We want to thank our wonderful instructors, Genine Carvalheira, Mike Rohde, and Bethan Burton for leading workshops this fall! Instructors and workshop moderator Maria Coryell-Martin shared their art, 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 this winter, and browse our archive of workshop recordings, which include these workshops, below!
Finding Focus: Simplify Complex Scenes into Balanced Compositions with Genine Carvalheira
In this workshop, Genine guided us through creating a lively ink and watercolor sketch, featuring an expressive foreground and an abstracted background.
Genine encouraged everyone to embrace “ish” when sketching, inspired by the delightful children’s book Ish by Peter Reynolds. We are reminded that close enough is often just fine!
“Capture a space, capture a moment.” When there is so much happening around us, how do we distill it down and find our focus? Genine encouraged us to use thumbnails to find the focus, prompting us with the question, “What do you find interesting?”
She shared that her favorite supplies are fountain pens, which allow her to refill the ink and are guaranteed to be waterproof. Genine makes sure to carry black, grey, and brown inks with her.
We are excited to offer Recorded Access to all workshops, so if this topic or approach grabs your interest, head to our website to register for Finding Focus, and visit Genine’s website to see her artwork, classes, and other creative offerings.
Sketchnoting: Capture Information Visually with Mike Rohde
In Mike’s workshop, we learned the basics of sketchnoting: a visual note-taking method that blends handwritten text, drawings, and layout to capture the information we are learning and want to remember.
Mike encouraged us to sketch with a focus on storytelling, and demonstrated how he used sketchnoting to capture information, images, and memories from different trips.
Mike showed us how to build our own iconography using basic shapes that anyone can draw: two rectangles with two semi-circles becomes a cup of coffee. In this way we can develop our own visual library of symbols that can help break up a wall of text, or simplify schedules and ideas.
We also did a fun treehouse imagining exercise, and practiced sketchnoting in action with a short nature journaling video.
Register for Recorded Access to Sketchnoting, and visit Mike’s website to see his artwork, workshops, and other creative offerings.
Garden Journaling: Delight in the Details of Nature with Bethan Burton
In Bethan’s workshop, participants learned to create a vibrant journal page with examples from Bethan’s home garden. We gained ideas on how to fill our pages with written observations, qualitative data, and colorful illustrations that highlight the unique features of a botanical subject without painting every detail.
Bethan encouraged everyone to embrace imperfection, to not fuss over details but rather to maintain our joy in the process. She also encouraged us to have conversations with our cultivated spaces, whether through capturing the different shades of green present in spring, noting garden visitors, or making a garden map.
We are excited to offer Recorded Access to all workshops, so if this topic or approach grabs your interest, register for Recorded Access to Garden Journaling, and visit Bethan’s website to peek at her journaling pages, listen to episodes from her podcast, Journaling with Nature, and explore other creative offerings and prompts.
Live Demos from Genine, Mike, and Bethan
Recorded Access: Art Toolkit Workshops
Register for workshops and learn at your own pace! All of the workshops above are available via Recorded Access. Learn more on our Workshops page. If you are looking for free resource, we invite you to browse our archive of live demos for creative inspiration this season.
We always love to see what you make during our workshops, so tag us on socials @ArtToolkit! Thank you, and happy painting!