Intro to Abstract Painting
Instructor: Karine Swenson
2-Week, 6-Lesson Class Now available as a self-study class.
Karine is re-running her very popular class, “Intro to Abstract Painting,” beginning Tuesday, May 29, 2018! If you have signed up for “Intro to Abstract Painting” previously and would like to be part of this repeat session, just email me at carla[at]carlasonheim.com and let me know.
Have you have ever had an interest in abstract painting? Would you like to paint with more freedom or feeling?
In this class we will explore a variety of mark-making techniques with an emphasis on finding what works for you as an artist. Karine will demonstrate drawing and painting intuitively, and share with you a few of her favorite abstract painters and help you understand some of the concepts behind non-representational painting (painting without recognizable imagery).
She will encourage you to try new things as a way to experience breakthroughs and encourage you to work quickly. You will be finding ways to develop your own way of applying paint and to compose the visual space.
During this class, you will work on many (up to twenty) small sketches and 3 to 4 paintings. Click HERE for a list of supplies needed for this class. Who is this class intended for:
– Anyone who wants to explore non-representational painting
– Anyone who wants to strengthen and develop their own voice as a painter
– Anyone interested in taking risks with their painting
– Anyone who wants to have more confidence in their own way of painting Note: It is recommended that you have some painting experience in acrylic or oil paint before taking this class; I will not be showing you how to mix paint or choose colors. The focus will be primarily composition, values, mark making, and a search for individuality. Class Itinerary Week One Lesson 1 – Tuesday
We will begin with small studies to explore drawing intuitively. Lesson 2 – Wednesday Today will will draw from our other senses (not sight) to help us escape the need to use recognizable imagery and to help us tap into our emotions. Lesson 3 – Friday Take the favorite sketch from our previous two lessons and turn them into an abstract painting. Week Two Lesson 4 – Tuesday Approaching a blank canvas with no sketch. (How to work intuitively.) Lesson 5 – Wednesday Explore how trying new things can take you in another direction. Do you normally work small? Try working large. Push yourself to do things you wouldn’t normally do. Lesson 6 – Friday Choose one of your paintings from the last two weeks and “wreck it” to save it. _____________________________________________
Sign up today!
_____________________________________________ Karine Swenson grew up just outside of a town called Rapid City, South Dakota in the Black Hills. The closest neighbor was a mile away. Reared in this environment, Swenson’s connection with the natural world was strong. After receiving her BA in painting from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she moved to Colorado. She has spent most of her life in small towns that sit right next to the last remaining bits of wilderness. From the mountains of Colorado, the ocean surrounding Maui, Hawaii, the desert near Joshua Tree, California, and now Santa Fe, NM, she feels the most at home out in nature. In the studio, her second home, she can explore her relationship with the natural world. Her oil paintings are reflections of this relationship. Swenson has been a full time artist for the past ten years.
See more wonderful art at Karine’s blog!
_____________ Big Bold Bloom Wild Painting!
A 5-Week Course with Lynn Whipple
10 Lessons Now available as a self-study class.
(For a 2-payment plan option, click HERE!)
Paint Big! Paint Vibrantly! Paint Loose! Paint Blooms!
Are you ready to work large and loose with lots freedom and color?? I am thrilled to share with you a playful, layered approach to painting and drawing that embraces your wild side!
Using acrylic paint, charcoal and colorful chalk pastel, I will walk you through exercises, methods and techniques that will allow you to push your work towards abstraction. We will explore together a fresh, painterly interpretation of a traditional subject matter… FLOWERS!
What to look forward to in this class:
We will begin our Big Bold Bloom Wild Painting journey on 11″x14″ paper with an exercise called “Mark-Making to Music.” These timed, pastel floral drawings will encourage loose line work, energized shapes, bold marks, unexpected color combinations, fun and freedom!
Next we will take the energy of our pastel drawings and scale it up! Working on three 24″x30” canvases we will prepare each canvas with a different ground color, then add a very special charcoal technique, followed by a loose and greyed-down under painting. Now, more paint! More mark making! More color! Each layer leads to the next as we create our Big Bold Bloom Wild Paintings!
LETS GO BIG!!! Using the best of our previous work as a guide and as inspiration, we will work BIG and BOLD on one large 36″x48” canvas. Lots of painting and dancing with color, layering, drawing, designing, spinning the canvas, energized mark making, composition and more! I can’t wait!!!!
I hope you will join me!
All my very best,
xoxo
Lynn
What Big Bold Bloom Students are saying! “From the bottom of my heart, YOU, dear Lynn, are just the best art teacher I’ve ever had. You challenged my senses and encouraged me to play and have fun; something I’ve forgotten to do. Now surrounded by the many blooms in my paintings, I’m dancing, feeling the joy of being free, and waiting for the next adventure with you. Thank You!” — Tina “Life changer for me. Finally took the leap to set myself up and be painting again!! And painting large flowers…always my dream! Looking forward to how this evolves. Thank you for everything, Lynn and amazing, kind and hugely talented artists!!” — Cindy “Lynn, THANK YOU! This has been such a great workshop (I refer to you, the content and the other members of the class). Really, this ranks as one of the best workshops I’ve ever taken and I’m soooo grateful!” — Stacey “Hi Lynn, Finally I have finished my first BIG and BOLD. It really was a labor of love LOL and your wonderful lessons carried me to the end with big smiles on my face!! Love your teaching style and encouragement. I have never attempted anything this big before and now I can’t wait to start another. Thank you so much for helping me through my fear of the BIG blank canvas!!” — Sharon
__________________________ CLASS ITINERARY Week 1 Lesson 1 – Mark Making to Music
Working with pastel on paper 11″x14″ paper, you will turn your studio into a blaze of mark making and vibrant color! Using timed drawing exercises, you will translate flowers into simple, energized, abstracted shapes and planes, while exploring the different ways to describe and design vibrant blooms. Next you will create your first flower arrangement with your fresh and free floral drawings 🙂 Lesson 2 – Growing Flowers. Working larger, working layers
Moving to 24″x30″ canvas, we will begin by preparing each of our three canvases with a different ground color: One orange, one medium blue gray and one thickly painted with gesso.
Time to draw! We will do a 3-part “spin-drawing” on each canvas with charcoal, using flowers as our muse. A final criss-cross pattern on top will set us up for our next layer of paint. Very exciting! Week 2 Lesson 3 – Painting in neutrals. Finding design.
