Springtime in Acrylics, a Painting Class in Placerville

Good morning. Tina here.

Last Saturday I attended an acrylics painting class at the Placerville Shakespeare Clubhouse. There were about 22 students, our teacher Mary Ann (on the left below) and her able assistant Dee.  Mary Ann usually paints in pastels, and Dee is a very well rounded artist, specializing in drawing and watercolor. The photo of the two artists below was one I took back in November for the press release.

I have painted over the years and have shown a few paintings in this blog, including my painting of my corgi, Robbi. I just don't seem to get into it if left on my own, so when I see a painting class I sign up, hoping I will get a painting out of it.

 I arrived late, there were apparently two flyers that went out, one said 10 am (which I had) and others said 9:30. Someone was supposed to call and make sure we all knew it was 9:30. I didn't get a call. That was okay, I was the last one there and so I was lucky enough to sit next to Kandi. Above is her very tidy working space, showing the lovely camelias she brought to paint. I wish I had thought to bring some daffodils, but instead I had several pages of lovely arrangements from a Martha Stewart magazine.

Our cost included a six-pack of large jars of acrylics. Blue, red, yellow, an odd bluish-green, white, and black. We also had four nice brushes, a small sponge, paper, a paper pallet, a plastic knife, pencil and a piece of charcoal.

Our first project, which I had to play catch-up on, was to mix colors from those primary colors we were given, red, yellow and blue, and fill in our color wheel. Above in the middle is my color wheel.  

Above is Kandi's color wheel and her version of our first project, which out of all the room was my favorite. I was really impressed with what she did with a "plain white" daisy.

Kandi's only experience with painting was last summer when she worked on the sets for "The Secret Garden", at the Imagination Theater in Placerville. Her daughter was in the cast and they needed volunteers. She painted rocks for the walls, and I attended that play and can attest that the sets were wonderful! So even though she claimed not to be an artist, I felt that she was already well on her way. She had a great way with shading, I think she learned that from painting rocks over and over, with varying shades of gray!

Mary Ann had given us a paper with a drawing of a flower on it, which could become a daisy, a sunflower, or whatever our little painter hearts desired.

 Mine became a sunflower.

Above is a shot of the room. We each had a long table and one partner, plenty of room to make a mess or a masterpiece.

Kandi's pallet was neat and tidy and she separated her colors in nice little rows. Mine, well... That is my pallet below.

Mary Ann gave demonstrations and told interesting tales of her painting. One that was helpful to me (hopefully) was how she made herself paint during a particularly trying time in her life. Her husband was ill and she had very little time for herself. She told herself she would paint a pear a day. And she did! She has hundred of paintings of pears, and she can look back and be happy she kept working on her talents in spite of everything.

I love the photo below. Mary Ann is showing how to use your artist's eye as a camera lens and frame your picture in your mind.

I was not thinking of doing a post on the class, and just had my camera by chance because it is almost always in my purse (bless those Vera Bradley purses with all their pockets!) I failed to get a photo of Kandi's wonderful painting of her camellias and I would have liked to share more of my classmates work. But the after lunch portion was full of painting, painting, painting, and I didn't take any pictures.  So I will just leave you with a photo of my painting and a promise that next time I will take more pictures.

 Happy spring!