My monthly giveaway

In addition to drawing and teaching, I make artisan sketchbooks from repurposed vintage books. My online shop hosts a monthly giveaway, and this month you can choose ANY sketchbook from about 70 that are available right now. I use a velvety heavyweight Bristol vellum (70% recycled and acid free!) made by a heritage mill founded in 1908. You will love drawing on it!

To enter, just visit Bindweed Sketchbooks and choose your favorite sketchbook. Then come back here and comment with the name of your choice. On Tuesday, one winner will be randomly selected to win their sketchbook!

3 Day Flash Sale – Buy One Course, Get One Free

Two times each year, I host a Flash Sale on regular courses. (There are 29 of them to choose from now!) This weekend, from now through Monday, you can choose any course and get a second course FREE. All courses are lifetime access. You are welcome to give your second course to someone else, if you wish.

Each course includes full-length video demos and lots of beautifully illustrated printable pages. Classes include:

• Best Nest: Eggs & Nests in Colored Pencil
• 5 Little Songbirds: A Simple Painting Technique
• Birds and Words, a Joyful Course in Ink and Watercolor
• Watercolor Garden Cottage: Inspired by Beatrix Potter
• Vintage Postcard Birds and Butterflies (antique postcards provided)
• Drawn & Decorated Watercolor Lettering
• Birds in Watercolor and Beyond
• Birds in Colored Pencil
• Draw Dogs and Cats
• Draw Owls: Designed for the Dark
• Draw Horses and Ponies
• Drawing Children
• Eight Flowers Eight Ways
• The Heirloom Garden in Colored Pencil
• Botanical Sketchbook Painting
• Gentle Garden: Carbon Pencil Botanicals
• Draw and Paint Six Culinary Herbs
• Butterflies in Colored Pencil
• Draw and Paint Fairies in Nature
• Fairies II: Draw and Paint the Enchanted World
• Christmas Birds Mini-Course
• Springtime Watercolor Lesson Collection
• Ink Drawing Lesson Collection
• Colored Pencil Lesson Collection
• Draw and Paint Wild Creatures
• Draw Paint Letter – Spring Season
• Draw Paint Letter – Summer Season
• Draw Paint Letter – Autumn Season
• Draw Paint Letter – Winter Season

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS, COMPLETE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS AND SUPPLY INFO

Colored Pencil Lesson Collection

8 Full-length lessons + Bonus lesson
12 total videos, 36 beautiful printable pages

Limited time offer
LIFETIME ACCESS $50

With step-by-step instruction, learn to create beautiful textures and elegant shading with colored pencil. All levels of art experience welcome! Drawn from my popular Journey Through the Natural Year, this collection includes practice exercises and a full pencil drawing lesson to get you started… then 8 projects ranging from botanicals to kittens. Each project uses a different colored pencil technique. You will be amazed with your results. 🙂

This is a lifetime access course, but signups will only be available for a limited time.

Lesson topics include:

• Classic broad stroke pencil drawing
• Pelican in black and white colored pencil
• Wild budgies in colored pencil (feather pattern and texture)
• Early wildflowers (how to create yellow shadows)
• A spotted pig (techniques for straw/wood/hide textures)
• A glossy spotted horse (techniques for a reflective, shiny coat)
• Junonia framed butterfly specimen in colored pencil
• Sgraffito screech owl (unique method for creating fine feathers)
• Domestic kitten (drawing soft fur and yarn)

cp-supply-list-1Download

Draw in Ink: 7 lessons + 2 bonus

There is magic in the slender black line made by your ink pen. That simple line can become the feathers of a woodpecker in flight, the soft flesh of a cactus, the foliage of a shade tree… and so much more. From the archives of my Journey Through the Natural Year, I’ve put together seven of my favorite watercolor projects (plus two bonus landscape sketching lessons!) from that course and they are now posted together on a private website as an Ink Drawing Lesson Collection.

