 |
| Our watercolor series class continues |
 |
| The focus this week is shape |
 |
| Here is a great value study by Paula |
 |
| Caroline is hard a work! |
 |
| Beautiful study by Jan |
 |
| Shape and Color! |
One of my favorite classes to teach is how to use the Elements of Design. The are the building blocks that make up your painting. The ones that I like to work with are: Value, Color, Shape, Line, Texture, and Pattern. In each class we focus on one of the elements and emphasis that element. 
Value is a good one the start with. Value is simply the lightness or darkness of colors. Using value pens we make small value sketches of our subject. Here is an example of a value sketch. Notice that it is just a simple sketch using white, grays and black. This shows me where I want to emphasis the values in my painting.
Here are some photos from our fun value class.
NOTE: You will have to be registered to have access to the site. The registration fee is $5 and will give you access to preview all the classes.
To learn how the treasure hunt works and to see the prizes please visit Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat. If you would like to sign up for the NEWSLETTER, you will get weekly updates on where to find the next treasure hunt words. 
Searching for Shapes, April 2014 Issue of Art Journaling by Somerset Studio
A Day in the Life of – a Photo Story, Summer 2014 Issue of Studios Magazine by Interweave Press
It will be on in stores available for purchase on April 1, 2014. My article is about using shape to design journal pages.
This photo did not get into the article so I wanted to share it with you here. Here is what I write about this page in my Patagonia watercolor journal.
One of my favorite journal pages is one where I painted a meadowlark and a vista behind him. The meadowlarks were plentiful and darted about the brush flashing their red bellies. I often heard their melody as we hiked. Instead of just painting a scene with a meadowlark in it, I wanted to try a different point of view. I painted him much larger than the vista and had him placed off to one side to help frame the page. He is looking back over landscape as if to say he is the guardian of this remote area.
