June Special: Choose 2 courses for $100

Sign up before July 1 and get any two complete online art courses for $100. Start anytime, keep your site access for a full year. Unlimited instructor guidance and feedback by email.

Choices include Birds in Watercolor, Heirloom Garden in Colored Pencil, Draw Dogs & Cats, Draw and Paint Six Culinary Herbs, Draw and Paint the Enchanted World and seven more!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

 

 

Create a Garden Pea Alphabet!

Pea vines are beautiful, which makes them an ideal drawing subject. And they send out wonderful spiral tendrils, which makes them perfect for today’s project: a watercolor pea alphabet!

Think of today’s exercise as a way to playfully explore mixing shades of green and using your brush in different ways. Perfection is NOT the goal, and your pea alphabet may not resemble mine. That’s fine! (No botanical accuracy is needed, so we are going with brush strokes and not reference photos. Resist the urge to be too realistic.)

If you are new to watercolor, fill a page or two with practice strokes and swirls before working on a word.

If you are not sure of your drawing skills and you are eager to get painting, you can transfer the desired letters from our pdf to your watercolor paper. Be sure to enlarge them on your copier — I recommend drawing them around 2 inches tall for easier painting. Then cut out your letters, fill in the back side of the copy paper with a healthy coat of pencil graphite, and trace over the outlines to transfer them.

Of course, you may not want to draw the letters at all. For wild and whimsical vines, look at the Pea Alphabet pdf for inspiration and just start laying down your paint in the general twirly shapes of the letterforms.

Enjoy!

Click the links below to download illustrated printable pages:

Watercolor Warm Up

Pea Alphabet

PEA lettering demo

…And a few extra tips on video. The video password is oak.

Painting Thin Lines

 

 

 

 

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Bird of Paradise

No bees or butterflies for this flower, thank you! The cheery little Cape Weaver is pollinator for strelitzia (bird of paradise) plants. As he flits from flower to flower, his feet are dusted with pollen.

This is the demo painting for this week’s 8 Flowers 8 Ways online course. Our lesson was in using India ink and watercolor together.

Summer Art Course Special!

Make it your most creative summer season ever. Take ANY TWO full-length online courses for $100, and keep your video access a full year. You must sign up before July 1.

Choose the combination you like best from:

• Drawn & Decorated Watercolor Lettering
• The Heirloom Garden in Colored Pencil
• Birds in Watercolor and Beyond
• Botanical Sketchbook Painting
• Draw and Paint Six Culinary Herbs
• Draw Dogs and Cats
• Draw Owls: Designed for the Dark
• Draw Horses and Ponies
• Eight Flowers Eight Ways
• Birds in Colored Pencil and Beyond
• Draw and Paint Fairies in Nature
• Fairies II: Draw and Paint the Enchanted World

Full descriptions and supply lists are available HERE.

To sign up, email me at studio@valwebb.com.

Workshop: Layered watercolor & graphite

I’m excited to announce that 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center is sponsoring this workshop, resulting in a new date and a reduced cost:

Majestic Moth Layered Watercolor and Graphite
Saturday, June 3 from 9am to 4pm
5 Rivers Delta Resouce Center,  Spanish Fort AL

Most supplies included                $85

Polyphemus moth and white oak in watercolor + graphite

No experience necessary! Use traditional scientific illustration techniques to create soft, subtle textures and rich detail by layering graphite over a watercolor foundation. Our subject will be the Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) which is strikingly beautiful and much larger than a butterfly.  Step by step instruction and illustrated handouts to take home.

Provided for you:

• archival watercolor paper, and a supply of sketch paper
• graphite pencils of different densities and a sharpener
• a kneaded eraser
• watercolors and a palette, other tools and supplies
• coffee, bottled water and morning snacks

PLEASE BRING:

• A sack lunch
• Two watercolor brushes, a #4 round and a #10 round.  Inexpensive brushes are fine. DO NOT buy store brand brushes from Michaels (Artist’s Loft) or Hobby Lobby (Master’s Touch), which are very poor quality. I use a synthetic golden nylon bristle from dickblick.com called Loew-Cornell American Painter, which cost $3.50 and $4.08 for the two sizes. Of course, if you already have watercolor brushes you like in these sizes, plan to use them for the workshop.

Workshop size limited to a small group and is expected to fill up quickly. Pre-registration is required to hold your spot. Email Val at studio@valwebb.com to sign up.

