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Category Archives: Students Work

Conveying Impressions

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Medium, definition: the material or form used by an artist; the intervening substance through which impressions are conveyed to the senses; a liquid (e.g., oil or water) with which pigments are mixed to make paint; a means by which something is communicated or expressed (that fits, right?)

And we have been on a journey exploring different mediums this year and having such fun. All the art theory applies, it’s just learning to use the medium that is the excitement. It’s how we are exploring, gaining knowledge and learning to apply the art experience we already have to a different medium.

We started the year with our usual favorite, acrylics, but exploring how to create a mist or fog effect with our paints using glazes and layers. And they turned out very foggy just as we wanted.

Tree-in-fog-web

Tree in the Fog, Liz Miller CDA

Tree in Fog, Pat, Donna, AnitaNext we have been playing with colored pencil this month, first with a House Finch design of mine House Finchand now each student has chosen a design they would like to create with assistance from me. I can’t wait to see the results. Again we are stretching our knowledge and learning to work with a new medium for most of us. What fun! I’m getting comments from students saying that they love colored pencils.

 

Italian Sailboat pastel

Italian Sailboat, Liz Miller CDA design

Next month we’ll continue our explorations of pastels which some of the students have sampled and enjoyed. We worked on Kay Witt’s awesome fox and our creations were also wonderful and exciting. I’ve just finishes an Italian Sailboat design that I think was lots of fun. We’ll start work on that on March 6. 

Plan to join us on our mediums explorations and exercise your mind. We have more acrylic and watercolor classes coming up! Keep watching the schedule.

Looking At Classes Past

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We’ve had a great year of painting and friendships at Artful Endeavors this past year. It’s been fun to look back at some of our accomplishments.

Enjoy. And get ready for more exciting painting in 2017.

Looking Back

Gallery

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I’ve been looking back at some of the photos of our past ArtFlings with Gail Schmidt and myself.  We had lots of fun and played with lots of different techniques and products. You can see some of our past adventures in our photos.

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Gail is now working with enamels and creating jewelry which does not travel well and is not practical for a painting workshop. However you can see her wonderful jewelry creations at Shabby Cottage Adorned, and on Face book.

Shabby Cottage Adorned

Shabby Cottage Adorned

To-Do List

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The first of the year is a time for me to check my to-do list to see what ideas first  inspire me for my upcoming art work.  Some ideas sit on the list for awhile until the time comes when it just seems to stand out and say “it’s my turn now”.  It’s so much fun to look back at my lists. Some ideas are instantly inspiring and some ideas make me wonder what I meant by that.  I’m dragging out my list this month so stay tuned to see what’s coming up.

Our classes have their to-do lists also. Some ideas stay exciting and some fall by the way side. Here are a few ideas on our list for this winter:
more batik, I have lots of Kathie George’s patterns to chose from

Tjap

Tjap

more Tjaps

Sherri Nelson wren

another skyscape

Pet portraits

My Annie

My Annie

more watercolor!!!

playing with colored pencils

paint your own landscape from your photo

Landscape reference photo

Landscape reference photo

Kathie George’s rooster with pastel pencil over watercolor, or maybe another subject, same technique

Rooster Liz MIller CDA

Rooster Liz MIller CDA

Portraits!

Tom's Mom

Tom’s Mom

 

 

 

 

Wow, I’m excited with all the possibilities for this year. Plan to join us.

Flock of Chickadees

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Once a month our students want to work on watercolor skills. We started with specific techniques, not necessarily something to frame but to learn and prepare ourselves to take our upcoming watercolor workshops. And we have all greatly improved and are pleased with our growing skills.  The students are requiring me to learn more just to stay ahead of them and I’m enjoying the journey.

Our latest project was a Black Capped Chickadee in the style I learned from Susan Crouch. I was pleased with my painting and very pleased with my student’s efforts.

So from a proud teacher here are the student’s paintings.

Black Capped Chickadee, Artful Endeavors Students

Black Capped Chickadee

Stretching

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My students and I have been looking through old painting journals and books for projects to add to our fall schedule. I found a beautiful Jackie Shaw ribbon and mistletoe design in a Dec 2000 issue of Decorative Artist Workbook, some of you will remember them. It was a wonderful magazine back then and actually one of my first introductions to decorative painting back in the 1980’s. Anyway, back to the ribbon design.

web-Snow-kids-groupWhen I showed the design to the students the first reaction was “how beautiful”. When I asked if they would like to paint the design on an ornament, the next reaction was “it’s ribbon!!, oh, no! I can’t paint ribbon! It’s so difficult.”  “Well,” I said, “that’s the very reason that we need to paint this design then.”

web-Winter-ChickadeesStudents take painting classes to learn, to grow, and to stretch. Classes aren’t needed to paint something that you already know how to paint. There’s always something new to learn, something new to get excited about.  So let’s get uncomfortable, let’s stretch our skills. Let’s enjoy learning.

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