Chinese Brush Painting

This is a project I created on my own, based off of Chinese Paint Brush painting. For the first week I taught the class a little about traditional Chinese painting, and then we did two small paintings on watercolor paper with the Chinese brushes. Sadly I didn't get pictures of these.... We did two of the four gentlemen, which are the plum blossom, the orchid, the chrysanthemum and the bamboo. They turned out pretty good, although it was a little difficult for the students to use the Chinese brushes and the watercolors at times. They're good kids, and put up with a lot. If I do this project with my other school I may just use regular paint brushes.
The second week we did a painting based off of a simple painting in the Chinese Brush Painting book I was using. It is of an orchid dipping into the water and two fish. This one we did on rice paper which was even more difficult because it soaks up water like craaaazy and the brushes hold water like craaazy. They all practiced first and did quite well :)  I would say this would be best for upper elementary and up, but my first and second graders are incredible so who knows... haha
Maybe using regular watercolor paper and regular round brushes would make these projects, even if they are less authentic. Chinese painting is so simple and beautiful.

This was the one that my fifth grade brother did. He and my sister (one year younger) are in one of my classes, and if I forget to get pictures of the whole class's projects I just use theirs. My sister's is below.

Oh! we also painted ornaments! Most of the students painted a bird that was in the book, it was so cute :)

Oil paints and mediums, what I have learned.

Here's my experience from going to get "real" oils a few weeks ago. Hope it is helpful.

I went to Blick's art supply a couple weeks ago because I needed to get myself some "real" oil paints now that I'm moving up and trying to be a real artist... hah   By "real" oil paints, I mean more expensive, higher quality, than say, Winton or some other student grade stuff from Hobby Lobby. I mean, as far as I new they worked just fine, but I figured there was a reason why professional artists didn't use the low grade stuff.
Basically, what I learned was that the more expensive paint has more pigment in it and has a better, creamier consistency. 
I have always used a small palette- basically ultramarine and prussian blues (also experiment with cobalt and cerulean), yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cad yellow, cad red, alizarin crimson, sometimes orange and raw umber and sap green, and of course titanium white.
But I had been reading Color and Light by James Gurney, AWESOME BOOK, and he was talking about other pigments you kind of should/could have, and I thought YA! cause certain pigments make colors that certain other pigments can't!
A small palette works fine, and is good especially when you're learning and starting off, but I am enjoying the new colors I can mix with some new pigments that I got.
What brand to choose?
So anyway, when I got to the big art store and saw like 10 brands of oils I realized I had no idea about paint. (Why didn't they teach us this stuff in college? guess they wanted us to go to grad school.) Some brands had certain pigments that I wanted, while other brands didn't. Some were a little more expensive, while some were handmade and wayyyy too expensive like you've got to be kidding me.
So I started asking the people who worked there, and they actually were painters and knew what was up with paint! Score! So basically, a lot of them are good... Winsor and Newton is good, but Gamblin is a little cheaper and probably just as good. Winsor and Newton was the only one that I could find Pyrrole Red in, and that is also the only "real" oil paint that Hobby Lobby carries as I later realized.
BUT  Grumbacher Pre-tested is great too, and decent price :) A lot of artist like that paint, and I later realized that I had some of this at home somehow in a Thalo red rose that I love.
White: Soft formula and Transparent
Grumbacher has big tubes of Titanium White SOFT FORMULA. If you don't have Titanium white soft formula go get some! It will make your life so much easier. Have you ever realized how hard that paint is?  Also I learned about mixing white, or translucent white, i.e. zinc or flake white, both of which are toxic! gasp! But there is a synthetic! The only brand we could find the transparent white (the fake non-toxic stuff) in was Rembrandt, and I have been using this stuff like crazy! It doesn't dull your colors and make them super cool, it's just amazing. So definitely get some of that too. 
My Favorite: M. Graham
And here is my favorite I think....  M. Graham. Made with Walnut oil, which is non-toxic unlike some of the other oils and stuff that they make paints with. Back in college I had learned of walnut oil from a friend in my class who had learned about it from her fiance who was getting his MFA. So, instead of using Liquin or linseed oil or whatever for my medium (which honestly I never used a medium until after college, another thing we weren't taught much about) I use walnut oil.
Walnut Oil instead of Mineral Spirits
And here's the coolest thing about this. You can clean your brushes in walnut oil and not have to use mineral spirits! I have an extremely tiny studio space, like 12x5 but even less floor space, and next to no ventilation especially in winter, so this is awesome for me. No more wooziness and cancer. Heck ya. The nice lady at Blick's taught me about this, and it is working awesome, and I love the M. Graham paints.  So basically I have a mix of all of these brands and I like the consistency/feel of them all so far. Each small tube was between $9 and $14. I didn't get any of the more expensive pigments. It is so worth the money though.
So go get some good paint! This good stuff is so much more creamy and awesome. And get some Walnut oil and seal up those mineral spirits.
These are the new paints that I purchased.
Dioxazine Purple
Quinacridone Violet
Manganese Blue (this one is just cool)
Pyrrole Red
Lemon Yellow
Pthalo Green?
Sap Green
Titanium White soft formula
Transparent white
I can't wait to replace all my paints with these nicer paints.

And so flowers it will be.

