Day 79, 100 Happy Days: A Job Well Done

Painty fingers. This after washing them once.

I had a very satisfying class tonight. Ten people, most of whom had never painted showed up to paint water lilies.

They were open to learning and exploring the paint - they had "beginner's minds", which is really a wonderful thing. 

A couple of women came in stressed out and left blissed out (that always makes me happy). Everyone really seem to enjoy themselves and liked their paintings.

But the best part was when someone said thank you for helping me see that I can paint. As odd as this may sound; I think that's one of the best compliments that I can get as a teacher. Because I teach much less than I guide. I do believe that we are all born artists, but that we forget. My job is to help people remember. So, when they do remember I have done a good job.

And that makes me happy. :)

Day 43, 100 Happy Days: Kicking Booty and Taking Names

Yet to be titled new painting for a class.

Busy busy business!

New session of The Artist's Way starts on Sunday, and it's going to be a good sized class. I'm very happy about that! More people make for more discussions, shared experiences, and opportunities to learn and grow.

Also, I have two very big Painting Soiree classes (private parties) coming up in the next few weeks - it looks like there will be 20 people in both - oh and a potential third with 20 people.

I'm kicking booty and taking names!

Day 35, 100 Happy Days: Another Soiree Painting

As yet untitled windmill painting. ©Tabetha Hastings

Another day in the studio! This one with a group, thanks to Paint Club. And it was a great group - three newbies showed up and lost in the paint and conversation.

Since I have trouble working on my own paintings (the more detailed, in-depth paintings that I paint to sell) when there are other people around, I decided to create another painting to teach. My goal is to create two new paintings a month for my classes, and I've already hit that goal for January - not bad!

I think this painting will be a tricky one to teach (with all those straight lines), but it's definitely doable. And it's one of those paintings that students will feel really good about completing.

5 Bits Advice for Beginning Painters

I've had a lot of beginning painters come through my studio in the three and a half years that I've been teaching my Painting Soiree workshops. There is much advice that I would like to give newbies based on my observations, and I have compiled some of it here. This advice works whether you're in a class or painting at home. I hope you find it helpful...

1) Don't expect to be a master painter right away.
Yes, I know that we live in an instant gratification society. And I know that the painting studios (including mine) tell you to come to class and paint your masterpiece. What we mean by that is come paint your masterpiece. Not Monet's, not Van Gogh's, not mine, not your neighbor's. When you come to my class I want you to create your own version of my painting. It will not look exactly like mine, nor should it. Painting is a form of expression; your expression.
I want you to love your painting, or at the very least be satisfied with it, and with the experience. One way to do that is to...

2) Keep it Simple
So many people come to my classes with big ideas of what they want to do with their painting, and it turns out that they've never painted before. I love confidence and a sense of adventure, and I really do encourage people to shake things up. But keep in mind that generally speaking, the more complex the idea, the harder it will be to put onto canvas.
If you haven't held a paint brush in your hand since you were six years old, then it might help to get some command over the brush before diving into something an experienced painter might hesitate to approach. Also it's good to...

3) Get out of your left brain and simply enjoy the process.
Painting can be very relaxing and therapeutic. To this day, I still enjoy watching the paint blend on the canvas. Watching yellow and blue turn into green before my eyes is such a soothing thing.
The majority of people who paint in my studio seem to have a similar experience, but every once in awhile someone has a really hard time getting out of that analytical mind. Trying too hard to make the paint look like something you think it should look like can be stressful.
Painting is an exercise in letting go. For those who have a harder time letting go, I recommend - well a myriad of things - but trying out abstract painting is a good start. (I happen to offer a fun abstract class...)
That said...

4) Painting is also about figuring it out.
Whenever I'm having a hard time with a painting, I try to remind myself that as an artist, I like to figure things out. It's one of the reasons I paint. I don't want it all laid out for me. I like to work at it and have the satisfaction of having found my way and figured it out.  And it gets easier to figure it out if you...

5) Practice, practice, practice!
Just like any other skill, the more you paint, the better you'll get. 

So, have fun with it. Forgive yourself. Be patient. Experiment. Explore. Read books, watch videos, but I encourage you to go to a class, take private lessons, or simply paint with people who are more experienced than you.

For a full list of classes and lessons that I offer, please visit http://PaintingSoiree.net

My Happiness Project Day 24: New Use for Old Paint

I absolutely hate throwing away paint. I tell my Painting Soiree students that I don't care how much paint they use, as long as the use it. I even have "group" paintings specifically for left-over paint, that class after class works on. 

