The Summers Over

The Summer's Over

and so is Art Camp

The 4th group of kiddos who painted with me in an art camp this summer is now complete.  I had a wonderful time with each group and it's fun to see how different each group has been.

 

 We did these daisies last week but they were still wet

so we kept them on the boards and they took them home today.

Elle and Lilly finished their backgrounds last week.

This week first thing, they learned how to put a drawing on their canvases

 using a stylus and tracing paper.   

 

 Elle is working on her shell here.

 

 Here is Lilly working on her shell.

This is how their shells turned out.

Aren't they super.  

I'm very proud of them!

 We had some time left and these young ladies have painted with me many times and wanted to try palette knives.

So I gave them some paper and paint and an assortment of knives and away they went.

 They painted trees, strawberries, hearts and tried lots of things with the knives.

Painting Fun Daisies

Painters in Perry Park

 There's a fun group of ladies in Perry Park

who love to paint.

This month we painted daisies on garden stones.

Mixing paint and painting daisies.

 Painting leaves and stems

 Lots of concentration going on here. 

This was a large group of fun lovin women

who love to paint and 

know how to make and eat some great food. 

 

 Look at all these beauties.

And the garden stones aren't bad either!

They worked hard and produced all these beautiful daisies. 

 Then they settled down and had a party.

Great food those ladies brought.

If you'd like your group to have their own party,

contact me at

slgraves6@gmail.com.  

Final Week Art Camp

The Party's Over

This was the final week of Teens and Tweens

art camp and Kylee and I had a great time.

Art Camp is all about experimenting and learning.

We had a few minutes of experimentation 

in our final art camp session this week.

 

Our experiment was a study in value.
The theory is even if you get the color wrong, 
but the value is right, your painting will be right.

In the above photo Kylee is painting a pink tree,
trying to get the values of the leaves right.
In the experiment she learned how to use pressure on her brush, build value by mixing paint,
and how to paint a tree.

In the photo below, camper Kylee is in the beginning stages
of her final project, a nautilus shell. 

 You can see Kylee's example further back
as she works on the front part of the shell.

 Below Kylee is mixing paint to achieve depth and form on her shell.
 

You can see she is concentrating on the details

of her shell.

Ta DAH!!!!!!!

Look at this beauty.

And the shell ain't bad either.

Kylee did a phenomenal job on this shell.

You can see the depth she got in on the back part of the shell

and how she made the front part look rounded.

Very proud of her.

 Another camper finished the four week art camp

and received a certificate for her work.

Thanks Kylee for coming and sharing your 

sweet spirit with me.

Keep painting.

"I don't know, but I've been told,

Painters can be young or old.

Sound off

red, blue

Sound off

yellow green

Red, blue, yellow, green

Sound off.

I know.

I'm crazy!

Word Of The Day

Pastiche

pastiche - noun, 

1.  a literary, musical,or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one of more sources.

2. an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources, hodgepodge.

Now that you've heard the word, let me tell you how it relates to our six week drawing course.

As our six lesson drawing course draws to a close, the class has two final projects.  

One is a self-portrait

and the other is

a pastiche.

Our pastiches are to be our original drawings 

of famous or not so famous artwork.

We had to research artists, find a drawing or painting we liked and felt we could draw.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say,

we sweat bullets trying to find an artist we were comfortable with.

I personally changed my artist almost at the last minute.

And now for the unveiling  

April chose Roldophe Bresdin's drawing of an old man as her pastiche subject.  This viewpoint doesn't do it justice, but this was a very interesting subject and rendition.

 Cheryl used an old man by Rembrandt for her pastiche.
Don't you love those eye brows.

Heather decided on Quido Remini and this lovely young woman.
The tilt of the head was difficult, but she was very successful. 

Julie selected this very dramatic drawing of a woman for
her pastiche.  

Vince chose a younger woman by DaVinci.
He had trouble getting her started so our instructor Jeremy helped with the head and eye placement.  Vince worked on it all during class and accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. 

Amber, our youngest artist also had a tough time selecting an artist, and a fellow classmate had a copy of a Picasso in her folder, so Amber did this during class.

 I chose the book cover from The Secret Garden, my favorite children's book by illustrator Troy Howell.  
I'm a landscape artist, so I chose a landscape.
 

 Our instructor Jeremy Cobb, did a self portrait and added all the tools and things on his desk while he was drawing.  

Everyone in the class, with the exception of one, is a beginner at drawing.  Not only did each artist have to research and select a painting to do, then they had to do the drawing, and then they had to get up in front of the class and explain who and why they chose it.  

Everyone made it through, even the shyest of the shy.
No one collapsed, fainted or anything like it.

We will be forming a new beginner drawing course, Tuesday, August 11, 5-7 p.m.  The classes will be every other Tuesday for 12 weeks, for a total of six lessons.  The cost of the course is $150 and must be paid in advance or a payment schedule worked out.