There are many things that I like to paint. There is not much that I do not like to paint. One of the top on my list is portraits....  But there is something that I love in every area of life. FLOWERS. Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I'm a bit coocoo about flowers. Flowers...... and Sunsets. Hmmm But mostly flowers. The thrill of looking at a flower lasts a little longer than looking at a sunset, and you can take flowers with you... does that make them a little better? Plus, my man can give me a bouquet of flowers, and I just think he's the best :D  
So anyway, I think I was just born to love flowers, and maybe my Dad had some influence in my life in that way. Come to think of it, he has a book of every flower in the world, and they are all paintings, but so photo realistic you would never know it! The flowers in that book were the sources for my first paintings in high school, and I think that they were a big factor in my deciding that I wanted to paint, especially in a photo realistic way.

Therefore, in this time of my life as I am just done with my undergrad and studying painting now on my own... while also teaching and working at the frame shop... I have decided to focus on painting the florals. And so flowers it will be. My goal is to have quite a few ready for sale by the end of the summer, both originals and giclee prints. Start saving your money! 'Cause they're gonna be gorgeous :)

Why I love flowers:
1. They are PRETTY, and BEAUTIFUL, and GORGEOUS
2. They are colorful. I looove color!
3. They smell nice
4. They make me absolutely giddy
5. I love to paint them
6. They are inoffensive
7. They are just the prettiest things in the world...
http://player.vimeo.com/video/27920977?title=0&%3bbyline=0&%3bportrait=0href]
Awesome stop time photography of opening flowers

Mom's Childhood Portrait

I finally finished this portrait of my Mom for her Christmas present. She had brought me a little picture one day that was taken of her (at Lake Michigan I believe) when she was three. It's a super cute picture, little toddler smirk on her face, very nice lighting, great colors. The photo was actually in great condition, not faded or yellowed, so that made it easy to work from. I did also scan it into my computer and enlarged it to work from.

For this painting, I was focusing on mixing the correct colors and not going over and over an area on my canvas a billion times. I did pretty good on this I think, trying to break old, bad habits. I could have payed more attention to colors and warms/cools etc. when I painted the sand, but I got a bit bored with that part. I really enjoyed using bright, clean colors to depict the sunny day at the lake.

I painted my first set of bare feet! They turned out great I think, I was quite happy. (They look better in the real painting). The hand, on the other hand, was all blurred out, so I had a little trouble with that, but it will have to do for now.

I'm still working on my brother's Christmas/birthday present painting, but hopefully that will be up shortly!

Christmas painting

This 6x8 little painting is what I painted for my boyfriend's parents for their Christmas present. He told me that his mom loved orchids, especially purple ones, so that was my subject. I also framed it at the frame shop I work at, and that added a pretty finishing touch.

I had originally painted this with a dark, smooth, boring background. But fortunately I realized that it could be so much better (I've been studying painting and great painters a lot lately) so I re did it with more color and in a more painterly way. It dried a little darker than I wanted, and the picture is not that great, but I am learning. :)

The images look much better if you view them after clicking on them!

I think I am going to start painting lots of small flower paintings... so be looking for more soon!

Baby Doll tomatoes

This pastel portrait was something I did a few weeks ago for my adopted grandma at the frame shop. I spent about five hours and was working from a very old 1"x2" photo (and I didn't even draw the whole photo).  I have pretty good close up vision, but I definitely had to scan the picture into my computer and enlarge it so I didn't go crazy trying to see the details. :) I also had to make the woman look happy and not like the sun was in her eyes like she did when the photo was snapped. That was a fun little challenge. "Grandma" was very happy.

I love doing portraits, and if you or anyone you know would like a portrait done come talk to me! I usually work in pencil, charcoal, pastel and oils (full color and oil wash). 

Bug drawings

Main purpose of the bug drawing project
1. Learn and develop drawing skills
2. Continue working on blending and shading
3. Draw items that the students enjoyed
4. Sources MUST be used for this project or they will not be learning how to draw a tarantula that looks like a tarantula etc.

This project was slightly adapted from an idea I found on an art teacher's blog that I cannot find again so I cannot give credit unfortunately.
Every student drew three insects/spiders/bugs and then cut them out. I helped with the cutting some with my xacto knife. I printed lots of pictures that I will be able to use for other classes down the road, and some of the students brought pictures of their favorite bugs. I taught them about observing what they were drawing and drawing accurately. I did not allow ants to be drawn as three circles with lines coming out of them.... anyone can do that, but we are learning to draw. We also worked with shading and blending with the colored pencils.
The other teacher had them draw a bug jar with some sticks and leaves on a large piece of paper and then paste their bugs on to that piece. I decided to just have them draw a "habitat" for their bugs instead of a bug jar. I provided pictures of leaves and sticks and flowers for this part of the project. The bugs can either be pasted on flat or with the wings etc. popped out  3-D.
We spent at least 3 to 4 hours on this project and by the end I was definitely seeing an improvement in the students drawing ability. Everyone enjoyed this and there was a good balance between me as the instructor telling the students what to draw and the students choosing themselves what butterflies/insects/spiders were their favorites.

They turned out beautifully, but I only have pictures of two because I never remember to bring my camera to class....  Next year I will be better about that.

This was done by one of my stellar 5th graders. I took this picture before he was finished with the background. Some students do try to stop with blank space between the grass and the sky, but I always remind them to think about where their horizon is and make sure that there is no empty space on their page.

This was done by another 5th grader that "draws a movie" every week :) Here the tarantulas and scorpions are having a battle on a basketball court. He could be a comic book artist and writer.