Week 2: Getting Fresh Faced with Frida Kahlo

Get some color back into our sketchbooks (and these cold grey days) with some inspiration from the fabulous Frida Kahlo.  Grab your favorite accessories (and/or a furry friend or houseplant!) and your oil pastels and create a colorful self-portrait.  What are oil pastels? They are the happy medium between drawing and painting- works like a crayon, but the color intensity and creaminess of paint.  Feel free to exaggerate the color, your features, or the setting to enhance the “Frida-ness” of your self-portrait!

 

All oil pastels are 15% off our everyday price! We have some great inexpensive sets from Craypas Expressionist or get real fancy with the giant Sennelier oil pastels (including the beautiful iridescent and metallic colors).  Or get some fine lines for detail with the Holbien square oil pastels.

 

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

Week 1: Gestural Impressions like Kathe Kollwitz

Welcome back to our second year of Weekly Workouts! For our first workout, we’d like you all to introduce yourselves to the group with a gestural portrait of your hands or face (or both) taking inspiration from this beautiful charcoal drawing by Kathe Kollwitz.  She captures herself with movement and detail, and depicts herself as an artist. Notice the values and highlights on her hand that make it look 3-dimensional — try your best to work with more tones than just black and white.  And, feel free to stand back from the paper and use your whole arm to draw! You may even want to consider doing a double-page spread.

 

This week, all Nitram fine charcoal in all varieties are 20% off! The superb quality of Nitram ensures that it does not crumble under pressure, has the advantage of rich blacks and a wide range of shades, and it will not skip while you are drawing. It’s the favorite charcoal of the Wet Paint staff.

 

Summer Session Art Date 6: Paint your Picnic

As our Summer Session comes to a close we thought we would encourage you and your sketchbook to go on a picnic!  Find a spot on the grass, put out a blanket (or not) and sketch your scene.  Are there some nearby Frisbee players?  Is there a beautiful view of trees or flowers from where you’re sitting? Or perhaps your lunch looks like an appetizing subject?  Whatever you choose, try to fill the entire page with your scene taking inspiration from George Seurat’s masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (no pointillism required!).   For this Art Date, we suggest using gouache paints to layer bold color in your painting.

For the next two weeks, take advantage of 40% off MSRP on M. Graham Gouache!  This paint formulation uses high concentration of pigments to create the opaque color, rather than adding white or other opacifiers, so you know that this will be intense, clean color on the palette and in your painting.

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

Summer Session Art Date 5: Sketch by the Sea

Now that our local rivers and lakes are down to normal water levels, take your sketchbook to a quiet corner of a nearby lake, river, pond, stream… if you don’t live by any water elements, draw poolside, or even at the water fountain in the town square!  Check out this beautiful Andrew Wyeth watercolor painting and how he works the waves – now is the time to bust out all those aqua blues!  Using your watercolor paints, freshen up your palette with a new blue, like Liz’ fave: Holbein Cobalt Turquoise Light or Kristina’s fave: Daniel Smith Lunar Blue.

For the next two weeks, any blue watercolor paint is 10% off Wet Paint’s everyday discounted price!  Ride the wave into Wet Paint and pick out your new faves! Please Note: To receive your discount, please mention this Art Date when checking out in the store (online customers: please email sales@wetpaintart.com or call the store 651-698-6431 for discount).

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

Summer Session- Art Date 4: Nocturnal Notes

Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night Over the Rhone”

Stay up late and sketch the town red!  Okay, maybe not just red, but any and all colors that lend themselves to the neon and moon glow of nighttime escapades.  Using the Van Gogh painting as inspiration, see how colors can light up the night or capture a moment like our friend, Justin Terlecki’s 4^th of July print, entitled July.  Since the 4^th of July is this weekend, try doing a quick sketch of the scene and, as night falls, lay in the explosive color! If you are a night owl, go out on the town and paint the city lights, or a country road and paint the night sky.  For this art date, try toning your paper with a dark color first, then layer in color with your favorite opaque paint markers for a colorful pop!

