Mark-Making as Practice PLUS
A LIVE VIRTUAL DRAWING SUPPORT GROUP
Drawing continues to be the medium of the moment…Direct, expressive, and personal…
People are searching more than ever for meaning, for human contact, which drawing, with its intimate traces of the hand, can provide.
— Peter Nesbitt, Editor, Art on Paper
Only 1 hour a week for 8 weeks will change your creative life…guaranteed
8 Tuesdays
October 7-November 25, 2025
4:00-5:30 PM EST Live Zoom Call
*Sessions are recorded*
Plus 4 Additional Bonus Sessions Every Other Thursday
October 13 - December 4, 2025 (Skip November 27 Holiday)
7:00-8:30 PM EST Live Zoom Call
*Sessions are recorded*
Early Bird Registration Begins August 1, 2025
Early Bird Price Until September 30, 2025 $250
Former Mark-Making as Practice Members $225
Registering for this class automatically enrolls you in the latest Lecture of the
It Begins With a Mark Series of Lectures
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When Mark Meets Material: The Poetry of Gesture & Collage
October 2, 2025
7:00-8:30 pm EST
*Lecture is recorded*
NEW for FALL 2025 ** Based on feedback from past and current participants
Exciting new mark-making lessons and prompts.
New mark-making materials demonstrations, readings, content & artist discussions included in the Bonus Sessions.
Former Mark-Maker Members pay a special price.
New PDF download every week with lesson content, links and optional additional reading.
LIVE Sessions scheduled later in the day EST to allow for more live attendance.
Longer discussion and Q&A immediately following each LIVE mark-making session.
Bi-Weekly LIVE Bonus Group Sessions every other week for sharing work, informal discussion and content building, materials demos, introducing artists of interest, Q&A and reflecting on mark-making progress.
Access to ALL previous It Begins With a Mark Lectures
Group accountability support provided via Facebook Group and Bonus Group Sessions.
Individual support from Lorraine provided via email, Bonus Group Sessions & Facebook Group.
Access to the class recordings are available for 3 months following the last class.
Interested in a more self-guided mark-making experience, rather than a LIVE workshop? Scroll down to register for the 12 Sessions of the Spring, 2024 Class Recordings ONLY.
The mark adds the lifeblood to your art which sets it apart from anyone else's. Your personal mark or gesture is literally as unique as your signature and practicing making marks everyday is the only way to find that mark.
I have been including mark-making in all of my workshops and courses for 22 years, no matter the subject matter of the course itself. Many of my workshop attendees know that I emphasize the importance of a daily mark-making practice to grow as an artist. Regardless of your artistic discipline or medium, spending 5-15 minutes each day drawing and making marks helps ignite your creativity. To illustrate this point, I often use the analogy of exercise. Before you go out for a run or any exercise, you must warm up to avoid muscle strains and injuries. Similarly, when you enter your studio, not warming up results in wasted time organizing and cleaning, staring at the walls trying to force inspiration, or even avoiding the studio altogether out of fear or uncertainty. How many of us do that? I’m thinking there are lot of nodding heads right now.
Take the exercise analogy a bit further-when you continue to exercise on a regular basis, you become stronger, faster, healthier and it becomes a practice in your life that you must do to feel complete. The same thing happens with mark-making…When you practice moving those parts of your body and brain required to make a drawing, everything else in your art making process flows much more smoothly. The more marks you make and the more frequently you make them, they become indelibly written on your brain, your movements in the studio become more practiced and you will approach the work with confidence and knowing.
This course is designed to help you begin and to keep you in the practice of daily mark-making, all you have to do is show up. Drawing everyday wont’t rid you of all the struggles us artists face in the studio, but I absolutely guarantee that it will get you moving faster and in the right direction toward your goals.
Registration Instructions
Get Ready to Make Some Marks
4 Ways to Register
NEW Mark-Making as Practice PLUS Members Payments
1.*PREFERRED* Venmo: Send $250 to @Lorraine-Glessner (7027 phone digits) **Please send me your email!!! Venmo does NOT include an email with receipt!
2. Paypal: Send $260 to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
3. Check: Email lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com for mailing address (check must be received at least 5 days before start date)
4. *PREFERRED* Zelle: Send $250 to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
FORMER Mark-Making as Practice PLUS Members Payments
1.*PREFERRED* Venmo: Send $225 to @Lorraine-Glessner (7027 phone digits) **Please send me your email!!! Venmo does NOT include an email with receipt!
2. Paypal: Send $234 to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
3. Check: Email lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com for mailing address (check must be received at least 5 days before start date)
4. *PREFERRED* Zelle: Send $225 to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
Early Bird Registration Begins August 1, 2025
Early Bird Registration Price Until September 30, 2025
$250 (Less than $19 per session)
Registration Price After September 30, 2025
$275 (Less than $21 per session)
Registration Closes October 5, 2025
FAQ’s
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Early Bird Registration Price Until September 30, 2025
$250 (Less than $21 per session)
Registration Price After September 30, 2025
$275 (Less than $23 per session)
Registration Closes October 5, 2025
4 Ways to Register1.*PREFERRED* Venmo: Send to @Lorraine-Glessner (7027 phone digits) **Please send me your email!!! Venmo does NOT include an email with receipt!
2. Paypal: Send $260 to ($285 after September 30) to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
3. Check: Email lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com for mailing address (check must be received at least 5 days before start date)
4. Zelle: to lorraineglessnerstudio@gmail.com
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You would like to develop a cohesive body of work, but don’t know where or how to begin.
You exclaim repeatedly that you can’t draw.
You have tried to develop a daily mark-making practice but you lose momentum.
You make marks, look at them judgmentally, feel ridiculous and burn your sketchbook in effigy.
You feel that mark-making is a waste of time when you could be doing other things in your studio.
You had a horribly insensitive teacher in 7th grade who made disparaging comments about your drawings.
You really want to begin mark-making and purchased a lovely sketchbook, fabulous drawing tools and then the fear of the white page left you paralyzed.
You have no confidence in anything you do creatively and just feel that you should pack it in and quit.
You’ve been away from the studio for a while and want to get back into it, but don’t know where to start.
You’re a painter or a sculptor, what do you need with drawing anyway?
You feel your marks don’t look like anything and therefore, are useless.
You would like to develop your own unique artistic voice.
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Each meeting, we will greet one another briefly and you will be given a short mark-making prompt to get you started. Prompts will not be given in advance.
A timer will be set and you will continue to make marks until the timer stops, usually in 10-15 minute increments.
During your drawing time, the aim is to respond to the prompts with little or no thought. Just respond and keep moving. Once you’ve let yourself get lost in the process, it becomes a very relaxing exercise and you begin to lose the judgement that you normally put upon yourself.
You may work on whatever mark-making project you would like for however long you would like, the point is to be present. For example, if you would like to work back into a drawing you started earlier or would like to continue working on the same page for the entire hour, you may do so.
There is no formal sharing or critique, unless you would like to briefly share at the end of the hour.
The words drawing and mark-making are used interchangeably.
Visit this blog post to get an idea of what the prompts will be like.
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You could start out with a piece of paper and pencil for the first six weeks, I just want to see you drawing!
I will send out a detailed list of supplies well before the first class begins so you’re all ready to go. I will also treat you to a video of all of my favorite sketchbook and mark-making supplies.
If you’d like to get an idea, a basic list of suggested materials looks something like this: a mixed media sketchbook, a basic watercolor set, a water soluble drawing tool (ex. ink, water soluble graphite, caran d'ache crayons, etc) and a non-water soluble drawing tool (pencils, pens, gel pens, etc), white acrylic paint/tempura paint/poster paint-doesn't have to be expensive, found mark-making tools like combs, plastic lids, etc and a application tools like brushes, spatulas, silicone artists tools, brayers, Catalyst wedges or something similar.
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Although its way more fun to attend the live classes, I understand that most people won't be able to make it to every class.
The recordings will be available for the duration of the 8 weeks plus 3 months following the last class.
I do suggest that those who are relying on the recordings reserve a special day of the week and time of day to complete the class. The main goal of this class is to create a habit and commitment to mark-making and doing this at the same day and time each week makes the habit easier to fit into your life.
Testimonials
“It was such a pleasure being a part of your workshop. I discovered so much about myself and the direction I need to follow. It was especially surprising for me to enjoy drawing as I never sketch or draw. While drawing, I realized that it is easier to be “In the space of no thought”. I like that place as the best of my work comes from there. I always try to find ways to get in there…”
Katie
“I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your class. You were so giving with your time, techniques, feedback and inspiration. I am especially happy to have new practices like mark making exercises and daily writing into my day. I have never done that and was astounded by how helpful they instantly were! I am hopeful that it will help shape my "vocabulary" and voice going forward. Thank you again for sharing your passion with us and for being so giving and responsive. Your class truly rocked and got me so excited to do more more more!!!”
Lauran
“A huge take away is the power of marks, randomness, serendipity, chaos = the acts of creating abstract work. Like a new language, I am practicing.”
Jill M.
“As a beginner, I found the materials list and materials video very useful. I also liked the preparation PDF so that we could be ready for the class. The lessons were well thought out and had variety which helped introduce various ways of playing and exploring.”
Laureen W.
“It was a tremendous help for me to get out of my head and just make marks and draw with no expectation of the outcome -- to embrace the idea that drawing is more than making pretty (and representational) pictures.”
Mark-Making as Practice Recordings ONLY
The Spring 2024 Workshop is available for Registration as Recordings ONLY. Please note that this is a totally self-guided class. NO accountability support is provided and NO access to the LIVE class Facebook Group is permitted.
Registration is Ongoing $200
Click the LINK Below to Register
