Saturday Morning Therapy

Painting As Therapy

Many of my art students say these painting classes are better than therapy.

Why you might ask?

1.  You're thinking only about the art, every other problem leaves your mind.

2.  You are creating something

3.  You are working in beautiful color you mix yourself

4.  Painting is very tactile, you feel the paint moving around and you concentrate on it.

5.  You are learning something about color, composition, and paint and so much more.

   You can see Susanne is having fun and creating something beautiful.

These garden stones are quick and pretty easy

and you have something for your home.

All that art therapy for a mere $30.

Now that's a deal!

Maybe you should join us sometime.  

Click HERE to see classes scheduled for the current month.  

thanks for stopping by today.

I'm giving this painting away at the end of June to some lucky person who has signed up to receive my blog in their inbox.  

On the right hand side of this blog, there is a box that says sign up to receive my blog and newsletter in your inbox.  Put your email address in the box and you'll be entered.

Now how easy is that.

Paint These Tree Branches

YOU Can Paint These Tree Branches.

This is a painting I did recently in the gallery

and I think you can paint it also.  I was going to teach it as a class, but I thought I'd give this a try.

I'm going to show you how I did it for free,

and then if you complete one, I'd like you to email me a photo of your finished piece to slgraves6@gmail.com and put tree limb photo in the subject box so I can show it on my blog.  

I used acrylic paints on a 16" x 20" stretched canvas.

I used, the primary colors, red, blue, yellow, white and brown.  I also threw in a little teal in the sky and a little dioxazine purple in the shading.

Brushes I used were bristle #12, 8, 4, Synthetic flats #12, 8, 4 and a round #4 and a script liner.

You can cut down on the brushes in the mid range sizes, but you definitely need the largest and the smallest sizes.

I did the entire background first and I used ultramarine blue, light teal and white and I started at the top with the darkest and worked to the lightest on the bottom.  Work your strokes back and forth to get the paint on the canvas and then using strokes in the form of a large X to blend them.   

Here is a video showing you step by step how I did it.

 

 
As you work on the branches, realize that this will take time and you will need to back up from your easel periodically to actually see how it's looking.  Remember a painting is meant to be viewed at about six feet away, so you need to back up to see what you have and what you need to do.

When making shadow paint, I had three colors of brown for the tree I achieved by adding white to my brown and then adding more white to get the lightest colors.  I added purple or red to the darkest color for the shading and yellow and a little white to the lightest and mid tones for the highlight colors.

Things to check are:

1. are the highlights coming from the same light source in the same direction.
2. are the shadows and shading also coming from the same direction.
3. Can you tell which branch is in front
4. Are the branches furthest away lighter with less definition
5. Are the branches closest to you darker in color with more definition and detail.  

The birds should be facing all different directions.  The birds are made with a script liner brush and one wing is very skinny and the other wing is a little fatter.  This is achieved with pressure on the brush and is almost made like a check mark, and then adding a very small angled stroke to form the body.  The wings being different sizes gives them more realism and life like.  I used the darkest tree color and added a touch of purple to the paint to make this black.  
  

Good luck and let me know how you did.

Thanks!

Art Camps Are Ready For Lift-Off!

WOW!!!

June and July Calendars Are Ready
And Art Camps Are Planned

 I will be offering TWO different art camps this summer.

One will be for Teens and Tweens, ages 10-16 and the other is for Young Artists, ages 7-9.  Both Camps will be held once a week from 10 a.m. until noon for four weeks and are $100.

In each camp your child will learn basic art concepts such as color mixing, composition, brush strokes, highlight and shading as well as many other concepts.  They will complete many studies and exercises as well as two completed paintings during the camp.  

Photos of past classes. 

These camps will each run twice, so if I fill up in the first one, your child can still get into the second one.

The first sessions will be:

Young Artists, ages 7-9, Starts Friday, June 5, 12, 19 & 26 10-Noon $100

Teens and Tweens, ages 10-16 starts Wednesday, June 10, 17, 24 & July 1, 10-noon $100.

