My New Book – Make Art With Nature!

on February 27, 2024

Make Art with Nature

Published 7th March 2024 by DK Children’s Books…

I’m so excited to share with you the release of my new book in which I show children how to make amazing art with materials found in nature.

Let’s get creative and make incredible pieces of art using rocks, wood, berries, flowers, and leaves in this nature craft book for children ages 7-9.

Find out how the very earth beneath your feet can be used to make paints and pastels, and how flowers can be repurposed to create inks. Children can learn how to pour paint onto a canvas, how to put pencil to paper and draw, how bits of old paper can make a beautiful collage, and how different mediums can come together to create incredible prints through nature.

Inside this hands-on craft book for children, you’ll find:

– Plenty of tips and techniques on how to draw, paint, print and collage, through easy-to-follow instructions.
– Art through nature encourages children to explore outside and find natural materials to make art.
– A clear layout divided into different art forms; drawing, collaging, painting and printing, so you can easily find the section you’re looking for.

Become inspired in Make Art with Nature, as I take you into the outdoors and show you a wide range of artistic techniques, from understanding basic colour theory, to creating texture, movement, and fluidity in your own work. Kids will love learning how to master different art forms, but also how to make their own art supplies whilst getting outside and exploring nature.

Available to buy now from Amazon and all good bookshops!

Natural Botanical Dyeing Workshop at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate, N.Yorkshire –  Aug 15th 2023

In this workshop you will discover some of nature’s most colourful secrets!

Learn all about the stunning variety of colours that can be sourced and foraged from nature – orange madder from reseda; yellow from buckthorn; indigo blue from woad. Explore the possibilities for dyestuffs from your kitchen cupboards and local environment.

During the day we will try out a variety of techniques including vibrant vat dips, patterned shibori processes, hammered hapazomi flower pressings and bundle dyeing to capture prints from the shapes and forms of nature. We will experiment with many medias: organic cottons, silks and wools.

We will make our own natural mordants to bind the dyes to the fabrics, producing a sample book as well as each creating our own unique beautiful scarf to take away at the end of the day. You are sure to find this workshop to be a magical and meditative experience, the perfect balance of art, science and fun!

You can book using the following link here…

Suminagashi at RHS Harlow Carr

on October 18, 2022

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Well done to everyone on my Suminigashi Workshop at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate on Saturday – you all did great work and produced amazing results!

Thanks for a great workshop today – loved it!” – Kim

Suminagashi is the Japanese art of floating inks on the surface of a pool of water to create unique patterns: ripples, swishes, and swirls. Transferred onto specially prepared papers as monoprints, these make stunning cards, bookmarks, and endpapers.

Would you like to learn more about this ancient and beautiful art form?

Let me know by using my CONTACT form, or check out my other courses at the RHS website. My 2023 events will be published in November, but you can already sign up to be notified when they are available…

Workshops at Harewood House

on June 10, 2022

I have a season of lovely workshops ahead at the fabulous Harewood House in West Yorkshire. Tickets can be booked directly with Harewood and include access to the house and gardens!

 

Charcoal Sketching – 25th June

This half-day course includes expert tuition, all art materials, and rich charcoals produced from cuttings from the Harewood Estate…

 

Flower Painting – 15th July

Join published author and artist, Pippa Pixley, for an exciting introduction to expressive floral painting using botanical inks, watercolour, and gouache…

 

Bas Relief Workshop – 16th July

A full-day workshop in which you will work with a range of seasonal flowers and foliage, pressing each element into soft clay to create your own mementos…

Kintsugi at The Sustainable Studio

on April 28, 2022

We had a great time running a bespoke evening Kintsugi Workshop for IVC Group at The Sustainable Studio in Cardiff. Everyone produced amazing results and we got some amazing feedback!

On behalf of all of us at IVC, may I say a big thank you to you and Eden for a wonderful Kintsugi event in Cardiff, last night. The feedback from our customers was, as I am sure you were aware, truly excellent and they thoroughly enjoyed your tutorage and engaging style. Together, with Eden, you make a fabulous team.”

