Alright Back Row Rebels… It’s time to vote for our first class painting. BUT… if you want to help your painting win… Want to help your favorite image win? After you vote, you can drop additional votes with GIFs in the comments to earn 🎟️ extra tickets to win the FINAL PAINTING from my DEMO. Currently, @Janice Peterson is in the lead with 🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️🎟️, and @Shari Walker Kearney with 🎟️. ⭐️ = least time to paint, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = longest to paint Voting closes end of day Tuesday 03/17

I’ve been taught to surround yourself with people who know about things than you do. @Thomas Richards is just that and the dude has even a been on TV 📺. (I’ll let him tell that story.) Not only is he a VERY VERY helpful guy, he very willing to share what he knows. And he’s a total wise ass! The more shit you give him, the more loved he will feel. So what does Tommy know? This dude knows color!!! 🌈 He’s known all over the country for his ability to mix color right the very first time. And because automotive paint is SOOOO expensive 💰, his skills were very sought after. He also is one of the rare people that can draw well from memory. 🧠 I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate that he is here. I would appreciate you showing him some SASSY love and drop a welcoming GIF in the comments below.

Composition, realism, deep rich colors, contrast and awesome light sources to figure out. Getting the transparency correct with smooth and natural textures to create. These are exactly the type of source photos I look for……. Have fun with them if you choose to take the challenge.

One of the KEY things to my teaching style is learning to mix color so accurate you’ll be earning extra credit like a rockstar. ⭐️🌟⭐️ Today, Nikki is here with me in the studio doing her extra credit project. Yes, this is super art nerdy 🤓 but I found this really takes guesswork out of mixing paint. We will be teaching this in class coming soon!. How much time would you be willing to spend to KNOW how to mix accurate color? This take a LOT of time but saves so much hassle and takes GOBS of guesswork out later.

Alright class… stop throwing spitballs for a minute and look up here. 🤡 Your brain LOVES triangles 🔺, S-curves 💲, and repeating patterns 🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵. And they make very successful paintings. The GREAT news is I looked through ALL of the images you submitted and EVERY SINGLE ONE of you has at least one triangle 🔺 hiding in one of your photos. Yes… even the back-row rebels and the students passing notes. (Tommy, I see you!) Let’s go back to the pepper images. I marked the triangles hiding in the negative space of the pepper images. Now go back to the images you submitted earlier. YES AGAIN, we are trying to get you into painter brain. 🧠 ✏️ Consider this today’s classroom doodling assignment in the margins. 📝 Tell me or show me (in your photo editor program 📲 if you know how) where the triangle is in your image. Messy is ok. Tomorrow I’ll show you how to strengthen that triangle with a few simple adjustments so your painting has a much better chance of success. Your painter brain is starting to wake up. Now you may resume chewing gum and tapping your pencils.