Are we tired of pears yet?

Well, here's a few more still life studies. These pears got quite a workout. I finally had to retire them. As far as fruit goes, they lasted me a long time. I suppose I could have named them, though I didn't treat them very well. I had a few rolling off the counter incidents! LOL! Here's a few basic step by steps. Sketch it out, block it in, then refine with the details. Happy painting!!!

Saturday's Class....

What a great class this Saturday! First, I want you to meet Barbara and Shaela who agreed to be photographed for the blog. You can see for yourself the great job they're doing on their paintings. Barbara usually paints in watercolor (I'm sure she could teach me a thing or two!!) and Shaela used to paint when she was young and thought it would be fun to get back into it. These girls took to this method super quick and were great fun to work with. Thanks for the fun class! Happy Painting!!!

Steeper Mountains...

Here's an example of some classic Bob Ross mountains with a steeper slope. For taller-steeper mountains, just change the angle that you pull the palette knife down. Make them more vertical. You can do this!!!! For those of you in Kentucky.... I'll be home soon and will be taking "official" sign-ups for my first class on April 23rd. Check out my website for class dates. I can't wait to see everyone soon!!!! Happy Painting!

www.happytreesstudio.com

More mail art!

I just received more mail art this week!! Aren't these cool! Thank you Erika, Jen, & Aubrey! I have to say that's it's really cool to go the the mailbox and have this waiting for me there!

On another note, my daughter is getting married this year. (I can't believe I'm that old!!) I've been looking at Somerset Studio, Legacy etc for ideas for the invitations. I'm in charge of making them. We're looking at about 150 + so far. If any of you have any other places/websites that may have some ideas for me, please feel free to share. I could use the help!

School Work...

Well, as I've mentioned before school is back in session for me. My last assignment just got posted. This is a still life class, so we're reviewing drawing techniques and going over the basic principles of good still lifes. I thought I would share a bit about how I work. Usually I start out with some thumbnails (the sketches) moving my subjects around a bit, looking for the best set up. I then sketch (with paint) on the canvas and complete the final painting from there. The top two thumbnail sketches have/are (see painting above) going to be paintings for assignments. I liked the perspective with the pears inside the bowl (photo posted) and I liked the way the shadows looked on the sketch with the banana. Drawing them out really fast like this, helps me to see what will work and what won't. Happy painting everyone!!!

Mail Art!!

I just love this mail art group that I've joined. Here are a couple of works of art I've recently received. There is something so cool about getting these little treasures in the mail instead of my usual bills!!! Thanks everyone!!!

Blogging is a small world!!!

On Saturday, I got to be a part of Nuts About The Von Liebig. It's sort of a "family day" with many cool things for kids and families to be a part of and it was free!! I was there doing some painting demonstrations. I have to tell you, it was so fun! I met some wonderful adults and kids and believe it or not a fellow blogger! Yep! I follow Mary Sheehan Winn's blog and she stopped by and recognized me! What are the odds! Mary is a member of the Fresh Daily painters and her work is just beautiful! You'll have to stop by and check out her blog. Mary thanks for stopping by to introduce yourself!

If you're wondering what the buttons are all about, I met some very cute "future artists" at family day. These girls made me a button to help remember my fun day. The kids on Saturday were just a riot. One youngster, while waiting in line to get his face painted, was watching me paint. I had just started blocking in my mountains with the palette knife. I asked him if he thought my mountains were any good. He thought about it a moment (probably deciding if he should tell the truth or not) and said no! LOL! It was so funny! I told him I would have to work on them! (Too bad I don't have him around to critique all of my work!! Ha!)

To check out Mary Sheehan Winn's Blog go to: www.marysheehanwinn.blogspot.com

The painting in today's photo is what we'll be doing in class at the Von Liebig Art Center on Saturday 2/12/2011.