– Mark Wilson, Product Training Manager

Would you like to arrange a workshop for your organisation? Get in touch…

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I’m meeting with the team at Harewood House this week to prepare for our Summer 2022 series of workshops. I’ll be working in collaboration with the Head Gardener at this wonderful country house estate in West Yorkshire to produce a bespoke set of sustainably-sourced natural plant pigments for use in our painting and dyeing classes. More info soon…

January 11, 2022

Kintsugi for Google Arts & Culture

on December 11, 2021

I’m really thrilled to be presenting my Kintsugi Workshop for Google Arts & Culture for their creative team based in London, Paris, Hamburg and the US. We’ve been super busy packing up beautiful parcels containing all the kit needed for the session…

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If you would like to book a workshop for your arts group, service users or organization please enquire using the CONTACT form.

Working with the Royal Collection

on July 17, 2021

The Barber Institute of Fine Art invited me to deliver a Look, Notice & Sketch workshop inspired by depictions of the natural world found in their summer exhibition.

It is part of the Making a Mark Exhibition currently being shown at the @barberinstitute curated by the @unibirmingham Art History and Curating MA students.

The exhibition showcases exquisite and intriguing 16th and 17th-century drawings by Dutch and Flemish artists, including Rubens, Rembrandt, and Van Dyck lent by Her Majesty the Queen from the @royalcollection at Windsor Castle. It examines the functions and purposes of drawing and the importance of the artist’s profession. It discusses the techniques and materials used, and the varied ways artists found inspiration for drawing.

Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.”

 – Albert Einstein

 

Many artists in the 17th-century would craft their own inks and paints using materials they foraged and found. Here is a simple recipe you can use to make your own rich inky tones:

 

Flower Painting with Heath Mount School

on July 7, 2021

Congratulations to the amazing young artists in Y6 at Heath Mount School who produced such stunning paintings in our 2hr zoom workshop!

The children were in their school’s excellent art facility and I was at home in my studio – but we worked together to study how to capture the beautiful lily blooms using natural, sustainable materials. It was their first taste of painting with watercolours and they harnessed the power of visualization, thinking deeply about shape, line & tone. Well done everyone!

Kintsugi for KVA Digital

on January 28, 2021

I really enjoyed delivering my Kintsugi Workshop for 63 attendees from a leading UK-based pharmaceutical company as part of their annual conference programme. This year the event was hosted on zoom, so each delegate was sent a beautiful box containing my custom kit in advance so that everyone could participate from home. The session had a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, and it was wonderful to see the superb work when we all held up our finished pieces to camera at the end. Well done everyone, and thank you to KVA Digital for inviting me to share my passion for kintsugi at this event!

Many thanks for delivering the workshop on Tuesday, this was very well received and we had some lovely feedback on how it was run and your clear expertise on the subject 🙂 It was also a great way to unwind following a full day virtual meeting.”

– Kirandeep, Senior Account Executive, KVA Digital

 

If you would like a great workshop for your corporate event please get in touch using my CONTACT FORM

The Artist’s Handbook

on January 11, 2021

I feel so excited to have been invited to contribute a foreword to the latest edition of Pip Seymour’s excellent guide to pigments for painters, The Artist’s Handbook (published by Lee Press, 2020). Pip is the renowned artisan paintmaker who, along with Rebecca Seymour, is responsible for the stunning range of fine art materials produced in Yorkshire by Wallace Seymour.

The Artist’s Handbook provides artists with in-depth, practical information on the materials, equipment and skills necessary for all areas of artistic practice. Topics covered include advice on how to select appropriate art materials, including paints, brushes, canvases and drawing materials; techniques for making your own paints, glue, varnishes and paper; advice on how to achieve the best results from both manufactured and hand-made materials; the best methods of storing and preserving finished artworks, and health and safety precautions.

The Artist’s Handbook is now in stock at L. Cornelissen & Son

Earth Colours Demonstrations

on October 12, 2020

The From Pigments to Paint free online series with Andrew Field Fine Art and Pippa Pixley, artist & illustrator, concluded this month with another exciting workshop. This time we featured special guest artist and master paintmaker Pip Seymour, creator of the Wallace Seymour Earth Pigments Range: a staggering collection of over 100 brightly-hued minerals to experiment with! The earth pigment palette is sourced from around the world – the rich, red Rudstone clay from North Yorkshire; Viviante, a blue ochre from the Black Sea; and exotic Cinnabar from the Tuscan volcano of Monte Amita – to name but a few.

If you would like to add real richness and depth to your work, then you will definitely enjoy trying these fabulous materials!

