Weekly Art Sessions

Hi, and welcome to my blog:

I have been in Florida for the last month and just returned a couple of days ago - we had a wonderful time, but it was a shock to come back to this cool weather!

Now that my vacation is over, I am ready to get back into painting.

Our winter art sessions finished on February 20, and I have several interesting projects to show you.

The first piece was designed by Sherry Nelson, and can be found in her book Painting Garden Birds. Sherry's instructions are for oil paint. Sue decided to convert this piece to coloured pencils, and she completed it on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. When she finished the pic she sprayed it a few times, then added some blue oil paint to the background. There are a lot of colours in the female cardinal, and, I think Sue has done an incredible job on this piece.

This is a Christmas ornament, which was done by Ginette mostly in pen and ink with oils.....although the actual basecoating was done in acrylics. I do not know who originally designed this piece. Ginette decided to do it using a 4 paned wooden window, which is approx. 5x5". The snow at the bottom is white oil paint sprinkled with glamour dust....I love this piece.

This piece is called Evening in the Foothills, and was designed by Mary Owens. It is a pen and ink with oils project. Monique decided to do this on an 8x10 wooden board. The board was prepped by whitewashing it twice, then spraying with a few coats of Liberty spray. The project only used three colours of oil paint. The finished piece turned out lovely.

Nicole did this project on a large canvas (do not know the size) in oils. The original designer of the project was Arlene Beck, and Nicole found the picture in a 1993 decorative painting book. Nicole started by applying some Texture Crackle to the canvas, sanded it, sprayed several times, then started to apply her oil paint. This was a big project, and it turned out great.

I did this project a few months ago and posted it on my blog at that time. Guylaine liked the piece and decided to do TWO of them! The design is by Tracy Moreau and can be found in her book Trendy Textures. This project uses some different techniques...Texture Crackle, stencils, Texture Glass. Guylaine was very happy with the results, but, after doing two of them, I'm sure she was glad when they were finished.

That's it for now - I still have lots of pictures of projects the girls did in our art sessions, and I will keep posting them from now until our art sessions begin again in the fall.

Over the next couple of months I plan to do some silhouette work (pen & ink with acrylics and oils), and I also plan to work with texture, stencils and image transfers. I have some projects lined up and I am anxious to get started...I will post them when finished.

Thanks for visiting my blog - hope you enjoyed it.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:
Welcome to my blog. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold, snowy weather - I do not like it at all, so, I am planning to get a lot of painting projects done over the next several weeks. I am quite happy to sit in my workshop, with my music playing, and work on new, and, hopefully, interesting projects. I have already started on a couple of 'textured' pieces and also a coloured pencil project.

I have some wonderful art pieces to share with you that were done by the girls in my art sessions prior to Christmas.

This piece was designed by Roberta Hall, and is in her book titled Silhouettes (Maple Sugar II). This book is full of different silhouetes with various colours of sunset glows in the backgrounds. It is a lovely book. Sue decided to do this picture on 8x10 wood. She mixed her oil colours and did the sky and ground first, sprayed it, applied the pattern for the silhouete, inked everything in, then sprayed it. It turned out great.


Let it Snow is a pen and ink with oils design by Mary Owens. Marie did this on a large (16x20) stretched canvas. The instructions called for the sled to be a brown shade with reddish hilights. Maried decided to do her sled green - she mixed a lovely shade of green and, the large picture with the green sled and big red bow, turned out beautiful.


Cecile decided to try working with texture and chose to do two wall paintings....she took ideas from several different patterns. The surfaces she chose were large MDF boards that had been prepped. She applied the texture, painted and sprayed the backgrounds, then proceeded to use several different techniques: pen and ink, acrylic and oil paint.....
The first one has a bright yellow background with deep red poppies. Most of the painting on this piece was done with acrylics, and the poppies just seem to jump off the page. The leaves were done with a much lighter touch and seem to fade into the background. The printing was done with pen and ink and the gold border was added with a gold leafing pen. I think the picture turned out great.



