Each person can "awaken the artist within" at a painting party! Painting parties are springing up at shopping centers around the globe. At these social gatherings people usually sip wine and paint a completed painting in a session by following the guidance of the instructor. Everyone in the class usually does the same painting. Some classes use a pre-drawn canvas and others give the participant the opportunity to draw their own creation. 

Recently I had a request to teach a painting lesson to visiting family members who wanted to paint their new puppy named Piper.

So after a swim at the pool (so we would be cool in the summer heat) we gathered for Piper's Porch Painting Party! 

I used the ipad app Value Viewer created by Mark Putnam to illustrate the shading necessary to bring the puppy to life on the canvas.

To sketch the puppy we analyzed the shapes of the head, the ears, the body and the legs. Then each person sketched with the paintbrush. They each painted a background color of their choice. It was a lesson in shading and by using the Value Viewer photos it was easy to show them how to shade the puppy's shape. 

Using acrylic paints the aspiring artists had fun creating their own unique tribute to welcome Piper to the family! Hopefully this experience will encourage them to pursue other opportunities to "awaken the artist within!"

Whenever I paint outside, or en plein air, I enjoy talking to people who stop to chat. Sometimes they say, "Oh, you are so talented. I could never be an artist." It is a common perception that artists have talent other people don't have. I don't really believe that I have any special talent or that I was born with the ability to paint, but I do have the desire to paint. Non painters don't realizes how much endeavor artists put into studying their craft. Over the years I have taken classes with clever artists to learn perspective and the techniques of oil painting. And I have read books about painting and watched art DVDs. 

When I took a plein air art class in 2000 in Taos, NM from Don Ward I had a breakthrough~finally by painting on location, I could see more. I could see the shadows, the light, the shapes and the colors that were not visible in photographs. Everything was more obvious when I painted on location. It occurred to me that "Learning to paint is learning TO SEE." 

If you want to learn to paint I believe that you can learn. I recommend beginning adult education classes to learn the basics. I once found a beginner book that is useful called "First Steps Series Painting Oils" by Louise DeMore. Recently came across a great guide written by a great young artist, Joshua Been. It's a little book filled with valuable information about painting, "A Foundational Guide to Creating Better Oil Paintings from Life, Photography, or Invention." You can order it through his website. http://www.JoshuaBeen.com  Email me for a list of other useful books and DVDs. [email protected]

After you learn the basics then take a beginning plein air workshop and you too will probably discover that "Learning to paint is learning TO SEE." Everywhere I go I am always observing the world around me, I wonder~how would I paint that tree or how would I paint the play of light on a building, or capture the colors in the sunset sky. If you have the desire to paint, it is possible for you to learn to paint!

Photos of the Quick Paint Competition at Diggin' the Arts are shown below. Painting quickly helps me fine tune my observation skills and loosen up my brushwork. You can see the completed painting at La Galleria at La Hacienda Recreation Center in The Villages.  

This is my second time to enter a Paint Quick Competition.

We are painting in the lovely Florida Botanical Gardens

at Largo, Florida. We will have two hours to complete our paintings.

This is the view I am painting.

The block in after about 20 minutes.

Making progress.

The framed painting after 2 hours!

This is the completed painting after

I tweaked it a bit in the studio.