The other night as I was cleaning up after a class, one of the painters told me what she does with paint that is left on her palette. She lets the paint dry, then soaks the palettes (paper plates) in water and peels off the solid paint. What's left is really cool pieces of acrylic paint that she uses in other art projects.

So I decided to give it a go. I saved the palettes from Wednesday's class and let them dry for a few days. Then tonight I put them in a plastic bin and filled it with water and let them soak for a bit. I was very happy with the results! I was able to peel even very thin layers of paint off of the plate (or tore the plate away from the paint); and the thicker gobs of paint just separated on their own and drifted to the bottom of the bin.

Some of these pieces are beautiful on their own. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'll come up with something.

These pictures are of some of the paint that I peeled off. There is a whole bunch more, but these are the ones I like the best. They're drying on my kitchen counter.

I'm really inspired by these palette blogs! There are so many things in these forms. I love the big blue and white form with the shock of pink. I can't wait to work with it!

It kind of boggles my mind how much paint I've thrown away, when I could have been doing THIS with it!




Day 24 Bonus: Bruce Springsteen covering Lorde's "Royals"

Painting Like Klimt

I'm thinking of doing a Gustav Klimt style Painting Soiree. I absolutely love Klimt's work, and think it would be fun to try to paint a version of one of his paintings. 

Since it's for a class, I would probably keep it as simple as possible - perhaps do the center section of "Tree of Life". Or perhaps do the painting in three classes on three different canvases...
At any rate, while researching Klimt online, I came across this lovely body art. Apparently it was done by a local (Denver) artist, Kandi King.

While researching, I also came across this site, which compiled some recreations of Klimt's most famous painting, The Kiss.


Pretty cool, if you ask me. Here's a version of The Kiss with Superman and Lois Lane.

  

Painting is Food for the Soul

I had the best time last night - another wonderful Painting Soiree! Ten awesome ladies completed ten amazing paintings, and everyone had a blast.

I love it when people walk in saying they can't paint, or that they are not creative, and then walk out 2 hours later completely amazed at what they were able to do. Last night one such woman called me an amazing teacher. Truth be told, I'm not. I'm not being modest or putting myself down... I'm not really teaching. I'm leading, I'm encouraging, I'm suggesting, I'm guiding. I say "Take this brush and put this color on the canvas and see what happens." And they take off. It is such a cool thing to see!

Somehow I think it is important work that we're doing. We're not saving lives or building monuments, but we are feeding souls. You can say that it's just applying paint to a canvas but it's so much deeper than that.  At best it's connecting us to a higher part of ourselves. At worst its a damn good time. But for the most part it's helping people to see possibilities that they didn't know existed. While having a damn good time.

Most of these ladies had very little or no painting experience!
You GO girls!

Painting Soiree: Success!

I've had 3 Painting Soirees in my studio so far, and I must say they've been a lot of fun! 

"Fractured Sunset" The first Soiree!

What is Painting Soiree, you ask? It's my new project: painting workshop parties. It's guided painting in a fun environment. People come to my art studio, bring beverages of their choosing, and go home with a finished canvas that they painted!

"Penguin Soiree!"

I provide the studio space and all of the art supplies. We have a few drinks, turn up some tunes and paint! We start with an "inspiration" piece that I've painted, and go step by step recreating it. The beautiful thing is that you don't have to have any experience painting. 

Everyone can paint. Some people are intimidated or afraid, and I get that. Maybe they were criticized in school, or perhaps they're just afraid of expressing themselves. Afraid of failure, afraid of success... I get it. But I'm here to tell you that you can paint. You can paint. You may not be able to paint like Claude Monet, but you have your own voice and your own unique style. Everyone should paint! There is something very satisfying about dipping a brush in paint, and putting to the canvas, especially at the end of a work day.

Painters at play on "Vincent's Sky"

I learned quickly that it takes very little convincing to get people to paint once they're in front of a canvas. People want to paint. It's impossible to just sit there when you've got a blank canvas and colorful palette of paint at your fingertips. It's just pure potential! One of the first things I tell everyone is to take as much artistic license as they want to make their painting their own.  I hadn't realized exactly how different each person's painting would look! It's really wonderful to see my original paintings go through the filter (the mind, hand, personality, experiences and whatever else makes an individual unique) of each person, and transformed into something entirely new.

"Vincent's Sky" Soiree!

I'm really excited for future Soirees! I'm holding them once a week, on different evenings. If you're in the Denver area and would like to join in, you can sign up at my website, or if you're on Facebook, please join my page and sign up there for a 25% discount.

And definitely drop me a line if you have any questions, or feel free to comment below!