New Color - New Works

 Changing The Color Up.

I've never painted gladiolus before and I got so involved with painting the flowers, I totally forgot other elements that make a painting look real and pop.

I'm fairly certain you can see it, but I was so frustrated with that big purple blossom that I totally forgot about adding the reflections to the jar and the shadow under and next to the jar.  I did also fix that purple blossom. 

 

Glad Party

 24" x 12" acrylic on stretched canvas, unframed 

$150 + shipping.  

Here's another piece in that same color palette.

End of Summer

 12" x 12" gallery wrap canvas, unframed

$150 - Includes Shipping

These 2 pieces were painted from life of flowers my husband Jim and one of our grandsons, Ren, planted this year at our new home.  They have been absolutely gorgeous and we have picked many armfuls of gladiolus, zinnias, roses and daisies.  

Fresh flowers are so beautiful and they add so much to a home.

Both pieces have a paper backing and are wired to hang.

You can see more of my work at

Sharon Durbin Graves Art.

Click HERE to go to my website to see many more of my available artworks.  

Brand New Class in Vevay, Indiana

Painting a Scene That Could Be Seen 

Anywhere In Indiana!

Saturday I took my art show on the road to a new venue.

I taught at The Community Art Center of Switzerland County in Vevay, Indiana to a super group of painters.

 All ready to rock!

Not sure what I was doing, but they were all paying attention.

They really paid attention and 

got a lot done in a very short amount of time.

Got the sky and grass on.

Everyone's working!

Starting to draw the barn on.

Take a big breath.  You can do this!

And now they're ready for their close-up Mr. DeMille!

Thank you all so much for coming today

 and for painting this fun barn with me.

I'll be teaching at the Community Art Center in Vevay, Indiana the 4th Saturday of every month, noon-2 p.m.  

Each class is $20 per person and I'm going to do my very best to see that not only do you have fun, but that you learn something about painting all along the way.

If you would like to join us, leave me a comment below and I'll save you a seat.  

Or you can call the Art Center at 812-226-6006 and reserve a spot.

I have a YouTube channel that is packed full of art instruction videos.  Click HERE to go to my channel, then click the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel, and click the little bell to be notified when I upload a new video

 which is usually on Friday.  

Another great opportunity to learn to paint and/or draw, is to join my FREE Facebook group, Bucket List Artists.  I do a Facebook live there on Thursday's at 1 p.m. and I post in there almost every day.  It is a safe place to ask questions and post your work.

Click HERE to go to the group and ask to join.  Then answer the 3 questions that pop up.  Those 3 questions actually unlock the door, so if you don't answer I can't open up this fun group so you can begin to learn to paint and draw.   

Thanks for hanging out with me today

and let's paint together real soon.  

Painting Pumpkins at General Butler State Park

Pumpkins and Polka Dots

The 3rd Saturday of every month 

I'll be teaching a group class at

General Butler State Park

in Carrollton, KY

In August we painted this fun pumpkin.

We had 12 artists painting this in a beautiful place.

The light here is fabulous.

 Everyone is intent on their pumpkins.

I took a short video of everyone painting.

We always need a group pic and this time we went a little crazy.

We're going to make you beg to see our paintings.

Here's some pretty cool pumpkin heads.

Didn't they do a great job?

Give them some love in the comments.  

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

I have a YouTube channel and I try to post a new instructional video every Friday.  

My most recent video is the one below 

where I teach how to mix black and yellow to get 

a fabulous olive green.  

These painters had the opportunity to use that 

mixture in these paintings.  

If you watch the video and like it, please hit the thumbs up button,

and then subscribe to my channel.  

There should be a little bell next to the subscribe button,

click that and you'll get a notification 

whenever I post something new.

Click HERE to go to my FREE Facebook group,

Bucket List Artists.  

This Facebook group was created for adults who would love to learn to paint, but for whatever reason, life got in the way.

Ask to join, answer the 3 questions and I'll open that door

as soon as possible.

Click HERE to visit my website, 

Painting With Acrylics 101.com

If you took this class, how about leaving 

a comment if you had a good time and learned something.  

Someone else might be inspired to give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Spring Painting At Jefferson Community Technical College

Way To Relax Before Finals

Our local community college,

Jefferson Community Technical College

has finals next week

and this week they are having different events to help

students relax before testing.

They sponsored a painting class

and 6 students took advantage of this opportunity.

Here we are using a hair dryer to dry our paint

so we can move on.

Having lots of fun!

Painting is therapy!

You don't think about anything else going on in you're life,

just where do I want to put the paint.

Here we all are with our bird's nest and eggs.

I had a wonderful time,

and I think they did too.

Good luck on your finals next week all!

Click HERE if you would like to 

take painting lessons online.

Spring is Definitely On It's Way

Finally!

Spring Is Definitely On It's Way

This is a painting I did several years ago.

I never liked that forsythia bush in the front left.

Hidden Spring

10" x 8" Acrylic on a panel, unframed.

$50 + $8 shipping

So I worked on that bush and I'm much happier now.

Spring in Kentucky is beautiful.

We have dogwoods, phlox, redbuds, forsythia, crocus, tulips, daffodils of all sorts, and many other flowers.

This painting represents all of the beauty we have here.

Thanks for stopping by today.

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If it's on your bucket list to learn to paint,
you'll want to join our FREE Facebook group.
Click HERE to go to the page.
Ask to join AND answer the 3 questions.
I can't open the door if you don't answer the questions.

Last week we had a live video 
where I taught how to draw this iris. 

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If you're a homeschool family who wants to add art to your curriculum, I can help with that.

