Wendy Brightbill – All Things Floral (Wendy Brightbill Studio 2020)

“I must have flowers, always and always.”

-Claude Monet

Why flowers?

I have always been drawn to painting and sketching flowers in my work. For me, flowers represent the healing power of beauty. I believe that we need beauty and art, now even more than ever! Not only that, the world needs more art. The world needs YOUR art. Beauty draws us out of our experiences and offers us hope during difficult times.

In this course, I will share more about my process for creating abstract botanical sketches. In particular, we will be focused on these concepts:

• Line work and sketching
• Shape exploration
• Layers for creating depth and movement
• Choosing dynamic color palettes
• Building a pleasing composition

I love stepping out of the box in my work. I love to mix a little abstraction into my floral still life paintings. Join me for this deeper dive into shape and botanical expression. I will also be using my latest stencil collection as part of the floral layers in my pieces. You don’t need all of my stencils to participate in the course. If you can’t purchase all of the stencils, I recommend getting the Vase Floral Stencil and the Wildflower Lace Mask.

You can purchase my Build Your Own Bouquet Stencils here.

CONTENT for the Course: This course will have start to finish process videos for 4-6 pieces of artwork. There will be at least 4-6 hours of content available in this course.

Materials and Supplies:

• Black Mixed media paper (Strathmore)
• Gel pens in a variety of colors especially white (Sakura Gelly Roll)
• 1-2 Stretched canvases or cradled art board
• Chalk pastels
• Favorite mark making materials (Neo-color II’s, charcoal, Inktense pencils)
• Acrylics (heavy body)
• Collage elements
• Matte gel medium
• Spray Workable Fixative *optional (This is good to have in order to seal your gel pens, and pastels)
• Build Your Own Bouquet Stencils (optional)

NOTE: I try to keep my supply lists fairly loose. I honestly believe in using what you have around you. Example: If you don’t have black mixed media paper, paint a black background onto whatever paper you want to use. I also love using any of Strathmore’s toned mixed media paper for these pieces as well! My favorite brand of paint is Charvin acrylics, but again, use what you have on hand.