Art Class | The Studio

Archive for the ‘Art Class’ Category

A Creative Retreat

Posted in Art Class, daily painter, Tips for Better Painting, Travel, tagged Chickens in the Road, Creative Retreat on February 25, 2014| 4 Comments »

Chickens at Sassafras Farm

I’ve been invited to teach again at a creative retreat with my friend Suzanne McMinn of Chickens in the Road fame. The Creative Blast Retreat will be Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, and will feature cooking like Julia Child and painting on canvas as well as gourds. Read all about the retreat here. Space is limited to a dozen or so people so instruction will be very personal. Be sure to sign up quickly if you are interested. You don’t want to miss it as it’s held at Suzanne’s Sassafras Farm where we will be surrounded by animals.

Here is just some of what you will learn in the cooking portion of the retreat: “Breadbaking – yeast dough from French-style loaves, baguettes to various types of rolls and even pizza; Cakes – Julia’s famous chocolate cake; Dessert – creme brulee and any kind of mousse; Main Dish – classic chicken fricassee!

And on top of that we will also be painting! Doesn’t this sound like a fun 2 days?! Join us.

(You can read here about past retreats that I taught there. )

Read Full Post »

More with Books

Posted in Art Class, Books, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, book painting, impressionism, open book painting, Virginia Artist on February 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

As I continue to work on the book series (I haven’t given up…just been misdirected for a week or so) we decided to paint a book with my young student yesterday. Here is Ethan with a wonderful painting of an open book and glasses. We painted side by side so you see his version on the left, mine on the right and the reference photo above my painting.

We decided a plain background was too dull so we put “wallpaper” on the wall behind our tables. Great job Ethan!

Read Full Post »

Beautiful Florals

Posted in Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, impressionism on February 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The boys created these lovely floral paintings in kids class this week. Just in time for Valentine’s Day. If you know of a young person who would like to paint with us just contact me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com to register. We meet on Thursdays at 4:15 at the Arts Council.

Read Full Post »

Demo to Loosen Up Your Work

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, Tips for Better Painting, tagged Abstract, abstract art, Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, floral, impressionism, pear, Virginia Artist on February 7, 2014| 5 Comments »

Warm-up Abstract

Warm-up Floral

Warm-up Pear

In our Wednesday morning adult art class this week I gave a demonstration on “Loosening up” your paintings. I took a workshop several years ago from Robert Burridge, a terrific California painter and teacher, who taught us to do these warm-up paintings. His idea is to line up 6-8 sheets of watercolor paper and then quickly lay on several colors of paint. They will then all look like abstract paintings. The second step is to paint out anything that doesn’t look like whatever subject you want the painting to be. For instance, in the floral painting shown here I filled in background and added a vase. Then I shaped up a few of the colors to look like flowers and leaves. This entire process, all three of these paintings, took about 20 minutes. This forces a painter to work quickly and loose.

Read Full Post »

Another Mermaid for Jan

Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, Blue Ridge Arts Council, impressionism, Landscape, mermaid, oil painting on February 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jan’s Granddaughter – The Mermaid

You met Jan last year. She is one of my Wednesday morning students who does a fabulous job painting wonderful things for her family. Here is another mermaid she did for one of her granddaughters. It looks super!!! Great work Janice! Click here to see the last mermaid Jan painted.

Read Full Post »

These Girls are Good!

Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, Blue Ridge Arts Council, impressionism on January 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Logan with “Eyes”

Hannah with Blue Bird

Logan and Hannah are two students from my “Young Artists” class that have been with me for several years and have moved up to the adult class. They do very well mixing color and working independently on paintings. Here are two that they just completed. Excellent!!!

Read Full Post »

Resolved to Paint?

Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class on January 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Was it to try something new and different? Or to learn to do something new? How about painting? Why not join us at one of the art classes at the Blue Ridge Arts Council. We have adult painting classes each week on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. and on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The great thing about these classes is that there is no pressure. You can be an absolute beginner or an advanced painter and still fit right in with our groups. Everyone works at their own pace.

Jan and The Mermaid

Come join us for the fun. Learn more about art classes here or contact kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com to register. And come create a masterpiece of your own!

Read Full Post »

Ethan’s Snow Scene

Posted in Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, barn, barn in snow, Blue Ridge Arts Council, impressionism, Landscape, snow scene on January 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

We had a super art lesson yesterday with Ethan. He did a terrific job on this little snow scene with barn. Art Lesson and Classes for young artists ages 7-13 are available. Contact kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com for appointment times and class schedules.

Read Full Post »

Shelly’s Recent Work

Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, impressionism, Landscape, Virginia Artist on January 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

We offer three l adult art classes at the Blue Ridge Arts Council on Wednesdays at 10:30 or 5:30 and Thursday at 5:30. The classes are 1 1/2 hours and are for beginners to advanced paintings. You can join the class at anytime as they are ongoing and each student works on a painting of their choice. (Read more about classes here.) We do all study the same things, however, which is composition and color mixing. I believe once you learn to mix and see colors you really become a good painter.

Shelly has been painting with me for a couple of years and she has a terrific eye for color and color mixing. Here is an example of two of her latest paintings. We work from photographs and the colorful sunset shows just beautifully colors can be added to a painting. Great job Shelly. And the names on the tree is a gift for her son. What a thoughtful and fun painting. Keep up the excellent work Shelly!

Read Full Post »

Kid’s Paint Their Own Pet Portraits

Posted in Animals, Art Class, Dogs, Paint Parties, Pet Portaits, tagged acrylic, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, cat, cat portrait, daily painter, dog portrait, horse, horse portrait, impressionism, pet portrait, Rescue dogs on December 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday afternoon we had the Kid’s “Paint Your Own Pet Portrait” Workshop. It was so much fun!!!! The kids did superb work on their portraits. We had dogs, cats, and horses. They were all so different and all so good! Great job young artists. I love seeing the enthusiasm of young painters creating beautiful art.