 

Justin Terlecki’s Lithograph print “July”

Wet Paint will have the refillable Montana Paint markers on sale for 15% off MSRP from now until July15th!  Available in a great variety of colors and sizes, and now in six fluorescent colors so you can really make your paintings bright!

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

Summer Session Art Date 3: Color at the Cafe

Take your sketchbook to your local coffee shop, bistro, or diner (somewhere you can sit comfortably for a bit) and enjoy a cup of java.  Take time to observe the human species in its caffeinated surroundings and do a quick portrait. See Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s painting for inspiration of a looser, impressionist style of portrait.  If you are a little nervous about getting caught drawing your neighbor, you can always draw what you ordered!  For this workout, we suggest using gouache for great layering and brilliant color.

Now at Wet Paint, M. Graham artist quality gouache is 40% off MSRP!  This super-pigmented gouache paint is available in a nice range of colors that are perfect for mixing and at an economical price!

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

 

Summer Session Art Date 2: Outdoor Observations

Paul Cezanne “Chestnut Trees at Jas de Bouffan”

It’s springing into summer rather quickly here in MN and that means we all need to get outside and see some green! For this Art Date, take yourself (and your journal) on a nature walk. Any time of day, check out a nature preservation, take a simple stroll around a lake or just walk over to your neighborhood park. Take some time to observe the details, the scenery, and just enjoy the presence of being in nature. Document what is growing around you. Is there a unique leaf, pattern, or texture? Is there a new nest of birds nearby? Share your natural observations with the group. We suggest using watercolor pencils because they are convenient to carry, colorful, and can be used wet or dry. If adding water, don’t forget your water brush!

For the next two weeks (6/4 thru 6/17) Wet Paint will have all Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle Pencils in open stock and sets at 15% off MSRP!  These are available in a beautiful range of colors, are lightfast, and permanent.

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

Wet Paint loves Josh & Carl

Joshua Cunningham painting along the Northshore

We got Don Colley packed up and shipped out on the AMTRAK this morning and we are already changing gears at Wet Paint.  We’ve got a 2fer this Thursday evening.  We truly believe the weather is taking a turn toward warmth and Josh Cunningham and Carl Judson will be outside the store in full plein air regalia.  Josh Cunningham is a favorite Wet Paint customer, a well-respected painter of our Minnesota landscape and cityscape and a truly generous artist.  Josh will be working on a new painting and is ready and willing to talk shop about painting, materials and the specific issues of alla prima with any and all of you interested artists.

 

Carl Judson on his last visit to Wet Paint

When I saw Carl Judson, founder of Guerrilla Painter, at the art materials show earlier this month, Carl said he could stop by Wet Paint on his road trip back to Colorado.  We lucked out to get him to come through St Paul on the same day as Josh’s demo.  So besides getting to talk with Josh about painting, you get to visit with Carl about the equipment he manufactures to make plein air painting more seamless and compact for the artist.  The last time Carl came by we had a lively conversation about collapsible palettes.  See a demonstration of all the bells and whistles of the Guerrilla Painter line of rugged pochade like boxes.

 

This is also a great opportunity for you to get Judson’s recent publication, “A Guerrilla Painter’s Notebook III.”  This volume covers such topics as the underappreciated role of the amateur painter, Judson’s own paintings, Judson’s monograph of a favorite artist, Julian Livingston Peabody, and high points of his guerrilla painter travels around the country.  This is a gem of a publication and shows Carl’s talents and appreciations as a true Renaissance individual.

Joshua Cunningham’s Guerrilla Box and supplies

This will be a truly delightful evening with Josh and Carl talking about topics they hold dear.  Their talents and generosity of spirit will inspire and encourage you to start a new picture.  Maybe we can get Josh to paint the front of Wet Paint (he has done the parking lot view; the painting is on view at the store).  Take a look at the new value added Guerrilla Box special kits.  It’s only available in brick and mortar art supply stores.

