Fresco preparation…

Grinding dry ochre to stain a fresco panel. Humans’ love affair with this earth pigment goes back more than 20,000 years (remember the ochre horse painted on that cave wall in Lascaux?) and I love the rich warmth it adds to the plaster.

 

Big big big (free) event

I’m thrilled beyond words to be joining 20 sketchbook masters including Danny Gregory and Wendy Hollender in a free online workshop. We’ll share new tools, tricks and techniques for jumpstarting your sketchbook practice. Need new inspiration to fan that creative spark? You will find it here. Come with me! More info at this link:

http://www.karenabend.com/valwebb

You asked for it…

…so for today and tomorrow, you can get a full year of access to ANY online art course for $40. Videos, illustrated printables, unlimited instructor feedback. Click HERE for a full list and descriptions.  Happy Spring!

Original art giveaway!

Spring, the season of new beginnings, has arrived. The first butterflies are back. New green shoots are poking up through the garden soil. Slowly, slowly, the calendar rolls forward and the planet tilts her face toward the sun.

I want to celebrate this time of hope and promise by giving away an original watercolor-and-graphite March Hare. One person on my studio email list will be selected (randomly by computer) on March 31. Please sign up here:

https://mailchi.mp/bba4940c5664/val-webb-spring-art-giveaway

Good luck!

Obituary for Mark Perez

As many of you already know, my wonderful partner Mark died suddenly last week while in Texas on business. So many have asked for funeral details that I will post his obituary here. Thank you for the hundreds of kind messages that have arrived over the past few days — they have been a deep source of comfort and encouragement.

Donald Mark Perez, 53, passed away unexpectedly February 16, 2018, in Dallas, Texas. He was born December 24, 1964, in Mobile, Alabama, to Donald Edward Perez and Carole Moncada Perez.

Mark is a graduate of the University of Alabama, where his quick wit and warm personality led to lifelong friendships with his brothers in Delta Chi.

He was successful in a number of careers. As a young man, he combined his love of the culinary arts with his talent for organization to staff and develop new Cracker Barrel restaurants across the southeast. Later, Mark returned to his hometown and joined his father to become a custom homebuilder. He served on the board of the Home Builders Association of Metro Mobile. Most recently, he worked as an insurance adjuster for Worley Claims Services.

Mark loved his family, his friends and his community, and was always generous with his time and talents. He organized culinary workshops and taught them in his own kitchen. He was a founder of Mobile SketchCrawl, a quarterly public arts event that continues to grow and thrive, and Postcards from the Gulf, an international arts fundraiser to help with disaster recovery. Mark was happiest when he was helping someone else.

Preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Cynthia M. Perez, Mark is survived by his partner, Val Webb of Foley; stepdaughters, Hannah Milne (Joe); Nissa Gordon (Ricky); Zarah Webb; and five grandchildren.

He also leaves two sisters, Karen Perez Leonardo (Joe) of Tampa, Florida; and Kathy Perez Baker (Patrick) of Memphis, Tenn.; nephews Greggory J. Leonardo of Elmhurst, Illinois; Matthew J. Leonardo of Boston, Mass.; Kevin Baker (Noelle) of Waco, Texas; and nieces Allison Baker of Dallas, Texas; and Laura Baker of New York, New York.

Funeral services will be Monday, February 26, 2018, at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, 308 East 22^nd Avenue, Gulf Shores, Alabama. Visitation will be at 9:45 am. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in memory of Mark at 10:30am, and burial will follow at Pine Rest Cemetery in Foley.  A reception will be held afterward at The Gift Horse Restaurant, 209 W. Laurel Avenue, Foley.

Mark also will be missed by his rescue dog, Atticus. Memorial donations may be made to Mobile SPCA, 620 Ziegler Circle West, Mobile, Alabama, 36608.

Bird, Butterfly, Botanical art courses $40

Never had an art class before? That’s fine — I’ll provide step-by-step videos and illustrated printable pages to get you started on your way. Now is a perfect time to jump in: through Sunday, I’m having a $40 Flash Sale on any course about birds, butterflies or botanicals.

You can choose from the following courses, work at your own pace (take up to a full year) and get unlimited instructor feedback:

• Birds in Watercolor & Beyond
• Birds in Colored Pencil
• Draw Owls: Designed for the Dark
• 8 Flowers 8 Ways
• Heirloom Garden in Colored Pencil
• Botanical Sketchbook Painting
• Draw and Paint 6 Culinary Herbs
• NEW! Vintage Postcard Birds & Butterflies

Click here for full descriptions and supply list info.

Legacy

After my mom died, I dug up these sedums from her back yard and planted them in mine. She got them from her grandmother, who got them from HER grandmother’s perennial garden planted before the Civil War.

I hope my young grandchildren will pass them along one day. Year after year, they emerge full of life and promise from the bare winter soil.

 

 

Mmmm, tea!

 

A tea-stained vintage postcard makes a great canvas for painting small nature subjects. This is one of the projects in my online mini-course, Vintage Postcard Birds & Butterflies.

Click here to find out more.

Prepping for the new course…

Red Helen butterfly in progress

We’re experiencing record cold (along with the rest of the nation) this week, but that’s okay.  Armed with plenty of hot tea, I’m hunkered down in the warm studio, preparing material for my upcoming online course.

Vintage Postcard Birds and Butterflies is different from anything I’ve offered before: we’ll recycle wonderful old postcards as canvases for tiny paintings. The course includes a “Basic Skills Bootcamp” session with video tutorials on drawing birds and butterflies, but participants can also choose to forgo sketching and simply transfer a reference image directly to their postcard before adding layered paint and colored pencil (transfer instructions are provided, too).

There is something slightly mysterious about old postcards. Their messages provide a tiny glimpse of someone’s daily life, lived many years ago. Old handwriting and old stamps create a lovely, slightly faded background for the rich colors of gouache and colored pencil.

I can’t wait to share these projects!

Click here to find out more.

Happy drawing,

Val

 

Happy New Year

Wishing you a year of promise and possibility.