Acrylic Demo in Mesquite

The Acrylic demonstration on Monday with the Mesquite Creative Arts Group went very well. I have to admit I was pretty nervous at the thought of standing in front of a group painting and teaching for close to two hours. I've painted before where people come and go and, of course, I've taught before; but this kind of focus on me was a little intense!

Fortunately, I have the gift of gab and a love of what I do so after about 5 minutes of nervous stumbling..I picked up a paintbrush and all went well.

Since each painting takes me much longer than 2 hours, I had to do a little prep work beforehand. I took 3 canvases with me. 1-primed with my texture mixture; 2-basic sketch and colors blocked out; 3-partially painted..background mostly finished.

Using Canvas 1, I demonstrated how I used a variety of photos to create a composition. Then I sketch out the basic shapes..in this case..sky, tree line, large tree, and horse. Then I use the medium value for each area and "block-in" or paint in the shapes as one flat color. (See photo where I am taking the canvas off the easel.)

Using Canvas 2, I started adding more color working from the back to the front. After doing the sky and the treeline, we took a break.

Returning from break, I realized that I was running out of time and needed to do some work on the horse. I stayed with Canvas 2 and talked about the light and dark and painting of animals in general. I did not get finished with any of the pictures but I feel I gave an overall view of how I begin and work on a painting. (See photo of horse painting alone on easel)

I ended up not painting on Canvas 3 at all, but the foreground was much further along in that canvas so I was able to use it to show some of the painting techniques that I was discussing. (see photo of me holding the canvas)

I took my friend and student, Mindy, with me both for moral support and to take pictures and run the video camera. I did record the entire demo but I haven't quite had the nerve to watch it yet!

Overall, it turned out to be a very good experience for me and one I hope to repeat! I was invited back by their president to do a demonstration in Pastels so it must have gone well from their perspective as well!

New Adult Workshops

Adult Workshops

Due to my scheduling conflicts and the busy lives of my students (and student-want-to-bes) I'm going to try a workshop format with the Adult Classes instead of a longer-commitment on-going classes.

Below is my schedule from now until Spring Break. After Spring Break, I'll reassess, add more, and also add an "Open Studio" time.

Watercolor Basics - 2 hours - $35, all supplies provided
This class will provide an explanation of basic watercolor materials and techniques. Class time will be divided between experimenting with some techniques and completing a small, watercolor painting.

• Night class: Tuesday, February 19th, 7-9pm
• Day class: Wednesday, February 20th, 10am -Noon

Collage Basics - 2 hours - $35, all supplies provided*
The class will provide an explanation of collage techniques and basic design principles. Most of the class time will be spent creating a collage.
*student may wish to bring some supplies (photos, poems, etc) from home

• Night class: Monday, March 3rd, 7-9pm
• Day class: Wednesday, March 5th, 10am -Noon

If you are interested in either of the above classes and the day or time does not work for you, please contact me anyway. I am experimenting to see which days are available to students.

Workshops also make a great ladies night out! If you wanted to bring in your friends and make an evening of it, we could stretch the time a little longer to allow for a snack/break during the workshop.

All classes are taught in my home studio/classroom in Sachse, TX.

Acrylic Demonstration

Next Monday (the 11th) I'll be at the Mesquite Arts Center demonstrating my Acrylic Painting technique through some horse paintings. The demonstration begins at 7pm and runs (with a break) until about 9:15 pm. Guests are welcome, you do not need to be a member of the Mesquite Arts Group.

Details:

Acrylic Painting Demonstration
Monday, February 11th, 2008
Mesquite Arts Group
Mesquite Arts Center
1527 N Galloway Ave, Mesquite, TX 75149

I'm currently working on a new schedule for Adult Workshops. I will be offering Watercolor and Collage first. Details will be posted this week.