November 6, 2024

This Year’s Fall Workshop Series

See what participants and instructors created during live workshops this season.

By The Art Toolkit Team

A sketch depicting a cozy cafe scene with several people engaged in activities. Two individuals are sitting in armchairs, one using a smartphone, while another man converses with a woman across from him. In the background, a woman is focused on her work at a table, with a few artworks displayed on the walls.

We want to thank our wonderful instructors, Maria Coryell-Martin, Thainlin Tay, and Suhita Shirodkar for leading workshops this fall! This season, we introduced a new way to experience Art Toolkit Workshops by offering both Live and Recorded Access options for all three workshops. Participants could join the live session with extra time to ask questions and get feedback or could watch the recording a week later and take it at their own pace. Recorded Access for all three workshops will be available online for at least one year from your purchase date, so, if you see one that inspires you, register here!

Enthusiastic participants from each workshop shared their art with us, and we hope you enjoy peeking into these past workshops by way of their sketches. Stay tuned to our newsletter and Workshops page for the next series announcement.

Cloudscapes with Maria Coryell-Martin

Maria shares her knowledge and experience in a warm, focused, manageable way that encourages an approach to artful living!
—Jenny Emery Davidson

Maria kicked off our latest season of online workshops with an introduction to painting skies with watercolor. Participants were guided through various techniques for painting skies, and together, we sketched six different cloudscapes to apply those learnings!

A color palette showcasing various watercolor swatches with labels.
Cloud color studies by Maria Coryell-Martin.
Eight watercolor landscapes featuring various skies. The top left showcases dramatic gray clouds, while the top right displays a serene sunset. The middle row features bright blue skies with scattered clouds and distant mountains. The bottom row presents darker, moody landscapes with silhouettes of trees and mountains against fading light.
Cloudy sky thumbnails by Maria Coryell-Martin.

We loved seeing your beautiful work, and we wanted to give a shout-out to participants Katie and CJ for sharing their workshop paintings with us!⁠

A watercolor palette with various colors alongside a grid of six painted landscapes showcasing different sky scenes, featuring gradients of blue, orange, red, and gray.
Grid of skies by Katie Cardinalli.
A sketchbook page displaying various watercolor techniques and color swatches for cloudscapes. The techniques include flat wash, graded wash, and wet-on-wet. Several squares feature different color blends, with hues of yellow, blue, and orange prominently displayed. Two paintbrushes are resting beside the open sketchbook.
Grid of skies by CJ Proctor.

Thank you, Maria, for bringing back a favorite workshop, and sharing your insights into painting dynamic, whimsical, and moody skies with watercolors. Visit Maria’s website to see her artwork and register for Recorded Access to Cloudscapes here.

People in Motion with Thainlin Tay

“A sketch is a representation of what you see and feel.”
—Thainlin

In this workshop, Thainlin shared tips for sketching the human form, from breaking it down into shapes and suggesting ways to approach drawing faces to ideas for adding color and capturing details with simple lines.

A sketch of a cozy café scene featuring several people engaged in various activities. Some are sitting in comfortable chairs, while others are focused on their laptops or phones. The walls are adorned with simple art pieces, creating a warm atmosphere.
Café sketch by Thainlin Tay.

To put everything together, Thainlin shared a timelapse of a café scene and guided participants through sketching it together.

Illustration featuring a text guide titled People in Motion by Thainlin Tay, emphasizing sketching techniques. Bullet points discuss understanding human form, contour drawing methods, sketching exercises, and enhancing observational skills. Illustrations include a character holding a balloon with LET GO OF FEAR OF SKETCHING PEOPLE written on it, along with sketches of faces labeled older and simple face
A diagram illustrating the process of drawing human figures, featuring outlines of figures at different sizes: tiny block silhouettes, small figures with details, medium with defined body parts, and large with facial expressions and features. Text notes on contour drawing and eye level alignment are included.
Colorful handwritten notes outlining a creative approach to sketching. The notes emphasize focusing on accuracy, attention to eye level, including or excluding elements, denouncing hand positions, artistic liberties in depicting people, and maintaining a neutral background.
Pages of notes by Maria Coryell-Martin.
A watercolor illustration featuring four scenes in a café. The top left shows a person sitting with a backpack and a drink. The top right depicts another person sitting at a table, while the bottom left portrays two individuals drawing. The bottom right features a person looking intently at a piece of paper with the text, Let's try that again The overall atmosphere is relaxed and artistic.
Café sketch by Maria Coryell-Martin.

Visit Thainlin Tay’s Ambassador or Instagram page to see more of his sketches, and register for People in Motion on our Workshops page.

Mixed Media on Location with Suhita Shirodkar

In this workshop, Suhita guided participants in sketching two diverse scenes: a landscape from Yosemite National Park and Times Square in New York City. Using watercolor, crayons, colored pencil, and pen, participants explored layering media to enrich their art and the way they capture a scene on location.

A watercolor sketch of Times Square bustling with people. The iconic buildings and billboards are visible, along with a figure resembling the Statue of Liberty in the foreground. The scene captures the vibrant atmosphere of this famous location.
Times Square sketch by Stephanie (cropped).

Suhita walked participants through compiling a compact mixed-media kit for plein air sketching and demonstrated rendering scenes using different techniques and tools.

We loved seeing the striking blue rock formations and textured crowds that you sketched, and wanted to give a shout-out to Flory and Stephanie for sharing their mixed media sketches with us!

A watercolor painting depicting Yosemite with blue mountains, green trees, and a reflective body of water in the foreground. The word Yosemite is written at the bottom left.
Mixed media sketch by Flory.
A serene landscape scene featuring mountains in the background, a calm lake in the foreground, and lush greenery surrounding the water. Various steps for creating a mixed media artwork are noted on the page, detailing techniques using watercolor pencils and colored crayons.
Mixed media sketch by Stephanie.

Even while moderating the workshop, Maria Coryell-Martin painted along!⁠

A split painting with a serene mountain landscape on the left, featuring snow-capped peaks and a reflective lake surrounded by trees. The right side depicts a busy urban scene in Times Square, bustling with people and colorful advertisements.
Yosemite and NYC sketches by Maria Coryell-Martin.

Visit Suhita’s website and Instagram page to see her artwork and creative offerings.

Watch Recordings of Our Workshops

We are now offering Recorded Access to our online workshops so that you can follow along at your own pace. Workshops are available for registration up to a year after the live event, and your access to the recording is good for one year from your purchase date. Consider signing up for one from our latest series of workshops below:

Live Demos

As always, we invite you to browse our archive of live demos for creative inspiration this season. If you want to dip your toe into watercolor painting or are looking to try a new technique, these demos are a great place to start, and they’re absolutely free!

We always love to see what you make during our workshops, so tag us on socials @ArtToolkit. Thank you!
An artist sites on a rock, dipping a paintbrush in a Pocket Palette.

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