More Practice Sheets - Co Op Girls

You've all done so well with your painting classes.  Here are a few more practice sheets for you to be getting on with.

Remember to bring your Magic Canvases to class on Thursday along with your brushes and palettes.

See you Thursday for our last class in this series.  For those of you who wish to carry on, please contact me!

Co Op Girls - March Break

Here are some petal sheets for you to use to practice your techniques during your March Break.
Be careful to read the instructions properly, use the correct size brush for the petal that you're doing and if possible the same colour paints.  Keep your brushes clean and your bristles fully loaded.  Push down for a larger petal and always start and finish on a chisel edge.

Only make one track unless you can't possibly help it.  Do not use water to thin paint, use floating medium.  

Co-Op Girls - March Break

If anyone wants some painting projects to do during March break please let me know.

Co Op Girls - Sixth Lesson

Our next project is a bird house.  This looks complex, but, as you all well know, the One Stroke technique is so much easier than you think.

Don't forget:

• Your brushes
• An old shirt
• A cloth
• Your palette
• Your practice pad

Your project is a wooden brush carrying case.  You're going to love it!

Co Op Girls - Fifth Lesson

The rose is the classic flower of One Stroke painters.  it is somewhat more difficult than the other flowers because it has so many components, but once mastered it is so beautiful and well worth all the practice.

First start by practicing the bud, when you have mastered the bud, the sea shell which is the petal shape that the whole rose is made of.

The comma stroke comes next, to make the small petals that go around the bud.

When practicing, remember to leave a hole in the centre of the first five petals, if you don't, your second row of petals will be as big or barely bigger than the first row and it won't look like much of a rose.

Have fun!

Co Op Girls - Fourth Lesson

This weeks lesson is going to focus on sunflowers and their leaves.
Sunflowers are very splashy and large and work well for many projects where you need just one or two main feature decorations and if you have to cover a large surface.
You will be learning a new technique called "pouncing" with a brush that we've not used yet in class which is called a "scruffy".
These practice sheets feature the sunflower leaves on the right and just a little sample of the sunflowers on the left, the ones that we will be doing are much bigger than these.  But take a look anyway and familiarize yourself with the technique.
Please bring with you:

• Your brushes
• An old shirt
• An old cloth

If you have any questions please contact me.

Project:  Small paper box

Co Op Girls - Third Lesson

It's Valentine week so we're going to be doing something that fits the moment.  We will be painting a heart shaped tin that can be filled with home made cookies or chocolates and given as a gift.

Please bring:

• an old shirt to protect your clothes
• your brushes
• a cloth to wipe your hands 
• paper towels

Here is a recipe for making red velvet truffles:

Ingredients:

• 1 box red velvet cake mix, and ingredients to make the cake
• 1 can (16 oz) prepared cream cheese frosting
• 1 lb candy coating, white or dark chocolate
• Sprinkles or small candies to decorate (optional)

Preparation:

1. Prepare and bake the red velvet cake mix according to the directions of the package for a 9x13 cake. Once baked, allow the cake to cool completely.

2. Crumble the cake into a large bowl and work it with your hands until it is in small pieces. If desired, reserve a few spoonfuls of crumbs to use as decorative toppings on the finished truffles.

3. Spoon three-fourths of the frosting into the bowl and stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture is well-combined. It should be very moist and hold together if you squeeze a ball of cake between your fingers, but not too wet or greasy. If the cake mixture is still a bit dry, add more frosting to get it to the desired consistency.

4. Using a small cookie or candy scoop, scoop out small balls of cake and roll between your palms until they are round. Place the cakes balls on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil, and refrigerate them while you prepare the candy coating.

5. Place the candy coating in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave it until melted, stirring after every 45 seconds to prevent overheating.

6. Using dipping tools or a fork, submerge a cake ball in the melted candy coating. Remove it from the coating and drag the bottom across the lip of the bowl to remove excess coating. Replace the dipped truffle on the foil-covered baking sheet. If desired, top it with a sprinkle of cake crumbs, small candies, or other decorations while the coating is still wet. Repeat with remaining cake balls.

7. Refrigerate the truffles to set the coating completely, about 20 minutes. These cake truffles are best served at room temperature, and can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Pallets

I just wanted to give you a quick reminder about pallets.  Of course you can continue to bring the pallets that I provided for you, however, if you want to get a little more 'fancy' and don't want all the messy clean up, you can buy an artists pallet from Walmart (about $3) and a roll of Glad Press 'n Seal (not usual Seran wrap, it HAS to be Press  'n Seal) Simply cut off enough to cover most of your pallet and stick it on with as few wrinkles as possible then just bring it to class.  When class is over simply peel off the Press 'n Seal and throw it away.  If everyone does this we will need less clean up time after class so that you have a few extra minutes to paint.

Excellent........

........excellent, you girls are the BEST!  I am amazed at how well you all did on this mornings project and feel very proud of you all.  The brush strokes were very well executed and the colours and mixing was wonderful....keep up the good work.

I really recommend you all to purchase at least a couple of paints so that you can practice at home (don't forget to use the practice sheets provided so that you don't get into bad habits).  Todays colours were:

1. Wicker White
2. Berry Wine
3. Thicket
4. School Bus Yellow

With these four basic colours you can mix and match, try using Berry Wine and School Bus Yellow for your flowers and Thicket with Wicker White for your leaves and there you have another unique combination.

We painted the picture frames with Peridot from the Metallic collection of Folk Art Paints, metallics are good for backgrounds and dry fast with a nice sheen.  We will be using metallic paint again during the course.

Some of you mentioned how much you enjoyed having the "ambiance music" playing, if you have a favourite CD of classical or very soft music (no rock and roll or else you'll all be turning into Picasso's instead of Donna Dewberry) you are quite welcome to bring it along.

Please remember to bring a cover up shirt with you........we can even paint it in class and make it really cool if we have a few moments after each class.

Next weeks project is a Valentine Project....more information to follow as well as the pictures I took in today's class.

Any questions?  Just leave your comments here and I will get back to you ASAP.  Happy painting!

Co-Op Girls - Second Class

For Thursday's class you will need to bring your brushes, styrofoam pallet and your paint pads from last week and please remember to bring an old shirt to protect your clothing.

We will be building on your skills from last week and tackling the rose bud and leaf border which we will be painting on to a picture frame.

The two girls that couldn't be with us for last weeks lesson will have a bit of catching up to do, but I have prepared their frames in advance so they can learn last weeks techniques while everyone else prepares their frames.

If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comment section below by tomorrow evening at the latest so that you are prepared by Thursday morning (I do not check my e-mail before coming to class.)

Looking forward to Thursday!

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