Co-Op Girls - First Class

I hope that you all enjoyed the first class this semester as much as I did, it was great to see so many signed up for this class (we'll have two more next week).  I thought that you all did wonderfully well with your first One Stroke experience.  Here is some information which we covered in class which I hope you will find helpful:

• Always keep your workstation tidy!
• Wear an old shirt/t-shirt to class, you WILL get paint on your clothes and it does not come off
• Your water caddy goes on your right hand side at the top of the table
• Your pallet goes to your right if you are right handed or to your left if you are left handed
• Your kitchen towel folded twice goes slightly under your pallet 
• Your brushes must be cleaned after each lesson and wrapped in plastic
• As soon as you get home, clean your brushes again using Dawn Blue dish washing soap washing well several times using the same back and forth movement (as when you load your brush) clean your brushes on the back of your hand.
• Wipe the brush over a bar of soap or on to a puddle of hair gel to 'set' the brushes into their chisel position and allow to dry flat 

You will find it useful to:

• Keep old shirts
• Bring a small towel or cloth to wipe your hands on (paint on hands means paint on your projects)
• Bring a plastic container large enough for your pallet and your brushes (there will not be time to properly wash them in class, but they must be rinsed and put into a container before they dry) until you can get home to clean them properly
• Keep styrofoam dishes that you can use as a pallet or buy a plastic pallet from Walmart or the Dollar Store and cover with Glad Press and Seal (which you simply peel off and throw away)
• Always take note of the colour combinations used in class as these are usually 'best case scenario' colours, those that will give you the best shading effect.  Buy only Folk Art paints for your projects, there IS a difference between them and the Dollar Store varieties and it is false economy to think that you will get the same result with a different paint.  Folk Art paints were designed for this technique other acrylic paints were designed for other techniques
• Practice between classes
• Play some soft music and relax while you paint, you will find that you slow down and enjoy your painting more.  Get some nice 'room smellies' and a good lamp to shine on your work
• Don't jump ahead, try to use the colours provided/recommended and don't try to improvise between classes (unless you are using the practice sheets provided for that purpose) since you will likely teach yourself bad habits
• Ask questions - all comments that you leave on this blog will be answered quickly
• Check this blog at least once a week before class on Thursday morning, be sure to bring everything that is on the list of items to bring to class and note any special instructions.  If a class is cancelled it will be posted on this blog

Once again, you were all excellent today and I can't wait for next week.  In the meantime, happy painting!

Lynne