Art Class Notes, Class 4

What a great class!

Alright, to start I ate breakfast. Good idea number one. No large coffee with a shot of espresso and calling that breakfast. Good idea number two was just feeling good and strong and confident heading into class and letting it flow, being experimental, and having fun during class.

Here are a few things I worked on and learned.

This is a little chickadee painting I did in preparation for a faux encaustic lesson we did in class. I painted gesso on watercolor paper, a couple of layers front and back, then painted these little guys in acrylic. The words were a contact paper transfer of a photocopy that I attached with soft gel medium. When I got to class we covered this in a faux encaustic mix (very buttery looking, dries like wax). I'm supposed to paint on top of the dried waxy layer, then add another layer, etc. to build up the layers like encaustic.

I'm still working on that part.

This class we talked about a lot of stuff and worked on using Fluid Acrylics. The fluid acrylics were so much fun, so much fun. We were required to bring to class a canvas prepared with Polymer Medium. This made the canvas very glossy and water resistant. The fluid acrylics were very concentrated and for the purpose of the class we mixed them with a bit of water to help them dry on the canvas more quickly. Usually you would mix them with a bit of medium, which makes them a little less "beady" than the water mixing but does extend the drying time. The fun thing about fluid acrylics is that they are very much like watercolors and you can layer them with a transparent result. Layering, then wiping off, dotting, spraying with alcohol, all of these are so much fun and give a different result.

I learned some great design tips at this class as well.

1. Use mostly warms or mostly cools in your art, then add a splash of the opposite for a strong POP.


2. Focal Point of your painting draws your eye to it and should be where the darkest dark and the lightest light meet.

The chickadee painting is a good example of both design components. The chickadees are mostly warm, the background is warm, etc BUT the purple ground is a cool and makes it pop. Also the focal point in the painting is the chickadees heads, which are made up of the black and white next to each other. Ta da! It's as if I knew what I was doing when I painted it. Not so, not until later, but I did like it right away, and I think the design elements are why.

A few notes:

• For writing in your acrylic paintings CrayPaz kids crayons are supposed to be good due to the high wax content.


• Light molding paste can be used with a stencil in your painting to create texture. It takes a good long time to dry, though.


• Another way to write in the painting is by using glaze mixed with your paint color and a stylus or scratching tool. The words are sort of etched in.

This week at home I'm going to keep working on my chickadees, maybe make a few little paintings using some of my learned techniques, and prepare for next weeks class. We are going to learn how to turn tissue paper into sturdy wrapping type paper that's decorated like fine art wrap!

I'll leave you with this photo of Jordan on a river in the North Carolina Mountains. Breathtaking. Cool water, slippery river rocks, waterfalls, and my beautiful beautiful daughter. Such Blessings all around.