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.
wayne art center • wayne, PA
Awakening Botanicals: A Springtime Field Journal
Saturday, March 21, 2026 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · On site
Create a spring field sketchbook focused on early growth—ferns, spring ephemerals, sprouting bulbs, and buds. Through pencil, ink, and watercolor exercises, you’ll build observation skills and record form, color, and texture in real time.
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.
JENKINS ARBORETUM & GARDENS • DEVON, PA
Spring Sketching: Flowers and Foliage
Saturday, April 11, 2026 · 1:00–4:00 PM · On site
Draw inspiration from Jenkins! Explore how to document spring plants as they emerge, bud, and bloom. Learning not just to look, but to see your subject is crucial to drawing. Sharpen your skills during this insightful class. Dive into the spring season in the gardens and in the classroom as you work alongside a botanical artist and share your work. Explore graphite, Micron pen, and watercolor as mediums with a small, manageable sketchbook. All levels welcome; some drawing experience helpful but not necessary.
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 13, 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.
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.