My Mixed Media Intensive class kicked off today so for the next 6 weeks, every Tuesday a great group of ladies will be applying the skills they have learned in the past classes and creating a body of work. This thrills me because nothing pleases me more than seeing artists find their voices, discover techniques they love, and create a cohesive series that shows their confidence and growth off.
One of the things I had them try out today was using pipe insulation to wrap around their brushes for a much looser, painterly touch. The experience was good to show the difference in a controlled brushstroke compared with a looser one. I love the loose touch, especially for the beginning layers in a piece and I think they understood the value of the hand position shift as well.
The heat was pretty oppressive today so as I sat down with my journal my thoughts turned to lemonade. I didn't have any, but I did have my lovely Lorina bottles so I chose the one filled with Pantone's color of the year, Emerald Green, to sketch. I wanted to stay loose, so I quickly sketched within a 2 min time frame each bottle with a Neocolor II crayon and then added water. I also wanted to try out my Valspar paint samples from Lowe's and I have to admit, I LOVE THIS PAINT! It is satin, goes on relatively flat, and my Chartpak Ad Markers glide over the paint like butter, as do the Neocolors and Golden Fluids. I may never use little, cheap acrylic paints again because for 3 bucks, this size and quality of paint can't be beat.
This was the page I worked on.
I created a color swatch sample on my page to give myself a guide of color choice and used a limited palette of blue/green and pink/magenta. The tiny hints of red are juicy tidbits. This page was fun to do, no brooding ideas, no attempt to capture perfection, just a few minutes sketching and moving paint, while enjoying the beauty of this bottle and the thoughts of a great glass of French Limonade.
Today was filled with beautiful people and art, two of my favorite things on the planet.
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