Ink Drawing Lesson Collection
7 complete video tutorials + 2 bonus lessons
35 printable pdf pages

LIFETIME ACCESS $50

Explore the magic of ink, step-by-step, while drawing birds and botanicals. Learn a range of drawing styles and techniques. Two bonus lessons on sketching landscapes. Topics include:

Drawing Succulents (and Lettering a Label)

Shaded Ballpoint Botanical (with Beetles!)

Simple Cottage Garden in Ink

Sketch Crows and Ravens

Use Crosshatch to Create a Pileated Woodpecker

Draw a Rooster with Iridescent Feathers

Use “Messy Ink” Style to Draw a Harpy Eagle

Learn to See and Draw the Textures in Nature

Sketch Trees, Foliage and Outdoor Scenes

The supply list is simple and flexible. See it here:

springtime-watercolor-supplies-1Download

My online shop is open!

I am delighted to announce that my artisan sketchbooks – repurposed from antique books and vintage print goods – now have a permanent online shop. Take a look, and let me know what you think. Each old book is a unique individual, and I love them all.

https://bindweedsketchbooks.bigcartel.com

Birds, Butterflies & Botanicals in Watercolor

Springtime is the season for splashing some color around. If you missed my Journey Through the Natural Year course back in 2018, I’ve put together six of my favorite watercolor projects (and a bonus lettering lesson) from that course and they are now posted together on a private website as a Springtime Watercolor Lesson Collection.

Springtime Watercolor Lesson Collection
6 complete video tutorials + Bonus lesson
28 printable pdf pages

LIFETIME ACCESS $50

These lifetime access lessons, each with video and printable pages, include:

Simple Watercolor Wildflowers

Wildflower Color Wheel

Monarch, Viceroy and Queen Butterflies

Lupines in Ink + Watercolor

Draw & Paint Birds in Art Deco Style

Kestrel in Pencil + Watercolor

Bonus: Whimsical Bird Nest Lettering

The supply list is simple and flexible. See it here:

springtime-watercolor-supplies-1Download

$50 Originals – click to purchase:

** SOLD OUT – THANK YOU SO MUCH! **

If you purchased an original drawing:

• All art is priced with a $6 flat rate shipping fee included. In the US, $6 will cover up to 4 pieces and the extra shipping will be refunded to your PayPal within 24 hours.

• International buyers will pay actual cost, so a second invoice will be sent when your drawing is ready to ship. The invoice amount will be for any postage OVER the $6 charge included with your purchase.

MY NEXT $50 ORIGINALS SALE WILL BE SATURDAY, MAY 1

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Printable Calendar Pages!

CLICK HERE FOR CALENDAR PAGE PORTAL. ENJOY!

Colored pencil course: The Best Nest

The Best Nest: Birds, Nests & Eggs in Colored Pencil
6 Lessons LIFETIME ACCESS $65

Using softly muted colors inspired by Victorian natural history illustrations, draw the nests and eggs of four very different birds (and the birds themselves) in colored pencil: field sparrow, purple martin, green heron and ruby-throated hummingbird.

Two additional hour-long lessons will cover:

• How to create elegant pencil studies of nests and eggs, to help you see their structure and surface patterns more deeply
• How to make preliminary pencil studies of birds and feathers (this lesson is a good starting point for anyone new to drawing birds, or a helpful refresher for more experienced artists)

best-nest-supply-listDownload

All levels of art experience welcome! Instruction is step-by-step, and each video has multiple illustrated printables and practice exercises. The course is hosted on a private, password protected site you can visit anytime — and your access is permanent, so you can work at your own pace.

Free Printables: Draw a Pinecone

It’s Autumn – the perfect season for drawing pinecones. Just like a snowflake or a human fingerprint, each pinecone is unique. But all of them are constructed the same way, in an elegant pair of overlapping spirals that wind gracefully around a plump form. Once you see this pattern, the drawing process becomes much easier.

Look on the ground beneath mature pine trees to find your drawing subject. No pine tress nearby? You can use the page of licensed reference images included with this handout. Happy drawing!

sketch-a-pineconeDownload

reference-pineconesDownload