Last week, I almost decided to take a week off of the live painting classes, but they have been such a bright spot in my week and I have received messages and e-mails from many others who feel the same way, so we’ll keep them going!  Minnesota is still under a stay-at-home order through May 4 and there is the possibility that will be extended, but we’ll see. Anyway, last week, we did an Edward Seago study on an index card.  The point of this class was to try working on a different surface (paper and gesso or just paper), and to study the colors, composition, and mark-making of a master artist.  Whether the participants knew it or not, they were learning so much about handling the oil paint, mixing colors, and training your eye to paint what you see even if you’re not sure what you’re looking at!  What

I hope you had a great weekend and a Happy Easter!  We tried to have a weekend as typical as we could with cleaning, chores, and pizza/movie night.  Jeff took advantage of the pretty weather and went fishing with Calvin.  Sunday morning, we snuggled on the couch to watch our church’s Easter service in our jammies during a snowstorm.  There was something sweet about it, even though that was far from normal!  We’re back into school and work today, though, and hope to juggle it all a little smoother than we did last week. On Friday, I had another live painting class.  We worked on color charts and I was surprised again at the great turn-out and all of the beautiful color charts people shared afterward. In the video, I show examples of different kinds of color charts, share how they are useful to improve your color mixing scales and

Since last summer, I have been working on an oil painting course for beginners.  Since it’s my own little project (and not for a client), I keep pushing it aside in favor of work with a deadline.  While I still plan to release that course someday (since it will be more comprehensive), I don’t want to wait to paint with those who have been asking to learn from me.  I know a lot of people are looking for fun, creative projects, so what better time to start oil painting if that’s been on your wish list?  If anything, it’s therapeutic.  It could be a jumping-off point to a whole new hobby, though! Here’s how it’s going to work… We’ll paint a landscape together and keep it small and simple.  In the 5×7 – 8×10 range.  We’ll only be using four colors with an optional 5th to keep costs down, two

I was checking my DMs on Instagram and saw that one of my followers had forwarded a post to me.  She had a feeling I would like it and she was absolutely right.  My jaw dropped and I clicked on the link quickly to learn more about these beautiful swatches of color painted on linen.  Were they, by chance, for sale?! This is the post that got my heart fluttering… Cathleen of @815vintagegoods found these amazing color charts at an estate sale.   Unfortunately, they were already spoken for, but I knew immediately I wanted to try to replicate them.  I had never seen color charts on natural linen – only on a bright white surface like a gessoed canvas or oil paper.  Those are pretty, too, but the linen is yummy! Not only do I love the look of the colored squares on linen, but creating the charts on a