Margaret Saylor
Margaret Saylor
Classes & Workshops
Small-group classes in botanical drawing and painting, offered online and at regional art centers and gardens. The focus is on close observation, sound technique, and building a studio practice that lasts.
Upcoming sessions are listed below by venue; follow each link to register directly with the host organization.
MT CUBA CENTER • hockessin, DE
Spring Botanical Art Series
Twelve Thursdays · 10:00 AM–1:00 PM · On site
Learning to Draw Spring Wildflowers
April 2–23, 2026
Begin botanical drawing with line, shape, and form while working from Mt. Cuba’s native plant collections. This entry‑level series helps you develop a personal drawing style and confidence with spring wildflower subjects.
Wildflowers in Color
April 30–May 21, 2026
Move into color with spring wildflowers using colored pencil or watercolor. You’ll focus on accurate structure and a clear, natural palette inspired by the gardens.
Refined Botanical Drawing
May 28–June 25, 2026
Build on your skills with more complex compositions and refined botanical drawings, emphasizing detail, value, and composition using live specimens.
Register for four week class sessions, or all 12.
MORRIS ARBORETUM & GARDENS • PHILADELPHIA, PA
Botanical Illustration Afternoon Retreat
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 · 1:00–4:00 PM · On site
Spend an afternoon at Morris Arboretum exploring plant illustration at your own pace with guidance and demonstrations. This retreat suits all levels and offers time to practice technique, ask questions, and develop your personal illustration style.
STONELEIGH: a natural garden • villanova, PA
Beginning a Botanical Sketchbook: Observations
Saturday, May 16, 2026 · 10:00–1:00 PM · On site
Join botanical artist Margaret Saylor for a program encouraging observation of the natural world through drawing. We’ll explore the minute details and plant characteristics of spring specimens. Begin a sketchbook or add to an existing one. Use graphite, Micron pen, and/or watercolor to depict plant life. Who knows… this could be the start of a lifelong sketchbook habit.
LONGWOOD GARDENS • KENNETT SQUARE, PA
Open Studio
Four Mondays, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 2026 · 1:00–4:00 PM · On site
Bring works in progress or begin new botanical pieces in a guided studio environment. Each session includes brief demonstrations, individual feedback, and time to explore materials and subjects from the gardens.
LONGWOOD GARDENS • KENNETT SQUARE, PA
Botanical Art for Beginners
Saturday, June 6, 2026 · 9:00 AM–3:00 PM · On site
Get started with botanical drawing and painting while working from fresh plant material. We’ll cover foundational drawing skills and simple watercolor techniques so you can complete your first finished botanical study.
ADKINS ARBORETUM • RIDGELY, MD
Botanical Art Sketchbook Workshop: Plants of Adkins
Friday, June 19, 2026 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · On site
In this one-day workshop focused on the plants of Adkins Arboretum, participants will receive an introduction to the art of botanical sketchbooking, with special emphasis on the diversity and beauty of native flora.
You’ll begin by observing and selecting a feature plant using reference images or specimens, followed by the creation of quick thumbnail sketches to explore different shapes, details, and composition ideas. The workshop includes step-by-step instruction in botanical drawing and annotation techniques, guiding you through the process of rendering accurate and expressive plant studies.
As the session progresses, you’ll compose a polished sketchbook spread that blends illustration, color, and informative notes—a resource to inspire future painting projects. The workshop concludes with a collaborative group discussion and sharing session, providing an opportunity for participants to exchange feedback, gather ideas, and receive encouragement for continuing their botanical art journey with plants found at Adkins Arboretum.
HISTORIC YELLOW SPRINGS • CHESTER SPRINGS, PA
Medicinal Botanicals: The Living Specimens
Part 2 • Saturday, August 29, 2026 • 10:00 AM-3:00 PM • On site
In the winter session, participants drew from two-hundred-year-old copper engravings — the plants as Sowerby saw them, translated through a burin, a press, and an unknown hand's watercolor brush. Now the same plants have grown back into the world, and they are waiting for you.
In this second session, you'll work directly from live medicinal plant specimens: roots, stems, leaves, and flowers observed in real light, real time, and real dimension. Where historical plates offer elegant distillation, the living plant gives you the delicious complication of imperfection — the leaf that curls, the flower that leans, the stem that refuses the composition you planned.
If you joined us in February, bring the sketchbook you've already started. If this is your first time, bring your curiosity and a willingness to really look. Either way, you're in exactly the right place.
TOUCHSTONE CENTER FOR CRAFTS • FARMINGTON, PA
Understory Alphabetica: Woodland Curiosities
Saturday & Sunday September 12-13, 2026 · 9:00 AM–5:00 PM · On site
Step into the vibrant September woodlands of Western Pennsylvania for a two-day workshop, “Understory Alphabetica: Woodland Curiosities.” Discover mushrooms, fungi, mosses, and forest floor plants as you create an A–Z sketchbook, each page dedicated to a different woodland subject selected by its common name. Mornings feature guided forest walks for live observation and sketching; afternoons provide focused studio time and hands-on demonstrations in graphite, Micron pen, and watercolor. The course blends field and studio practice, teaching skills in scientific journaling, composition, and storytelling through botanical art. Welcoming both beginners and experienced artists, the workshop encourages curiosity and careful observation to deepen each participant’s connection to the changing woodland understory.
wayne art center • wayne, PA
Peak Season: An Autumn Botanical Field Journal
Saturday, September 26, 2026 · 10:00 AM–1:00 PM · On site
Late September is the year's most generous moment for the sketchbook artist. Leaves are at the height of their color, seed heads are heavy and ripe, berries glow against darkening stems, and the first hints of bare branch architecture are just beginning to show. The landscape is abundant, specific, and fleeting — exactly the conditions a field journal was made for.
In this hands-on workshop, you will build a field journal page dedicated to autumn's peak, working in graphite, Micron pen, and watercolor. Learn to observe the colors, textures, and forms of the season with fresh attention, and develop techniques for recording botanical subjects at their most expressive moment. Leave with a richly worked spread and the skills and confidence to continue your field journal practice as the season unfolds around you.
wayne art center • wayne, PA
Fruits of the Forest: A Forager’s Sketchbook
Saturday, October 24, 2026 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · On site
Autumn is prime season for fungi, and the woodland floor has never been more interesting. Turkey tails bracket a mossy log. A cluster of honey mushrooms erupts from a stump. A sweet gum ball, a dried fern, a scatter of acorns — the supporting cast is as compelling as the main event. This is the world a forager's sketchbook was made to document.
In this full-day workshop, you will build a richly annotated sketchbook spread dedicated to the fungi and flora of the autumn woodland, working in graphite, Micron pen, and watercolor. In the days before class, forage your neighborhood, yard, or a local park for anything that catches your eye — mushrooms, seed pods, leaves, lichen, whatever the season offers — and bring your finds to work from directly. A variety of specimens will also be provided. Learn to observe the distinctive shapes, textures, and tones of mushrooms and their habitat with an artist's eye, and develop techniques for capturing everything from the velvet surface of a cap to the delicate architecture of gills, pores, and stems.
No foraging experience required — just curiosity and a willingness to look closely. All skill levels welcome. A materials list will be provided upon registration.