Wild Life Drawing Online: Bats (Live)

This December, we are turning traditions on their heads with a class focused on a species that is usually associated with a decidedly different time of year. After all, a bat is for life, not just for Halloween!

We have a very exciting live online class for you in collaboration with The Bat Conservation Trust. We will be connecting with two wonderful bat carers who will be introducing us to some native rescued bats that, for reasons we will explore, aren’t able to be released back into the wild. We will get some amazing close-up views of a common pipistrelle, a brown long-eared, and some more species too. We will also be joined by Charley Bird, who is a Senior Bat Advisor at the charity. It’s her job to coordinate the Bat Trust's bat care network all around the country, and her knowledge of the species group is seriously impressive. 

The U.K. is home to 18 species of bat- meaning the group accounts for a quarter of our mammal species- yet they remain a mystery to many of us. These beautiful animals are unfortunately surrounded by lots of negative stereotypes, and many people have a knee-jerk dislike towards them. This is bad news for any species and has sadly contributed to the decline of bats around the world. So, join us and let’s bust some myths, and learn lots of lovely bat facts to have in our pocket anytime we hear someone slating these superstars of the sky! 

Artist and nature lover Jennie Webber will be leading the session, beginning with an introduction to drawing moving models, and a drawing demonstration. The class is open to all abilities so whether you haven’t drawn since school or you draw on the daily, you’ll get loads out of the session. The basic materials you need to take part are some paper, a pencil, a sharpener and a rubber, but if you’d like to experiment with other materials please free to get creative! We will be drawing from reference images which will be emailed to you (along with instructions and the Zoom link) 48 hours before the event is due to start, or in good time if you book your ticket closer to the session. As with all our online sessions, we will send out a recording of the class afterwards so that you can watch it back as many times as you like.

50% of profits will go to The Bat Conservation Trust to support their amazing work caring for native bat populations.