A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to document a Flower and Painting Workshop with Sungold Flower Co. and Artist Thu Anh at Rocklands Farm Winery.
The workshop began in Rocklands open air bank barn, where each participant selected a seat and enjoyed a glass of wine while listening to Sungold's Anna and Caitlin deliver instructions and suggestions. The group then moved out to the fields where all were encouraged to forage wild plants for their arrangement. Anna and Caitlin did a fantastic job showing everyone how easy it is to forage beautiful florals from nature. Returning to the barn with their foraged treasures, participants then selected from a bounty of dahlias, cosmos, zinnias, gomphrenas and other flowers displayed in tiered buckets. Anna offered a quick tutorial offering suggestions on how to organize arrangements and everyone created their own masterpiece while enjoying wine and a beautiful charcuterie spread.
Once the arrangements were complete, the painting portion of the afternoon began. Water color pallets and easels were distributed with a variety of paper types to try. Local artist Thu led each participant to select a few flowers to paint and demonstrated how she uses different brushes, strokes and colors to interpret nature. In addition to those materials provided to each participant, Thu offered use of her own collection of all kinds of brushes and various types of watercolors before walking around to offer advice and assistance to each person.
It was such a fantastic experience! I highly suggest you join Sungold's mailing list (and grab a spot next time they offer a workshop) and check out Thu's Etsy Store!