Summer Art Adventures
Summer 2024 really flew by for me. Many things were going on: creating art for juried small works exhibits, commissions, an art walk, applying for holiday markets, continued painting in my new series, and art adventures with my friends daughters. I gotta say, making art with my friends daughters was the most rewarding and informative set of art experiences I had this summer.
JUNE
A friend of mine approached me about painting with her daughter as part of her daughters school end project. Her daughters project was aimed at documenting the exploration of an art form she was unfamiliar with. The project included research of the art style and methodology, small studies and practice in the art style, visiting an art gallery for inspiration, and completing the final piece with a professional artist. That is where I came in!
Using a thick gel medium and/or a modeling paste was a fairly new art practice for me as well. So we set a date in June and I got to work researching best gel mediums and modeling paste, how the mediums and paste interact with the paint/colors, and tricks and tips for applying shapes to a canvas. My friends daughter selected her color palette and inspiration pattern, and primed her canvas prior to our day of painting.
On the day of our painting adventure I had a canvas primed for myself and had mixed up a few colors for myself. Since all of her test pieces were completed in white, I wanted to illustrate the difference between mixing pigmented paint with extra heavy gel medium versus modeling paste (which lightens and dulls the color a bit). When they arrived we mixed up some paint and mediums for her piece and I got her inspiration pattern set up.
We discussed different ways to make different petal and leaf shapes. On my canvas I illustrated how the different tools can make different shapes (using very vibrant colors). I encouraged her to play with the medium a bit (i.e. it was okay to have thin layers in contrast to her thicker paint placement). We talked a bit about composition and balancing shape sizes and colors. When she was at a stopping point and not sure if she needed to add more or not, I took a picture of the painting so we could see what it would look like from a distance. And then I converted the photo to black and white. It’s a trick I use all of the time when I’m nearing completion of a painting.
These photos helped her to see where she wanted to add more leaves, a few more small flowers, maybe make a flower multicolor, balance her lights and darks, etc…. It helped her find the balance she was looking for. It was a fun experience to work with a youth, especially one that loves art and was invested in making a piece she would love.
She made a PowerPoint presentation about the whole process and experience and presented it to her class. She got an A!
JULY
Another friend of mine wanted her daughters to have a painting day with me. So we scheduled a day in July. My friend didn’t have any specific requests for what the painting day would look like. Her daughters are very artistic, creative, and full of energy; so I decided to come up with day of planned art activities that would be appropriate for their ages.
The activities: acrylic pouring and image transfer. Because the girls are relatively young, I didn’t want them to deal with mixing the paint, water, and pouring medium; or preparing the canvases. Prior to arrival, I had all of their favorite colors (and some complementary colors) mixed up and ready to go. I also had the canvases all taped up and propped up and ready for liquid paint.
I had told my friend what I had planned because I needed some basic information from her such as their favorite colors and their favorite animal (for the image transfer). So when they all arrived, the girls were ready to go with all sorts or questions and excitement. I absolutely loved that they looked up acrylic pouring and had all sorts of questions about what styles of pouring we were going to do.
Before jumping straight in, I showed them what I used to mix the paint and what preparations I did so that the paint could flow off of the canvas and not make a mess of the canvas (only the plastic covered table HA!). Shortly there after, we were pouring paint on canvases. First I would do a demonstration of the acrylic pouring technique, from how to fill the cup to how to pour the paint on the canvas. They had so much fun watching the colors interact and the shapes changing right before their eyes. They saw tornados, oceans, lava cats, etc…
After lunch, our second art adventure was an image transfer. I originally wanted to use a Jelly Plate, but it just didn’t work. So we quickly pivoted and used a matte medium to adhere the image face down. and then rubbed the paper off, leaving the ink of the image. It wasn’t as much of a success as the acrylic pouring, but it was still fun to experiment.
My friend gave me the sweetest compliment. She said that when they arrived she thought I would mostly just paint along side her daughters. She didn’t expect all of the effort and planning. She expected her daughters to experience a level 2 experience and got a level 15. I’m not sure of the scale, but if it was a scale of 1 to 10, I feel really good about my art adventures with these two youngsters.
AUGUST
Another friend of mine has a daughter that is a young teenage artist. She is more of a digital artist and has made art with watercolor and artist pens. She hadn’t really delved into the world of acrylic painting, but she has dabbled here and there. Since I had already done 2 other “workshops” with youngsters, she asked if her daughter could have a day of art. Of course I said yes.
Her daughter has experience and practice as a young artist. So I was curious about what sort of experience she was expecting from me. Instead of making this ‘day of painting’ into a workshop where I planned the days painting activities, I approached this as more of a day of mentoring in a space where all the tools she needed to work with acrylics was available to her. That approach worked out really well.
They showed up and we went through a few reference photos that I had on my computer. She found one of a tiger that she wanted to paint and her mom really liked a photo of a bee on a flower that I had. So, all three of us agreed on how we would spend our day of painting.
My friends daughter mocked up her sketch and colors in a digital program she had on her iPad. I consulted briefly on the color choices (background vs tiger). I presented both a gessoed wood cradled panel and a gallery wrapped canvas for her to paint on. Ultimately we decided that because she is a bit heavy handed (like me) that she may enjoy the firmer surface of the wood panel. She sketched her tiger out using some of my Copic pens and then she was ready to paint. I would say my biggest contribution to her ‘day of painting’ with me, besides having the materials and dedicated space, was the help I gave in mixing the colors she wanted. I don’t keep a tube of every color of paint that exists in my pallete inventory; rather I have a discrete amount of colors in my pallete and I mix whatever specific color I need. So she had the opportunity to see how these acrylic colors are mixed using basic colors. Her tiger was awesome!
I convinced my friend to try painting the bee she like on a little 8 by 8 canvas. She wasn’t convinced she would be able to adequately paint the bees wings, but I told her I would walk her through how to paint it step by step. And that’s what we did. I would mix the colors and then point out what shape we were going to paint and ultimately how to get the placement of said shape on the canvas. And then demonstrate it on my 8 by 8 canvas.
At the end of our ‘day of painting’ my friend was so excited that she painted a bee…..that looked like a bee! And, my friend also acknowledged how meditative and calming the experience was. Which is what I experience when I paint, so I’m so happy she got to have a similar experience. My friends daughter wasn’t super pleased with her painting at first, but it was obvious that was her internal critic talking. She was picking apart very small details that only she would notice. I have experienced the negativity of my internal critic on many pieces. I told her that the trick is to just let it sit for a while and then look at it from a distance and ask yourself “do I still get hung up on these' ‘flaws’, do I even still see them?” Often the answer is no, but sometimes you might say no….but I see something I can do that will make me happy with this piece. And often it has nothing to do with what you were originally bothered by.
I recently went for a walk with my friend and she said that her daughter likes the tiger painting now. That internal critical is a bugger!
Look at how awesome that tiger is looking! And yes, my dedicated space is a bit of mess.