We will look for all of the abstracted shapes that came from our floral charcoal “spin-drawings” and fill our canvas’s with blocks of neutral tones to create a lovely under-painting. These warm and cool colors, our grey blues and grey greens will set us up to show off our next layer of vibrant color. You will fall in love with this layer! Lesson 4 – Painting Flowers from Life
Fill your studio with a big, fresh, new batch of blooms! Enjoy choosing the flowers that you like best! Go for a variety of colors, shapes, sizes with a nice mix of leafy greens (darks) mixed in. Create a large wild bouquet that makes you happy! (You might add a few sunflowers into your bouquet as they are super fun to draw and paint.) Up next: Look for the perfect place on your canvas to lay down your “hero” floral drawing on top of your under painting. Using a light source on one side will help you see the forms of the flowers. Draw your flowers in loose and free! Use both hands! Go back and forth from quiet, close looking to taking lots of liberties!
It’s time! Let’s paint! Using acrylics, large brushes, a variety of brushstrokes, we will describe the pot of blooms one flower at a time with our more vibrant colors. Drips! Dancing! Spatters! We will build a composition, look for design and take time to add in our darks. This will take a few passes. Move forward with lots of freedom to try things. Layer, layer, layer and add color, color, color! Week 3 Lesson 5 – Cut in the background. Push and pull
Now that we have our larger blooms in place and we will look again and begin to cut in around the flowers, bringing out the petal shapes, leaf shapes and more. This is a great exercise in “push and pull” which helps our painting have a forward “main event” and an understated background. We will work on the back layer (which helps describe the foreground) as well as the table top plane and the vase shape. This is an important part of the overall design and composition of our painting. Think proportion, large interesting shapes and ways to keep your eye moving around the entire painting. Lesson 6 – Energizing with Pastels!
OH so MUCH FUN!! Now our big pot of blooms is painted! Everything is falling into place. Bravo!! It’s time to draw on top! Using Mark Making to Music, as we did in our first lesson, let’s plow energy into our work. Use your fresh line work inside and outside of your painted shapes. Play with vibrating color on top of color. Use your brights to describe your highlights. Let your personality jump on to the canvas! Play! Week 4 Lesson 7 – Final Tweaks and Touches
We will back up and look over the entire painting now, squint, change small things, tweak the drawing on top, do another layer of paint on the background and smudge the edges of the drawing to give your flowers a halo effect. It’s time to add the extra highlights with cream paint that will really make your piece pop. Finally, you will sign your name in the perfect spot. A dusting of spray fixative over the entire painting will seal the pastel so it won’t smear. I suggest doing this outside if you can, as not to breathe the fumes. Your pastel color will shift a bit, but still look great!! This is very exciting stuff! As in each step, I can’t wait to see what you have created!! Lesson 8 – Painting Big and Bold pt. 1
Now that we have done the entire process in a medium sized format, LETS GO BIG!!
We will be working on one large canvas 36″x48″! (Go smaller if you prefer.)
We begin by preparing the first layer of ground color. Choose your most successful of the smaller works as your guide. If you love the orange peeking through, start with orange, if you love the grey and the way it pops your top colors you will prepare your canvas with a grey background. Once that is dry, you will do your 3-part spin-drawing!! Add the extra 5-6 criss cross lines to help form your abstracted sections. Week 5 Lesson 9 – Painting Big and Bold pt. 2
Let’s lay in the color for our underpainting using the most successful of the earlier paintings. This is to create an interesting layer that will help our final painting and create interest that we would not get otherwise. These under paintings are usually very fun to paint and very free! There is no wrong way!!
Next lets spin the canvas as we look for the perfect place to draw in our final giant pot of blooms. Squint your eyes! Try not to center your pot of flowers, but sketch it in a little to the left or right. Take your time and enjoy looking deeply at the shapes.
Now paint your flowers with the first pass of vibrant color. Play with drips, and darks! Let that dry and add another pass of color when you are ready! Dance! Have fun! Lesson 10 – Painting Big and Bold pt. 3
As our layers are building, we will consider the best way to handle the background and the table top plane. Using our eye for the push and pull, this is a very exciting time to finalize your larger design. You may choose to leave more of your underpainting showing or to cover it up with a slightly more solid color, either light or dark. Once your background and floral layer are working, let’s add your colorful, loose pastel drawing and mark making! Tweak your final design by adding painted cream highlights, smudging your edges and finding a great spot for your signature. Behold!! Your Big Bold Beautiful Blooms!! Free, fresh and very YOU!!
Kudos to you for your bravery and willingness!
With loads of love, Lynn
P.S. Click HERE for the SUPPLY LIST for this class.
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Lynn Whipple writes, “I am deeply grateful to live my life as an artist. Play and discovery are my dearest and most constant companions. There are a zillion tiny challenges in each art making experience, and so often I find, just as many small, sweet victories. Without a doubt, living creatively is the most enjoyable and satisfying game I know.”
Lynn shares a warehouse studio with her husband, John Whipple, in Winter Park, Florida. Lynn’s work includes found-object mixed-media assemblages; found images altered with a combination of drawing, painting, sewing and more; and her well-known Ninny Boxes, collages combined with found objects, and assembled within a box format. Her unique pieces have a playful, quirky, and often absurd, charm.
Lynn explains: “I allow myself to play and let my pieces reveal themselves to me…I have been fascinated by old books, history, and odd bits of memorabilia. I find the things that interest me the most are slightly absurd…My hope is to create something real and somehow poetic but not commonplace. My goal is to keep communicating in my language.”
Lynn’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Visit Lynn’s website at www.lynnwhipple.com and her etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/lynnwhipple
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• During the five weeks of class, you will receive an email each Tu-Th from Lynn with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Lynn is always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download indefinitely, if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our online classes, click HERE.
Big Bold Bloom Wild Painting!
A 5-Week Course with Lynn Whipple
10 Lessons
Class Dates: February 23 – March 24, 2016
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Lynn Whipple writes, “I am deeply grateful to live my life as an artist. Play and discovery are my dearest and most constant companions. There are a zillion tiny challenges in each art making experience, and so often I find, just as many small, sweet victories. Without a doubt, living creatively is the most enjoyable and satisfying game I know.”
Lynn shares a warehouse studio with her husband, John Whipple, in Winter Park, Florida. Lynn’s work includes found-object mixed-media assemblages; found images altered with a combination of drawing, painting, sewing and more; and her well-known Ninny Boxes, collages combined with found objects, and assembled within a box format. Her unique pieces have a playful, quirky, and often absurd, charm.
