautiful golden blossoms. She will also explain how to solve problems as they arise, and fix common mistakes (yes, you can fix mistakes in watercolour!).
It’s only 2 hours but by the end of the workshop you will be feeling a lot more confident about botanical watercolours, and you might even have a finished little artwork. Bookings here
Paint a green carpenter bee in watercolour - November 2026
Cheryl will be teaching an in person workshops on 8 November 2026 at Eurobodalla Botanic Garden, Batemans Bay.
In this workshop you will learn:
· To observe the structure and form of an Australian native green carpenter bee, referring to a bee specimen as well as photographs and diagrams;
· To use a microscope to investigate and draw smaller areas such as details on the head and legs which are difficult to see with the naked eye;
· Watercolour techniques including washes, glazing and dry brush work for a detailed finish; and
· How to make the bee look realistic – shiny, iridescent and three dimensional using light, shade and colour.
By the end of the workshop you will be well on the way to completing a beautiful artwork using fundamental watercolour techniques learnt in this workshop.
This is an introductory class suitable for beginners to intermediate level artists. Materials kits are also available for purchase before the workshop.
Bookings here: Workshop
Botanical and Insect Illustration - Online Tutorials
Introduction to Botanical Art - Acacia, or Golden Wattle
Cheryl has created a new tutorial aimed at beginner to intermediate level, launched February 2021. This follows on from her Eucalyptus Leaves tutorial, but can be completed on its own. This tutorial contains over 8 hours of video (but you don't have to watch all of it!)
"In this tutorial we are painting the beautiful and popular Acacia pycnantha, or Golden Wattle - the floral emblem of Australia. We will start with some sketch or study pages, looking at each element of the plant in detail, and drawing and painting individual elements, so different stages of the Acacia flowers, and the leaves, on a small sheet of watercolour paper. We'll cover basic equipment required, setting up your specimen, sketching, tonal study, transferring the image to your watercolour paper, and then we move on to painting a large specimen in watercolour. We'll cover the techniques of wet in wet, then building up the colours and textures in layers and then using dry brush to add those final details at the end. For this section I have filmed and narrated me painting a whole specimen, working around the painting in a methodical fashion, to end up with a completed artwork ready for framing."
cheryl-hodges-art.teachable.com/p/introduction-to-botanical-art-wattle
By following this link you will be able to view a couple of preview videos before deciding whether to sign up for the tutorial.
Introduction to Botanical Art - Eucalyptus leaves
Cheryl has created an online tutorial aimed at the beginner to intermediate level.
"I've learnt the problems that you might come up against when you first start out with watercolour. I will walk you through the whole process from beginning to end. We'll cover basic equipment required, setting up your specimen, sketching, tonal study, transferring the image to your watercolour paper, and then the real fun begins. We'll go through building up your painting from wet in wet, all the way to dry brush to add those final details at the end. Along the way I'll include lots of tips and techniques to help you learn to paint Eucalyptus leaves, and these techniques can be applied to other subjects."
cheryl-hodges-art.teachable.com/p/introduction-to-botanical-watercolours
By following this link you will be able to view a couple of preview videos before deciding whether to sign up for the tutorial.
Painting Eucalyptus Flowers in Watercolour
Have you ever thought of painting Eucalyptus flowers and then decided they are just too difficult? Well this is the tutorial for you. In this short course you will learn to observe Eucalyptus flowers, looking at the light and shade, in order to then draw a tonal study. After completing a careful, detailed drawing you will move on to paint the flowers from two slightly different angles., and then paint them in detail. I will talk you through every step, showing that they are not that difficult if you just go one step at a time.
This content is useful for students who have completed the tutorial "Introduction to Botanical Art - Eucalyptus leaves". However it isn't absolutely necessary to have completed that tutorial. This tutorial is fairly casual, I'm just talking as I'm painting and there is minimal editing.
This tutorial runs for just over an hour. To go to the tutorial just click here
YouTube Channel
I have a variety of videos on my YouTube channel.
Check them out here