Cottonwood Creek

Last night I held a private paint-and-wine party at a home in Indio.  The host had chosen a photo that she took at Cottonwood Creek and the whole group did a great rendition, though we struggled a little with lighting towards the end.  [Note to self: take a couple lamps on private parties just in case – not all homes are lit like studios and galleries.]

Here’s the original photo I was working from

Here’s my studio rendition from the photo

Here’s what the girls came up with. The hosts husband vegged out on the sofa on the other side of the room and commented they’d never been so quiet.

Birds on a branch.

Yesterday evening six students painted two birds on several branches at the ‘Paint the Night’ event at the Vanguard Gallery in Moreno Valley.  A couple of the students had attended the prior month and one student had painted with another tutor in the past, but half of them were first timers.  And they all had fun!  I gave them some options to make different sky backgrounds and they all came up with something a little different.

First coating of sky

Different variations of sky going in

Branching out

The floating bird bodies

Putting the rest of the birds in

Flowers in two colors at once

Tah Dah! And Mary decided she wanted brown birds.

Cocktails for two.

Last night was one of the Paint Night Out nights at the Vanguard Gallery.  We had originally hoped to hold this in a local night club but this didn’t work out for various reasons.  However for the venue I had prepared something a little different – a couple of cocktail glasses to enjoy!  And I think everyone did enjoy the night.  One gal was a long time friend who surprised me by turning up – and said that one of the most encouraging parts of the class was when her painting wasn’t going as expected and I would say ‘it’s ok, we can fix that’.   It took a lot of the fear out of trying to paint.

I get so involved with the teaching, I forget to take photos at earlier stages……

Getting some details in on the glasses

All done. Drink up!

Paint and wine evening in Moreno Valley

On Thursday evening I worked with five ladies – Evelina, Tiffany, Vicki, Jan and Joanne, and guided them through painting a version of ‘And Never Leave…’  They learned how and why to do an underpainting, how to feather in clouds, do a gradient blend, how to get a yellow area to blend into a blue are without getting green, some things on Jeni’s tree cheat-sheet and a little about composition.  I’ll let the pics tell the rest of the story.

Underpaintings..

..more underpaintings

Clouds coming in

Working on feathering in

Joining clouds into a cloud field

Brighter area

Foregrounds…

…more foregrounds

Feathering two areas together

Jan’s finished painting

Evenlina’s finished painting

Vicki’s finished painting

All together now

A dozen students and a box of watercolor pieces

Twelve students engrossed in fun

Take a box of watercolor pieces, add mats, matching foamcores, glue, brushes and twelve students.  The result?  Lots of fun, loads of creativity and quite a few who would like to do it again on the 9th.  Several of the students had the time to do multiple artworks. If you live in the Calexico area, I have one more youth class this month, and two adult classes.  Check out the options on the Calexico brochure online.

Really getting into it

All the finished pieces

The first six.

Painting on mats too

Moreno Valley Paint and wine.

A road in Fillmore, CA

On Jan 29th,  6:30-9:30pm I will be hosting a “Wine and Paint” event at the Vanguard Gallery in Moreno Valley, CA.  With a couple sips of wine to take the edge off the day, and a few snacks, I will guide you through painting a rural scene in acrylics.   It will be will be a great opportunity to have fun with family and friends in creating your own painting.  The cost is $45 and the event is posted on Eventbrite.com.  Seating is limited so sign up now – also because I need to know soon whether the the class has enough students for it to run.  Best to bring a full frontal apron or smock – or wear clothing that won’t cry if you get paint on them!