Because this is a course, if you miss a class the class can't be made up and no money can be refunded.
If you're interested, please email me at
slgraves6@gmail.com.

Thanks.

Carroll County Draws

Welcome Kristin Sherrard Photographer

Let's Give A Big Ole Kentucky Welcome

to our newest artist

Kristin Sherrard Beck

Kristin is the editor of our local paper,

The News-Democrat 

and a terrific photographer.
As you can plainly see.

  

This was taken at the confluence of the Ohio and Kentucky rivers in Carrollton, KY.

You have to sit through some pretty mediocre sunsets to capture a spectacular one like this.

The photograph is 17 1/2" x 11"1/2" and is matted and framed to 23" x 19".

This beauty would look wonderful in a home or office and shows off Kentucky beauty and Kristin's skill.

$130 + shipping

 

Kristin also does senior pics, family portraits, sports pics and other commissioned work.  Please contact her at kristin.sherrard@gmail.com for any custom work. 

Oh To Be A Dragonfly

Would You Love To Be A Dragonfly?

These beautiful young women

painted some beautiful dragonflies!

 

 

Lots of Concentration 

going on here.

 

 

Getting the wings on.

Look at these beautiful dragonflies!

Painted by beautiful young ladies.  

Painting those see through wings were challenging

but these ladies were up to it.  

Happy smiles all the way around.

 

Drawing 4th Week

We Are Already in Week 4

of Our Drawing Course

 Our drawing instructor, Jeremy Cobb, is showing us how to do parts of our final drawings.

We are doing drawings of artists paintings and self portraits as our final projects.

Learning how to draw lots of different subjects,

Jeremy is helping us learn the more difficult parts of our final projects.

This is a six week course we are taking in learning how to draw.  We will be starting a new beginning course in August, dates to be announced soon.  

An advanced class will form from the group that completed this course.

If you are interested in joining the next class, please leave a comment on here, or email me at slgraves6@gmail.com.

The course is a six week course and is $150.  The classes are on Tuesday evenings from 5-7p.m. and are every other week.  That gives you enough time to work on your assignments.

You will learn about creating and using a gray scale, how to draw still life items,  how to draw a portrait and a self portrait.  You will be drawing from life, meaning you look at something and draw it as you see it.  

Jeremy has a masters degree in fine art with a specialty in drawing.  He is an accomplished artist and you will learn a lot about drawing and improve your own drawing skills. 

Classes are kept small for individual attention. 

Happy Birthday Dreanna

Happy Birthday To You!

I had six fun girls in the gallery today for a fun birthday party!

Wow!  Were they great painters. 

Here's a little video of them painting fish!

 

Look at this whole ocean full of fishes.

And then there was CAKE!

Lots of fun today in River Run Gallery.

Happy Birthday Dreanna! 

 

Can You Hear Chopin?

Tutu's

And 

Sweet Girls

You could almost hear Chopin 

or maybe Swan Lake

or The Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies

as they painted.

Or maybe it was giggling.

 Lots of concentration going on here

as these ladies paint away.

 

 Here's a very short video of their progress.

 And here are the finished tutu's.

Clap. . . Clap. . .Clap!!!

Great Job Ladies!  

Art Camp

Art Camp

Learning About Brushes

In art camp today we learned about different types of brushes

and what they do.

 

We learned about flat and bristle brushes

and how they work.

 

We practiced making really skinny lines and big fat brush strokes with them.

We also learned that with different pressure 

you can make different strokes.   

 

 

 

 

We finished our peacock feathers painting today.

 

Kylie is a great student

and loves painting and learning. 

 

 

I'll be giving this painting away at the end of July.

All you need to do to be eligible is sign up to receive my blog in your inbox. 

I'll be giving a different painting away every month and you can't win if you don't sign up.

 

Hopefully, at the end of July I'll be unveiling a new online course I'm creating for the beginning painter in mind.

I'll help you buy the right supplies,

teach you basic art concepts,

and then I walk you through step by step

to create two fun and lovely paintings.

Please watch for the announcement when it's ready.

I'd appreciate it if you can share it when its ready.

 

Thanks. 

 

Happy Anniversary

We Made It!

We Made It A Whole Year!

It's been a crazy wonderful year

and I hope you've enjoyed the journey with me.

This is where we started a year ago.

 

We started off with a party.

And gave away some art 

 Over the past year we have seen some fabulous jewelry,

handcrafted with you in mind

at affordable prices.

We've seen some super fiber art come in.

Check out these beautiful hand dyed silk chiffon scarves.  

We've had lots of kids in art camps!

We've welcomed Jeremy Cobb

 as our new drawing instructor.

And today we welcome new photographic artist Kristen Sherrard.  

I'd like to welcome you in the gallery as well.

Stop in and sign up to win a 5" x 7" painting

of a rooster.

Hope to see you in RiverRun Galllery real soon.