This is the matching piece that Cecile did. The background colour looks wonderful next to the yellow one above. I believe Cecile did most of the painting on this piece in oils - note the double colour on the tulips...she has done a wonderful job of bringing the two colours together. The printing and gold border were done in the same manner as above.


The two paintings look wonderful side by side.

This piece was done by Lauren - it is very simple, but also very effective. She did this art on 4 separate pieces of stretched canvas - I think each one was about 8x8. She mixed 4 different colours using acrylic paint and painted each square (the sides were also painted). She then sprayed the canvas, applied her pattern and inked the design in. I love the colours she chose and the design looks great on it. Oh, did I mention, this is only Lauren's second pen & ink project?



This is a Mary Owens pen and ink design called Beach Chair. Renee did it on 11x14 stretched canvas (she always works on stretched canvas - does not like the cheaper canvas!!). She did make some changes in the colours of the objects in the picture. I think the project turned out great.



Our winter art sessions are now in full swing and will run until late February. I have lots of wonderful pictures of the art being done, and will post them over the next few months.


I have been experimenting with some different techniques - texture crackle, texture glass, stencils and image transfers. So far I have been very pleased with the results, and I will post two of my new (and different) projects in a few weeks.


Thanks for visiting my blog and please check back to see more wonderful artwork.


Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi and welcome to my blog:

'Tis the Season - so I have put together some of the Christmas projects the girls in our art sessions have completed. I still have more Christmas pieces to post, and I will post them over the next month or so.


'Believe' is a Christmas ornament designed by Jamie Mills-Price - it is part of a 5 piece set, which also includes, Chill, Noel, Icy and Flake. Sue did this ornament on wood with acrylic paint - lately Sue has been working with pen and ink with oils and coloured pencils, so it was a switch for her to work with acrylics. It turned out great - I love it!


This is a pen and ink with oils project called Let it Snow - it was designed by Mary Owens. Colleen did this on 11x14 canvas and followed Mary's instructions. This is Colleen's first experience with pen and ink with oils, and I think she did a great job...she must have enjoyed it, as she has started another M. Owens project.





I had to post Vanna in Velvet - although it is not a Christmas piece, she certainly looks dressed up enough for Christmas. This is a coloured pencil project and was designed by Tina Sue Norris. Bev did this with coloured pencils on 8x10 mi-teintes sand coloured paper - it was Bev's first time working with the pencils. She followed all the instructions, added some bling bling to the hat, and it turned out wonderful!



Marie found this project in a book by Bonnie Seaman...the instructions were for oil paint. Marie decided to do the pattern on a sleigh she had - unfortunately, my picture does not show the bottom part of the sleigh with the black runners. After basecoating the sleigh Marie sanded it in order to get the lovely painting surface she had. Marie used a combination of acrylics and oils to complete the piece - she is thinking of nestling it inside a wreath - I'm sure it will look lovely.



Ruth did the Snowman and Mouse design on a porcelain oval, which had been etched. The oval was about 3 x 4. I don't know who the original designer of this piece was. Ruth did it in pen & ink with oils, and finished it off with some 'snow' and glitter. Looks great!






Lauren just started coming to our art sessions a few weeks ago, and this is the first project she did. The piece is called Gerbera Daisies and was designed by Mary Owens. Lauren did it in pen and ink with oils on 11x14 canvas...it turned out wonderful. Since completing this piece Lauren has done two more pen and ink pieces, which I will post soon.

Our fall art sessions have now ended, but I still have lots of wonderful artwork to post - pen and ink with oils, coloured pencils, pen and ink on texture, as well as oils on texture - I will be posting these projects over the next few months.

Starting in January I plan to hold 'winter' art sessions, and will be posting more on this in a few weeks.

Thanks for visiting my blog.


Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

Welcome to my blog....our weekly art sessions have been going since mid September, and there are a lot of wonderful art 'masterpieces' being created. Here are a few of the finished pieces.