Lynn explains: “I allow myself to play and let my pieces reveal themselves to me…I have been fascinated by old books, history, and odd bits of memorabilia. I find the things that interest me the most are slightly absurd…My hope is to create something real and somehow poetic but not commonplace. My goal is to keep communicating in my language.”
Lynn’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Visit Lynn’s website at www.lynnwhipple.com and her etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/lynnwhipple
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• During the five weeks of class, you will receive an email each Tu-Th from Lynn with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Lynn is always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download indefinitely, if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our e-workshops, click HERE.
For the Love of a Tree
Instructor: Diane Culhane Drawing, Painting, Mixed-Media • $85 Now available as a self-study class.
_________________________________________ “For the Love of a Tree” is dedicated to celebrating the glory of a tree; the beauty and the magnificence of the blessings they bestow — from oxygen, shelter, shade, nutritious food, and a home to many creatures.
Trees are a source of design and composition for the artist: leaves, seeds, branches, to fruits, nuts, etc. . . . Trees give us a bountiful visual vocabulary from which to create paintings. It’s a set up for success.
We will begin by exploring — Seeing- Looking – Feeling – and just being in the presence of trees.
From there we will begin addressing forms with line, color and value, with value being the most important component; pushing and pulling color. Exercises are guides to develop skill for the next steps in creating a 18”x18” or 20”x 20” completed painting. We will also have conversations about problem solving and how to face the struggles we all encounter as artists.
As a tree reach and stretches for the sunlight, reach into your open blue sky of creativity . . .
Learn, Grow, Explore
Nurture your Art & Your Life.
Sign up today !
Much Love to you all,
Diane Culhane Class Itinerary: Lesson 1
Looking and synthesizing forms through drawing and creating inventive shapes. Lesson 2
Begin work on our large painting. Cover large cradle board, layering with color and line. Lesson 3
Use collage to explore a variety of forms, concentrating on size and value contrast, then translating these discoveries into small practice paintings on paper. Lesson 4
Work with value: practice pushing and pulling space using warm and cool colors and compliments by painting on small cradle boards and then taking these concepts to our larger painting. Lesson 5
Focus on our larger painting: add layers of paint, building volume, troubleshooting. Lesson 6
Add details; from blurry into focus.
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SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THIS CLASS: For the Supply List, click HERE.
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Here’s the scoop for this class:
• On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of each week you will receive an email from Diane with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Diane is always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download until “forever,” if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Wednesday before your session begins, you will receive a “test” email to make sure you can receive/view everything.
• What you will need: You will be able to read acrobat pdf files and view videos.
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected]
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SIGN UP TODAY!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Diane Culhane is a professional artist and art educator who lives West Seattle in a 1910 home, and works out of her studio in Ballard Building C. She received her BFA from the University of Utah and Master’s Degree from Seattle University.
Diane has taught for The Bellevue School District, Seattle Pacific University, Kirkland Arts Center, Bellevue Arts Museum and currently directs and owns Kelsey Creek Fine Art School for children in the summer.
Visit her website at: www.dianeculhaneart.com
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – “Birds on Birds: Acrylic Painting” with Alison O’Donoghue
Two-Week Class; 6 Video Lessons Now available as a self-study class.
Join painter Alison O’Donoghue for a super fun class in acrylic painting, “Birds on Birds.” Alison shares her unique techniques for creating a stacked, interactive, and harmonious world within the bounds of an 11″x14″ wood panel. She will guide you expertly through six lessons — starting with preparing the panel with layers of gesso and finishing with varnish; and in-between, magic!
Alison likes the stacking up method of composing because it allows for a lot of images within the painting without any concerns for traditional perspective (a common folk art approach around the world). Through Alison’s process of layered washes and highlights, your painting will glow with light and color.
Plus… BIRDS!
A detail:
And more of Alison’s “bird” work using these techniques (click to enlarge):
Class Itinerary Lesson 1 – Supplies & Preparing Your Board
We’ll go over the supplies needed for this project and prep your board for painting. Lesson 2 – Drawing It Out
Here is a place to begin letting the ideas flow. Your birds don’t have to be realistically drawn and you can let go of the idea of right and wrong; instead do it your way. You do have a way. Lesson 3 – Painting the Simple Shapes
Create a palette of color choices ahead of time and have fun with color! It’s good to be aware of the negative spaces — or spaces between — the objects and imagery, because they are as important as the birds in creating a balanced and vibrant composition. Lesson 4 – Painting the Negative Shapes In this lesson you will create lines around your birds by NOT painting the lines, and paint in the negative shapes of the background. Lesson 5 – Transparent Color Washes
This part is really fun, and here is where the dimension, volume, sense of light and shadow and nuance are begun. We are staining the shapes we have painted with the washes. (It may feel as though you’re ruining the painting, but you aren’t!) Lesson 6 – Highlights and Details
In this step, my favorite step, we are adding a final layer to bring out the form, as well as adding pattern to some of the shapes. Add spots, stripes, patterns or follow the form of the object to highlight the form. All of this will create depth, a push and pull and sense of shifting light that is exciting and interesting to the eye. We’ll finish with a nice coat of varnish to give your painting more luminosity.
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The artwork of Alison O’Donoghue can be described as contemporary folk art.
Partly naïve, sometimes illustrative, at times cartoony, with some of her pieces being heavily patterned. Her paintings are mostly playful with creatures and people that are quite often glowing with life… awash in dimensional color and shade in a mostly two dimensional world. In many of her paintings, she combines everyday objects such as; cups of coffee, fruit, plants, humans, birds and odd, made up animals, into a fluid motion of interaction of intertwined shapes. The playful next to the sinister, give the paintings a sense of humor and the complexity of an unfolding story.
In her larger work, Alison seems to have no intention of leaving a space unfilled or unpopulated as the figures become more of an overall pattern. It gives the viewer the feeling of looking at vines overtaking the world inside the painting in a kind of beautiful invasive force of nature.
Alison O’Donoghue’s contemporary folk art and patterned worlds invite us to explore visually the simple beauty, complexity, interactions and sometimes the humorously sinister aspects of everyday life.
Alison lives in Portland, Oregon. http://www.aliorange.com/alison.html
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SUPPLIES LIST:
– 11″x14″ smooth wood panel, gessoed and sanded then painted with two good solid coats of black acrylic.
– White watercolor pencil. Make absolutely sure it’s water soluble- as we will be washing away the lines with water after painting.
