Tag: Virginia McBride

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Community Enthusiast Events at Wet Paint

Jumpstart Your Art with Mixed Media Collage

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virginiaheadThis blog post is from Virginia, our Programming Manager at Wet Paint:

Join us in the Wet Paint classroom on Saturday, October 22nd for a 3 hour mixed media workshop with visiting artist Dana Brown.  You will make (and take) two unique mixed media pieces while exploring the potentials of Ampersand’s fantastic panels.  The workshop is offered twice – from 10am-1pm and again from 2pm-5pm – choose the one that’s best for you!

Mixed media collage allows you to experiment with dynamic compositions while you explore new techniques and materials. The change of approach from more conventional processes is great for generating original ideas that impact both the collage itself as well as your regular drawing and painting practice.

Dana is well known for the fun he brings to teaching, as well as his extensive knowledge of artists’ materials. This workshop is suitable for any level of art maker. It would be a great way to expand your experience of using a variety of media on the same surface, or just to try something different.

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The $48 class fee includes all of the supplies we’ll use in the workshop: an 8×10 Claybord and an 8×10 Encausticbord for each participant, as well as Golden acrylic paints, Claybord/Scratchbord inks and the full line of Scratchboard tools, magazines for collage, drawing supplies, random materials for mixed media techniques, and essential studio supplies like brushes, glue and scissors. Register yourself – or your group – here.

More about Dana and Ampersand:

mixed102216Dana Brown is an artist from Austin, TX.  He has worked with Ampersand Art Supply for the past nine years educating artists and conservators from all over the world about Ampersand’s innovative contemporary artists’ panels. Dana’s personal art work is in a variety of media, ranging from oil painting to paper collage.

Originally from rural Iowa, Dana moved to Portland, Oregon, after completing his degree in studio painting. While there, he spent almost six years with oil paint company Gamblin Artists Colors, before moving to Texas to join Ampersand Art Supply. He loves working in the constantly evolving world of artists’ materials. He finds that this work reinforces his belief that access to information about the materials that we use helps support our personal, artistic intentions.

Ampersand Art Supply began hand-making museum quality panels in 1993, with the goal of offering artists  rigid, versatile, and permanent supports. Initially beginning with smooth, absorbent Claybord, Ampersand now offers ten different surface options; rejecting the, “one size fits all,” approach to painting surfaces. Ampersand hand-makes museum quality panels in Buda, Texas.

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Community Enthusiast Events at Wet Paint

Learn to Paint from a Modern Master

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virginiahead

This blog post is from Virginia, our Event Coordinator at Wet Paint:

At Wet Paint we are fortunate to know so many incredible artists, many of whom are also great teachers. Carl Oltvedt is one of them.

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Reflections II

 

Carl taught at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, where he was a Professor in the School of Visual Arts for 32 years.  Back in the day, he worked for an art materials retailer in Minneapolis so his knowledge of art materials and uses is extensive.  You can see some of his paintings at Groveland Gallery where he is currently represented. His work is in national and international private and corporate collections. He currently has his painting Reflections II on view through January 2017 in the US Embassy in Olso, Norway.

Carl has a lot of credentials but he’s not intimidating…he is one of the most caring, attentive and skillful teachers you’d ever want to meet.

And here’s an opportunity to do just that when you sign up for Carl’s multi session  Introduction to Acrylic Painting class at Wet Paint, Tuesdays from 4:00-7:00pm, October 4th-November 1st.

In this class you will learn basic painting fundamentals – how to build a painting from start to finish, simple color theory and composition, and how colors mix and relate to one another.  The class starts out simply and more advanced technique is added in as the course progresses. You’ll be working from a still life. Paint and some shared supplies will be provided, though a few additional materials are required.

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Starting a new medium can be daunting. Acrylic colors and mediums offer a huge array of choice which can be overwhelming. So it’s great to have expert guidance, a stretch of time to absorb it all, and materials chosen with your experience in mind.

I believe that real, long term enjoyment of a new medium comes from gaining knowledge of how to use the materials, combined with basic principles of art.  These foundations give the aspiring artist the best chance to realize their vision.  Whether you  are new to painting or painted years ago and want to get back into it, there is no time like the present to begin or begin again. I hope to see you there. Click here to find out more and register online.

Virginia McBride
Programming Manager

Space is limited…please register no later than Sunday, October 2nd

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Community Enthusiast Events at Wet Paint

Cornucopia of Classes

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virginiaheadThis blog post is from Virginia, our Event Coordinator at Wet Paint:

If you’re like me, crickets, cool mornings and long shadowed afternoons still signal that it’s time for returning to the focus of learning.  Fall classes at Wet Paint are just the thing to support your continuing creative pursuits or perhaps introduce you to new materials or techniques for the first time.

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Here’s a look at what’s in store:

You’ll find multi week courses in watercolor and acrylic painting, lettering, urban sketching, rosemaling and printmaking; daylong workshops  in encaustic painting, silverpoint drawing, and watercolor; and many single session classes ranging from book and paper arts to mixed media collage, mat cutting and alcohol Inks.

