art-supplies-watercolour

About Buying Paint

There are soooo many tubes and jars of colour out there – isn’t it wonderful! But how to choose? If you are new into art, you might check out the recommended paint supply lists on my website. Here’s the link…”Art Supplies“. Once you’ve been painting for awhile, you will want to explore more colour choices. To help with this, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the actual pigments listed on the tube. For example: Titanium White is PW6 and Ultramarine Blue is PB29. If at the store you see what might be a different blue, say called “Sky Blue” (I’m just making this up) read the pigments on the label. If it says PW6 and PB29, and you already have those 2 pigments, you can easily mix that colour. It would be more worthwhile for you to explore a pigment that you don’t yet own – and there are likely lots of those! 
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Art Contest

Did you know that every month someone wins a coupon for 40% off of any “For Sale” painting on Cheryl O’s website? You simply have to guess the  artist and title of the famous painting that is featured. A small snippet from the paintings shows on the homepage of my website – cherylo.ca  – right column, scroll down, and then fill out the brief form there to enter. The current contest ends May 31st – Good luck! 
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Passion’s Spark

I discovered this principle in Grade 9 while learning to play in the high school Junior Band. When you really love a piece of music, by the time you’ve practiced it enough times to play it really well, that initial passion can be growing a bit dim. In order to keep that spark glowing, I learned to concentrate hard on what I first loved about the music, in order to try to express that on the 500th rendition. The very same principle can be applied to painting. When you are first attracted to a subject or even an abstract idea, the excitement is high. Then comes the discipline of trying to express that with paint, and the truth is, sometimes that’s just hard work. So the suggestion is: pay attention to what got the spark of passion glowing in the first place. Hold that thought close as you work. The hope is that this glow will guide you through the creative process, and even catch fire in some viewer’s heart when they see your finished work. Shine on!