– Acrylic Paints: Back, white, and a your choice of variety of opaque colors.
– An assortment of transparent acrylic paint- red, brown, yellow, burnt orange, sap green are good choices
– Brushes: A variety of sizes, I prefer sable brushes for their ability to paint larger areas and also hold a point for detail.
– Varnish: Gloss polymer
– Optional: Hair Dryer to speed drying process
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HOW IT WORKS—
• For the two weeks of class, you’ll receive an email on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson and video.
• In the email, you’ll also get the information about how to log into the password-protected blog where the class material lives and the closed Facebook group link.
• The class materials will be up and available for download until “forever,” if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks).
• Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive a “test” email to make sure you can receive/view everything.
• What you will need: You will need to be able to read Acrobat pdf files and view videos.
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – “Making Art a Practice” with Cat Bennett
Six-Week Class; 6 Video Lessons Now available as a self-study class.
How can the sketchbook be a place of discovery and growth in our art practice?
In Cat Bennett’s 6-week course, “Sketchbooks: Making Art a Practice,” we’ll use the sketchbook to explore how to make our art practice a vital one. We’ll draw and paint in experimental ways, find inspirational images to include in our sketchbooks, look at where we’ve been and where we might go, and consider how to grow our ideas for our art. We’ll also grow our drawing skills and discover our own best strengths so we can build on them.
Each lesson includes a video with demonstrations of various drawing and painting techniques, regular assignments, and a Facebook group to share sketchbook explorations. Cat will also offer daily inspiration (Monday to Friday) with general comments on the work and some further exercises for the super motivated! COURSE OUTLINE Week 1:Making Marks—Drawing in an abstract way to grow our creativity. Week 2:Drawing Nature—Exploring different ways to draw what we see.
Week 3:Drawing Our Daily Life—Finding what speaks to us. Week 4:Portraits—Drawing people and finding our own style. Week 5:Bringing in Imagination—Playing with images and growing our vision. Week 6:Growing Our Ideas—Tracing our art history and seeing where we might go.
Each week, Cat also addresses issues we all face as artists—
1. What can we do when we feel blocked?
2. How can we overcome the inner critic or feelings of inadequacy?
3. How can we find the time to make art in the midst of busy lives?
4. How do we find our own style in our art?
5. What are great reasons for making art?
6. How do we keep our art practice vital?
Participants can also share positive suggestions of their own each week regarding these questions and on the Facebook page.
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Join this class today, and spend 6 weeks together with Cat Bennett!
NOTE: Cat is offering to send a copy of her book, “Making Art a Practice” to the first 10 people who sign up! We’ve got the first 10… thank you!!
Cat Bennett is artist and author. In her Saturday Morning Drawing Club, she teaches drawing as a way to meet the true creative self. Her book, The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind,published by Findhorn Press 2010, was a gold medal winner in the 2011 Nautilus Book Awards. Her bookMaking Art a Practice: How To Be the Artist You Are, and her newest book, The Drawing Club of Improbable Dreams: How to Create a Club for Art, are also published by Findhorn Press.
Cat worked as an illustrator/designer for about thirty years. Her illustrations have appeared in The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, The Baltimore Sun and Time Magazine, Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic, Harcourt Brace and many other publications. She has also made short animations for CBC-Sesame Street, Nickelodeon TV, WHDH-TV, WGBH-TV and various non-profits. She has exhibited her art in group shows in Boston, New York, and Tokyo.
Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, LA Yoga Magazine, Yoga Magazine UK, Integral Yoga Magazine, Red, The American, Lightworker, High Spirit Magazine and others. www.catbennett.net Check out Cat’s wonderful books (#3 is forthcoming October 13, 2015).
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SUPPLY LIST FOR THIS CLASS:
• 9”x12” (or larger) mixed media sketchbook (Canson; Strathmore, etc)
• 3”x5” pocket sketchbook (Moleskine or similar for pencils and markers)
• 6”x9” (or larger) smooth paper for pencils and markers (Fabriano, Moleskine etc)
• ebony or 4B+ drawing pencils
• gum eraser
• steel pencil sharpener
• fine tipped drawing marker (Sharpie, Micron etc)
• scissors
• glue stick
• Set of colored pencils (Dick Blick, Prismacolor, Derwent etc)
• #3, #6, #12 student grade watercolor brushes (Princeton)
• Set of opaque cake watercolors (Pelikan) Note: Whatever brands you prefer are just fine!
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HOW IT WORKS—
• Starting October 6th, you’ll receive an email every Tuesday with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson and video. There are 2-3 exercises each week which you can move through at your own pace. (Cat recommends daily interaction with your sketchbook.)
• In the email, you’ll also get the information about how to log into the password-protected blog where the class material lives and the closed Facebook group link.
• The class materials will be up and available for download until “forever,” if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks).
• Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive a “test” email to make sure you can receive/view everything.
• What you will need: You will need to be able to read Acrobat pdf files and view videos.
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? carla[at]carlasonheim.com
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Acrylics: Painting Flowers with Fred Lisaius
Two-Week Class; 6 Video Lessons Now available as a self-study class
Create a beautiful floral diptych with Fred Lisaius!
Seattle artist Fred Lisaius is known for his stunning, unique floral paintings. Luckily for us, he’s a very generous artist and is happy to share his acrylic techniques with us!
Fred writes: Acrylics paints are beautiful. The medium is creamy, colorful, and very versatile. This class is designed to introduce beginners to this beautiful medium and to excite more advanced students with new information and techniques. I look forward to painting with you! Class Itinerary Lesson 1: Overview of Supplies; Design your Diptych Lesson 2: Squeegee & Brayered Underpainting Lesson 3: Masking Techniques Lesson 4: Paint the Flowers Lesson 5: Finishing the Flowers Lesson 6: Preparing the paintings for display
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Supplies Needed: https://www.carlasonheim.com/acrylics-painting-flowers-supply-list/
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• A password-protected blog serves as our clubhouse; there you will find all of the lesson videos and class materials. This class is now a self-study class, so all of the lessons are available to you when you sign up and you can move through the material at your own pace. (Since it was originally in a blog format, you will find the lessons in reverse chronological order… just scroll down for the earlier lessons.)
• A Facebook group has been created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Fred is always available to look at your work via email.)
• You have indefinite access to the class materials. • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours with the links to the class blog and Facebook group.
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? carla[at]carlasonheim.com FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our classes, click HERE.
Fred Lisaius is a painter, sculptor, and a popular art teacher at Bellevue College, WA (“Fred is perfect!”). Fred is represented by the Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle, and his work is in many private and corporate collections. Fred recently had a show at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum. From his statement: The deeper I go into the forest the closer I feel to the truth. Off of the trail, there is a quiet calm where ideas can be contemplated and refined. In my paintings and my sculptures, I utilize the forum of nature to explore our relationship to the natural world and to each other.
Cats! Three-Lesson Class with Carla Sonheim Drawing, Watercolor, Mixed Media • $25
Now available as a self-study class.
A 3-Lesson, “bite-sized” Lunch Hour Art class!!
* * *
Cat lovers unite!
In this drawing and painting class you will become the cat lady (or gentleman!) you never-wanted-but-secretly-DO-want to be, with cats, cats, and more cats in your home and sketchbooks.
We will create a menagerie of imaginary cats with watercolors, markers, acrylics, and fabric! Each lesson includes a short drawing assignment and a main mixed-media lesson. Watching cat videos optional.
Join me!
(Of course dog lovers are welcome to join, too! I’m working on a “dog” class for Fall 2015.)
Your itinerary:
Lesson 1: Watercolor & Imagination layered watercolor cat “blob” paintings & a gaggle of kitties from imagination
Tuesday, June 16th
Lesson 2: Markers & Life loose, expressive cats and drawing from photos and life
Wednesday, June 17th
Lesson 3: Acrylics & Fabric the quickest acrylic paintings you’ll ever make, and a “bonus” cat pillow lesson
Friday, June 19th
* * *
Join this fun class today! Now available as a self-study class.
Questions?
I’m happy to answer any questions! Please email me at carla[at]carlasonheim.com and I’ll get right back to you!
Supplies?
For this class you will need watercolors, water soluble markers, watercolor paper, white or cream acrylic paint, white paint pen, watercolor paper and a #12 round brush. Pillow supplies: printer, Fabric Inkjet Sheets, sewing machine, fabric scraps.
This class is about exploring your Do-o-dling!
Doodle your way into a big painting!
Doodling is really just mark making… marks that happen when you are otherwise occupied.
These marks that flow from you naturally while you are doodling can be an expression of your style, like your handwriting. In this class we will look at our doodles as resources; treasures from which we can create full-sized paintings.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a doodler, the exercises and techniques in this class will give you a fun way to tap into your personal style. We will:
– Dig for treasure/doodle
– Observe & Arrange & Study
– Make folded books for doodle-ready surfaces
– Copy your images with hand/eye coordination
– Scan & enlarge your doodles
– Add color combinations with colored pencil & acrylic paint
– Create compositional grid paintings, and
– Create a Large Do-o-dle Painting!!
I hope you will join me!
Buckets of Joy,
Diane Culhane * * * * * * * * * * *
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THIS CLASS: For the Supply List, click HERE. * * * * * * * * * * * NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• A password-protected blog serves as our clubhouse; there you will find all of the lesson videos and class materials. This class is now a self-study class, so all of the lessons are available to you when you sign up and you can move through the material at your own pace. (Since it was originally in a blog format, you will find the lessons in reverse chronological order… just scroll down for the earlier lessons.)
• A Facebook group has been created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Diane is always available to look at your work via email.)
• You have indefinite access to the class materials.
• Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours with the links to the class blog and Facebook group.
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? carla[at]carlasonheim.com FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our classes, click HERE. * * * * * * * * * * * SIGN UP TODAY!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Diane Culhane is a professional artist and art educator who lives West Seattle in a 1910 home, and works out of her studio in Ballard Building C. She received her BFA from the University of Utah and Master’s Degree from Seattle University.
Diane has taught for The Bellevue School District, Seattle Pacific University, Kirkland Arts Center, Bellevue Arts Museum and currently directs and owns Kelsey Creek Fine Art School for children in the summer.
Visit her website at: www.dianeculhaneart.com
Flower Crazy Mini
Instructor: Carla Sonheim
3 Lessons
Now available as a self-study class.
Hi! It might be cold and rainy in my neck of the woods, but NOT here inside my studio! Here we have imaginary flowers!
Take the cold weather into your own hands with gesso, watercolor, and a healthy dose of flower fun… join me for this “mini” session (re-edited) of my longer painting class “Flower Crazy.”
In this three-lesson mini class we will create a greenhouse of imaginary flowers while working with watercolors, markers, colored pencils, white ink, white gesso and pencil on watercolor paper.
Blobimal Artist Books
Instructor: Carla Sonheim
5-Lesson Repeat Class (with bonus 6th lesson) • $35 Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media Now available as a self-study class.
BLOBIMAL ARTIST BOOKS In this class we will construct three small artist books, with “found” animals as our main subject matter.
The irregularly shaped pages of each of the three books will be constructed so that artwork from the subsequent and following pages will be peeking through… like a puzzle!
In Book #1 Well start with layers of watercolor and then add layers of colored pencil, marker, ink, and more to create unique “blobimals” (“blobs” + “animals”) found only in your imagination.
In Book #2 we’ll combine collage and drawing by collaging your “blob” shapes and then finishing your artist book with ink, white gesso, black paint, and a white paint pen (that’s it).
In Book #3 we’ll combine collage, drawing, and words to create a story…
And for this repeat session, you’ll create a bonus “mini book” in the new 6th lesson.
This is one of my favorite “live” classes to teach, and I’m excited to bring this class to you in online form! Note: This class originally ran as an intensive one-week class in the summer of 2013. This session we are running it over a two-week period and adding a sixth “bonus” lesson.
* * *
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THIS CLASS: For the Supply List, click HERE.
* * *
CLASS OUTLINE Lesson 1: Watercolor Beginnings Lesson 2: Bind Three Books Lesson 3: Book #1: Blobimals Mixed-Media Lesson 4: Book #2: Collage + Drawing Lesson 5: Book #3: Story Lesson 6: Bonus Mini Book
* * *
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• Each M-W-F you will receive an email from me with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, I am always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download indefinitely if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our e-workshops, click HERE.
========================
Register today! ____________________ SIGN UP TODAY! ____________________
Junk Mail Artist’s Book
Instructor: Carla Sonheim
5-Lesson Repeat Class (with bonus 6th lesson) • $35 Drawing, Painting, Mixed Media Now available as a self-study class.
