Art Class - Week 4 Monday

I've applied the base for the blouse and added some shadows and hightlights yesterday. Today, while in class, I did more shadings and not much else. I walked around the class to see everyone's work. And then stopped to help Carmen a bit with her picture. Fred was pleased with my picture and told me I should have him spray it once I'm done. Quite a few people stopped by to look at my Frida picture. They were very complimentary and encouraging to me. David brought a few pieces of his art work to show us. Apparently, he painted on cabinet doors. Very clever idea! His paintings went very well on the panels and overall effect is great. Richard was working on a unique picture. He said he painted over an old cavas. It's a women's face with lots of interesting things on her head. I love the brilliant and fun colors he used.

Art Class - Week 3 Tuesday

I was able to switch erhu lessons to Thursday once again, so I can make it to the Tuesday art class. I really enjoy coming to art class! Today I worked more on Frida's reboso (shawl). It's slowly coming along. I used some white for highlighting it at first, but it had a muddy look. So I repainted the red and started over. Fred (teacher) is airbrushing a beautiful Da Vinci painting. Later, he showed me how to use the airbrush and let me have a go at it. I am overjoyed to learn something new. Air brushing is great fun!

Well, I am truly humbled in the presence of all these artists! And I am so appreciative of teacher who is so encouraging and motivating. He told me to bring it to his friend's gallery, and that's where his works are also displayed, and bring my picture to show the owner. I think it will be great to get some feedback from the gallery, but, I'm not planning sell this painting since this is my first one. Richard made this fantastic desert painting yesterday. I'm so glad he brought it again today so I can see it and also take a picture of him with his painting. Wonderful bright colors! I love it. Here's Carmen, working on her architectural painting. Looking good! More students working on their paintings. Nellie is painting her daughter. What a lovely composition! And I love the red. Gus has airbrushed the car and the background, and now, adding the details. I can't wait to see the finished work. This is a wonderful place! I love seeing how each artist's painting evolves from the initial pencil sketch.

Art Class - Week 3 Monday

This is my 3rd time coming to art class. I love it here! There are so many talented artists, and everyone is so encouraging and friendly, and we have a really great teacher, Fred.

Today, I tried a translucent oil paint that is water soluble. I used that for shading the reboso, and it worked really well! I'm very pleased with the effects.

Mommy has started on her 3rd canvas. She's painting a Chinese lady playing the bamboo flute.

Delko is still working on her mini landscape. I think it's very good for her first painting!

Art Class - Week 2 - Frida Kahlo

I've painting my picture this past week, mostly on the face. I had to make some drastic adjustments to the positioning of her right eye. Now she looks more like Frida on the photo. I had to reschedule my erhu lesson to Thursday to come to class today. I took another student's spot since she is on vacation. Teacher said he may not have a spot for me to switch my time to when his student returns. I hope he can find an alternate time for me eventually since I really want to go to art class both Monday and Tuesday.

Art Class - Week 1

Last week, my mom joined an art class at the local senior center. She came home all excited with her first painting. It was a desert scene, done in acrylics. Not bad at all for a first painting. She said teacher helped her with the pencil sketch and she painted it herself. Apparently, this class is not limited to seniors only. Needless to say, I wanted to check it out. And that's what I did today! Delko came with us too. The teacher's name is Fred Alvarado, and the class had about a dozen people today. As I walked in, I can see people painting on their canvases. There wasn't a particular theme or anything. Everyone was just doing their own thing. After signing up for the class, teacher told me to get a canvas and bring it to him so he can sketch a desert scene for me. I told him I didn't want to do the same thing as my mom and if I can sketch something else myself. He asked me what I wanted to sketch, and I told him I had no idea, and if he could suggest something. Well, he handed me a stack of pictures and told me to look through that for ideas. I showed the pictures to Delko and we were trying to decide what to pick. I told Delko that I shouldn't be too ambitious and pick something too hard since this is my first painting in class. Fred, who was helping another student, overheard me and without turning around, he said, "No, be ambitious!" I was surprised, but I said ok. Finally I found the picture I'm going to use. It's a photo of Frida Kahlo. When teacher saw it, he said, wow, that's ambitious! By the end of class, I almost finished my sketch. Teacher seemed very surprise when he saw it. He said it was beautiful and held it up for the class to see. He said, "I didn't help her with the sketch, she did it herself." I'm just relieved it was alright. It's not exactly like Frida in the photo, so I will probably be tweaking it as I'm painting. Teacher said I have to help him with the sketching for the other students from now on. We'll see how that goes! After all, I'm there to learn. I'm simply overjoyed to be in an art class. There are many talented people, but most importantly, you can see they love painting. I can't wait to go again next time. It will have to be 2 weeks from now since they're closed on Memorial Day.

Tiny art on bamboo

Hello!

Here are 2 tiny pictures that I painted on bamboo pieces. Each piece is 1.5" x 0.75". I painted directly onto the bamboo without pencil sketches. That was different for me, and fun!

I love the way they turned out! I will probably make them into pendants, after I protect the surface with some clear acrylic coating.

Here are the bamboo pieces before they are painted. They need to be lightly sanded or primed before applying the acrylic paints.

Nothing happening....

I haven't done any painting in 10 days. My shoulder, neck and back still hurts. At least the migraine went away today. Well, I did create a pressed flower picture for my mother-in-law. She wanted to give it as a gift to her friends for their 50th anniversary. I used rose petals of yellow and orange red, white alyssums, and yellow verbenas. Sounds yummy!