Posted in Art Class, daily painter, tagged Art Class, art lessons, barn, daily painter, daily painting, Landscape, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Artist, Virginia wineries on March 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Fenced in Barn is an oil on canvas panel. This is a piece that we did in art class recently. There are many lessons to be learned on a painting like this from color mixing, shading, perspective, etc. We try to choose ideas that allow the student to gain increased knowledge so that they may advance their painting skills.
If you’d like to join us and paint along, contact me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com . We’d love to see you in class!
Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, Virginia Artist on February 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »
We always have a lot of fun on Wednesday evening at art class. Last night each student was working on a different painting. It’s great to see the challenges that everyone has taken on. And I think we all learn from one another as we progress on our journeys to be better painters.
I spend a lot of time talking about the color wheel and color mixing because I feel that learning 
color is at least half the battle in becoming a good painter.
This palette is one of our painters from last night as they continued to mix to find just the right color for a floral painting. The best way to learn is to experiment and practice and that is exactly what this student did. Good job!
Pat has been painting with the class now for a little over a year and has become a very good painter. What I love about her is that she is open to trying anything to learn new techniques and improve her skills. She’s doing great!
If you would like to join us just email me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com . I’ll be glad to give you more information. Painting is a great outlet for stress; it’s a wonderful hobby; and in a class setting it’s loads of fun. Come and try it.
Posted in Art Class, daily painter, tagged apple, Art Class, art lessons, Books, daily painter, daily painting, fruit, impressionism, oil painting on February 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Teacher’s Pet is an oil on 9″x12″ canvas panel and is framed and available by contacting me.
I love this painting. We did this a few weeks ago in our Wednesday Night Oil Painting Class. See what you could do if you came and painted with us????
Posted in daily painter, Trivia, tagged Art Class, art lessons, daily painting, Landscape, oil painting, Shenandoah Valley, snow, Trivia, trivia question, Virginia Artist on January 14, 2010| 1 Comment »
“Miniature Snow and Fence” is an oil on 3″x5″ stretched canvas. This painting is available for $40 by contacting me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .
Today I am introducing a new series. Each Thursday I will try to answer a “trivia” question about art. I get questions all the time about little things related to painting. This is where I will address those questions. Who knows? Maybe we will learn something on Trivia Thursday!
Today’s question is about the different length of handles on brushes. Why are some brush handles longer than others? The short-handled brushes are generally for watercolor painting or painting where you sit close to the piece you are working on. Long-handled brushes are used mainly for oil painting. When painting oils you want to try to stand up at the easel. That way you can stand back from work and look at what it needs. If the brush has a longer handle then you can put paint on the canvas by standing back from it and seeing where it needs more work. Many instructors teach new painters to put one stroke on the canvas and walk back a couple of steps. Then decide where the next stroke of paint should go, put it on and walk back. This is why you see painters on tv stepping back and looking at the work, generally with their head cocked to one side. The head cock is optional. 🙂
Posted in daily painter, tagged Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, fruit, impressionism, oil painting, strawberry on January 8, 2010| 1 Comment »
A Single Strawberry is an oil on canvas panel measuring 5″x7″. It is framed and available for $95. This is another painting that we did in Wednesday night art class.
Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Shenandoah Valley, snow, Virginia Artist on January 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
A Walk in the Snow is an oil on 9″x12″ canvas panel that we did in art class. It is available by contacting me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .
If you have ever wanted to learn to paint let me remind you that we have classes at the Blue Ridge Arts Council on Wednesday at 5 p.m. each week. All levels from beginner to advanced are welcome to join us. And if that time doesn’t suit you, just contact me to work out a time that will. I’d love to work with you so that you can enjoy creating paintings as much as I do.
Posted in Art Class, Small Town Life, tagged Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, self-portrait, Small Town Life on December 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Congratulations to Charlee, my art student who did this self-portrait as part of a contest at her school. They chose one student from each grade and will be putting their portraits on the front cover of their yearbook. Charlee won!
Great job girl and keep up the good work!
Posted in Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, impressionism on November 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
My two young students, Isabella and Charlee, have been doing great with their painting. We meet on Thursdays and there is room in class for other 8-10 year olds. We work with watercolor and acrylics. Just contact me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com if you have a budding artist who would like to develop more skills.
This painting of the yellow tulips is acrylic on hard board. They come up with great ideas of things to paint and are also open to suggestions that I have for them. We try to explore something different each week from composition, to blending, to perspective, to color mixing. Don’t you think they are doing great?
Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, impressionism, watercolor on November 9, 2009| 1 Comment »
This is Isabella’s Fall Painting. She did a great job as this was her first attempt at watercolor. I have two young students that I work with each week on Thursdays. We plan to expand from private sessions to classes. If you are interested in art for your child please contact me. This class will be for ages 8-11.
And as always we continue with our adult group on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. Come join us.
Posted in Art Class, daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged abstract art, Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, daily painting, fruit, impressionism, lemon, oil painting, Shenandoah Valley, Small Town Life, Virginia Artist on October 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Last Wednesday night at Art Class we worked on an acrylic underpainting of a lemon. Instead of oil paint we used acrylic paint and only using black and white we painted the shading that we saw of the lemon.
Last night at Art Class, with the underpainting of dry from last week, we glazed over the acrylic paint with an oil paint and a blending medium to add color to our lemon. This is a technique that many painters use to get shading into their works. It sometimes makes it easier for students to see the subtle differences in shades and tones.
The Lemon measures 5″x7″ on canvas panel and is available for $45 by contacting me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .
The final 3rd Thursday Art Walk of the season is tonight from 5 – 8 p.m. in downtown Front Royal. Be sure to come out and enjoy some refreshments and see the artist demonstrating. Delilah’s will have a tent sale as well as demonstrations. And I believe there will be pumpkin carving demonstrations at the Blue Ridge Arts Council. Just in time for the season! Come join us. We’ll look forward to seeing you.
(That’s me painting during a 3rd Thursday Art Walk. I was working on an abstract and I think I may have been channeling Jackson Pollack at the time! 🙂 )
The Studio 