Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw @ The Lansdowne House

My original Art training was with Christies and The UofG in Decorative Arts and I love nothing more than pocking behind an old wardrobe in any historic property to find out if it is genuine. I graduated in the 1990's and spend the following 20 + years stencilling Mackintosh up a scaffold and teaching crackelure to furniture upcyclers.

I love interacting with communities and I ran a number of community Art Projects ... The Big Rose (we stencilled the Mackintosh rose on Glasgow's pavements), The Big Banner (we recreated 13 times in different locations banners made by Mackintosh for The Willow Tea rooms at the turn of the century)...

Colour drew me in and in 2015 I decided to come down from the scaffold to jump in the garden to experiment and learn all about natural colours and fibers. I never looked back.

I am now a dye plant grower (I cultivate every year Indigo and Woad in the Glasgow Botanical garden), a botanical printer I study botanics all around the world and teach my knowledge to others in person and online since the Covid crisis.

I am an Indigo lover and I travel far to educate myself (Bali with Aboubakar Fofana, Japan with Awonoyo, Thailand with Mann crafts). I share my love by running in person and online classes.

I still run community projects of a different manner... in 2020 during the Covid Crisis I initiated "The True Colour of the Cotinus" project online and my dye garden and Indigo growing project is "The Indigo plot". If you are interested by any of those projects... be in touch. 

I love initiating creativity in my course participants. I am passionate about creating art in a sustainable way, I love reusing, recycling, I work in a circular Economy and makes the best of my local resources in Art with participants coming from the whole world. 

 I teach in person and online live using the zoom platform. I like engaging in long term communities courses/projects. As we learn to work with each other we create better projects... outcomes...

I run in person overseas retreats, July 2025 Botanical printing retreat in the South West of France. November 2025 The Colours of Thailand, 13 days of discovering natural colours and fibers in Thailand with visit to practitioners, markets, museums.

I currently work on two global/local projects based on Ecodyeing/printing :

#Theindigoplot circa 2021 is about growing Japanese Indigo small scale and dyeing from it as well as understanding the meaning of the Indigo production/vat. I grow Japanese Indigo in Scotland with a group of "Home growers and in the grounds of The Glasgow Botanical Garden. I also run a 9 months course "The Indigo diaries" with a group of online participants where we grow together before experiencing a number of ways of dyeing with our Fresh Persicaria Tinctoria leaves and our Indigo Pigment. If you want to register your interest for the 2023 group please be in touch by email bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

#thetruecolourofthecotinus circa 2020 is about Botanical printing the Cotinus leaves (and new for 2022 extracting pigment from the leaves) ... created as an online project to connect hundreds of participants locked down at home in the spring of 2020 we have learned to understand our mordants and create blue out of our leaves... but also create beautiful prints out of just the one plant The Cotinus. In 2022 I will add the Euphorbia Cotonalia plant to the testing to welcome participants from the Southern Hemisphere. We will extract pigments to make printing paste and water colour. The group is supported by a FB page and has an ongoing outcome with regular short online workshops.

I have in the past been involved in projects with, The House for an Art Lover, Glasgow Museums, Granton Hub, National Trust for Scotland, The Willow Tea rooms Trust, a number of primary and secondary schools in Scotland. I run collaborations with local artists. 

I will run private workshops in my studio or your premises for private groups (corporate excertises or hens parties ...) 

In my workshops you will learn a creative technique and complete a creative project, you will go home wih a unique object.. you made ! Today you make your own future happy memories ! 

#Bettysbeautifullife