There are some new instructors and classes to point out:

Japanese woodblock printing taught by Wisconsin artist John Koch; Airbrush Basics and Airbrush Techniques taught by Rurik Hover; Introductory Rosemaling taught by Julie Anderson; Bullet Journaling taught by Deb Shanilec; Hand Lettering Styles  and Modern Brush Calligraphy taught by Jessica Chung; Beyond Coloring: Intro to Color Basics & Pattern Making with Jill Michell;  and a  series of 3 awesome Origami Projects with Kathleen Sheridan.

We are fortunate to be able to partner with some of our manufacturers to bring you a selection of classes featuring expert instruction and excellent art materials including :

Chicago artist Don Colley’s Master class featuring Pitt Brush Pens and more from Faber Castell; Mixed Media Collage on Ampersand Artists Panels taught by Texas artist Dana Brown; Mat Cutting with Brian Buell of Chicago-based Logan Graphic Products, Intro to Encaustic Painting and Oil and Cold Wax with R+F Handmade paints both taught by the incredibly popular Julie Snidle from St. Louis; Diana Eicher’s Linoleum Block Printing class and Family Print Day with Speedball/Akua printmaking supplies; Airbrush Basics and Airbrush Techniques featuring IWATA airbrush taught by Rurik Hover; and Hand bound Sketchbooks using CAVE handmade paper (from across the river in Minneapolis) taught by Bridget O’Malley.

Intro to Encaustic with Julie Snidle
Intro to Encaustic with Julie Snidle

In addition to classes you’ll find some incredible free demos and events this fall- an art history talk on 17th Century painter Jan Vermeer by Jim Robinson; a review of Faber Castell Pitt brush pens, Polychromos colored pencils and water soluble graphite with Don Colley; an introduction to egg tempera with 2016 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant recipient, Julie Jao; Ampersand Panels: Extraordinary Surfaces for Your Art with Dana Brown; Logan Mat Cutters with Brian Buell; and Water Media with Golden Artists Colors – a hands on demo with Bonnie Cutts.

With 45+ classes and events, It’s going to be a colorful and creative Autumn in the Wet Paint classroom. Hope to see you there!

Click here to see all the upcoming classes and events at Wet Paint!

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Why Wet Paint Stocks Holbein Acrylics

The new rack of Holbein Acrylics at Wet Paint
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“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper

This quote from painter Edward Hopper encapsulates the ongoing dilemma of describing your paintings with words. No matter what you say about your subject matter, your colors, the texture of your paint, you come up short. Talking about the paint itself is a little easier but tends to draw upon descriptors that may sound foreign to the untrained painter. There are artists who view paint as mere pigment to extend with water and get some color on their image. Then there are painters who can sense the difference in paint lines, from the way it comes out of the tube, to how it grabs onto a brush and then how it releases onto the canvas. And how colors mix varies from one manufacturer to another, how much elbow grease it takes to blend yellow and red into orange.

HAU_romance7When companies come to Wet Paint and offer a new acrylic line, we shuffle and make excuses like we don’t have the space. What it really comes down to there often isn’t that much difference from one brand to another. So along comes Holbein, a favorite manufacturer partner of Wet Paint’s with a newly formulated line of acrylics. We were very pleased to find out that they have developed a line of color that is not a “me too” replicant of the category leader. The Holbein Heavy Body Artist Acrylic has some unique properties to claim a position of their own.

Virginia trying out the new Holbein Acrylics
Virginia trying out the new Holbein Acrylics

Greg Graham, painter and Wet Paint Floor Manager, got the opportunity to play with these new acrylics. He felt the paint’s consistency is softer, even silky, under the brush, but not slippery, compared to other acrylic lines. “It reminds me of Lascaux which, unfortunately, is out of many acrylic painters’ price range.” It feels a little more like oil paint and does seem to have a longer working time. It didn’t tack up as quickly as many of the other acrylics. If you like to paint directly from the tube rather than using additives, gels and mediums, the Holbein acrylic has a great feel under the brush. Virginia McBride, another Wet Paint staffer who is more of a drawer than a painter, found the silkiness when mixing colors very enticing.

The new Holbein Acrylic
The new Holbein Acrylic

Holbein is offering a range of 113 colors in acrylics. Their color selection contains many pigments you find in their oils and watercolors. Manufactured in Japan, the Holbein palette not only contains traditional Western palettes from the Renaissance through the Impressionists to the Moderns but includes colors friendlier to an Asian esthetic. Some favorites from other mediums that are unique to Holbein are their classic mixed colors like the Compose Blue series and the Luminous colors of Violet, Rose and Opera. Like their oil paint, Holbein’s acrylics have a consistent body and sheen from one color to another.

The new Holbein Heavy Body Artist Acrylic is a painter’s paint. We are happy to add this color line to our selection at Wet Paint. This fall is a great time to try them out. They are on sale and there is a free tube of Titanium White with a purchase of 5 tubes of color.

Every day is a good day when you paint.

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