 

Summer Session Art Date 1: Mosey at the Museum

A local favorite: the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Take some time to stroll around your local museum- it doesn’t have to be an art museum, but your grandma’s basement doesn’t count!  Think something cultural or science-y, artistic or natural. What exhibit grabs your eye? Does it remind you of something?   How will this moment influence and motivate you in your art? Sketch your impressions of the exhibit or doodle your thoughts.  Be mindful of what your local museums allow in the galleries, so carry your go-to pencil to jot down your favorite works and some notes.  Post a picture of your journal entry or an influenced work done with your favorite media.

For the next two weeks, 5/21 thru 6/3, Wet Paint will have select Faber-Castell graphite pencils, mechanical pencils and sets on sale for 40% off MSRP!  These are available in a wide rage of values and grades so you will be sure to find your new go-to pencil for sketching this summer!

These Weekly Workouts will be posted as Events in our Facebook Group, click here to join!
If you are not on Facebook, share your photos in our Flickr group
We will also post our exercises here on our blog
 Click here to see our list of suggested art supplies

WP Weekly Workouts- Upcoming Summer Session and Wet Paint Summer Postcard Project

 

Some of Liz’ previous summer sketches

Summer Session is the perfect time for you to take your sketchbook out on Art Dates!  It’s time to finally get outside and soak up the sunshine and fresh air and we’ve got lot of suggestions for outings that are sure to spark your imagination and awaken your creativity.  Best of all, these exercises give you the chance to be completely in the moment as you enjoy the sensory stimulation of drawing outdoors.

Not ready to sketch while you’re out and about?  We know it can be intimidating to draw in public, but there’s no need to forego Summer Session – A quick snapshot on your phone and a few notes jotted in your sketchbook are a great foundation for sketching projects to tackle when you get home.

We want you to enjoy your summer adventures, so we’re giving you two weeks between each Summer Session Art Date.  With more time in between, you won’t feel rushed to get these done.

Summer Session and our first Art Date will start next week!  Stay posted for details and, in the meantime, catch up on your workouts and check out our Summer Postcard Project (see below)!

 Wet Paint Summer Postcard Project

Fellow Wet Paint staffer, Langhan, getting excited about sending mail art!

Going somewhere fun this summer?  Or, having a productive stay-cation?  Draw, paint, or mix up your media on a postcard-sized paper and mail it to Wet Paint!  We’re putting together an exhibition of mail art from our friends and fans wherever they may be.  As postcards arrive, we will photograph them to share on our social media pages and then display them in our storefront windows.  At the end of the summer, we’ll host a public art opening here at Wet Paint for all of the contributing artists!

There’s no limit to how many postcards you can send, but in order to participate, postcards have to arrive at Wet Paint via our friendly postal carrier – – no dropping them off at the store!  Don’t forget to sign your postcard(s) and let us know how to reach you.  We want to make sure we’re crediting you when we post the work online and we want to be able to contact you with details about the end of summer art opening.

Looking for ideas?  Check out the Postcard Travel Kit that Liz and Kristina put together for this project.  See below for more info.

General Guidelines:

-We are a family-friendly shop, so please tailor your images & words to be suitable for viewers of all ages.

-We reserve the right to not display postcards that we feel are inappropriate for this activity.

-All artwork must be original.

-In order to have your postcard displayed in our end of summer exhibition, you’ll need to have it postmarked by August 8^th, 2014.

-All participating mail art must arrive at Wet Paint via US Mail.

-Keep in mind that postcards will “wear” a bit depending on how far they travel- which is part of the fun of mail art!

-Contact your local post office for shipping and postage information.

-Send one or send one every week!  We’ve got big windows!

More info about the end of summer exhibition and opening to follow.

 

The Postcard Travel Kit includes the basic tools to capture all of your summer moments on the perfect postcard-sized paper!  Items include:

-Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils in 5 fun summery colors

-a trusty Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen fine liner in Superfine Black

-the easy-to-use Pentel Aquash water brush (medium point)

-a tablet of Strathmore 140lb cold press 4”x6” watercolor postcards (15 cards!)

Two “postcards” that Wet Paint received last summer from friendly customers

WET PAINT’S ADDRESS:

Wet Paint

Summer Postcard Project

1684 Grand Ave

St. Paul, MN 55105