my beautiful daughter Kayla at her easel.
How does art make you feel?
For me it's hard to explain, it gives a sense of peace, contentment I guess. It's like a euphoric high almost. I love looking at art, making art and discovering new things about art. I love the feel you get when you touch the paint brush to the paint and then onto paper. It will gently glide and the paint can almost make art all on its own. Especially with watercolor, it's unforgiving and what you lay down is what you get. There isn't much room for error; there isn't much chance to cover up, it glides by itself. I love that feeling, to not have so much control over it. Art is very much therapeutic. If you have had a stressful day, there is no better way to relax than to do art. And if you have kids, it's even more fun to give them a little project to do side by side with you. I've always sketched and when Kayla was little we would sit and bed or on the couch and find things of the same to sketch together. She kicks butt at sketching people!
Do you paint slow or fast?
Slow...I don't like to rush anything...well maybe I do quick illustrations, but I am not one to crank out a bunch of paintings in a short period of time. But when I am on a roll, it goes rather quickly. I usually paint on a smaller scale, no bigger than 9" x 12", so it doesn't take days and days usually, but I still prefer to take my time. To me people who just chug out work, may possibly not be taking the time to soak it all in, to enjoy the process, to experience what your mind can discover while painting. The peace and getting lost into what you are creating I would never want to rush. Bigger paintings take so much longer. But the process is amazing. Everyone should do a huge painting that takes months to finish. Little bits at a time to study and find the colors and the shapes. With our e-course we will give assignments each week, but work at your own pace, find your groove, we have no expectations of wanting to see work right away. It's your creativity and foresight that is important.
On Buying Tons of Paint Colors
No, not necessary. Learn your primary colors mixed with white; you can make so many different varieties of color. I have a Pantone color formula guide, and it was one of my most prize possessions of all my art supplies. It shows you every color you could ever want and it only uses your primary colors mixed together with white or black. I seem to go through a lot of white and red. Kayla thinks she goes through more red than any color. I never buy colors of paints already mixed; only my primaries and of course some burnt and raw umber, they are a good staple to have on hand.
What kind of artist are you ~Realism vs. Impressionism?
I desire to be a realism painter, but am probably more of an impressionistic painter because I paint in a painterly style. Kayla is more of a realism painter. She is spot on with visual content. I am all over the place and cannot paint a straight line if my life depended on it, she is precise. I do however have a trick up my sleeve for keeping my hand steady while drawing or painting I will share with you in our classes. It helps me a lot. I think it is important to find your own interpretation of still life, portraits, or whatever you desire. My Chanel bottle I drew and painted would come out looking more real for a realism painter; this is way I deem myself more of an illustrator. There is a difference of those two artist in the art world. We will explain it all.
What will this e-course do for me? Why should I take it?
You should take this course if you are wanting to learn new techniques. You should take this course if you wondered what it was like to step foot into art school for the first time. You should take this course if you want to learn some art history and to learn a bit about why things work the way they do. It will give you an environment and structure to practice in, plus a community of fellow artist to communicate with. It will open your eyes up to art if you haven't experienced it before. It will give you skill sets to become your own artist and your own person with art. To not be a duplicate artist, but find your own originality and give you confidence to plunge forward. If you are a seasoned artist, you may learn new techniques to help you with something new you are working on, or maybe give you a new medium to try you never thought you would like. Or maybe give you the opportunity to be something you always really truly wanted to be...an artist.
Classes start?
April 2, 2012 and the last week of April 30th will be time for our Art Salon. We invite you to sell your work and show it to the world if you are ready. No pressure to participate, it's all up to you. This will be a virtual space with nothing but art from our students. I am super super excited about it. You will see all the different individuality. It will be BEAUTIFUL!!!
Why did you name this MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL?
Because every tiny little piece of art is beautiful, whether you are doing painting, drawing, mixed media, sculpting, printing, it's all about aesthetics and trying to make something beautiful your mind saw, and to make it come to life. It's all about beautifying the world with your handy work, your skills, your visions, and the blessings that were given to you when you were made.
If you have any other questions to add to this, please let me know and we will answer them right away! Please join us, sign up here, we would love you to be a part and to see what beautiful somethings you can make.
Copyright 2009 Teresa Sheeley and/for Teresa Sheeley Designs. Please do not use my artwork or photos without my written permission. Thank you!