In this special workshop practicing artists demonstrated how they use these fantastic finds, discussed the fascinating origins and stories, and answered audience questions in this live zoom session. All featured art materials can be found at @artreqltd

Ancient Drawing Materials Workshop

on August 28, 2020

In the September edition of our series of artist demonstrations of delicious natural art materials, we focussed on understanding and using ancient drawing materials – rocks, minerals, clays, charcoal and ink!

Fine Artist Andrew Field and myself shared an exciting  Wallace Seymour Fine Art workshop, demonstrating how to draw and paint using these historic tools and sharing stories and histories of how the old masters used them in their work. We were joined by special guest artist Hannah Ivory Baker who shared her practice. It is really exciting to explore new mediums and materials in our work and to see where these new possibilities can take us…

charcoal study by Hannah Ivory Baker

All art materials demonstrated can be found at www.artreq.co.uk where you will find over 60 varieties of ancient drawing materials to try out!

 

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From Pigments to Paint: Summer Blues

on August 6, 2020

In the August edition of our series of artist demonstrations of delicious natural art materials, we focussed on recreating the colours of the sea and the sky using natural blue pigments.

Fine Artist Andrew Field and myself shared an exciting Summer Blues Workshop in which we demonstrated how to use Wallace Seymour Fine Art pigments to create beautiful signature blues for our seascapes and skies. We shared stories and histories as we made oils, watercolours, and tempura from pigments of naturally differing shades and hues. Andrew also took a moment to reflect on how Turner, John Sell Cotman, Thomas Girtin, and Constable created their signature skies in beautiful shades of blue.

Our special guest artist was the amazing Maggie Cochran! She showed us how she uses Wallace Seymour acrylic paints to capture the beauty of the Cornish coast.

Join us in September to explore their wide range of ancient drawing materials…

Wallace Seymour make beautiful quality fine art materials, specializing in rare and ancient colours used by the masters such as Turner and Rembrandt. They are a British company based in Yorkshire and run by artists Pip Seymour and Rebecca Wallace. They have a real passion for producing quality products. Their range of materials can be found at ArtReq and you can order online at Art Req Ltd.

 

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Mindful Drawing Workshops for Headway

on July 29, 2020

During lockdown I have been leading a series of Mindful Drawing Workshops for Headway’s Digital Day Centre platform during June and July. The charity works with brain injury survivors and their carers to help support recovery.

In our workshops I have shared a gestural mark-making approach that has helped to build confidence and dexterity. The workshops are a wonderfully mindful process as it teaches us to slow down and observe, to take notice and to wonder. I love to scribble and make gestural marks full of life and movement because there is no right and no wrong – it’s just about expressing yourself freely on the paper.

 

The virtual drawing workshops have been a huge success with the brain injury survivors we support. During the first set of sessions members have been learning how to create a simple illustration of a mouse, hedgehog and bird with great results using only a pencil, teabag and coffee!”

– Headway Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland

 

Pastels & Pigments Demonstrations

on July 13, 2020

 

We decided to bring these demonstrations of delicious natural art materials from Wallace Seymour Fine Art Products to you at home.
In this live webinar I demonstrated tips and techniques for making your own pastels, while another fine artist, Andrew Field, shared the secrets of mixing your own acrylic and oil-based paints using a muller and glass plate to create signature colours and hues. It was lovely to have a friendly and enthusiastic audience of art lovers from as far afield as Canada and Japan – a big Thank You to everyone who joined our zoom tutorial!

Wallace Seymour make beautiful quality fine art materials, specializing in rare and ancient colours used by the masters such as Turner and Rembrandt. They are a British company based in Yorkshire and run by artists Pip Seymour and Rebecca Wallace. They have a real passion for producing quality products. Their range of materials can be found at ArtReq and you can order online at Art Req Ltd.

“This was brilliant, thank you. I’ve read about making paints, but it definitely helps to see someone do it themselves!” – Jane H

“Really enjoyed the demo, it was great! Thanks so much.” – Terry B

“Thank you so much to all of you involved in your brilliant online workshop today. Absolutely outstanding and much appreciated. All good wishes.” – Fran W

 

Watch out for our next live artist demonstrations in August in which we will focus on creating beautiful watercolour paintings using the fantastic Wallace Seymour range…

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Would you like to join me for my Nature Drawing Online Workshop? This half-day course features some of the ancient drawing materials and natural inks demonstrated today – you will even receive a parcel in advance so we can all create beautiful artwork together…

 

 

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Den Building Challenge

on May 6, 2020

Thanks to everyone who joined us today on zoom for a fun-filled workshop all about the cool dens we can build in the home or garden. Kids of all ages love to have their own special space where they can play, read, or just hide.

