Supported by

Sri Lanka Tourism.

Billy Showell SBA is a botanical artist and illustrator. She has exhibited her work worldwide and run workshops in the USA and Autralia. She is in constant demand for private commissions. With her eye for detail and creative compositions, her pictures are both beautiful and botanically accurate.

Billy's illustrative Books Watercolour Flower Portraits & Watercolour Fruit & Vegetable Portraits have been published in seven languages and sell worldwide.

'My work, although botanically illustrative, is modern in its approach and is primarily about creating an arrangement that symbolizes the simplicity and beauty of the natural world. Design and composition are therefore as important to me as the true colours and shapes of the subjects.'

www.billyshowell.co.uk

YOUR TUTOR

'Orchids & Tropical Flowers'

4th-10th & 11th-17th April 2010

Spend 6 nights in the tranquil setting of Moonhill, a luxurious beach villa on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, drawing and painting orchids with experienced UK tutor and botanical illustrator Billy Showell.

Sri Lanka is orchid heaven! More than 188 orchid species grow here, with a stunning 55 that are unique to the island and provide the source of inspiration for this course.

Under Billy’s encouraging step-by-step guidance you will find yourself drawing and painting these exquisite flowering plants with increasing confidence and skill. All-ability levels and beginners are welcome on the 4-day painting course, with the small group size (maximum no. 8) guaranteeing you individual tuition and guidance.

Orchids and tropical Flowers are an endless source of inspiration with their patterns, shapes and vibrant colours. You’ll begin the course with some pencil drawings of your chosen plant, learning how to create depth and perspective through scale and tonal range.

These initial observational drawings will provide you with a valuable understanding of your subject as you progress, step-by-step with practical demonstrations, towards your finished painting. The more experienced amongst you have the opportunity to work at your own pace, perhaps completing more than one painting as well as refining and refreshing your technique, whilst beginners, gaining confidence and new skills under Billy's encouraging approach, make rapid progress.

In the middle of the week we take a break for a day’s excursion to the famous Sinharaja Rainforest Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you may have the rare privilege of seeing in the wild some of the orchids you are painting at Moonhill. During course time

two exciting non-painters excursions to nearby ancient temples and a wildlife game reserve are organized.

Cost £945 for Painters (£645 for Non-Painters)

Price does not include Flights.