This piece is lovely - it is called Arctic Beauty, and the original artist is Willow Wolfe. The project is featured in PaintWorks, February, 2008, with instructions for oil paint. Sue decided to do this piece in coloured pencils (8x10 mi-teintes paper), so, she converted it and had the whole project done in less than three hours. I think she did an amazing job!

I purchased a book called 'Silhouettes' by Roberta Hall, and there are some lovely pictures in it. All the instructions are for acrylic paint, so, as usual, we have all been converting everything to pen & ink with oils. Ginette decided to do the moose on a 8x10 wood panel - she added an interesting background, and ended up with this. Great job.

This bluejay was completed by Ruth - I do not know who the original artist is. Ruth did the project on 11x14 canvas in pen & ink with oils. When she was finished she did add a few details on the bird with white acrylic paint. I think she did a great job - the colours are so vibrant.




Sue did this piece with coloured pencils on 8x10 mi-teintes paper. All she had was a photograph and had to complete the piece with absolutely no instructions. The cat ended up looking almost exactly like the one in the photo. All the other items - scarf, blanket, etc. - were a new experience for Sue, so she did some experimenting, and did a wonderful job.



This piece is also done from a photo - Monique did this in pen and ink with oils on a wooden board....I believe the location is somewhere the family has visited over the years. The whole piece was tricky since Monique had no written instructions, and, almost everything was a new technique to her.


Our art sessions are very busy now - projects are being done with pen and ink with oils, coloured pencils, oils, and some of the girls have started to work on texture. In a few weeks I will post more of these wonderful pieces.

I have started working on Christmas decorations, and should have some to share with you shortly. I am also working on texture, and, hopefully, before Christmas I will have some completed projects to post.

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather....before we know it Christmas will be here!

Please visit my blog again.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer - I did, but, enough of the sun, eating, drinking, boating, etc......I am ready to grab my paint brush and get back to work. I am actually looking forward to getting into a rountine and working on some new projects.

Here are a few projects that were completed by the girls in the spring art sessions.

Meet Noella, Normand and Evelyn - Linda's cats. Linda used coloured pencils for this project, and it was done on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. She worked from individual photos of each cat. I think she did a remarkable job - everything about the cats, including the eyes, looks almost identical to the original photos.


This picture is lovely - don't know who the original artist was. Nancy used coloured pencils to complete this project, and she did a wonderful job - the folds in the dress and the skin tones turned out perfect, and I love the colour of the dress. This project was done on 11x14 mi-teintes paper.

Sue found a picture of this farm and decided to adapt it to coloured pencils. I don't know who the original artist was. It only took Sue a few hours to complete this and I think it turned out great. The colours she chose for everything are just perfect.

This is a picture of Linda's granddaughter, Marie Pier, and was taken from a photograph. Linda did this project in coloured pencil. The skin tones turned out great, as did the colours on the little jumpsuit and hat. I wondered how she was going to do the greenery and flowers (it is almost impossible with coloured pencils to put very light colours over dark) - but she managed to do a very good job!


That's it for now. I will be posting another blog within the next week or two with information about our fall art sessions, which start soon. I have also finished a couple of very interesting projects using texture, texture glass and stencils, which turned out great (at least, in my opinion, they did!!) - I will post them soon.

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great day.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather. I am in the process of finishing a couple of art projects, then I will be packing all my supplies up and moving over to my cottage. The following 'masterpieces' were completed by some of the girls in our spring art sessions - this time there is quite a variety - pen & ink with oil rouging, coloured pencils and acrylics.

This is a coloured pencil piece done by Sue on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. I do not know who the original artist was. Sue has a wonderful talent for just working away on things with absolutely no pattern or instructions. Such was the case with this project. Sue just jumped in and coloured pencils started flying out of her case. The colours in the picture turned out wonderful.

This piece was done by Monique on a 11x14 wood plaque and is called 'Snowy Trails'. It was done using pen & ink with oil rouging and was designed by Mary Owens. This particular piece has been very popular over the last few years. All the background trees and the evergreen in the foreground are done using a fan brush, and it only takes minutes to complete them all. The white 'snow' is simply the white canvas showing through, and the snow on the tree is just dabbed on with white acrylic. It is a fun piece to do, and I think Monique did a great job.

