Making preparations

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art classes, birds, illustration, Val Webb, watercolor

I’m in the lake country of central Florida this week, painting some of the local avian citizens in preparation for the upcoming online course, Birds in Watercolor and Beyond. I sketched these sandhill cranes, an adult and a juvenile, this morning. Now I’m making a quick color study in watercolor and white gouache. (I’ll post another image when it’s finished.)

Sandhill cranes are abundant here: they stalk along the roadsides and peer in through patio doors. They make a rapid, beeping call like a flock of chatty space aliens. At four feet tall, they can easily look into your car window while you wait in line at the drive-through. They are ideal drawing subjects.

 

The fun of drawing iridescent feathers

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art classes, birds, colored pencil, drawing, how to draw, illustration, Val Webb

There’s nothing fancy about the boat-tailed grackle, a lanky relative of the blackbird and the oriole. Grackles populate the coast from Texas to Long Island, and are the goats of the bird kingdom — they will eat just about anything they find, from small crustaceans to scavenged dumpster fare.

But if you have a hankering to try drawing an iridescent surface, the boat-tailed grackle is your ideal model. A sheen of shimmering blue, purple or copper play over these birds in sunlight. Microscopic structures on their feathers break light apart, like a prism, and create a reflected rainbow.

(This fellow was drawn with Prismacolor colored pencils on medium-weight Bristol vellum. He was the demonstration drawing for my work-at-your-own pace online course, Birds in Colored Pencil. )

My new favorite bird…

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art, art classes, birds, colored pencil, drawing, illustration, Val Webb

…is the Lilac-Breasted Roller, the national bird of Kenya. This dazzling fellow is an ideal subject for colored pencils. This 4-by-4-inch Prismacolor drawing was a demo for my online Birds in Colored Pencils course. My new winter/spring online class schedule will email out late next week. Yay!

Drawing, drawing, drawing

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art, art classes, birds, cats, dogs, drawing, how to draw, illustration, Val Webb

I draw lots of printable instruction pages for my online courses, which means spending hours each day pushing that 2B pencil. So what so I do when I need a break? I draw. I can’t help it — it’s my favorite thing to do!

 

Why I love colored pencils

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Alabama, art, birds, colored pencil, drawing, fairies, illustration, Val Webb

Heron Fisherman, drawn in Prismacolor pencil

I live on a hill, and the street that runs past my front door ends abruptly at the edge of the bay, four blocks down. It’s an easy walk, early in the morning, to watch pelicans dive for their breakfast and hear gulls laughing as they sail past overhead. And in the shallows, when the water is calm, the great blue heron stands motionless. I suppose he is waiting for the gleam of careless minnows in the water at his feet, but he might as well be posing for my sketchbook. A beautiful bird, bold enough to ignore a small woman nearby with a fistful of colored pencils, he makes a great model.

I’m honored to be the featured artist in the upcoming June issue of Colored Pencil Artists magazine — an issue that will focus on birds in colored pencil. I drew this heron, and his fisherman friend, with that event in mind.

The heron is drawn in Prismacolor Premiere, the soft-core colored pencils I like to use. After making a foundation drawing in Dark Umber — including all the major shadows and textures — I used just five other colors, layered on over the Umber, to finish the bird. His beak is Yellow Ochre, shaded gently with Terra Cotta (the same combination is used for his fierce eye). I don’t like to use pre-formulated grays, which seem a little flat, but prefer to blend a warm and vital gray by mixing Light Peach and Cloud Blue.  All the gray areas on this fellow are created with those two colors. Then I used black, of course, for his dark mask and (very sparingly) to deepen the richest shadows.

The fisherman’s wings are based on the lovely (and enormous) polyphemus moth, a silkworm moth that is common where I live. The richly pigmented, slightly dusty feel of colored pencil is perfect for drawing lepidopterans, from monarch to cabbage moth.

On the road…

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birds, dogs, drawing, journal, Val Webb

Drawing birds of prey

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Alabama, art classes, birds, drawing, how to draw, Val Webb, workshops

I live in a place where it’s not unusual to hear the “who-cooks-for-you?” call of barred owls, especially just before dawn. Eerily beautiful with their pale faces and dark eyes (they are the only brown-eyed owl in the eastern US) they thrive in neighborhoods. Despite the fears of my neighbors who are convinced that the owl roosting in their oak tree wants to make a meal of their chihuahua, barred owls are usually after rodents… and older neighborhoods, like the one where I live, provide a steady supply. They are large creatures, with wings spanning three feet. Twice, while walking at night, I have seen barred owls soar past just a few feet above my head like silent ghosts, gliding fast, suddenly materializing out of the dark. It is a sight that will stop you in your tracks.

We drew barred owls (along with a number of other owls, and some hawks, eagles and osprey) during a recent workshop at 5 Rivers. By popular demand, I’m going to lead the “Drawing Birds of Prey” workshop once more on Saturday, July 14, from 10am until 3pm. No art experience is necessary, and all art supplies are provided. There are a few spots left at this time… registration is $60 and must be received to hold your spot. Email me for info.

Free as a bird…

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art, birds, botanical art, butterflies, calendar, colored pencil, creativity, drawing, flowers, food, free, gardening, giveaway, illustration, sketchbook, Val Webb

…and just in time for spring planting, here’s my first printable garden calendar page. (I’ll have April ready to post in a few days.) This is my little gift to the world, and I will gladly send a pdf file, as each new page is completed, to anyone who asks. March is ready for you this very minute, so drop me a note at studio@valwebb.com . Enjoy!

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art, birds, colored pencil, creativity, drawing, free calendar, gardening, giveaway, illustration, Val Webb

The world seems like it needs a bit of cheer, so I’m doing my small part. Starting with March (nearly complete) I’m creating illustrated calendar pages for anyone to download and print. They are sized to 8.5×11 and are drawn or lettered in colored pencil and India ink. It won’t be long now! Enjoy.

Upcoming Studio Classes & Workshops

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Alabama, art classes, birds, botanical art, colored pencil, drawing, green living, how to draw, Val Webb, watercolor, workshops

Coming up in Pensacola, Florida:

To ask a question or sign up, email me: studio@valwebb.com

                                          

Nature Drawing Workshop: Winter’s Tale   (Saturday, Feb. 25 from 10am-3pm, Five Rivers Delta Resource Center, on the Causeway in Spanish Fort, AL)        The stories of spring lie hidden just beneath the surface as winter draws to a close along the Gulf Coast. There is a simple beauty in bare branches, seed pods, tiny buds emerging and the first insects to venture forth as the seasons turn back toward warmer days. Spend a day in one of Alabama’s most beautiful waterfront settings, using traditional drawing techniques to create elegant and accurate drawings of winter nature subjects in pen-and-ink. No experience necessary! All art supplies provided.  This event helps support wildlife education programs at 5 Rivers.                                                                                                                                 $60                                                                                                                                        

Embellished with original illustrations and hand lettering, GIFT CERTIFICATES are now available for all classes and workshops listed here. Email me to request one: studio@valwebb.com.