Week 3 of the Get Your Paint On class

This week of painting has been real interesting.  I am learning so much about myself and paint as a whole in this class.  The instructors, Mati and Lisa, are great!  Only through painting have I discovered more truths about myself.  I recently read a real good book about my Chinese symbol, the Cat, and it fits me to a tee.  It has also opened my eyes about who I am and what I am about and it has made me feel better about accepting that self more.  I am who I am and that's OK.  I like me!  Painting has helped me see those things about myself even clearer.  And I want to explore more of me and my painting.

This week's assignment was on color and we learned to mix colors to match colors that we like.  Another discovery!  It was not easy for me.  I am a learner of basics first.  I have to understand the basic first before I seem to be able to go to the next step.  So I searched the internet, read all I could, ran to the library until I had some basics to start from.  I have a grey palette made by Jack Richeson & Co that I use and the inside cover gives some color basics and mixing basics.   I wanted to share a few things that I thought were useful.

3 parts to color:  hue, chroma, and value
  1.  Value is the lightness or darkness of a color.
  2.  Chroma is a measure of how pure or saturated of a color.
  3.  Hue is the name of the color, such as; red, blue, green, etc.

 - Adding white to a color lightens the value, makes the color temperature cooler, and sometimes changes the hue.
 - Adding black will the darken the color and alters it's hue.
 - Mixing a color with its complementary color "greys" or neutralizes the color (I thought this was interesting since I have made a lot of "grey" in my mixing sessions).
 - Placing a color's complement near it in a painting will add visual interest.

Here is my week 3 painting.  I used the colors of my loveseat as my inspiration for this week's assignment.  Even though I love my loveseat, I have discovered that I love red better in paintings so I want to try my hand with red next week.

Get Your Whatever On next week for yourself...

My paintings

Well I am going to post my first 2 paintings to show everyone what I have been doing.  This class has been so FUN!   The best thing is that it has made me take time to play each week. 

My first week painting includes a picture of my Grandmother and Grandfather with my brothers and myself in a quilt painted framework.

The 2nd week's painting was based on finding our subject matter and mine was houses.  I love to draw houses.  I think it goes with my love of home, my home, and being home.  I loved playing around with the details of this painting.  This reminds me of making your house a home.

Hello 2011

Someone pulled the trigger on the starter gun January 1st and I haven't quit running sense...this first month has been really busy for me so I am sorry I have waited so long to journal.  Just everyday living has kept me running.   I think I am ready now to get back to my creative list.  I have begun to sort through boxes of paper and other things to start my first Etsy Shop.  I hope to have an announcement for all of you soon.  I hope to have a great shop loaded with old papers, old pictures, old studio photographs, and other goodies for collages.  I have found old jewelry, watches, old lace collars, and other sewing notions.  I have gathered for years and need to clean it out.  Watch for my opening in February.  I will give notice on my Facebook and Twitter account too.

This month I have started out taking Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon "Get Your Paint On" ecourse.  Just the first week's assignment has set me on my heels, made me think about painting with a whole new light, and I am so looking forward to what is next...if I do something I like I will post a picture.

I love winter, the snow, coats, scarfs and gloves, warm fires, hot cup of tea, a blanket on my lap, a dog laying next to me and another one at my feet, time to read, snooze, plan, and dream.   The change of the seasons, changes our way of life, our moods, our appetites, our wants and needs, and too even our dreams.  We seem to slow down during the winter months just as nature seems to slow down, regroup, and recoup.  Here is to another month of wishing and dreaming and rest.