I love these flowers. Nancy did the projects with acrylic paint on large (maybe 20 x 20) canvas, and they were just so 'in your face' paintings. They were so bright, colourful and bold - most of the pieces done in our art session are much more subdued, so it was wonderful to have these big, bold pictures! I don't know who the original artist was. Great job.



















Renee designed this piece - her daughter asked for a pen & ink piece with a dragonfly, frog, fence, etc., so Renee looked through a number of books, found all the things requested, and placed them in a picture. I think Renee enjoyed doing the piece, but, when she was done she did state that she was going to stick to patterns for the next while! I think the project turned out very well for an original design!


This colourful piece was done by Ginette. The original design was by Shirley Koenig, and can be found in her book titled 'Country's Edge'. Shirley's instructions are either acrylics or oils, but Ginette converted everything to pen & ink with oils. In the original project (by S. Koenig) the background was quite dark, and Ginette wanted hers to be dark also (if you have worked with the pen & ink with oil rouging technique, you know that most backgrounds are simply white with splashes of colour matching those in the picture). So, Ginette experimented with the oils and came up with this wonderful mottled background. It looks great!

Thats it for now - I still have a few pictures done by the girls in our art sessions, and I will post them soon. In the meantime, I have completed a couple of pen & ink projects that I will post in a few weeks. And, I have lined up several interesting projects (I am going to try working with texture, and also some silhouette pieces) that I will be working on at my cottage over the summer. So, in September I should have some new (and hopefully different) projects ready to post.

Our fall art sessions will be starting in late September, and I will post further information about that at the end of the summer.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope everyone has a great summer.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:

Well, things are finally getting back to normal here - I spent the month of March in Florida, and, needless to say, there was no artwork accomplished while I was there....too many other interesting and different things to do! Our weekly art sessions started in early April and will run until the end of May. We have been very busy inking, rouging, oil painting and using coloured pencils. The following pieces were completed by the girls in our art sessions, and I would like to share them with you. I hope you enjoy them.


I think this piece is wonderful. Sue did this project on 8 x 10 grey suede board using coloured pencils. The piece is called Red Hat Cat (which is rather appropriate!), and was designed by Tina Norris. It did not take long for Sue to complete the picture - she started it about 6:30 p.m. and was finished about 9 p.m. She added a sparkly pin and some feathers, and ended up with an adorable piece.



This project was designed by Mary Owens and is called Do You See What I See? Cecile inked this on 11 x 14 canvas and then used the oil rouging technique to add colour. When you are using this technique and creating snow on white canvas, the canvas itself becomes the snow, and all that is needed is the creation of shadows using some payne's grey or indigo. This was only Cecile's second pen & ink project - she has now started her third. I love this piece!


Nancy completed this Bengal Tiger in coloured pencil. The pattern was designed by Lee Hammond and can be found in her book 'Lifelike Drawing in Colored Pencil'. The tiger looks very realistic, and, I think Nancy has done a wonderful job with all the detail on the face, and, in particular, the eyes.

Linda made these four paintings to put on a little girl's wall - we all know how much princesses mean to little girls! The basic pictures were inked onto the backgrounds (stretched canvas), and then Linda added oil paint to complete the projects. The pictures are very colourful, and I think Linda did a great job.

I am busy working on about four projects, most of them in coloured pencil, and I will be posting some of my work within the next few weeks. The girls in our Monday and Tuesday art sessions are also very busy working on a variety of projects - I will also be posting their projects as they are finished. Their work is amazing and I am really looking forward to seeing all the completed projects.

Thanks for visiting my blog - please check back in a few weeks.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful, cold, snowy winter - I am not! But, it is comforting to know that a good portion of the winter is over, at least the temps are starting to warm up, the days are getting longer, AND, I will be able to go to my cottage in about three months. Since I am not a cold weather person, I have been staying indoors as much as possible and I have managed to get a lot of cleaning and organizing done.

