Three Painting Tips for the Aspiring Artist

It's finally Friday...whooohoo!  Actually, I don't know about you but this week has gone by pretty quickly in my book.  I spent most of the week knee deep in the final editing process of my upcoming online class, Dirty Flirty Birds, which opens up on January 20th.  The class is filling up nicely but we still have room for YOU....join us if you can and you'll enjoy 3 major projects, tons of tips, and hours of video content that you can access for an open ended period of time. The videos are not downloadable but there is no end date so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy the workshop!  

Today's inspiration and tips come from my online class--so you get a little sneak preview:

1.  If you are creating a collection of paintings, repeat colors in each of the pieces to different degrees so that each piece will coordinate together in cohesive way.  I try to start several paintings all at once so this is possible, especially if I am making my own custom colors.  

2.  Brushes are so important to an artist.  Finding ones you love is not easy but as you can see here, these are all well loved and used frequently.  My advice to you if you are an acrylic painter is to keep at least one large flat brush (and perhaps round brush) in your tool box at all times as well as a couple of flats, a small and medium angled, and a few small round for details.  You'll find that if you have the right sized brush for the painting you are working on or the part of the painting you are working on, you will be less frustrated and get the work done more efficiently. I stay away from the really cheap synthetic brushes. If they come in a pack of 20 for 10 bucks...run!!! The large brush in the picture was about 14.00 on sale.   It was well worth it.

3.  Don't be afraid to pursue a series as long as it makes you happy.  Even if the subject matter is similar throughout the series, stretch yourself to find ways to differentiate each piece in new and unique ways.  The benefit of repeating subjects is that you will enhance your skills as an artist along the way AND if you sell your work, you will be offering a variety of work your patrons can keep coming back for to add to their own personal collection.

Creating work with personality is just one of the many things we will be learning in my online class along with these three top tips!

Join Dirty Flirty Birds now and you'll get 15.00 off the regular price. Offer is good only through January 20th.

Have a great weekend all, get out those paints and have fun!!

Jodi


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Stop by and see what's new in the Etsy shop!

Part 2 of the Big News: This is Really Happening! Behind The Scenes of Making My DVDS!

The last few months have  been a whirlwind for sure with all sorts of cool projects going on,  fun trips, awesome classes with super fun students,  and just incredible memories made doing work I hardly consider a job.  This week I'm super EXCITED to share even more news (with a few more announcements to come..what the what!!!!).  

Last May, some of you may recall that I traveled to the Cincinnati film studios of F&W Media (parent company of Cloth Paper Scissors,  Artists Magazine, North Light Books,  Artists and Makers, to name a few),  to spend 4 days filming for upcoming DVDs of mine they are producing. Well....the time has come and the 4 new DVD's  are ready for Pre-order (they  will be shipping starting October 2nd). The digital downloads are available now!!!   This is one of those pinch me moments that I can hardly believe is happening!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the behind the scenes photos of my work table and set up as well as meet a couple of the wonder women behind the scenes filming (sorry I didn't get pics of the guys that made it all happen, too)!  One thing is for sure, there's so much hard work and effort that goes into producing videos,  each and every person plays a vital rol in making it all happen!

My producer,  Amy Jones.  She did an awesome job putting all the details of my creative vision  for the projects into an actual product that we are delivering to you!    Not to mention she is a lot of fun and has a great personality. I felt welcome and valued as soon as I arrived on set!   I was scared as could be, not knowing what to expect and I know the first day I was not as comfortable with the whole process as I could have been but it didn't take long for my nerves to settle with all the support and help the crew lent me!

 Wowza...do you see that big camera facing down on the set?  They had 4 of those around the room...and 3-4 camera/film operators at any one time working on the set along with myself and the producer. It was quite the arty party!!!  :)

The projects range from watercolors on Yupo,  acrylic painting, collage, and ink paintings. Just tons of techniques and information jam packed into the DVDs that will be soon available.   The fact that I had the opportunity to do this is just beyond words.  I know I'm blessed for sure and I am excited to bring to you this new avenue of creative education at an extremely affordable price!   There have been tons of requests in the past from students of mine to have downloadable products or dvds and I just didn't have a way to create that type of product...well that's an issue of the past.  Now you can  enjoy the classes/projects anytime, anywhere!

Here's Christine, another one of the camera woman and a photographer along with Amy, our producer.  I hope you can tell how much fun we all had from their contagious smiles!  :))

 More samples I brought for the shoot...we 'prettied' up the set with a fun selection of my art over the course of the week. I brought a ton of stuff!  I seem to do that where ever I go.  Packing lightly is just not something I'm very good at!! :))

Preparing to work on a new project for the film...there's a lot of stop and starting during the course of the day but it is definitely a FULL day of work for each of the DVD's we created and then months of editing and polishing it all up for the  the final project(s).

So other than noticing for sure how dang chunky I look, I'm really proud of everything we created at F&W Media!!  I hope that you take a second to check out the DVD's or Downloads and buy one or two for yourself!   These would make great stocking stuffers for the holidays, too...just sayin!!! :))

Here are the pictures for the DVD's and if you click on them they will take you right to the store to purchase them!

Collage Characters

Expressive Watercolor on Yupo:  Painting Flowers

Graffiti Grunge Art

Tandem Techniques 15 Mixed Media Techniques for Canvas and Art Journals

My last words of wisdom for this post is simply to be brave in your quest to achieve your dreams.  You never know what can happen if you simply try.  Now go out and make some beautiful art or run that marathon you've been wanting to do!  You got this!

Ohhh...one more thing,  if you haven't had a chance to stop by my last blog post-I'm having a giveaway. Entries taken through 9/30!  

Stay tuned for more big news coming!!

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If you are in the neighborhood, join us for the opening reception for my new featured artist show, "Land of the Whimsical and Odd".  October 1st from 630-830. The show will be up through the end of October at Artful Living Group in Carolina Beach.