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Jiggsy, The beginning

7/3/2020

Author Murray Smith, going over some of the illustrations for his new book "Jiggsy, The Beginning", with illustrator Jonathon Wilson, and me. This is Murray's second Children's book I had the pleasure of working on. The first one, "A Lesson For Jiggs" is now on Amazon. The picture above is our first meeting together in my studio.

Murray and his lovely wife Carol ( The person taking the photos) are friends of mine. They also came to my studio once a week for a couple of years to learn to paint. Murray reached out to me soon after the pandemic shutdown. While being confined to my condo I worked on his first book.

The photo below is Murray Smith holding a paper back copy of the first book.

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We are open

6/10/2020

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I have reopened Art E Studio this past week and yesterday I was happy to welcome back my first student, Kailea. Look how her eyes sparkle. Can you tell she is happy to be back?

We had a great time catching up on the past three months. She told me about all the books she's read and how she did all her school work online. She missed her friends but loved playing with the ducks her mom takes care of.

It felt so good to have her sweet loving energy back in the studio.

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Fun with bob ross

5/12/2020

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My sweet, beautiful daughter Monique sent me a deck of Bob Ross playing cards for Easter. Each card has one of his paintings and one of his sayings on it. The photo I'm sharing here has 4 of my favorites. I got a big kick out of shuffling the deck and picking a card to see what Bob had to say for the day. Then one morning I got the idea to share them on my Art E Studio Instagram and facebook pages. So I grabbed my Bob Ross bobble head ( also a gift from my daughter), my Bob Ross coffee cup ( a gift from Charlie's daughter) and my phone and created a short video and posted it. April 15th began a silly fun morning ritual to start my day and ease some of the stress I felt while being shut up at home. It's amazing what a pandemic can do to a person.

Here's a confession for you. The first time I saw a complete Bob Ross painting video was about 4 weeks ago. I looked him up on YouTube and ended up watching two episodes. He sure had a calm, peaceful way about him.

Head over to my Instagram page (link is below or click on the photo) to watch each video. Each one is right around 1 minuet long.

www.instagram.com/art_e_studio/

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A few new paintings

4/20/2020

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The last four weeks has given me the opportunity to work on improving my watercolor painting skills. The photo below are just four of the 16 new watercolor paintings I did. I also had the opprtunity to work on a children's book a friend of mine is publishing. He had hired an artist who did the drawings and hired me to paint them.That gave me another 32 watercolor paintings of practice.

I've also used my "stay at home" time to finish a bunch of paintings I did in some of the classes I teach. I don't always have time to complete my demonstration paintings and tend to let them pile up. I've completed 6 of them so far. See the image below.

I've also did two completely new paintings. One is a honu (sea turtle) and the other is a seascape of Napili Bay. These two paintings will be going to one of the galleries I'm in. Unless they sell before this shut down is over. You, my blog reader, have first dibs on all the paintings posted here, including the watercolors Email me [email protected] or comment below if you wish to buy one.

Stay healthy, stay safe.

Aloha

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Want to learn about color

3/27/2020

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Color plays a huge roll in painting. It's important to know some basic color theory before you begin painting. I'm sure you already know blue and yellow make green, and red and blue make purple, and yellow and red make orange. But did you know there are multiple blues, yellows and reds that can create a huge range of colors.

The following photos are from my book "The Art Of Painting In Acrylic". Read over the information to familiarize yourself with the basic principles of color mixing.

The following photo is not from my book. I'm adding it here to my blog because it has great information you may find very useful.

I teach a color wheel class to new painting students who are interested in learning the basics. It's a two hour class, all supplies are included. If there are multiple students in the class I give each student different blues, yellows and reds. By doing that the students can see just how vast the color world is.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please don't hesitate to ask me questions by leaving a comment.

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The Art Of Painting In Acrylic

3/20/2020

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Have you seen this book in your local art supply store or at Barnes & Nobel? Do you have a copy? You may or may not know that I’m one of the six artists featured in it. My four paintings are all Maui scenes. The painting on the upper right of the cover is one of them. My paintings start on page 48 in the "Landscape & Seascape chapter.

For today’s blog post I want to share with you the “introduction” and “tools and materials” pages. There is a lot of great information on these three pages you might fine useful. Especially if you are new to acrylic painting. Acrylics are the most versatile paint medium, there are so many ways to use it.

"Unlike other mediums, it's almost impossible to make a mistake with acrylics that can't be fixed. If there's an area that needs to be reworked, simply paint over it."

This quote from the "Introduction" is spot on and I couldn't agree more. Knowing that you can fix or paint over a mistake helps to take away the fear and frustration of learning to paint.

If you already have the book and have questions regarding my step-by-step process send me an email, I'll be happy to help.

If you haven't bought the book yet consider purchasing a signed copy directly from me. Email me for details.

Aloha
Darice

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canceled classes and workshops

3/19/2020

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As of this week starting March 17th 2020, all my classes and workshops are cancelled due to the coronavirus. This is a really sad and scary time we live in. Just a few short weeks ago the world was active and mobile. People from many different countries were traveling, exploring and having grand adventures. Now many countries have closed their boarders in hopes to combat the coronavirus and protect it's people.

Hawaii is doing the same thing. Cruise ships are no longer allowed to make port. Our governor has asked all tourists to stay away. All public events have been canceled. Tour boats, whale watching, sunset cruises, sport fishing adventures and our two submarines have all shut down. Retail stores are closing, restaurant too.

The decision to stop all my classes was not an easy one to make. But I know it was the right one for now. I hope to be able to reopen as soon as this pandemic is over.

In the meantime, I'll be posting more in this blog. My goal is to give you ideas and encouragement to paint at home. For those of you who have children out of school at this time, I have two websites for you to check out

kidsactivities.com and kinderart.com

Both these websites have art and craft projects you can do at home.

Stay safe and healthy.

Aloha
Darice

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New Pouring technique

9/10/2019

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This new pouring technique is called "Dutch Pour". From the photo above you'd think it's really complicated, but in truth it's pretty simple to do. All you need is a lot hot air, as in blowing with your mouth. And a lot of fluid paint. After each painting dried I embellished them to look like hibiscus flowers.

I've decided to add this technique to my Acrylic Pouring workshop as an option for students to try. I have a feeling it's going to be very popular.

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Busy summer

7/30/2019

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Art E Studio has been super busy this summer. Lots of new students coming for one day workshops and a few new locals have signed up for on going classes. I've had to turn down students for the first time in Art E Studio history due to a packed schedule and no room to add more.

The photo below is Manny with his " Twin Falls" painting. Manny came all the way from Florida to spend part of his summer here. Manny completed two paintings with me and is excited to return next year.

Maile just graduated high school and decided to spend her summer here on Maui before starting collage. She too completed two paintings with me. The photo below is the first one.

The next photo is a grandma with her two granddaughters. They chose to do "Sunset & Palms" for their painting day together. Lily is 10, she's the one with the flower in her hair. Grace is 12. I won't tell you how old grandma Betty is.....it's my secret.

August is shaping up to be as busy as July. I've booked 6 classes so far. If you are interested in booking a class I suggest you do it soon before they are all full.

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Palette knife painting

6/15/2019

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Want to learn how to get great textures in your acrylic paintings? Come take a class on palette knife painting. You can choose from one of the six paintings you see in the image below. Each one is full of texture, motion and energy. All are done on an 8x10 canvas. This class will take two 1/2 to three hours. It's fun and you'll be amazed by the results.

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