This is my very first LMA digital art box and I am so glad Let’s Make Art offers this option*! Since I am in Canada, the cost of shipping is getting too high for me. Besides, I have my own paint so all I need is instructions.
This month’s theme is Book Club and all four projects are landscapes, two of which have outlines.
How Do I Subscribe?
I have been subscribing to the watercolour boxes and I signed up for the digital subscription here. When I signed up, I never received a notification; however, I found it when I accessed my account. The cost is US$15 each month.
What You Get In The Digital Box
You get one PDF file containing the instructions to the projects like you would get in the actual box. I only printed the instructions and skipped the reference photos. I look at them on my screen when I paint anyway.
By the way, I do find it more beneficial to watch the tutorials by Sarah Cray to do these projects. The instructions are great as references, but they don’t replace her teaching in my opinion.
What I Used
I used Arches Cold Press Paper in Rough Grain and Paul Rubens watercolour. I did not enjoy the rough grain paper though, I prefer the Arches regular cold press paper.
Mini Landscapes
The first one was inspired by Dune, one of my husband’s favourites. I did not do it justice, I’m afraid. To be honest, I don’t do well with very simple stuff. I tend to overwork it and never learned to just let it be. 😛
Poppy Field Project
This project reminds me of the Daisy Field project from the LMA August 2022 box, in which my daisies looked like sunny side up eggs. I don’t do well in these very loose landscape projects. Anyway, this one turned out marginally better than my Dune landscapes. 😛
Under The Hill
This is inspired by the Hobbits. I liked this one more than the other two previous projects, mostly because it has an outline. I painted this one without watching the tutorial, and of course, did not do as well as if I had watched it first. This was the project where I learned that it was worth watching the tutorial first, since I am not proficient enough to attempt a landscape painting on my own yet.
Reflected Marsh
The last project is inspired by Where the Crawdads Sing. I made the bottom left a little too busy. I will definitely repaint this one in the future.
Let’s Make Art Matter Project
The instructions for Let’s Make Art Matter are never included in even the regular art box. LMA posts a tutorial every month to do a postcard size painting to send to one recipient. In the LMA digital watercolour art box, you don’t get the reference photo or the instructions, so you can watch the video in your account. For non-subscribers, you can wait till LMA posts the video on Youtube to paint along.
To be honest, I liked this project the most.
What I think of the Digital Box
The concept is great. However, I did struggle a bit to find the equivalent shades from my Paul Rubens watercolour to try to match LMA’s Dandelion paint shades. I did not have to match them, but I tried to copy the shades out of habit. Once I have learned to just use my own shades then it’s fine. I did have trouble mixing the right shade for the poppies though.
If you are a beginner and live in the USA, I think you will still benefit from getting the actual box. For me, after the currency conversion and mail forwarding, each box ends up costing me CAD$90, so I prefer to get the digital box.
*UPDATE:
Let’s Make Art has changed the digital watercolour subscription box to quarterly. You can only purchase a 3-month subscription at a time from this point on. The first quarterly digital box will cover April, May and June. For more changes to the subscription boxes, read here.
