Paint Alongs
Paint-Alongs are usually taught by members who will show us their expertise in a particular artistic area. We bring our own art supplies as we use the tips and techniques shown us to create our own special creations.
2024
January 10
Gerry Draper - negative painting (rescheduled for Feb. 28)
Let’s discover what negative painting is and learn ways to use it in our own paintings. Then use negative painting to make a few cards - Valentine or others! Bring your usual watercolor supplies – color doesn’t matter. Bring a few card-sized pieces of paper (such as 3 ½ x4 ½ or 5 x 7). Watercolor paper that is 100% cotton works best.
Plan to have a few pieces of paper just for practice. If you don't want to make cards, you can work on larger paper or even on the back of old paintings!
Here are a few samples of negative painting:
Feb. 14
Renee Carter - still life
Renee will show us how to make a box for a still life from materials bought at the $ store, and she will also show us how we can use different lighting with the box. However, we will not use a box during the paint-along because this is not feasible for a large group.
For the paint-along, she will set up a still life and demonstrate using pan pastel. You do not have to use pastel, but you may use any media you wish. Bring the materials you want to use.
This is an example of a still life in a box, but this is not the still life that we will be doing on Wednesday.
Feb. 28 -Gerry Draper - rescheduled from Jan. 10 - see description above
March 13
Don Nafus - composition
For this meeting, we will not be making a painting but will be learning about the principles and guidelines of composition. We will cover the division of two-dimensional space into dominant and subordinate areas; placement of the primary subject; and the use and placement of supporting geometric shapes, lines, angles, and curves to unify the composition.
Aspects of light-dark values, negative and empty space, and color values will be introduced and discussed. We will do some simple line drawings to integrate these concepts, and then discuss the designs to see what does and does not work.
The goal for the day will be working on designing an art piece and trying to understand the role of the underlying composition.
Bring pencils, charcoal or other drawing materials as well as some photos or other reference materials to work with.
Newsprint will be supplied for sketching.
April 10
Jackie Sabo - watercolor vase
Jackie will demonstrate a technique for using wet-on-wet watercolor technique. You will need watercolor paper (some will be available) and watercolor paint and brushes. And a fun attitude and a light hand for letting the watercolor do the work.
Examples:
May 8
Kathryn Morrow - Play with Pastel: Animals and Birds
Kathryn says, “I am serious about a playday as I will bring pastel paper samples, paper and boards to work on, photos to draw or trace from, Saral paper for tracing for those who have never tried it, and several completed sketches to show technique. I will also bring a box of mixed pastels and one of pan pastels for people to use, so they don’t actually have to buy or bring anything but a pencil to draw or trace with and an attitude of fun. Of course, they can bring any kind of pastel they happen to have, except oil pastels, and if they have a photo of something they want to paint, great. I am not a perfect pastelist, but I am an enthusiastic one!”
