Limited time offer: 33% discount
This new course is available at a introductory price of £38.66 until 3.00pm (UK time) on Thursday 10th September, after that it will only be available at its regular price of £58
Wander and Wonder
Filling a sketchbook full of nature inspired moments
A self-paced online class to help you fill your sketchbook with nature-inspired ideas.
One of the questions I'm sometimes asked is, "How do you know what to do in your sketchbook?"
The answer is that I very rarely begin with the sketchbook. I often begin outside.
Inspiration can come from something small. An interesting weed pushing through a crack in the pavement. The silhouette of a plant against the sky. A seed head. A fallen leaf.
Wander & Wonder is built around that simple idea. It's a course about noticing small delightful moments and learning how to turn them into sketchbook pages that feel personal, playful and recognisably yours.
I don't want you to make pages that look like mine. I want you to discover what feels exciting to you in your own sketchbook.
A simple way into your sketchbook
The process I share in this class is beautifully straightforward. Go for a walk. Notice something that catches your eye. Take a photo with your phone. Bring the idea home. Explore it in your sketchbook. See where it leads.
Sometimes that might become a drawing. Sometimes a colourful mixed media page.
Sometimes it becomes the starting point for something you couldn't possibly have predicted.
That's one of the things I love most about sketchbooks. The sense of possibility.
This course might be for you if...
You'd love to use your sketchbook more often but never quite know where to begin.
You have half-filled sketchbooks sitting on a shelf.
You'd like to make more art without waiting for inspiration or the perfect idea.
You're drawn to nature and would love it to play a bigger part in your creative life.
You'd like your sketchbook to feel more like a place to explore than somewhere you have to get things right.
This isn’t really a class about drawing plants…
Yes, we will be drawing plants, but my hope is that it is a course about learning to notice and bolstering creative confidence.
Once you pay close attention to the world around you, you'll find yourself collecting colours, shapes and ideas almost without trying.
The world becomes full of creative starting points.
And when you have good starting points, filling a sketchbook becomes much less intimidating and much more like a brilliant artistic adventure.
This class is aimed at folk who have some art making experience. We will be drawing and creating from things we find in nature, so this isn’t a class where you just copy exactly what I am doing. I will provide clear instructions but it will require a little ‘have a go spirit'.
If you are a complete beginner I am confident you can still enjoy this course, your mindset is probably more important than any experience, anyone can do the exercises, but it will suit those who are creatively curious and happy to have a go and try things out without knowing exactly where it will take them…
What we’ll explore together
Finding wonder
We'll begin outside. I'll show you how I gather visual ideas using nothing more than my phone and a little curiosity.
You'll discover how much inspiration is already waiting for you in everyday places.
I’ll also share my photographs and some brilliant online resources incase you can’t get out and about for a walk. This class is all about seeking inspiration on your doorstep and noticing the moments of nature in your day to day life.
Into the sketchbook
Back at home we'll begin playing. Drawing. Collage. A bit of paint and ink.
Simple mixed media experiments and some building blocks that you can explore freely.
I'll share the way I develop ideas without putting pressure on myself to make finished pages.
By the end of this section you'll have pages full of beginnings, experiments and possibilities.
Infinite playground
By now you'll have your own collection of ideas, ways to mix materials and approaches.
This final section is about combining them, experimenting freely and discovering what feels most like you. Less instruction. More learning to tune into and trust your own creative wisdom.
About the course
Wander & Wonder is a self-paced online course made up of fifteen video lessons with around three and half hours of video in total. Each video has some written notes and guidance. The course is a mixture of practical techniques and ways to think about your creative practice.
You'll have access for two years because I don't expect you to rush through it.
My hope is that it is a course you'll find yourself coming back to as your sketchbook practice grows.
A sketchbook that's becoming a place you genuinely enjoy spending time.
A creative process you can return to whenever you're wondering what to make.
A habit of noticing inspiration in places you might once have walked past.
More confidence to experiment and mix ideas
And perhaps most importantly, a sketchbook that feels like your own.
By the end of the course I hope you'll have...
I like to think of a sketchbook as a greenhouse. A place where ideas germinate and grow over time. That idea runs through everything we do in this course..
What you’ll need:
I'm a great believer in using what you already have and adapting the process to suit the materials you love.
For this course it would be helpful to have:
A phone or camera to photograph on your walks and a way to view your photographs.
A sketchbook which will take a bit of mixed media, paint and collage..
Some loose paper for making collage pieces.
Glue and scissors.
Acrylic ink
Watercolour paint and brushes
Coloured pencils or coloured marker pens
I’ll use masking tape in one of the exercises
You don't need all of these, start with what you have and enjoy using.
I hope you’ll love it
My hope is that Wander & Wonder leaves you excited to head out for a walk and gives you lots of interesting ways to interpret what you find in your sketchbook.
If the course turns out to not be for you, that's absolutely fine.
Just let me know within 14 days and I'll refund you in full, no questions asked.
I'd much rather you were genuinely pleased that you joined than felt you had to stick with something that wasn't right for you.
A note from me
I often say that my sketchbooks taught me how to become an artist.
They gave me somewhere to notice, experiment, follow ideas and slowly discover the things that really interested me.
That's exactly what I hope Wander & Wonder will help you do.
Not to make sketchbooks that look like mine.
But to make sketchbooks that feel like yours.
To notice what you love in the natural world and to notice what you love in your own creative work.
What we'll cover:
We'll explore five simple creative approaches, each one a different doorway into your sketchbook, each one adaptable, each one full of possibility.
Grids and boxes
A simple organising structure that gives you somewhere to begin and creates immediate variety on the page.
Drawing
Using your nature-inspired images as a jumping off point rather than something to copy accurately. Loose, playful, exploratory.
Borders
Framing your pages with pattern, colour or mark making. A simple idea that can transform a page.
Backgrounds
Building colour, texture and atmosphere before anything else is added. Creating an interesting sketchbook full of colour and variety
Collage
Drawing and painting outside your sketchbook, cutting it up and arranging it on the page. Playful, forgiving and full of happy surprises.
Everything I share is repeatable. You can come back to any of these approaches again and again with different photographs, different materials, a different season and get a whole different outcome every time.
I share practical art ideas as well as ways to think about a sketchbook and develop creative confidence.
This class may not be right for you:
This class will not be the right fit for everyone, it may not be for you if:
• You want to know exactly how something will turn out before you have started creating it
• If you want to copy an instructor. I will provide clear instructions, but as we are using our own starting points this is not the type of class where you just copy exactly what I’m doing and we all make art that looks exactly the same.
• If semi abstract art is not your thing and you want to create hyper realistic botanical illustrations
• If a slightly messy or unpredictable outcome puts you off
• If experimentation doesn’t appeal to you
• If you want bespoke and personalised feedback on your work
•If you want a Facebook Group or community support, this class does not come with a group and is self paced
