Mixing Green

Why Is Green Sooo Hard?

Some say green is the hardest color to mix,

and one of the reasons is because it's in everything in nature.

If you paint landscapes, seascapes, florals,

you need green,

and many shades and values of green.

Here is my palette I used to create a green color chart.

I'll show you how to create values as well as mix color in the video below.  

Colors on my palette are listed below.

You could use totally different colors of green for your chart.

I'm teaching you a method.

 Top to bottom, left to right colors:

Mars black, Cad yellow light, Titanium white, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Red light, Hookers green, Emerald green, Turquoise deep, Lime green. 

In this video I'll show you how to make a color chart and what you'll learn from the chart itself.

I have created a new tab on this blog titled,

10 Minute Art Lessons.

It is a compilation of many of my blog posts that teach basic art concepts. There will be lots of tips, hints, tricks, etc on there and is worth the cost of admission.

(oh wait, there is no cost of admission).

Click HERE to see the NEW Tab. 

I'll be adding to it weekly or more often.  

If you haven't looked over my full blown art course, my single subject class or my FREE class, what art you waiting for?

It doesn't cost anything to look.

Click HERE to kick the tires - so to speak. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy painting.

 

Fish and A Four Year Old

Fish and A Four Year Old

I love teaching!

I love teaching beginner painters!

This 4 year old definitely fits that bill!

She's a giggler

and 

a wiggler,

but she loves too paint.

 

"You're not going to video me again?"

she said to me. 

 Hehe

 

 Putting on the finishing touches.

 

Check out her fish!

 

Did she do a great job or what?

 

If you have a child who loves to paint or draw,

and would like private lessons to help then on their art journey,

let's talk.

 

email me at slgraves6@gmail.com

and put art lessons in the subject line.

 

I have one more art camp this summer,

Teen Week,

August 7-10

10-noon.

Your teen will draw cartoons,

learn how to art journal,

paint a still life,

and create a t-shirt,

and much more.

Click HERE to get the scoop.  

 

If you haven't seen my online art course,

where you will learn the foundation concepts of art with 11 modules,

leading up to step by step instructions for two paintings.

Click HERE to go to my website. 

While on that website, I also have a single subject painting class,

and a FREE daisy painting class.

Get signed up for the free class today!  

 

 

Day 4 - Outta Her Gourd

Day 4 - Outta Her Gourd

Painting gourds has always been fun for me.

17 years ago when I wanted to learn to paint,

I was sick, I couldn't work and I had no money for canvas or paper to paint on,

but,

I had a lot of gourds up in the barn.

My husband brought them down,

and helped me clean them,

and I began to learn to paint on them.

I still love gourds.

On Day 4 of Think Outside the Box art camp,

I got out some small gourds that I cleaned

for my camper to paint.

Her eyes lit up when she saw them.

We drilled the holes for hangers in them,

and several of them broke.

We cut several of the broke ones apart to see the insides.

When we did that, we realized we had at least one

we could use as an open face ornament.

Lots of creativity going on here.

Here is Jocie Kate explaining her gourd painting.

Jocie Kate had definite ideas and reasons

why she painted her ornaments the way she did.

I loved it that she knew what she wanted to paint.

The Cat in the Hat ornament started out as a candy cane.

But once she put the stripes on it,

it became obvious to us both that it was the Cat in the Hat.

 The yellow, orange and red  one

is representational of a sunset.

(I told you she had her own very good ideas)

Here she is with her finished ornaments.

I love the smile.

She said she enjoyed painting the ornaments the best.

(I think I can tell)

 

 

Have a teenager who would love to attend art camp?

 

Click HERE to get the scoop on my last camp of the season. 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 - Painting an Abstract is Hard!!!

Day 3 - An Abstract Horse?

Do You Plan An Abstract or Do You Let It Happen?

I haven't painted many abstracts,

so I don't know the answer.

But,

In this case, we planned, 

but then, we let it happen.

My art camper likes sunsets

so she painted a sunset as the background for her horse.

She's working on her horse.

I think she found painting an abstract horse 

to be much more difficult that she thought it would be.

 

 

 

In any painting,

you need to have some idea where you are heading.

Even if you don't know exactly where you want to end,

you have to think about where you're going.

 

One thing Jocie Kate learned was it was very tiring.

She was exhausted when she had finished her horse.

 

We only have one more day for this session of art camp,

and I can't wait for you to see what we created on our final day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Click HERE if you have a teen who would be interested in teen art camp.

August 7-10, 10 a.m. - noon.

Your teen will learn about drawing cartoons,

creating an art journal, painting a still life, and creating a t-shirt and much more.

This is the last chance before school starts to get in that last bit of creative fun.

 

If you want to learn to paint, but don't know where to start, I have just the course for you.

I have created an online painting course,

with 11 modules that teach basic art concepts,

such as: 

1.  Mixing color and creating a color wheel

 and color chart and how to use them,

2.  What brushes to buy and how to use them,

3.  All about paint, and what to buy,

4. What to paint on,

5.  What is composition

6.  Learning about perspective

7.  Different types of strokes

 to achieve different looks 

8.  Creating form

9.  How to practice

10.  Step by step directions to paint a rooster

11.  Step by step directions to paint flowers

It's all in one neat package.

Click HERE to take a peek.

Are there bonuses you ask?

Three bonuses!

1 is a shopping list of all the supplies you need in the entire course.

1 is a whole nother painting module on painting trees and rocks, (which could sell for $49.99 on it's own).

1 bonus is all sorts of random art info, such as where to buy supplies online, where to buy frames, sites for free photographs to use as reference, and tons more.

No more looking for books or videos to learn this or that and still not know how to put it together.

This course was created for beginning painters

and home school families.

Go HERE to take a look!

Have a great day,

and thanks for stopping by.

 

  

 

 

 

Day 2 - A Girl Just Needs to Create

Day 2 - The Creating Continues

Today we began by drawing a horse,

and then we put the horse on the t-shirt to paint.

We used puff paint to put the horse on the t-shirt.

 Here we are getting the horse on the t-shirt.

We put the horse on the t-shirt using her drawing and transfer paper. 

 Here's her finished product!.

Great looking shirt, huh?

Next up, 

making jewelry.

We decided to use a slice of a walnut as the focal point for the necklace Jocie Kate made.

Then we took apart an old wooden necklace for the beads.

We didn't use them all,

but she picked out which ones she liked the best.

We also used some pony beads

on hemp string.

Trying to re-tie the knots between the beads 

proved to be difficult.

How do you like the smile on that art camper.

She was pretty proud of it.

And then. . .

We made this with what was left of the wooden beads

 and the pony beads. 

Now she has a set.

Another great day of Thinking Outside the Box

Art Camp, 2017.

Click HERE to get the scoop on the last art camp

 I'm having this summer.   

It's a camp for teens, 13-18, August 7-10, where they will learn to draw cartoons, keep an art journal, paint a still life, and paint a t-shirt.  There are several other items to be created.

Don't miss out on this opportunity.

 

Thinking Outside The Box

Day 1 Thinking Outside the Box

Art Camp.

 

We started art camp this week with plein air painting

on the farm looking over the valley at a neighbors barn.

 

So many shades of green!

 

 

We painted this scene in my yard.

 It's hotter than blue blazes this week,

so we set up a tent to give us some shade.

We aren't under the tent,

but it created this shade we're standing in.

It was at least 10 degrees cooler in the shade.

 One of the main goals  was to learn how to show the distance from us to the barn and the next hillside over and those trees.

In order to do that, you have to paint the furthest trees

using a bluish, greenish, purplish color.  

As the trees come closer, they need to get brighter and warmer.  You also need to use multiple values of green.

Each shade of green had 3 values of green,

dark, mid tone, and light.

You need all the values to create the depth and roundness of trees.

 

 

In this video we are working on the trees in the distance.

 

We are just about to finish up in this video.

 

And here we are with the finished painting.

 

We had a great time on Day 1.

 

Click HERE if you would like info on my last upcoming summer art camp.

 This camp is for teens, 13-18,

August 7-10,

and your student will learn to draw cartoons, 

begin an art journal,

do a still life 

and make a t shirt,

as well as several other things. 

 

 

 

Ever Paint with a Q-tip?

What Tools Do You Paint With?

Today in the Blue Iris Studio

my little 4-year old student

painted with several tools besides brushes.

She did paint with brushes,

But I totally screwed up that video.

 

And after she got the background on,

then she painted some stems for her flowers.

 

But she also painted with 

Q-tips

 

Blaire used a bottle cap from her water bottle

to make circles on her painting. 

Then she used her q-tips  to add centers to the circles.

  

 

She also painted with a fork.

 After we got lots of flowers on,

she added some fluffy stuff on her stems

with a fork.

This is Blaire and her finished painting.

 We got lots of paint on our hands.

I had already washed Blaire's hands once

but you know how it is,

we get a lot of paint on our hands in a short amount of time.

If you would like to take art classes with me,

whether individually or as a group,

you should know I take new students of all ages

and abilities who want to learn using acrylic paint.

You can email me at slgraves6@gmail.com 

and put "Art student questions" in the subject line.

If you'd like to host a party,

click HERE for all the info. 

Click HERE to browse my Etsy shop.

There's lots of my original paintings there,

and there are vintage linens,

and some pretty interesting glassware.

Sometimes I have some interesting jewelry making supplies.

Thanks for stopping by today.

How about leaving a comment

 so Blaire and her mom can see.

 

What We Can Learn From a 4 Year Old

She Knew What She Wanted

 Her Butterfly To Look Like!

I have a new student,

a fun student,

a determined student,

an unafraid student,

a 4 year old student.

And we could all learn a lot from her.

 Often when I teach children to paint the top, sides and bottom of their painting, they don't understand.

I show them, then I tell them, then I re-show them,

then I basically forget about it because I'm not going to make a tug of war out of it.

But Blaire got it right away.

Once I showed her what I meant,

she took it and ran with it.

There was no "Am I doing this right" from her.

When I asked her what her favorite color was for her background, she knew immediately.

Purple.

Great choice.

Often, new painters, young or old, are timid.

Timid with color - Nope

Timid with strokes - Nope

Timid with knowing what they want - Nope.

When I first met her, I held out my hand to shake,

and she shook my hand with a great grip.

Looked me in the eyes when we spoke.

Wasn't afraid to tell me what she wanted.

Yes!  Blaire will go far.

She knew how to mix color

and she knew how to use her brush,

and she followed instructions.

and she's only 4!

 All lessons many people need to learn.

(especially following instructions)

 

 This is Blaire with her finished butterfly painting.

We'll see what we do next Friday.

She has 3 more lessons through the summer.

I think we'll be great friends.

If you would like to paint in my studio or your venue,

click HERE to find out how it's done.  

Please don't take my word for it that these classes are fun.

Click HERE to see what others are saying about them. 

If you would like to sign up to receive my blog in your inbox, fill out the little form that pops up.

If you've already closed it, you can scroll to the top and on the right hand side is a box that says, (wait for it)

 "Subscribe to my Blog" 

Put your email in the box and then you'll receive an email asking you to confirm you did sign up.  

You need to click that link.

If you don't, you're not really signed up and you're going to miss out on all the fun and the free paintings I give away every single month.

So let's get jiggy with it and get you signed up.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Lessons Learned at Drawing Art Camp

Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain

 

WOW!

What a week was had in Blue Iris Art Studio. 

This week was art camp for drawing and I had

3 fabulous young men join in the fun.

This is day 1 with a new sketch pad, pencils and eraser.

The 2 facing us are twins and the other one is their brother.

The older boy loves drawing and sketching and has had some training in school.

 

 

 

We started off learning what could be done with their pencils

and how to create form with shading and highlights.

 

They were amazed as things began to emerge on their papers.

 Day 2 found us working on landscapes.

 Learning to hold the pencil differently than

 when writing was a challenge.

 

 

They learned how to draw components of a basic landscape,

Clouds,

Trees, 

Rocks,

Grass.

Here are all 3 landscape drawings.

It was very interesting from my perspective, 

to see how each boy struggled on different subjects.

Some were very glad to have landscape day over with.

Day 3 - Self Portraits.

We spent the first hour or so learning to draw the basic components of a portrait,

Eyes,

nose,

mouth,

and how to use points on the photo reference to lay out the parts of their faces.

I took their close up pics on the Day 1 and then printed them out and that's what they used to draw their portraits.

 

It's a little intimidating getting started.

 

But there was a lot in this portrait he got right.

 

 This young man was the most timid

 trying to get everything perfect, but he persisted

and I believe he had success.

I assured him, I've drawn myself at least 12 times

and I don't have one that looks like me yet.

He didn't quite get finished in the 50 minutes we worked on them,

but his components look very good.

 

 This guy always wanted to the fastest and the best.

(You know how boys are about competition)

He did do a very good job 

and I think he was pleased.

 

 

 It's sort of hard to see their finished work

because we used fine pencils for the most part,

but you can see they learned a lot

and were brave enough, not only to do the work,

but let me video and photograph them all along the way.

 

They were some of the best campers I've ever had.

No matter what I threw at them,

they took on the challenge and worked at it,

regardless how nervous or timid they might have been.

 

We could all take a lesson!!!

 

July 17-20 is my 4th Art Camp of the summer.

It is about thinking outside of the box and your child will have the opportunity to use their creativity in many ways.

Click HERE to get more info and sign up.

Seating is limited.  

 

August 7-10 is Teen Week

and only students 12 and up will be able to participate.

Lots of things are planned for them, I hope they will enjoy.

Click HERE to get more info and sign up. 

Seating is limited.

 

I am putting together some adult classes for this fall.

If you are interested, please leave me a comment below about what you would be interested in learning and I'll make sure to keep you in the loop.

 

Would you like:

1.  Morning or evening classes?

2.  Private or group classes?

3.  To learn basic concepts and how to use them.

4.  To finish a painting in one evening.  

 

Thanks for stopping by the Blue Iris Studio today.