Den building is great for the imagination, designing, problem-solving, teamwork,  or just focusing & having fun. If you would like to share your creations that would be great.

 

We also shared the wonderful secret spaces that animals make – nests, dens & burrows – and did a great draw-a-long together. Why not have a go at drawing a cosy bird’s nest with a clutch of eggs in Pippa’s Scribbly Nest Workshop?

 

Here are some of our cool creations:

 

 

We enjoyed a fab 26 minute Wild Wonders Drawing Workshop via zoom to raise money for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. It is a wonderful international charity working hard to save species from extinction.

Our challenge was to see how many animals we could draw together in 26 minutes!

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You can still make a donation (big or small) as every bit helps our lovely zoo animal friends.

Wallace Seymour Art Demonstrations

on April 25, 2020

We would have been at the stunning Lingholm Estate in the head of the English Lake District’s beautiful Borrowdale valley today along with other amazing artists and watercolourists for a full day of live art workshops, but as we can’t at the moment with conditions as they are, we decided to bring these demonstrations of delicious natural art materials from Wallace Seymour Fine Art Products to you at home.

We had over 30 artists and art lovers in attendance for the live zoom webinar from as far afield as Wales, Panama, and the United States. We shared a video of natural ink artwork made by Pip Seymour himself and two 30 minute demonstrations – I presented the botanical inks range and Andrew Field showed how he uses the 18th Century watercolours to produce Turner-esque effects. We also enjoyed a Q&A session, some friendly chat, and the experience of witnessing a little chick hatching from its egg live on camera!

Botanical Inks with Pippa Pixley – 

These natural ancient materials are made from plants. These inks can be used neat or diluted with water to create wonderful soft washes.

 

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Would you like to join me for my Nature Drawing Online Workshop? This half day course features some of the ancient drawing materials and natural inks demonstrated today – you will even receive a parcel in advance so we can all create beautiful artwork together…

Watercolour with Andrew Field – 

Looking at watercolour painting techniques, moving from small studies to larger finished works.

 

You can order the featured art materials in the UK from Art Req Ltd.

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Suminagashi in Pressing Matters 11

on April 18, 2020

I’m so pleased to have my suminagashi marbling work featured in the latest edition of the prestigious Pressing Matters Magazine.

Suminagashi is the Japanese art of floating inks on the surface of the water to create a monoprint. It is a beautiful art that creates unique patterns, as the paint swishes and swirls on the bath.

Would you like to learn more about this ancient artform, and create your own stunning prints? Check out my live online workshop coming up soon…

My First Big Skies Zoom Workshop!

on April 16, 2020

Today was brilliant!

We had six students joining us on Zoom for the day from Derbyshire, Manchester, South Wales, Staffordshire & Lancashire for a Big Skies Online Workshop.

In these times of isolation, it was wonderful to spend a full day creating art, learning together, drinking tea and chatting with new friends. Everyone produced loads of stunning sketches, studies and paintings.

Would you like to join my next live online workshop? Click here to find out more…

Student Artwork

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Absolutely loved the workshop – so much fun! It has really inspired me to do lots more. So nice to spend a complete day painting. I’m hoping to see you for th drawing one in the summer but online was great… would love to do more! Thanks again xx”

-Rhiannon Collins

Thank you so much for today, what a lovely breath of fresh air… I now feel inspired to do more.”

– Jo Tallis

I had a beautiful day, thank you! You did so well – it was really personable even though it was on zoom.”

– Susanna

Keeping Safe during COVID-19

on March 18, 2020

As we are all faced with times of uncertainty due to the outbreak of COVID-19, I wish to reassure you that the safety and wellbeing of my clients and colleagues remain my primary concern and focus.

In view of this, and in line with recommendations and guidelines from the World Health Organisation and our Government, I will be canceling personal appearances at public events and group courses for at least the next 6 weeks. If you have already booked on one of my courses during that period you can expect me to hear from me soon.