Online course: Draw & Paint Fairies

Draw and Paint Fairies in Nature
10 Lessons – work at your own pace
Start anytime –   $65

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SUPPLY LIST

I love drawing fairies. They allow me to combine all my favorite art subjects (children, botanicals, birds, insects, small furry animals) in various whimsical combinations to create a gentle world where you can fish from the top of a Great Blue Heron or hitch a ride on a passing opossum.

Draw and Paint Fairies in Nature is the most ambitious course I’ve ever created, and in addition to 10 interactive lessons there will be 24 illustrated pdf pages that can be assembled to make a handbook of my fairy drawing techniques.

Learn about fairy proportion from infant to adolescent, how to show physical and facial expressions, how to draw assorted wings and attire, how to create a background, how to draw fairies in action (and in flight) or at rest. Draw and paint the fairies’ neighbors, birds and mice. Discover techniques for using color to create a rich natural atmosphere.

This course is open to students at all levels of art experience, and you can have as much instructor guidance and feedback as you like via email. Keep your illustrated printables forever, and your video access for a full year.

To sign up, email me at studio@valwebb.com.

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Eight Flowers Eight Ways

Eight Flowers Eight Ways
10 Lessons – work at your own pace
$50 for a limited time

This richly illustrated, information-packed course focuses on drawing and painting eight historic flowers (orchid, peony, saffron crocus, angel trumpet and more) using eight very different techniques. We’ll use pencil, ink and watercolor — separately and in various combinations, and in a variety of creative styles. Each lesson, posted on a password-protected website, includes video and multiple printable pages. Unlimited instructor guidance and feedback are available by email. Keep video access for one full year from the start date. Registration is payable by check or PayPal. To sign up, email me directly at studio@valwebb.com.

DOWNLOAD SUPPLY LIST FOR “EIGHT FLOWERS EIGHT WAYS”

 

100 Rescues

Nine years ago I met my best friend, a 65-pound hound mix named Atticus, at a pet adoption hosted by Mobile SPCA. (He’s sitting right beside me as I type this.) I want to thank our SPCA for the important work they do, on behalf of the thousands of dogs and cats who have found homes since Atticus came to me. So I created 100 Rescues.

I will draw and paint 100 dogs and cats, posting each as it is completed on this site, on the Instagram @100rescues and on my studio Facebook page.  These originals are each available for a $25 donation to the Mobile SPCA, through their website. Shipping is free in the US.

Email me with your mailing address after you make your donation, and your artwork will soon be on its way to your door.

Flounder: 8×10 charcoal on acid-free stock

Skipper: 8X10 charcoal on acid-free stock

Ben: 8×10 Ink and Watercolor on handmade paper

SOLD – THANK YOU!

…And this little fellow is coming soon:

Start Anytime: Watercolor Lettering

START ANYTIME – KEEP THE VIDEOS FOR A YEAR:

Drawn & Decorated Watercolor Lettering
10 Lessons – work at your own pace
$65

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD SUPPLY LIST PAGE 1

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD SUPPLY LIST PAGE 2

Create original, decorated letters using watercolor, Pigma Micron pens, pencils and a brush. Includes 10 complete projects representing a wide range of styles and historical periods. Topics include illuminated initials, Celtic knotwork, vines and flourishes, Quickhand for your own art journal, creative page design, tips for designing a unique personal alphabet, three easy steps to Deco chrome letters and much more. My first and most popular course. Registration is payable by check or PayPal. To sign up, email me directly at studio@valwebb.com.

Start Anytime: Learn to Draw Owls

 

Draw Owls: Designed for the Dark
4 Video Lessons – mini course – work at your own pace
$45

Develop fundamental drawing skills in pencil and charcoal as you sketch some of nature’s most efficient (and beautiful) predators. Each week will feature a new technique and a new species of owl. No experience necessary — this class is specially designed for beginning and intermediate artists.

Lessons will be information-rich, each consisting of multiple videos and illustrated printable pages., and will be posted on a password-protected web page. A new lesson will post every two weeks. Instructor guidance and feedback is available as often as you like, through email.

Supplies for this course:

• 4B drawing pencil, any brand
• Soft kneaded eraser
• Supply of inexpensive sketch paper for practice
• Black charcoal pencil
• White charcoal pencil
• 2 sheets of toned charcoal paper (gray or buff)

To register, email studio@valwebb.com