CLASSES, WORKSHOPS, TALKS
Get information on Lucy’s upcoming courses, teaching dates and mentoring opportunities
Lucy presenting at “Worldwide Day of Botanical Art,” Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, 18th May 2025
Lucy is an experienced teacher and public speaker. She teaches regularly at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and delivers courses, workshops and talks for many other venues and private groups.
On this page you will find:
Upcoming courses, talks and workshops
Full listing of Lucy’s courses at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Previous courses, talks and workshops
“Lucy T Smith was extremely attentive, polite, pleasant and generous in teaching the techniques. I intend to attend all the courses where she is the tutor. This was my second course at Kew and I am extremely happy with the result I was able to achieve in the classes. Thank you!’ ★★★★★ “
NEXT class at royal botanic gardens, kew
botanical pen and ink: beginners
Wednesday 17th - Friday 19th September, 2025 (3 days)
This course introduces the techniques of botanical pen and ink used by Kew illustrators. By drawing simple leaves and flowers, you will learn:
how and why botanical illustrators use this technique to create precise, clear illustrations showing the key features of plants
how to draw accurately in pencil for pen and ink
how to use ink pens - which marks to use and for specific purposes
Leaf study in ink, showing different pen and ink techniques
The classroom at Kew Gardens is fully equipped with drawing boards, lighting, lightboxes and supplementary art materials. Students can watch demonstrations from my desk, with the help of a visualiser projected onto a large screen.
TRANSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL ART
residential botanical illustration course
May 25th - 31st, 2026
Join me for an incredible week exploring and recording the beautiful plants of the stunning Transylvanian wildflower meadows in pencil, paint and pen.
I can’t wait to return to the village of Copsa Mare for this course, hosted and run by James and Rachel de Candole.
View from the art studio window
During my previous class in 2024, we sketched the old “Batul” apple trees in the field.
BOTANICAL PEN AND INK at KEW GARDENS
botanical pen and ink: intermediate
Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th Septemer, 2025 (3 days)
Building on the Beginners’ course, we explore further the techniques of pen and ink for botanical illustration.
This course includes a visit to the Library, Art and Archives collection in the Herbarium at Kew Gardens, to view work from the extensive collection of illustrations held there.
Students are given a more complex subject to draw first in pencil, before completing it in pen and ink, considering:
how to prepare a measured drawing to scale
inking in: the appropriate use of varying line weights to show form and enhance clarity of detail
choosing the right tonal marks to show form and detail
Tips for composing scientific illustrations
The view from our Kew classroom is hard to beat!
botanical art & Illustration courses at Royal Botanic gardens, kew
COURSES LED BY LUCY AT KEW
Click on the course name or icon to be taken to Kew’s website for full details and booking information:
PENCIL & WATERCOLOUR BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK Monday 15th - Tuesday 16th September 2025 (2 days) FULL
BOTANICAL PEN AND INK: BEGINNERS - Wednesday 17th - Friday 19th September 2025 (3 days)
BOTANICAL PEN AND INK: INTERMEDIATE Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th September 2025 (3 days)
DRAWING AND PAINTING MUSHROOMS Monday 6th - Wednesday 8th October 2025 (3 days)
BOTANICAL DRAWING: INTERMEDIATE Monday 20th - Wednesday 22nd October 2025 (3 days)
PEN AND INK BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK Thursday 23rd - Friday 25th October 2025 (2 days)
DRAWING SEEDPODS Friday 9th January 2026 (1 day)
BOTANICAL WATERCOLOUR: INTERMEDIATE Wednesday 4th - Friday 6th February 2026(3 days)
FUNDAMENTALS OF BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION Monday 16th - Friday 20th February 2026 (5 days)FULL
BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK: INTERMEDIATE Wednesday 8th - Friday 10th April 2026 (3 days)
FLOWER DRAWING AND DISSECTION: INTERMEDIATE 2026, dates tbc (2 days)
COURSES AT OTHER VENUES
TRANSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF BOTANIC ART & ILLUSTRATION RESIDENTIAL COURSE
A wonderful week sketching, drawing, collecting in the field and studio (accommodation and meals included) in the stunning location of Copsa Mare, Transylvania Romania: 25th - 31st May, 2026. Contact James de Candole at the Transylvania School of Botanic Art & Illustration for all details and enquiries.
PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS AND TALKS
Lucy’s schedule is booked up well in advance - please get in touch if you would like to discuss and book her for a class, workshop or talk. The list below shows the range of topics she has covered in the past. In addition to covering familiar themes, she is also keen to engage with new ideas.
BEAUTY IN THE DETAIL - PLANT STUDIES FOR BOTANICAL ART: two day worskhop at Chatsworth House, Bakewell Derbyshire
SWISS ALPS BOTANICAL RETREAT - BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK: A spent in the Swiss Alps making plant studies of local wildflowers
OXFORD SOCIETY OF BOTANICAL ART : four-day Botanical Sketchbook Study course
BOTANICAL ART TALK “BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOKS, AN ARTISTS’ GUIDE TO PLANT STUDIES” hosted by Julia Trickey - PAST, but you can watch a recording.
BOTANICAL ART CONVERSATIONS online workshop day with Julia Trickey’s Botanical Art Talks: “Sketchbook Study Stages” 17th February 2024 PAST
TRANSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL ART AND ILLUSTRATION IN ROMANIA Masterclass - Capturing the wild flora of Transylvania, 1st - 7th June 2024
BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK COURSE at LANDMARK ARTS CENTRE, TEDDINGTON Wednesday 21st - Friday 23rd August 2024 PAST
SUNBURY GALLERY WORKSHOP: Exploring Drawing and Painting with Lucy Smith: Monday 23rd September 2024, 10am to 3pm. PAST
Botanical Sketchbook: Pen, Ink & Watercolour techniques, Landmark Arts Centre Summer School 2024
Botanical Illustration evening classes Parade’s End Bookshop, August 2024
Finding Focus, guest speaker talk for the Association of Botanical Artists AGM, May 2024
Painting Green Leaves, New York Botanical Gardens online course, April 2024
The Wonderful World of Water Plants, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew April - September 2023
Wildflowers and the importance of Botanical Sketchbooks, South West Society of Botanical Artists (SWSBA), Taunton, July 2022
Capturing Seasonal Plants:Botanical Illustration, Clayhill Arts, April 2022
Waterlilies, Waders and Watercolour: Kew Mutual Improvement Society, 8th November 2021
Pen and Ink Illustrations for the Palms of New Guinea - Portfolios and Passions, America Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) online conference 2021
Making your drawing “measure up:” Flower Dissection in Graphite - workshop, (ASBA) online conference 2021
Orchid Painting Workshop: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Adventures of a Botanical Illustrator: Sydney Parkinson on Cook’s First Voyage - Whitby Museum
Botanical Art and Illustration at Kew - Birkbeck Garden History Group, Birbeck College, University of London
Walter, Waterlilies and Waders - The Victoria Waterlily Project - Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists
The Worldwide Day of Botanical Art at Kew - organiser & presenter (“Largest, Smallest, Oldest”), Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, RBG Kew 2018
Joseph Hooker and his Artist Walter Hood Fitch: the continuing tradition of botanist and artist collaboration - Joseph Hooker bicentenary conference, RBG Kew
Royal Horticultural Society Botanical Art Exhibition - demonstration of botanical illustration techniques, RHS Halls, London 2018
Botanical Illustration techniques: Tutor - Pen and Ink, Working from Specimens - Diploma of Botanical Painting at the Chelsea School of Botanical Art (previously English Gardening School) (2010 - 2020)
Composition in Botanical Art - talk, Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society, also Leicestershire Society of Botanical Illustrators
Science and Art at Kew - talk with Dr William J. Baker, Linnean Society of London
Painting Snowdrops, Painting Late Summer Flowers and Fruits, Painting Autumn Fruits - Chelsea Physic Garden, Chelsea, London
Flower Dissection Art - Canary Wharf Garden “Bloom and Grow”, for Arts & Gardens
Lost in Translation - talk, Travellers’ Tails programme National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London 2014
From Roots to Riches - contributor to BBC Radio 4 documentary and publication, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
London Open House Weekends and Friends Open Days - Display of botanical art at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Big Draw - “See More” plant drawing workshop at Kew Gardens
