In the Spring of 2012 I returned to college (at the age of 51) to brush up on the basics. I took Beginning Drawing and Color. I had taken drawing classes before but I had never attended a college level Color class. What a treat! I loved it and learned so much. My teacher was great and I was surprised at the serious attention to quality education at a Community College. I recommend Evergreen Valley College, in San Jose, CA to anyone considering learning more about Art.
We started with a gray scale and then we were assigned colors to mix and paint in varying shades (adding black) and tints (adding white). I was given red-orange, red, and red-violet.
I loved the shape of the color wheel assignment and I was surprised at how difficult it was to achieve the correct colors as we mixed and painted before cutting the pattern.
Color Wheel
This next assignment was very interesting. We had to find a color in a magazine and cut the tiny square and place it at the top of this scale. Then try to match it exactly. Harder than it sounds. Then we had to find it’s complimentary color and place at the opposite end. Mixing the two together to find a neutral in the middle and then the two de-saturated colors in between. Sounds confusing, it was fun and very educational.
This next assignment was to represent a culture using mostly abstract flat shapes and limited color (one or two complimentary color palettes). I was going for Country French design. I did two versions. This first one was using red/green and blue-violet/yellow-orange.
I ended up turning this next version in instead. Using only one color complimentary color palette (Blue/Orange). The only addition was some white. (It was later chosen to be in the school’s juried art exhibition and I won an achievement award. It was quite exciting for this old lady.)
The flower shape below was our last big assignment. We were to find a shape of a real flower that we liked, use only the flat face and again make a semi-abstract design using between 5-8 shades from the gray scale. I used all 8 shades (I like to challenge myself) and the shape is of a primrose. Then we were to translate the design into color using one of the color combination used in painting (I chose Analogous Colors and used blue-green, blue, blue-violet with white for tinting and black for shading).
Our final assignment was to learn to create illumination. Another fun educational process. You can see my finished work below. Can you see the appearance of light illuminating from the center? I hope you can.
Special Card for Special Friend
Posted on: June 17, 2011
- In: Cards
- Leave a Comment
It’s always fun to design something specific for a specific person. One of my friends in Texas loves red poppies (there is a connection with her deceased father). So I thought of her while I was painting this card and envelope.
Vegetables on Cards
Posted on: June 15, 2011
- In: Cards
- Leave a Comment
This is from a step by step instruction in a watercolor book. I’ll be adding more veggies later. 
Flower Cards
Posted on: June 15, 2011
- In: Cards
- Leave a Comment
These cards are also hand painted. I tried different types of flowers. I wanted to challenge myself to try to get the clear glass look here.
The Hydrangea is a combination of watercolor pencils and traditional paints with a brush.
I learned this technique at our Senior Center class, we used layers of masking fluid and layers of paint.
This flower was picked from a bush in our neighborhood.
This flowerbed was outside the tasting room at a winery near our home.
And this is a sunflower card I did a while back, followed by reposting of some other sunflower cards.
- In: Cards
- Leave a Comment
These cards are each hand painted. It’s a great way to practice different techniques and subjects without a big time or cost commitment. I started with this study of grapefruit with watercolor pencils. I learned a lot about using them and I had fun experimenting.