The second session for each camp starts,

Young Artists, ages 7-9, Wednesday, July 8, 15, 22, & 29, 10 a.m. noon.  $100

Teens & Tween ages 10-16, Thursday, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 10 a.m. until noon.  $100

Please email me at slgraves6@gmail.com and put Art Camp in the subject line if you would like to sign up or have any questions.  You can also call me at 502-523-0663.

2014 Art Camp

Young Artists Ages 7-9

June 5, 12, 19, 26 $100.00 USD July 8, 15, 22, 29 $100.00 USD

Teens and Tweens ages 10-16

June, 10, 17, 24 Jul1 $100.00 USD July 2, 9, 16, 23 $100.00 USD

It's Time To Get Serious

Serious?

Yes, it's time to get serious about some

serious drawing lessons.

Classes are forming for our six lesson drawing course 

taught by our artist Jeremy Cobb.

This is Jeremy and a painting he did in college of his parents. 

I introduced Jeremy several weeks ago as we prepared for an introductory class.  Now it's time to form a class that will run every other Tuesday for six lessons over 12 weeks.

The dates are:

May 26,

June 9,

June 23,

July 7,

July 21,

August, 4.

All classes will be on Tuesdays, 5-7 p.m.

This is a course, and each class builds on the preceding class, so it is important to plan your calendar to attend all six classes.

The cost of all six classes is $150 and a payment schedule is available.  Please email me at slgraves6@gmail.com and put drawing class in the subject line and I'll get back to you ASAP.

We are only taking eight participants, so lets get together and get you signed up for this.  Jeremy has a Masters of fine arts degree and he has lots to teach us.

  I can't promise you'll draw as well as Jeremy,

but I know you will learn a lot and your drawing will improve dramatically.

Please feel free to forward this on to anyone you feel might be interested in taking this class.

Brownies Are My Favorite Snack

Oh!

Not That Kind of Brownies. . .

 Brownie troop 1641 came to the gallery

and painted fish.

Look at their very colorful fish.

That's what so fun about this painting.

There is so much room for creativity 

painting this fish.

Brownies really are my fav!

 

Baseball, Ballet and Paint!

Baseball

Ballet

and Paint

This brother and sister team came to River Run Gallery

Saturday, on their way to a baseball game and a dance recital.

They are working on painting the sides, top and

 bottom of their canvases.

Here they are starting their paintings.

Every class needs some serious silly!

 Painting with a brother and sister has lots of silly!

  Cameron and Rileigh show off their finished pieces.

Their mom tells me their paintings are going to hang in their shared bathroom.

Can't you just see them on the wall?

Clap, clap, clap.

Thanks for coming today guys.

I had a great time and you did wonderful paintings.

Painting a Contemporary Landscape

What Is a Contemporary Landscape

Here's a short video of the painting as it evolved.

Cheryl has a fine arts degree and she always puts her own spin on anything we paint.

And I love that about her paintings.

This landscape's sky is not blue

it's more pink and tan and white,

And the grass is not green,

it's got lots of brown, blue and red in it.

The trees are very dark,

almost black,

and the leaves are dark greenish brown,

and then lighter greenish brown,

all except the main tree

which has red leaves. 

Happy Birthday Meredith

Happy Birthday Meredith

Meredith Celebrated her 7th birthday in 

River Run Gallery with a few of her friends.

 This fun group was all about partying and painting fish.

Look at these yummy cookies!
 

And cupcakes
and lots of other goodies.

This mom knows how to throw a party.

And here's the finished product.

These ladies painted some great fish,
don't you think.

It's an acquarium or an ocean!

Call to schedule your party today.

502-523-0663

Local Gifts for Local Grads

It's Graduation Season!

Congrats to all the grads out there.

Graduation is quite the accomplishment,

and often leaves people scurrying around trying to find a unique gift.

I have some pretty great answers to that problem.

 Click HERE to see lots of affordable gifts

under $50 

 For something really unique, how about a gift certificate so your grad can paint art for their dorm room this summer.

Click HERE to see current classes,

or stop in the gallery to pick up that gift certificate.