*************
JUNK MAIL ARTIST’S BOOK
This is a mixed-media-junkie’s dream project! Junk mail combined with gesso, watercolor, a little swirly technique here, some packing tape there, creates beautiful and complicated textures that you can use as backgrounds for any mixed media projects you currently have going.
In this class we’ll use our pages to create an irregularly shaped book. Then, we’ll DRAW! You will begin a drawing on one spread, with the goal of having each image connect to and work with the images from other spreads. The drawing exercises throughout the week will build up to you being able to see more creatively and embrace the “puzzle” nature of this beautiful artist’s book.
Take this class if you love textures, layers, and everything mixed media. This one is just FUN! Note: This class originally ran as an intensive one-week class in the summer of 2011. This session we are running it over a two-week period and adding a sixth “bonus” lesson.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – SUPPLIES
For the Supply List, click HERE.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – CLASS ITINERARY
Lesson 1: One-Liners & Gesso on Junk Mail
Lesson 2: Watercolors & Rub ‘n Buff
Lesson 3: Flow Exercise & Building Your Book
Lesson 4: Drawing! & More Gesso Lesson 5: Final Details
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• Each M-W-F you will receive an email from me with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, I am always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download indefinitely if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our e-workshops, click HERE.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – “The Joy of Mixed-Media Assemblage” Instructor: Lynn Whipple
Mixed-Media, Collage, 3D
2-Week Class; 6 Lessons Total Now available as a self-study class.
Hello and a great big GigAntic welcome to the JOy of Mixed Media Assemblage!!
Working with found objects inside a boX!
What could be more fun than combining all of our favorite things and working within a box format?? Mixed-Media Assemblage allows us to explore collage, drawing, altering photos, painting, altered found objects, storytelling, composition and more!
I would be thrilled to share with yOu all the techniques, tricks and tips that I have learned working in assemblage. It is so much fun… from finding the perfect box to laying down and collaging a background to altering photos and found objects, to attaching and gluing and to special little ways I have developed to make your work finished, framed and ready to hang on the wall.
This class is all about yOU, and using your voice to make things that make your heart sing! You will play the “pieces-parts” game, which is fantastic way of seeing how many fresh combinations that you can come up with. If you have a fabulous stash of found objects and old photos, this is the perfect project, if you need more, its a great excuse to go “on the hunt!” We will work with “found” boxes and/or cradled wood panels.
Please join us for an artistic, mixed-media romp chock full of encouragement, learning, sharing, play, imagination, exploration and most of all fun!
xoxo Lynn
The hunt for boxes is always fun, find some additional pieces and parts while you are at it!
Lesson 2: Design Your Piece
Here is where we begin to play with your pieces and parts and make fresh combinations.
Lesson 3: Collage Your Background
Great way to begin a piece using time tested collage techniques for gluing and aging.
Lesson 4: Altering Pieces & Parts
Time to make it your own by altering elements and making things work. Storytelling will take place at this stage as well.
Lesson 5: Gluing & Final Touches
Let’s tweak all the little things and glue everything in place, an important step.
Lesson 6: Presentation
Let’s give it the big finish! Time to wire the back and hang your work on the wall! Adding plexiglass will finish everything and make all you do look fantastic.
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• Each M-W-F you will receive an email from Lynn with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Lynn is always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download for one year if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Wednesday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our e-workshops, click HERE.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – SIGN UP TODAY!
Lynn Whipple writes, “I am deeply grateful to live my life as an artist. Play and discovery are my dearest and most constant companions. There are a zillion tiny challenges in each art making experience, and so often I find, just as many small, sweet victories. Without a doubt, living creatively is the most enjoyable and satisfying game I know.”
Lynn shares a warehouse studio with her husband, John Whipple, in Winter Park, Florida. Lynn’s work includes found-object mixed-media assemblages; found images altered with a combination of drawing, painting, sewing and more; and her well-known Ninny Boxes, collages combined with found objects, and assembled within a box format. Her unique pieces have a playful, quirky, and often absurd, charm.
Lynn explains: “I allow myself to play and let my pieces reveal themselves to me…I have been fascinated by old books, history, and odd bits of memorabilia. I find the things that interest me the most are slightly absurd…My hope is to create something real and somehow poetic but not commonplace. My goal is to keep communicating in my language.”
Lynn’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Visit Lynn’s website at www.lynnwhipple.com and her etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/lynnwhipple
Gelli® Plate Printmaking
Instructor: Carla Sonheim 3 Lessons Now available as a self-study class.
* * * The monotype printing process is something that got me really excited about art over 20 years ago. You never know what you’re going to get, and I love the myriad of textures and patterns!
The new, inexpensive product called “Gelli Plate” allows you to create beautiful monotypes without a press, using materials anyone has in their studio.
When I posted these online recently, artist Christine Phelps asked: “These really take the Gelli Plate from a crafting to fine art level! Do you have a class brewing?”
Yes! “Gelli Plate Printmaking” is a quick, technique-based, $25 class and includes three professionally produced videos demonstrating how to achieve beautiful results with minimal supplies.
What you need is:
— a Gelli Plate (a product by Gelli Arts that looks and feels like gelatin)
— a brayer
— acrylic paint
— scissors
— paper
One student wrote:
“Wow!! I’ve done monotype printing before and even played a bit on the gelli plate, but this was game changing!”
Warning: Gel printing is addictive!
(Note: Gelli® Plate Printmaking has indefinite access, which means the videos and class materials will be up and available to you “forever.”)
————————-
Sign up today!
Gelli® Plate Plus
with Carla Sonheim
One-Week, 3-Lesson Class • $25 Monotype Printmaking, Mixed Media
Now available as a self-study class.
I love working with my Gelli Plate to create unique abstracted landscapes, the process of which I teach in the Introductory Class (details here). In “Gelli Plate Plus,” we’ll learn two new monotype printmaking techniques (painting on the plate and “carving” transparent layers).
In addition, we’ll go through some old “almost-there” work one-by-one to determine exactly what they need to become a unique, finished piece of art. (Printmaking has a high “failure” rate, but there are lots of ways to save them!)