Although my weekly art sessions do not start until April, I do have several pieces from the fall that I can show you.

I absolutely love this one, which was done in coloured pencils by Nancy. The piece is called Vanna in Velvet and was designed by Tina Sue Norris. Nancy did this piece on a suede board, and you can see how soft and fluffy the fur looks when done on suede. She topped the piece off with some very flashy jewellery, and I think it looks wonderful.

This piece is called Kitty and was designed by Renee Mullins. Linda inked the design on a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of wood, added oil paint, then glued the window pane on top. I love it! Wood is a wonderful surface to use pen & ink on as long as it is prepped properly.

Renee started working with pen & ink last year, and, I believe this is her fourth completed piece. This project was designed by Sandra Malone and is called Snowman. It is done on 11 x 14 canvas. I thought the lime green was a strange colour for the hat, but, when it was completed I thought it looked great.

Jackie is relatively new to pen & ink - she has done a lot of work with other techniques, particularly oil paint, but, I believe, she has only completed a few pen & ink pieces. This piece is called Covered Bridge at Dusk and was designed by Mary Owens. Jackie took the original design and added more deer and trees. I did not measure the canvas but it was VERY long!

This last piece was done by Ginette on wood (approx. 10" high by 8" wide). I don't know who the original artist was. The project was done using pen & ink with oils. She added the 'snow' with Snow Writer (by DecoArt) and then added lots of sparkles (glamour dust). Looks great!

I have a few more projects done by the girls in my art sessions, and I will post them over the next month or two. Our art sessions start again in early April, and, once everyone gets busy, I will have lots of new projects to post in the spring. Personally, I have been working on other projects (paperwork, housework, etc.), but plan very soon to grab my coloured pencils and get busy - I will post my new pieces as they are completed.

Happy painting!

Weekly Art Sessions

The girls in my art sessions have been very busy, so I have lots of wonderful artwork to show you.

Cecile decided to try pen & ink with oil rouging, and, for her first project she chose October Pickins (designed by Mary Owens). The painting was done on 11x14 canvas. This was Cecile's first pen & ink project, and she really enjoyed it - she did a great job....love the colours.

Nancy has been very busy working with coloured pencils. The little girl with Bonnet was designed by Helen Barrick, and Nancy completed it on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. It is a tricky little piece, but, as usual, Nancy did not seem to have any problems - she whipped it up in no time.

Nicole is one of our experts in oil painting. She brought in this picture of a marsh she had completed. I do not know who the original artist was. There is a lot of work in this piece - and a lot of detail. I think it looks great.

This pen & ink with oil rouging project was designed by Mary Owens and is called Kiss of Sunlight. It was completed by Renee - it was Renee's third pen & ink project. When she started she said she wanted her sunflower to be VERY bright. So, we adjusted some of the instructions, and she ended up with her BRIGHT flower.....great job!

Ruth decided to do something different (although when she started I don't think she knew just how different this piece would be). Original artist is unknown. Ruth started by stippling the background (11x14 canvas) with acrylic paint, then she painted the objects with acrylics. After spraying she switched to pen & ink and inked in the details - then she used oils to rouge on the final details. She was very pleased with the result, and with good reason - I think it looks wonderful.

This beautiful piece was completed by Darlene - it is called Let it Snow and was designed by Mary Owens. Darlene did this on 11x14 canvas and used pen & ink with oil rouging. The colours just seem to jump off the picture, and the big red bow seems to set the whole piece off. Creating 'snow' on a pen & ink project can be somewhat challenging, but Darlene did not seem to have any problems. Great job.

That's it for now! Our fall art sessions are finished this week, and I will have a lot of finished projects to post over the next few months. In the meantime, I am busy with my coloured pencils completing several Christmas gifts....I seem to have a lot to do - hope I get everything done!

Please check my blog early in the new year - I should have some new projects to share with you at that time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday.