Smithsonian Associates Online Programs

Build on your botanical painting skills as you create vibrant watercolors inspired by nature. Learn to focus on the texture and detail of botanical subjects including flowers, mushrooms, and vegetables.

Take the angst out of learning how to paint a portrait by creating monochromatic images of gargoyles, grotesques, and caryatids.

Paint for enjoyment and appreciate nature’s beauty as you study depicting flowers with watercolor.

At one time or another, everyone has struggled with writing the English language. By now it seems we should have standardized it, phoneticized it, brought it into line, and declared “Enough is enuf.” But the attempts of legions of rebel wordsmiths on both sides of the Atlantic who became fanatically occupied with writing thru instead of through and laf for laugh all proved futile. Author Gabe Henry traces 500 years of efforts to wrestle our language’s spelling into submission.

Whether you are traveling, exploring, or just adventuring through your daily life, draw the things that are important to you and start noticing the wonderful small details around you.

Cuneiform, the wedge-shaped script of ancient Mesopotamia, had preserved the stories, science, and secrets of civilizations for millennia—only to have its meaning lost to history. Journalist Joshua Hammer delves into the story of how three unlikely Victorian adventurers unlocked the secrets of cuneiform, illuminating the forgotten voices of the ancient world and offering a glimpse into humanity’s earliest recorded past.

Find your sense of color confidence while learning to apply color to embroidery art as would a painter using pigments and a palette.

Draw birds from around the world in creative ways using a variety of mediums, including ink, watercolor, and charcoal.

Through group discussions and imaginative studio activities, engage your creativity and boost insight in weekly eye-opening, hands-on, interactive art workouts.

Learn to use the iPad, Apple Pencil, and Procreate for illustration and animation. Students get an introductory lecture on the basics of digital art production, demonstrations, and experience drawing in Procreate on an iPad.