art secret 21 - maryellen minute #5

Landscape Artistic Stretchies

art secret 20 - it's ever green, watercolor fir trees

art secret 20-it's ever green, watercolor fir trees


Here is a simple and effective way to create an evergreen tree in snow.

1. Holding your paper vertically, draw a hilly horizon line.

2. Do a wash in the sky area and add some blues. While it is still wet, lightly sprinkle some salt on it here and there. Let your painting dry. After it's dry brush the salt off and there you have a nice snowy effect.

3. Now we start doing a light underpainting with the side of a round brush using a very light mixture of sap green and prussian blue. Make sure you overlap into the snow.

4. Using the same color mixture start at the center of the tree and work towards the edges of the tree but-Art Secret-stop a little before the edge so you can still see some of the lighter color underneath!  I do go to the very edge
at the bottom of the tree to create a cast shadow on the tree.

5. Now you will add a darker and final layer from the center out, again keeping in mind that you don't want to go out too far. Make sure you can still see the first and lightest layer of color and the second layer as well. That way you create color perpective and now...

6. ...for the details. I made sure that the center of the tree was the darkest and I created a light source by painting a shadow under the tree. And for the final touch, I loaded up a toothbrush with white paint (tempera will do) and splattered the whole painting with the white paint for a snowy effect. Make sure you have a lot of newspaper under and around your painting or you'll splatter everything. These are great little paintings.Enjoy!!!

art secret 19 - creating the black value: acrylic

Mickey Mouse looks good in black but black is not always the best choice in a painting...so let's create the illusion and mystery of black without actually using it.

I used a combination of colors sometimes just mixing two and sometimes all of them. The first one in the top row is Dioxine Violet and Burnt Umber mixed together and directly underneath is a tint (adding white) of that mixture. 

 

So you'll see that the top row is a mixture of colors and the row directly underneath is that mixture's tint. Try mixing them yourself and add new colors. It is a mystery and one for you to solve, so go create the black value!

art secret 18 - maryellen minute #4

geranium joy

Warm up with a quick watercolor wash, flowers and more.

Mundane Creativity

I came across a wonderful article on THE MAN'S COACH at HeartCenter Coaching Blog. 
Mundane Creativity is a must read!

Susan and I have been friends since 1996 when I first went to her studio for art lessons. This week she’s turned 65 and is younger than ever. She’s constantly recreating herself. Whenever Susan gets feeling low, she either goes out for a brisk run, or, in the winter, goes speed skating on a frozen pond. She makes it a point to get her friends together for a few drinks and long, therapeutic chats. Susan is more than a survivor; she’s a thriver.

The best thing Susan has taught me is to recalibrate my creative energy whenever I feels I’m getting stale. She’s amazing. Lately she’s been making one-minute videos to put in her art class newsletter and on YouTube. These videos are brief art instructions, pithy “quickies” that extend her influence to reach out and encourage budding artists to pick up a brush or a pencil and just start expressing themselves.

Don't Stop Now........Continue reading at HeartCenter Coaching!

art secret 15 - maryellen minute #1

Art Stretchies!

art secret 12 - watercolor winter snow scene

watercolor winter snow scene

with no white paint used

First sketch out a scene on regular drawing paper, then, using tracing paper, trace it with black marker. Place your marker drawing on a light box or window and trace it onto your good watercolor paper. This allows you to not only use your drawing again but..(art secret!!!) it ensures that your watercolor paper doesn't get scarred from repeated erasing.

Ready to trace onto good watercolor paper.

Next make a color menu (art secret #9 and #10). I used new gamboge, rose dore, prussian blue, payne's gray, burnt umber, burnt sienna, viridian green(winsor green), sepia and a dash of alizarine crimson for my color menu. Do your underpainting (art secret#11 ) and sky area.

Underpainting and sky.

When your underpainting is dry, start layering up your color leaving the white paper as the snow.

layering in color

Try to get most of the tree trunks and branches done before you start adding your pine needles. Next I added some grasses and twigs sticking out of the snow as well as some other details.

Adding twigs and other details.

And now for art secret #12...

Using a sharp exacto knife gently scrape away paint to create snow and white in the water the same way. Pick off the paint to create snowy and icy areas on the trees and water. and Voila! Snow details finish off this peaceful, beautiful winter scene.