However, I will be making more of my courses and artwork available online and I’ll be keeping in touch through Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. I’ll post updates on this as the situation develops. I wish you all a really creative time and please keep you, your loved ones and our community safe.”

– Much love, Pippa xx

If you would like to book tickets for this workshop click on the image above.

My suminigashi work is going to be featured in the next issues of the fabulous UPPERCASE Magazine and the prestigious Pressing Matters Magazine. Sooo excited!

Kintsugi at Chatsworth House

on November 26, 2019

***Now SOLD OUT!***

Pippa’s Kintsugi Workshop on May 12th 2020 at the absolutely fabulous Chatsworth House in Derbyshire’s Peak District.

In this Wabisabi inspired class you will work with real gold to repair stunning ceramic pieces that you can take home as treasured momentos at the end of the day.”

The Kintsugi package includes:

  • Beautiful handcrafted ceramics to work with
  • All craft materials & packaging
  • Tea, coffee and fruit juice on arrival
  • Chatsworth still and sparkling water
  • Mid-morning break: tea, coffee & mini pastries
  • Two-course lunch by the Chatsworth chefs
  • Mid-pm break including tea, coffee & biscuits
  • Complimentary parking
  • WIFI

Learn more or book your tickets through Pippa’s eventbrite page…

Puddle Printing

on November 10, 2019

Suminagashi is the beautiful Japanese artform of floating inks on a bath of water to create a monoprint. This is normally done in the studio, but whenever possible I love to work in the wild – the great outdoors. The process involves using an ink stick which I grind onto an inkstone with a little water, moving it in a circular motion until I reach the right consistency of ink.

With the brush inked (and with minimal movement) I dip the tip of brush horizontally onto the surface of the water to create concentric circles. Various patterns and shapes – swishes and swirls reminiscent of the knots, grain and ring forms of trees, or the contours of maps and mountain ranges – are created by the breeze. It is a really wonderful process, something quite magical and serendipitous.

You never really know what kind of a print you will make, it is very dependent on the conditions; a sudden breeze, the movement of a dog or just your own breathing can affect the image, changing it in some way. It’s exciting knowing that just as every snowflake is different, so, too, is every print. No matter how many I produce no two will be the same; each one will be unique and special in some way. The prints are used in a number of ways – for book covers, endpapers, framed original prints or wrapping paper – depending on the purpose and the type of paper used. If you love playing with inks and hearing the soothing sound of water you will love this aqueous surface design printing method.”
– Pippa

Learn more about my Marbling & Suminagashi courses here…

Perfectly Imperfect in UPPERCASE 42

on October 26, 2019

I was absolutely thrilled to be featured in edition 42 of my favourite arty magazine, UPPERCASE, published by the amazingly talented and prolific Janine Vangool.

Kintsugi is the beautiful Japanese art of repauring broken pottery with gold, which is a wonderful metaphor for life. The cracks are our experiences in life. We don’t have to be broken by them, they can make us stronger and more beautiful. Instead of hiding the cracks that life brings, you embrace them and turn them into something unique, something magical. It is the experiences that happen to us that shape us and make us who we are, who we become.”

Landscape Painting Workshop

on October 16, 2019

Would you like to learn the art of creating beautiful paintings? Then this class is for you!

It is an exciting one-day course set in the heart of the Peak National Park. You will develop your skills in using line, tone, and colour. The day will begin by understanding the fundamental principles of light and tone, experimenting with a range of mixed media materials. I will show you how to translate and transcribe the landscape by slowing down and observing the surrounding environment through mark-making exercises using Japanese ink and charcoal.

You will develop palette themes, and experiment with mixing and making your own pigment paint with the ancient painting method of egg tempera (free-range organic eggs from my own hens) as well as making glazes and layers in acrylic, oil and cold wax. You will discover the secrets of how to apply contrast, colour theory, and tonal values to create beautiful scenes.

This workshop will be hosted in the delightful hamlet of Hollinsclough in the Upper Dove Valley, and is suitable for beginners as well as seasoned artists. Everyone will leave relaxed, refreshed and infused with creativity. All materials will be provided as well as refreshments throughout the day – including lunch, tea, coffee, cake – you just need to bring an apron!

Landscape Painting Workshop – Sat Nov 9th –  10.00am – 4.00pm – £110

 

You can book a place by visiting CraftCourses.com or message me with any questions via my contact page…