We’ll add animals, people, and more with watercolor, gesso, pencil, marker, colored pencil, charcoal, and collage! Join Today! One-week, 3-video class begins September 8, 2014.
a Gelli Plate (a product by Gelli Arts that looks and feels like gelatin), any size (I will be using an 8″x10″ size)
Two brayers (I like the 4″ size) (Can also just use one brayer, but I will demo with two)
Red, blue, yellow, black, white OPEN acrylic paint. (Alternatively, you can get a medium that extends the drying time of your regular acrylic paints)
Gel medium
small amount of white gesso (I prefer Golden)
small set of watercolors (cake or tube is fine)
a selection of paint brushes
Scissors, glue stick, collage
mechanical pencil, black ballpoint pen
small set of colored pencils
water soluble and/or permanent markers
Soft Vine Charcoal
spray fixative
small set of pastels (I like PanPastels)
Eight c. 7″x10″ sheets of 140# hot press watercolor paper (or similar)
Leftover prints from previous classes
NOTE: Though it is recommended, you do not need to have taken “Gelli Plate Printmaking” to take this class. However you will need at least four started gelli prints to work into with mixed media, preferably on #140 pound watercolor paper (or similar).
Note: This class has “forever” access; once you sign up, you will have access to the class materials indefinitely. Thanks!
“Crazy Bird” watercolor, pastel and crayon on cut paper.
Here is a short tutorial of the “Crazy Birds” project that I taught 5th graders in Beijing, China! The video shows only marker, pen, and pencil, but you can modify it with any media you like, as I’ve done in the sample above.
Crazy Birds Tutorial from Silly U on Vimeo.
(If you have trouble viewing it through this blog, click the direct link here: http://vimeo.com/96276667)
___________________
CRAZY BIRDS
Supplies Needed:
– Four pieces of watercolor paper, about 5″x5″ or 6″x6″ square
– Four mark-making tools, such as pens, markers, watercolors, pastels, crayons
– scissors
– glue stick
Here are the steps:
STEP 1
Using two sheets of paper, draw a loose flower shape on one and a loose circle shape on the other. Use 2-4 different media. Work fast and loose!
STEP 2
Cut the flower and the circle papers into four equal pieces. Then, using another paper as a ground, arrange the pieces to create the beginning of a bird shape. Glue in place. Repeat if desired.
STEP 3
“Finish” the birds already started using the same combination of media used in Step 1.
This is a great project for anyone because it’s hard to go wrong! Please feel free to share with your friends, in your child’s classroom, etc. And send me some Crazy Birds!
“The Joy of Collage” with Lynn Whipple from Silly U on Vimeo. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“The Joy of Collage”
Mixed-Media, Collage
2-Week Class; 6 Lessons Total This class is now available as a self-study class.
A great BIG Welcome to the Joy of Collage!
I would be honored to share with you all of my favorite collage techniques as well as a handful of time-tested special tricks for making a great finished work of art. My greatest hope is that you will have fun and enjoy the process.
We will explore great ways to create fresh collages with a focus on building a story and surface. I will show you how to age your collage for a unifying look and we will incorporate drawing, painting, smudging, stamping and a little poetic thing I like to call … dot dot dot.
My overall philosophy is one of freedom, play, exploration and most of all FUN!!!!!! This class is all about YOU, and using your voice to make the things that make your heart sing!
One of my favorite things in my in-person workshops is the show-and-tell and positive feedback session at the end of each class. I love hearing what each artist has to say about what they learned and how their pieces developed! Happy accidents and revelations are the best! I am so glad we will be able to learn from each other this way in this online format.
xoxo lynn
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SUPPLIES
For the Supply List, click HERE. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
CLASS ITINERARY
You will complete two collage paintings. Lesson 1: Glue & Trust
My “go to” gluing technique. This “wet” way of putting down our papers is what I use every day. This is where we play fast and loose with your found images and papers! Let ’em fly! Lesson 2: Aging & Editing with Paint
We will take acrylic paint and water it down to make a wash and quickly cover your page, then wipe it off, leaving just the amount that feels right to you! It will shift the color slightly and give it beautiful antique feeling. Next, we will cover up some of our image and collage with acrylic paint. We can totally create new shapes and play with composition here…..this is where Ninnies were born!! Lesson 3: Smudging & Words
My favorite thing is to use a #3 pencil and go over the great layers that may now be covered with paint, an amazing, yet subtle thing happens and you start to move things forward and backwards. Then we will chose a few choice words that are a great graphic design element as well as a storytelling tool. Lesson 4: Dot Dot Dot
OH YEAH!! now to the dot dot dot tool!! It is a simple sewing wheel used in marking patterns, when rolled in paint, makes a lovely poetic line that really gives a detail that will pull your viewer in. Lesson 5: Begin Second Collage Painting
We’ll begin a second collage piece using the same techniques but taking it in a totally different direction. Lesson 6: The Finish!
We’ll finish up our second collage and spend a few moments talking about finishing your work so it is ready to hang. Sometimes something as simple as detail to the edges of a piece will give it a framed feeling that looks great!
NUTS & BOLTS
Here’s how this online class works:
• Each M-W-F you will receive an email from Lynn with a reminder to visit the class blog for that day’s lesson.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to each class will serve as our clubhouse and where you will find all the class materials as they are uploaded.
• A facebook group will be created for you to (optionally) share your paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Lynn is always available to look at your work via email.)
• The class materials will be up and available for download until “forever,” if for some reason you need to miss a day (or a couple of weeks). • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Wednesday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
• Class fee is good for participants living in a single household.
QUESTIONS? [email protected] FAQs – If you’ve never taken an online class before and would like to know more about our e-workshops, click HERE. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – SIGN UP TODAY!
Lynn Whipple writes, “I am deeply grateful to live my life as an artist. Play and discovery are my dearest and most constant companions. There are a zillion tiny challenges in each art making experience, and so often I find, just as many small, sweet victories. Without a doubt, living creatively is the most enjoyable and satisfying game I know.”
Lynn shares a warehouse studio with her husband, John Whipple, in Winter Park, Florida. Lynn’s work includes found-object mixed-media assemblages; found images altered with a combination of drawing, painting, sewing and more; and her well-known Ninny Boxes, collages combined with found objects, and assembled within a box format. Her unique pieces have a playful, quirky, and often absurd, charm.
Lynn explains: “I allow myself to play and let my pieces reveal themselves to me…I have been fascinated by old books, history, and odd bits of memorabilia. I find the things that interest me the most are slightly absurd…My hope is to create something real and somehow poetic but not commonplace. My goal is to keep communicating in my language.”
Lynn’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States. Visit Lynn’s website at www.lynnwhipple.com and her etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/lynnwhipple
One-Week Introductory Class Printmaking with the Gelli Plate Now available as a self-study class.
