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.

I want to keep your eye looking for triangles in composition. So I grabbed 5 images that are similar to what many of you submitted: 🧆 Food 💐 Floral 🫐 Still life 👨🏻‍🌾 Portrait 🗻 Landscape Your mission today: 🔺 Download/save the image that is most like yours, draw the triangle(s) you see in your photo editor, and show me in the comments. Yes… a little homework. But once your brain starts seeing triangles, your work improves everywhere. You’ll take much better photos. Choose better references. Design strong paintings. Triangles are just the very beginning. There are other shapes too… but we’ll get to those later. Now here’s the twist. 🌪️ When I see someone clearly spot the triangle, I’ll drop this in the comments: 🎟️ Every ticket 🎟️ becomes an entry to win a special reward from me 🤡. What is it? Let’s just say… it’s something painters would really like to get their hands on. Carry on, Back Row Rebels.I want to keep your eye looking for triangles in composition. PS. Look closely at how this post is written. Those line breaks? Triangles too. 🔺 Your brain is already practicing composition and it doesn’t even know it yet.

Psst- the teacher isn’t looking. 🤡 🌅 Get your phone and post your favorite pic. Drop it in the comments below. __________________________________ 👆🏻Cliff Notes Version 👇🏻 A little more detail. The why 👉🏻 In LESSON 1, _________________________ The amount of detail we put into realism paintings simply isn’t stored in your brain. Not yet… and honestly, maybe not ever. That is NORMAL! The first lesson is in classroom HERE After you read the lesson, find 1 or 2 or even 3 images that mean something special to you. They do NOT have to be images you plan to paint. Think of it as building your inspiration library for this entire community. Later, we will VOTE on the one to paint in class. Drop it. What makes that image so special to you?

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.

If you’re new to SKOOL, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and Welcome. SKOOL ORIENTATION 🪄 Participation is the magic here. Post. Comment. Ask questions. Pass notes. That’s how the community thrives. Learning thru discussion. 💛🗝️💛🗝️💛🗝️💛🗝️💛🗝️ You will notice several tabs at the very top. COMMUNITY - this is where the daily activity happens. Check in here daily. It has subcategories. ALL - all posts, all categories can be seen here. HOME ROOM - anyone can make posts here. This is kind of a generic space to talk. New lessons will be announced here. You are encouraged to create a new post about whatever you like. SHOW AND TELL - You are encouraged to create a new post about your previous or current work, paintings or drawings in progress or reference images you would like to paint. TIPS AND TRICKS - You are encouraged to create a new post about a cool thing you learned. I’ll be posting here too. I NEED EXTRA HELP - post here if you are stuck on something. Seek help from your friends in the community while you are working on something. SUPPLIES AND SETUP - Post your space or studio here. We learn from seeing what others do. I will be posting about some products that I love. What do you love? Post it here. CLASSROOM - I will be building lessons in here. Some will be free, some will be affordable. SKOOL makes it easy for you to purchase a course or a subscription. Soon, you will see both here. MEMBERS - learn about others in the community here. This part is great! Meet people that don’t stink. MAP - see if anyone is close to you geographically. LEADERBOARDS - this shows who the teacher’s pets are. HINT - the more points you have, the more free stuff you get. ⭐⭐⭐ Points are earned by: • posting • commenting • helping other members ABOUT - this tells you what this community is AND has a little video. No art snobs. No ego competitions. Encouragement and curiosity win here. Teachers pets may receive gold stars. ⭐ @Thomas Richards @Shari Walker Kearney @Gretchen Cyr @Betty Cowin @Kay Savage @Gerry Moore @Julie Flaskamp @Gail Whittet