Description
Winter Observations: Notice Nature & Start Sketching
Session 1 of the Zoom Drawing Workshop Series · Botanical Sketchbook for All Seasons
Sunday, January 4, 2026: 1pm – 5pm ET
✏️ Instructors: Pam Thompson, Vern Fannin, &/ Sam McWilliams
✅ Level: All levels
🌱 Botanical Subject(s): Winter-friendly plants you can easily forage near home, including:
•Winter branches (look for leaf scars, buds, moss, lichen, remnants of leaves)
•Nuts and seeds (with and without shells/casings): Acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, etc.
•Pine cones
•Dried leaves
•Habit drawings of trees
•Any interesting plant life growing in your area at this time of year
Workshop Description
Join us as we begin the new year with an introduction to winter sketching, realistic botanical illustration, and nature journaling. You’ll learn how to start a Botanical Sketchbook of the Seasons using winter plants, simple observation techniques, inking, watercolor, and colored pencil.
🌱 A Stress-Free Start to Nature Journaling
This workshop is designed to be low-pressure, time-friendly, and deeply restorative. Whether you focus on one plant throughout the year, what’s changing in your garden, or the winter mushrooms popping up on your favorite trail, you’ll learn how to sketch what inspires you. By the end, you’ll have the tools, confidence, and motivation to continue filling your sketchbook in every season.
❄️ Why Winter Is the Perfect Time to Begin Your Botanical Sketchbook
Winter invites us to take a closer look and appreciate subtle details that often go unnoticed. Bare branches, textured bark, dried leaves, moss, lichen, and more are fascinating forms to study and practice realistic botanical illustration, without the overwhelm of lush summer foliage. We’ll teach you how to use the season’s simplicity to develop observational skills, build confidence, and start your botanical sketchbook journey through the seasons.
✏️ Skills You’ll Build During This Workshop
This session covers all the foundational techniques you need to begin a confident, joyful practice of year-round botanical sketchbooking:
• Creative Sketchbook Layout Ideas: Learn simple design approaches for building beautiful, functional journal pages that document your seasonal discoveries.
• Inking Techniques for 3D Form: We’ll demonstrate line work, hatching, and shading methods to bring dimensionality and realism to your botanical drawings.
• Adding Quick Color: Practice using watercolor and/or colored pencils to add soft washes and vibrant touches without overworking your page.
• Decorative Lettering & Notes: Explore playful lettering options to record observations, dates, locations, and thoughts—turning each sketch into a meaningful memory.
🍃 Join One Session or the Full Year
This workshop is one part of our four-session Botanical Sketchbook for All Seasons series. Each session is available individually, or you can enroll in all four at a discounted rate to stay motivated and creative throughout the year.
Why Join?
Our workshops are not just about learning but also about community and collaboration. Here’s what makes our Zoom Workshops special:
👩🎨Friendly Instructors: Our experienced and approachable instructors are passionate about botanical art and are dedicated to helping you succeed.
🎨Live Demonstrations: Watch and learn as we demonstrate each technique, making it easy for you to follow along and practice.
🖼️Constructive Feedback: Receive personalized feedback to help you improve and gain confidence in your artistic abilities.
🤝Interactive Environment: Engage with instructors and fellow participants, ask questions, and share your progress in a supportive and encouraging space.
🎥Session Recordings: Miss a session? Want to rewatch a lesson? No worries! After each session, you’ll get the recording delivered to your inbox, available for you to review anytime.
📹Pre-Recorded Videos: Access to pre-recorded videos to supplement your learning and practice at your own pace to help you feel prepared before we begin.
📧Email Support: If you watch the recordings after the live workshop has ended, you can still receive personalized feedback! Just send photos of your progress to info+images@drawbotanical.com, and an instructor will reply with compliments and constructive critiques.
IMPORTANT: Add info@drawbotanical.com to your email contacts! All workshop details will arrive in your inbox, including links to the Zoom meetings, pre-recorded videos, and slideshow.
After purchasing this workshop, you will receive an email with Registration Details. If you don’t see this email in your inbox a few hours after purchasing, search your inbox for our email address and check your spam/junk/quarantine folders. If you still can’t find it, email info@drawbotanical.com, and we will assist you.
Recommended Supplies:
What materials do I need for winter botanical sketching?
In addition to our “Bare Necessities” supplies, you will need:
- Your favorite watercolor or mixed media sketchbook. We recommend a Stillman & Birn Mixed Media (Zeta Series) Sketchbook. Some manageable sizes are: 8.5 x 5.5 inch Landscape, or 7.5 x 7.5 inch.
- Waterproof ink pens like Sakura Pigma Micron Pen – Black 005 (0.2mm) And 05 (0.45mm) (Or other sizes, but one thick and one thin is best).
- Travel water brush like Pentel Aquash Water Brush – Small or your favorite watercolor brush.
Find all of the supplies that we recommend here. Feel free to follow along with any supplies you have (your result may just end up looking a little different). Our lessons are about a combination of fundamental 3D art concepts and colored pencil and watercolor technique, so you can skip the supplies-specific tips and still learn a lot about art basics including perspective, light source, composition, etc. One of the main points we teach is colored pencil and watercolor technique for slow, continuous toning, but as long as you are able to achieve the same blending result with your chosen materials, you can still benefit from our course lessons.
FAQs
Q: Can I receive feedback from instructors after the workshop ends?
A: YES, if you watch the recordings after the live workshop has ended, you can still receive personalized feedback! Just send photos of your progress to info+images@drawbotanical.com, and an instructor will reply with compliments and constructive critiques.
Q: Will there be a recording of the workshop?
A: Yes. All participants receive access to the workshop recording so you can review the demonstrations, pause while sketching, or revisit techniques anytime.
Q: Do I need any experience to join this winter sketchbooking session?
A: NO experience is required! This workshop is beginner-friendly and also great for experienced botanical artists who want to refresh their skills or begin a yearlong nature journaling habit.
Q: What kinds of winter plants will we draw in this workshop?
A: We’ll focus on foraged seasonal subjects such as winter branches, buds, moss, lichen, pine cones, dried leaves, nuts and seeds, and simple tree habit drawings. You’re welcome to sketch any winter plant life found in your local area.
Q: What if I can’t find the same plants you use in the demo?
A: No problem—winter offers plenty of options everywhere. You can sketch any locally available plant materials such as branches, bark, seed pods, evergreen textures, or even indoor houseplants.
Cancellation Policy: Due to the virtual nature of this product, we cannot issue a refund. You will still receive all recordings from the workshop, and you can watch them at your convenience.
By purchasing this workshop, you agree to the following Media Release: I hereby give permission to Draw Botanical LLC to use photographs, videos, and/or audio recordings in which my picture or image appears for all purposes and in all media and formats now known or later created including, without limitation, all promotional materials. I hereby waive any right that I may have to inspect or approve the finished product or products or advertising or printed matter that may be used in connection with this video, audio or photographs or the use to which it may be applied.
I hereby irrevocably release and discharge Draw Botanical LLC and personnel from all claims, demands, and causes of action that I now have or in the future may have relating to the permitted use of my likeness.
I agree that Draw Botanical LLC will be the sole owner of all rights in the above-mentioned recordings. (Note: I maintain all rights to the work I create. Draw Botanical maintains all rights to the recorded content.) This release is governed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
