Warmup - Artist Mindset: Your Creative Core

So this is going to be a little less traditional warm up. I want to limber up your creative core, because that is what you need to be able to come home to no matter where you are in terms of artistic or creative skill. You must come at your work from a place of self compassion and grace if you want this practice to be sustainable and joyous. Working from fear or self-tyranny is limiting in more ways than just the obvious.

Lesson 1 - Feathers: Sharp Shinned Hawk

In this lesson we will look at detail in feather patterns - and see them as abstract shapes that can be rendered in intentional layers. It is our opportunity to be amazed by their intricacy, the way they work together, the layers, the texture, and the colours. We are going to be using pencil to sketch out the basic patterns, then transparent layers of acrylic paint to bring them to life!

lesson 2 - Bald Eagle Portrait Sketch

In this lesson, we are going to closely observe our reference of a bald eagle, and capture their likeness using ball point pen! This lesson is the basis for our next lesson, where we will paint over this sketch. Sketching under a painting like this is a fantastic opportunity to really get to know your subject, to be evaluating and learning from their form in a monochromatic way before attempting to introduce colour, and builds our drawing skills. Using ball point pen takes away some of the perfectionism that can come from using a medium like graphite, that can be easily erased.

Lesson 3 - Bald Eagle Painted Portrait

Using the sketch we made in the previous lesson, we are going to use layers of acrylic paint glazes to build a classical, realistic, portrait of our bald eagle. The painting is a process, it takes time and the willingness to keep going - lots of curiosity, compassion and courage! Our paintings will go through multiple phases, this is all part of the journey.

As your bird comes to life on the page, I can guarantee you will become addicted to creating realistic wildlife art!

Bonus lesson - Flying White Tailed Eagle

In this bonus lesson, we’ll take the skills we practiced in the bald eagle-painted portrait and apply them to another reference. We’ll consider the ‘glow’ we want to capture as the sun shines through those magnificent wing feathers

Who is this class for?

I want to empower you to see like an artist - and deeply observing. It means letting go of the stories and symbols that our brain has about pretty much everything we have visually processed in our lives, and instead training our brains, and developing our hand-eye coordination skills to truly ‘see’ what it is that we are studying.

As you hone these skills, you will be filled with constant wonder and awe at the truly magnificent world around us, the intimate and intricate details, the minutiae that makes up a larger concept, the way light plays on surfaces, the complexity of colour, anatomy, form. There is untold delight waiting for you for the rest of your life, which to me is the most wondrous gift.

Doing this work is a spiritual, connective, practice - deeply observing the wild world is your chance to bear witness. In this compassionate practice of deeply seeing, of reverence, of holding space for the wild in your heart and mind, you are also engaging in an act of reciprocity.

This art making, this creative exploration, is a beautiful act that we can do to ensure these creatures, the greater web of life, are seen, honoured, valued, respected, and revered.

So who is this class for? Anyone and everyone who wants to build skills in realistic art, who wants to get to know our wildlife family a little better, and who want to show up to their art practice with curiosity, compassion and courage!

Supply List

This is a list of what I’ll be using in class. I always suggest watching the video first and then deciding if the art supply is something that would work for you. Art making does not need to be complicated or expensive, so use what you have if you can, explore and get to know your supplies and be assured that it is in the process itself that the magic is!

Sketchbook - Use any sketchbook that is designed to handle wet media, or alternatively, you can use thick hot pressed watercolor paper. My all-round favourite brand of sketchbook is Stillman and Birn Zeta Series Hardback A4

The paper is smooth and thick, the book lies relatively flat, and it takes both fine pencil marks for drawing and thick applications of all wet media - watercolor, gouache, acrylic paint - just beautifully!

Pens and Pencils - Use graphite or colored pencil (in these lessons I used a brown col-erase pencil) or be brave and try a ballpoint pen (I used a Bic Classic Fine in black)

Acrylic Paint - Colors I use are listed. The brand is not so important, particularly for use in a sketchbook, and I use multiple brands - Golden Heavy Body, Liquitex Heavy Body, and Sennelier. Use what you have, or if you are wanting to try out a new brand, I recommend any of these three!

• Yellow Ochre

• Raw Sienna

• Titanium White

• Titan Buff

• Black

• Cadmium Yellow Medium

• Ultramarine

• Burnt Umber

• Burnt Sienna

• Quin Burnt Orange