449 Main St.,

Carrollton, KY  41008

Between Bella's and Abbey's Closet

 on Main St.

   Here are our newest hand dyed silk chiffon scarves $40-$60.

These will brighten up that interview suit for the college grad.

And here's all new spring and summer jewelry that would make the perfect gift.

Your grad is one of a kind!

Shouldn't their gift be also?

Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain

Drawing on the Left Side,

I'm not sure what side we were drawing on,

but there were nine brave souls who took the 

Intro to Drawing Class

at River Run Gallery. 

Lots of people come to the gallery to take painting classes

and most will say,

"I'd like to but I can't draw a stick figure"

And I usually reply,

"Great, cause we're not drawing stick figures".

But I understand the fear of not being able to draw.

I struggled over not being able to draw.

Those who have come to my painting classes know,

I can get it on there with a brush, 

but we don't draw much at all in our classes.

We are so lucky to have Jeremy Cobb as our drawing teacher.

This very short video shows class members drawing a gray scale and 

later we drew an apple, from life.

We had an apple on the table and we all had to draw it 

from the vantage point we had.

Beginning Tuesday, May 26, 5-7 p.m. we will be having 

a beginning course on how to draw.

 This is a six lesson course and students need to commit to the six lessons.

Each lesson will build on what is taught the week before.  

So being able to attend all six lessons will be very important.

The course is $150 for all six lessons.

Please leave a comment if you are interested in taking this course.

Limited class size.

 

What's New In The Gallery

New In The Gallery

Artists Mary Ebert, jeweler and fiber artist Sylvia Brestel have recently added lots of new spring/summer items in the gallery,

and they are full of WOW factor.

 Here's a short video of the new earrings we have in the gallery.

Jeweler, Mary Ebert changing out all her jewelry in the gallery.  

 Click here to see the jewelry in River Run Gallery

 This short video is of the new hand dyed silk chiffon scarves we have in the gallery.

 

These are several of the beautiful new

hand dyed silk chiffon scarves we have in River Run Gallery.

  

These scarves are so luscious.  You will love them.

 

 Click here to see them all.

The artists in River Run Gallery work daily to bring you high quality one of a kind items you won't find anywhere else at affordable prices.

Please feel free to share this post with any of your friends and family you think might enjoy it.

Thanks for stopping in today! 

It's Geranium Time

Painting Potted Geraniums

I make a little video of every class I teach, usually,

and Sandy has taken a lot of classes.  

And yet, she was surprised when I started videoing this class.

I have an evil laugh as she realized what I was

doing.

Didn't they do a super job on these

 potted geraniums?

Clap! Clap! Clap!!!

 

What's on the Menu?

I Thought This Was an Art Gallery

We are an art gallery,

and this week we're servin up lots of fun and creativity on our menu.

  Thursday, 6-9 p.m. we're painting Potted Geraniums

This is a 14" x 11" on a stretched canvas

and, yes  you can really paint this.  

This class is $40

Next on the menu this week is. . .

 Saturday, May 9, 10-noon, $30

 This is a 12" x 12" garden stone and it is prepared to go outside.

Just in case your geraniums aren't this beautiful yet,

Here's a chance to paint your own splash of color that you can have for years to come.

Or you can come into the gallery and purchase any of the many stones that are

 painted and ready for your garden for $30 each.

And for dessert on the menu we have

these fun peacock feathers. . . 

Young Artists and Teens and Tweens will love painting this.

Young Artists are 7 and up and have to have painted with me at least 3 times.

Teens and Tweens are also invited to take this fun class.

 

There's lots of creativity in this painting.

This class is Saturday, May 9, 1-2:30 p.m. $25.

If you think you can't paint,

please let me assure you I will walk you through every step of the way.

You will have lots of individual as well as group instruction,

and I think you will be pleased with your accomplishment.

Click on the tab marked Calendar of Classes and Events.

It will have all the classes for the month, photos of the paintings and buy now buttons where you can sign up and pay for any class listed. 

Contact me if you have any questions about any class.

slgraves6@gmail.com