I have created a FREE Facebook group just for you.
Click HERE to go to that group.
Ask to join AND answer the 3 questions and I'll gladly open that door and your family can start drawing and/or painting today.

Here's what we painted last week.

Thanks for stopping by

and let's paint together real soon!

Re-working a Painting

Why Would I Re-Work a Painting?

I didn't like it!

I didn't like it so much I didn't take a picture of the before.

The original had a green background

and one purple hydrangea bloom.

I love green and purple together.

This was an older work and while I liked it in the beginning,

I no longer liked it and realized how poor it was.

Hydrangea Love

10" x 8" acrylic on canvas panel

unframed

$50 + $8 shipping

This really isn't a re-work.

I completely painted a new painting

over an old one.

There is nothing left of the original painting.

It's fairly impressionistic which I love.

For me, the thing that makes it work

are the leaves that separate the blooms.

I think this just shows we should never give up

on a work even if we don't like it.

As we continue to paint,

we learn something every time.

Sometimes we learn what not to do.

I had a great time working on this painting.

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Are you a homeschool family who would love to add art to your curriculum?
Click HERE to join my FREE Facebook group
where we have a live class every week,
Monday 11 a.m.,
and other hints, tips, and tricks throughout the week.

Answer the 3 questions and you'll be able to add art to your homeschool curriculum probably by the end of the day. 

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If it's on your Bucket List to learn to paint and/or draw,
you are invited to join my FREE Facebook group created especially for you.

You'll have access to a live video Wednesday at 1 p.m. or Thursday at 7 p.m.
You'll have a place to safely post your work and ask questions and encourage others.
There will be lots of hints, tips and tricks each week as well.

Click HERE to join.
Answer the 3 questions and I'll open up that door.

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Thanks for stopping by today
and let's paint together real soon.

Painting Spring

Never Trust a Groundhog

Puxatawny Phil fooled us all!

He promised us an early spring

and

that definitely did not happen.

But

Here it comes.

Finally!

The very first daffodil blooms of the year!

I love them!

They are so fresh looking and after a long cold wet winter

they are so welcome.

I took this photograph on my way to my studio.

So then you know what I had to do.

First Bunch of Spring

10" x 8" stretched canvas

$75 + shipping

It took me a while to get the hang of painting daffodils.

The bell was the problem, but the petals that stand out were the real problem.

I haven't painted daffodils for a while so there's always a learning curve when you haven't painted a subject for a while and there was with these also.

But I'm pretty happy with this first bunch of spring.

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If you have it on your bucket list to learn to paint and or draw
you owe it to yourself to join my Free Facebook group.
Click HERE to join Bucket List Artists.
Answer the 3 questions and cause you're so awesome I'll say yes and open that door right up.
Then you can scroll all over the page for many free drawing and painting lessons.

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If you're a homeschool family and would like to add art to your curriculum, I created a special FREE Facebook group just for you.  You need to follow the link and then answer the 3 questions and cause you're the best, I'll open that door and you can hop on in and start adding art to your curriculum like tomorrow.  

Click HERE to join
Painter Nation Homeschool Art Club

Thanks for stopping by today!

It's Never TOO Early or Late. . .

 It's Elementary!

That's who I painted with last week.

Elementary students.

I was asked to teach 3 classes of elementary students in one day in an enrichment program here in Carroll County, KY.

I had about 20 students in each class.

I had one class of younger students who I had never taught before and then in each of the other two classes I had a few students I had taught.  

The goal was to paint and 8" x 10 piece on a canvas panel,

teaching color and some techniques like blending paint.

In this simple painting students learned to make the heart shape by starting with 2 dots, how to select colors that work together, use light and dark colors for effect, how to make the lace edge, how to get the arrow to go through the heart, how to use both ends of the brush as they made the dots, and so much more.

Our class was held at Camp Kysoc in Carrollton, KY a former Easter Seals summer camp.

I used a Valentine subject as I taught why some colors work together and others don't.  We also talked about why you need to use light with dark colors in order to achieve contrast.

It's one of the things new artists struggle with, creating depth with color.

I've created 7 Tips for Mixing Color that you can download and print out and keep where you paint.
Click HERE to get the printable.  

Me and this great group of artists in the first class of the day.

These are all the paintings from the first group.

Not one like another one.  

I'm trying to teach a method and 

then let them run with their own creativity.

In the other two classes we really went abstract as we tried to make loose flowing hearts and shapes around the heart and then added curly-q's.  

My two demo paintings from the next two classes.

Showing shading, blending, use of color, and how to play in the paint.

In this painting we learned how to think outside the box in creating the shape of the heart.  We were also able to explore how light and dark colors affected the painting.  Painting the curly-q's helped loosen up the students as they learn to manipulate the paint and the brush.

Again I was just teaching a method, and then I hoped they would infuse their own personalities into their work.

I was not disappointed.

Look at all the variety in these paintings. 

This was the final class of the day.

One thing I learned again, is that there are always those students who are fearful of anything where they have to use their own creativity.  Others dive right in and go for it.

I always try to reassure all that there are rules and best practices, but once they understand them, they can successfully break them for some interesting results. 

This group was very brave and really pushed themselves.

It was also interesting to see how each group had their own personality as well as the individuals in the group.

I had a great time and I hope they did too.

We created a ton of colorful art 

and I think we all learned a lot.

Click HERE to visit my YouTube channel where I teach art concepts and classes for free.

Click HERE to visit my website.

If you are a homeschool family and would like to add art to your curriculum, click HERE and join my FREE Facebook group created especially for you.

Thanks for stopping by today and hopefully you've signed up to receive my blog in your inbox.