Carry That Camera Wherever You Go!

Aren't these new digital cameras great! I have found a new freedom! When you are out and about, you can click away at any subject and shoot as many shots as you want. You can delete them or you can take them home and crop, and/or enhance any that you wish. I find I have more successful photos this way and I've had many wonderful surprises where in the past I may not have taken a picture to conserve film. However, a good picture alone does not make a great painting. I carefully observe values, think of possible compositions, and note colors while on location. Awesome!

Student Progress

(left) This is Jia's Before Drawing

(right) This is Jia's drawing after about a month's instruction. Jia is 8 years old.

Children ages 8 - 13 Experiencing Watercolor

What great fun we had! We spattered, we used a sponge, we had graded washes, we lifted color, we dropped wet into wet, and much more. Students then drew and cut out shapes that they wanted to combine and make a collage.

There was no pressure to paint a tree or lizard "just right" because they were just playing with color and the different ways to get it down on paper. Later, the kids drew flowers, frogs, and plants etc. on sketch paper and erased when needed. When they were happy with their drawings they cut them out and used them as patterns. The kids had fun and experienced success!

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.Lizard painting by Tori (also the enlarged lizard portion to show details)

.Frog painting by Elizabeth

Are You Making "The Arts" a Part of Your Life?

Did you know that the music students at DU put on practice performances, many of them for free? An artist friend of mine said that there is nothing like hearing this wonderful music first hand. She said there were opera singers normally affiliated with The Met that were guest singers. Have you seen the latest art exhibit at the Denver Art Museum or visited a local gallery? When was the last time you allowed time for yourself to sit down and draw or paint? Life gets so busy that time slips away and we're so exhausted by the end of the day.



When I was teaching school I put many hours into planning and preparing materials to make everyday the best it could be. Then I would collapse at the end of the day. When time permitted, I would do a bulletin board and I found I would spent an exorbitant amount of time on the silly thing. It always made me feel really good to be "artistic" but what this really told me was that I was not getting enough of my own art "scheduled" into each week. I knew that working on my watercolors always left me with a feeling of accomplishment but it wouldn't happen unless I purposely set time aside each week for painting. One of my students and his wife did that for each other one evening a week. On Wednesday, he would watch their son for his wife and on Thursday, he would come to drawing class while she watched their son. Perfect!
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Portrait by Jim (adult)

Drawing Skills

Developing ourselves as artists is a lot like building a house, you need a sturdy foundation. We often see a great painting and we say to ourselves, "I want to do that!" So we sign up for a watercolor or oil class, we buy all the supplies and you arrive for your first class ready to go! By the end of class you're somewhat discouraged

that your painting doesn't look like the instructor's or anything like the one you saw somewhere. Now you're feeling bad and here you spent all this money for materials. Well, I'm here to tell you NOT TO GIVE UP!! You may have just missed a step in the process.

To get back to our "house foundation", one step in the art process is getting drawing instruction. This step is often overlooked and then when you go to a class on watercolor etc. you will be expecting yourself to pull what you know on drawing and incorporate it with this new medium , adjust to how this new medium works, and you're trying to figure out how to mix different colors! That is an enormous task to expect of yourself. It's overwhelming and enough to make you quit.

Now just pause a minute! Hang on to those new supplies! Stop and take a good drawing class that will cover good drawing skills. This class should include skills like perspective, contour drawing, composition, and more. When you have a good understanding and you've practiced, then go and take that watercolor or pastel class. You'll find it less overwhelming. You'll retain more information and

you'll be suprised at how well your painting will come out!

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Drawings: Mother and Daughter by Leslie (adult)

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Apple Wreath and Fall Leaves by Olivia (age 11)

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Olivia has gone through the drawing class and has moved onto colored pencil. She set up this composition herself in class and completed it in colored pencil.

Beginning Student Progress

(left image) Avary very shyly came to class ready to draw. Before art instruction started I had her draw a picture of a face. Avary is 10 years old.

(right image) This is Avary's progress after about one month of drawing instruction. She has taken what she has learned in class and has worked hard in class and at home. She is focused in class, but through interaction she has shown she is very knowledgeable about many things and is very confident. I am excited to see what she is capable of doing!

Working With Watercolor Crayons and Colored Pencil

This is Kari's first attempt using watercolor crayons with Prismacolor Colored Pencil. (image is 5"x7") Using these crayons helps to move the colored pencil process more quickly. Normally you may apply 7 or 8 layers of pencil but when using the watercolor crayons you may only have 3 to 4 layers of colored pencil to get the desired results. You apply the watercolor crayon to Pastelbord's sanded surface for the first layer and then apply water to blend. Then you add the colored pencil layers. Super job, Kari!