Party In The Heartland

I just returned from a fun filled week attending the last Decorative Painters Society convention in Wichita, Kansas.  The last of it's kind, that is.  It is not the end, but the beginning of something new.  

It is hard to see, but, over 100 hundred dogs are drawn and painted on The Keeper of the Plains statue..  It will be our addition to a local park where it will be displayed year round.  I stopped by to add one of my own.

This was my first time teaching at the convention and I throughly enjoyed the experience.  Both classes were full of great students, ready to learn something new.  Their eagerness and affirmations filled my heart with joy.  

We are never too old to learn or explore.  Here is one of the dear ladies in my class.  She is 85 years old and drove 70 miles by herself to attend the convention.  And a very talented artist at that!  Don't you just love it!

It was a pleasure to meet friends I haven't seen in a long time and those I know on line, but have never met in person.

In addition to painting classes, I had the opportunity to do a demo in the DecoArt booth one afternoon.   It was fun to see all the other vendors as well.

It is good to be home again.  But, I will have great memories of time shared with everyone and a big thanks to the Decorative Painting Society staff for making this all possible.

Can't wait to see what is next!

Ursula

xo

May Day Celebration Floral

May your days be beautiful like the buds of May 1.

On this first day of May, I thought I would do a short mixed media tutorial.  Showing the steps used in creating a fun floral.  

Gathering up my supplies.  A metal stencil, and 8 x 10 canvas board, texture paste, matte medium and vintage music papers.  I also added a little crackle medium here and there, but very little crackling appeared.  Some showed up more during the last stages of the painting.

The board is gessoed with DecoArt Chalky Gesso, Beige.  Forming a suede-like finish on the canvas.

Tearing my papers and apply them to the Beige background.  Following with texture paste, a palette knife and a metal stencil.

Drawing the design onto the canvas and begin painting and adding in shadows with darkest tints of color.  Mixing Cadmium Red and Ultramarine Blue.

                                                                           Add Whites and Greens to the floral areas.

Building color as you proceed.  Loosely apply background and foreground areas.  At this point, I just let go and had fun without any expectations of the out come.

                                                  Building up more contrast and highlights with a palette knife.

I added a little fallen flower to the left bottom to balance things out a bit.  Later, went back in and darkened the shadow underneath.

Love how all the textures worked together with the acrylic paints.  Even some of the crackling showed up at the end.  

Happy May Day and happy painting!

Ursula xo