* * * The monotype printing process is something that got me really excited about art over 20 years ago. You never know what you’re going to get, and I love the myriad of textures and patterns!
The new, inexpensive product called “Gelli Plate” allows you to create beautiful monotypes without a press, using materials anyone has in their studio.
When I posted these online recently, artist Christine Phelps asked: “These really take the Gelli Plate from a crafting to fine art level! Do you have a class brewing?”
Yes! “Gelli Plate Printmaking” is a quick, technique-based, $25 class and includes three professionally produced videos demonstrating how to achieve beautiful results with minimal supplies.
What you need is:
— a Gelli Plate (a product by Gelli Arts that looks and feels like gelatin)
— a brayer
— acrylic paint
— scissors
— paper
One student wrote:
“Wow!! I’ve done monotype printing before and even played a bit on the gelli plate, but this was game changing!”
Warning: Gel printing is addictive!
(Note: Gelli Plate Printmaking has indefinite access, which means the videos and class materials will be up and available to you “forever.”)
————————-
Sign up today!
Now available as a self-study class. ________________________________________
Diane Culhane’s Online Class: Table Top Drawing & Painting (via Carla Sonheim) from Silly U on Vimeo.
Hi, my name is Diane Culhane.
“Table Top” is a term I have created to explore the traditional “Still Lifes” within our contemporary lives. Joining the definition of still life: a visual fine art term, representational painting or drawing of inanimate objects, such as fruits, flowers, etc. “Table Tops” will echo the same type of inanimate objects.
Inside of this class, the foundation will be set based on fabulous old master’s still life paintings, such as; cubist painter Paul Cezanne, Pierre Bonnard, and Matisse.
Students – you – will transform your experience with the tradition of still life, practiced by many throughout the ages, into something uniquely all your own, changed by imaginative approaches via various innovative approaches in this class.
Starting with drawing, during a dining experience, ending up with acrylic painting. Line will be deeply explored and color of prismacolor pencils too on to various surfaces.
See. Experience.Draw.Color.Paint.
get ready get ready get ready.
HOW THIS ONLINE CLASS WORKS
• Each M-W-F you’ll wake up to a morning peptalk email with links to your demonstration video and drawing or painting assignment. Tuesdays and Thursdays are “work/comment” days. Weekends are off.
• A password-protected blog dedicated to your class will be the meeting place for the above.
• A flickr group will be created for this class so you can (optionally) share your drawings, paintings, and enjoy and learn from the artwork of others. (However, if you are shy about posting your art, Diane is always available to look at your work privately via email.)
• Class material great for both kids and adults (class fee is good for participants living in a single household).
• The class materials will be up and available for one year after your class purchase. • Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. The week before your workshop begins, you will receive a “test” email to make sure you can receive/view everything.
• What you will need: You will need to be able to view videos via vimeo.
CLASS OUTLINE Lesson 1: Gathering Together/Dining Start the class by drawing your dining experience. Will talk about line quality, perspective, editing, and more. Lesson 2: Table Top/Basket, Bowl, Fruit Playing with and understanding color choices; composition; Prismacolors on black substrate Lesson 3: Table Tops/Glass Bottles Will move to transparent bottles of various shapes, sizes, colors; Prismacolors on vellum Lesson 4: Glazing Glaze with acrylic paints and gel mediums on watercolor paper Lessons 5 & 6: Table Top Acrylic Paintings Layering from bottom to top with acrylics paints and light molding paste; wood and/or canvas.
* * *
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR Diane Culhane is a professional artist and art educator who lives West Seattle in a 1910 home, and works out of her studio in Ballard Building C. She received her BFA from the University of Utah and Master’s Degree from Seattle University. Diane has taught for The Bellevue School District, Seattle Pacific University, Kirkland Arts Center, Bellevue Arts Museum and currently directs and owns Kelsey Creek Fine Art School for children in the summer. Visit her website at: www.dianeculhaneart.com.
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SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THIS CLASS
– basket, bowl, tablecloth, fruit, bottles
– black tag board or black construction paper
– Prismacolor colored pencils: set of 12 or 24 (Diane recommends “Premier Soft Core Colored Pencils“)
– pencils — soft 2B-6B
– ball point pen, vellum paper
– gessoed watercolor paper – 6″x6″
– gel media gloss
– 2 canvases – small sizes 8″ x 8″ , or wood panels ,
– Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel
– Golden Light Molding Paste
– fluid acrylic paints, such as Golden, Liquitex, or Daniel Smith (red, yellow, blue, white)
– sketchbook, pens – Diane loves to use Micron archival ink sizes 03, 05, 08.
– two flat brushes; one medium and one small
– a fan brush and a liner brush
Welcome to the THIRD Annual Online Summer Art Camp!
This year I am excited to present new classes taught by Diane Culhane, Steve Sonheim, Krista Peel, and myself.
• Workshops in Photography, Drawing, Painting, and Mixed-Media
• Each week-long class consists of five instructional videos
• Classes designed so that you can spend between 1-3 hours per day
• Class content will remain online indefinitely
• Instructor feedback
• Each class will have its own flickr group to share images of your artwork
• NEW! A single facebook group page for the entire camp (so you can see what those in other sessions have been working on, too!).
• Class fee good for participants living in a single household
• Prizes? Of course!
• EARLY SIGN-UP BONUS! The first 100 people to sign up will receive 8 printable PDF greeting cards featuring two images from each of the four instructors.
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Click the images below for class descriptions and to sign up!
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Karine Swenson grew up just outside of a town called Rapid City, South Dakota in the Black Hills. The closest neighbor was a mile away. Reared in this environment, Swenson’s connection with the natural world was strong. After receiving her BA in painting from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she moved to Colorado. She has spent most of her life in small towns that sit right next to the last remaining bits of wilderness. From the mountains of Colorado, the ocean surrounding Maui, Hawaii, the desert near Joshua Tree, California, and now Santa Fe, NM, she feels the most at home out in nature. In the studio, her second home, she can explore her relationship with the natural world. Her oil paintings are reflections of this relationship. Swenson has been a full time artist for the past ten years.
• Upon registration, you will receive an email within 48 hours confirming your sign-up. On the Friday before your session begins, you will receive your class codes and a “test” video to make sure you can receive/view everything (if you can view the above video, you should be able to view the class videos).
Diane Culhane is a professional artist and art educator who lives West Seattle in a 1910 home, and works out of her studio in Ballard Building C. She received her BFA from the University of Utah and Master’s Degree from Seattle University.
