Color

This weeks class was all about color another one of the elements of design.   I encourage my students to make color studies and make a color plan for their paintings.  We used the color wheel to pick our colors.  I forgot to take photos so check back next week for class photos.  Here are some photos of my color studies for paintings that I am working on:

Class has Started - Artful Gathering Online Color Workshop

A really cool thing about the Artful Gathering Online Retreat is that you can take several workshops at the same time over a six week period.  Since I have always admired Pam Carriker’s art, I signed up for her online workshop, Still Pursuing Portraits and she is taking my workshop, The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color.  We are having a great time sharing what we know!  I love Pam’s style of teaching.  She has taken away the fear of drawing a face and broken it down into easy to follow steps.  I am so excite and looking forward to drawing some portraits today!

My class, The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color, has started!  So far, the chatter in the classroom has been very fun.  Here are a few things that the students are saying:

Melissa says "I am really excited, I have learned so much from your other tutorials, I've been impatient to start!!!"

Susan says “One advantage of being in Europe is that we're already awake when the workshop is posted ;-)  I've been waiting for this for ages and am really looking forward to getting started."

Gina says “I’m very excited about this class as well! Any excuse diving into watercolor paints and learning more about color."

Pam Carriker says, “I finished making my little color book using my Bind It All and some matt board for the covers. I filled my palette, had to clean out my gouache paints and fill them with watercolors since I already had this palette. Now on to color wheels and my first page:-)”

A Color Study Example

My workshop is about learning the properties of the paints you use, proper mixing techniques and how to use the color wheel to make different color schemes to use in your paintings. You will feel confident in your color choices and learn how not to get muddy color mixes.  

There is still time to sign up and join the fun!  I hope you find time to add art to your daily life in one way or another.

Little Color Studies

I have been finalizing my palette colors for my trip to Provence, France.  I thought I would use my color wheel and do some quick, small color studies to see if I am loving the watercolors on my travel palette.  Here are two that I worked on today.

I have to record the colors that I use because I will forget what they were.  This is a good way to make a record of your favorite color combination.  Why not start a little notebook to keep your studies in.

Lots to learn about Color!

Ingrid making a beautiful color study

Kim showing her book with her painted cover

Comparing books

More color studies

It has been a couple busy weeks teaching classes and trying to keep up on the holiday hoopla around the house.  Needless to say, my house doesn't look at all xmas-y yet as my priorities are always with my classes.  Friday I finished teaching The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color Class and everyone left with a beautiful spiral bound book full of color studies.

Getting Ready to Teach "The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color" Class

I always enjoy getting ready for this upcoming class starting on Friday at Bend, Oregon's Art's Central.  Students will be doing lots of color studies as well as learning how to use the color wheel to help them create beautifully colored paintings.  One of my favorite parts is teaching how the temperature of colors (either warm or cool) can greatly affect the color mixes.  By the end of the class we will put our color studies in a little spiral bound book, a perfect reference for taking to future classes.  There is still room in this class if you would like to sign up.  Just sign up on line with the Art Station.  Here are some photos from previous classes: