Fall & Winter Workshops 2016
Upcoming awesomeness!
Art FUNdamentals •10 wks WEDNESDAY EVENINGS Oct 5, 2016 – Dec 7, 2016 Time: 5:00 PM -6:30 PM, Level: Ages 8-9 *Link to register
Art FUNdamentals at VAM is a fun and progressive course comprised of over 600 lessons making up a 7 year program. Children never repeat the same lesson twice! Working at their own pace, students are encouraged to slow down and watch their imaginations speed up while developing and practicing new skills. Students work in small peer groups and investigate drawing, painting, sculpting, printmaking and much more while connecting the dots through art history, the principles of art and design and art practices from around the globe.
Teen Portfolio Prep-Secondary School •11 wks WEDNESDAY EVENINGS Oct 5 2016 – Dec 14, 2016 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Level: Grade 11+ *Link to register
Specialized courses designed for students who plan to apply to a visual arts program at the secondary or post-secondary level. Along with the opportunity to develop new portfolio pieces, students will be coached on presentation, critique and interview skills. Each student will participate in a private mock-interview and portfolio critique. Currently in Grade 8 and applying for Fall 2017 entry to Secondary School Visual Arts Programs. Emphasis is on preparing portfolio-ready work that meets the requirements of regional arts program in Peel District, Dufferin Peel Catholic District and Toronto District School Boards. Materials included. Students should bring a sketchbook and expect some weekly homework.
Acrylic Confidence – The Bold Basics • Workshop
Part 1- 5 weeks, THURSDAY MORNINGS October 6 to November 3, 9 am to 12 pm *Link to register
Part 2 – 5 weeks, THURSDAY MORNINGS November 10 to December 8th, 9 am to 12 pm *Link to register
Discover the essential techniques you need to paint confidently with acrylics! Understand the technical properties of acrylic paints and mediums, fundamental design, colour and value, and how the right tools and tips all work together to help you achieve astonishing results. Key techniques will explore traditional and experimental approaches to painting with this forgiving, versatile medium, giving you a new understanding of the myriad ways you can use acrylics to create anything that catches your imagination. Benefit from demonstrations, advice and personal guidance for beautifully completed paintings that combine knowledge and skill with the joy of painting!
Creative Cards
Saturday December 10th 2016 – 9am-4pm
Get ready for the holiday season! Express creativity, joy & gratitude while continuing to improve your painting skills and learning a variety of interesting techniques to expand your ability to create with mixed media. Using acrylics, drawing tools, and collage elements in combination with tips for stylish presentation, this festive card designing workshop welcomes all ages and all levels of experience, inspiring a wide variety of ideas for making your greetings this year extra special.
Washi Wednesday PanPastel Demo • March 30, 2016
The Dancing Brush • one of my favorite brushes in the world!
It all started in 2010 at a demo, when artist Peter John Reid handed me a unique, crazy extra long rigger brush, that he though would lend well to what I was painting at the time. It was obvious I had way too much fun painting with this brush, and with a gentle smile, Peter so generously gifted it to me. From there on in, this special brush has become an exceptional tool in my work.
I call it THE DANCING BRUSH.
Almost every artist I demonstrate this brush to has wanted it and asked for the source. Back then, I had saved a link for the original one, but since the brand is now obsolete *sorry!* the good news I have found that DaVinci makes a very, very similar brush! The biggest differences are the tiny handle and more bulk from the belly to the tip (which has more of a point), yet the bristle length is the same (55mm long) made of synthetic filament (imitation Squirrel hair) and has results that are similar enough to make me *squee* with joy while using it!
This brush allows me to ‘let go’. You can of course us it to effortlessly create perfect, pin-stripe lines – but with jiggles and wiggles (think, a jazzy groove!), it adds playful abstraction with unpredictable variegated lines and peculiar, out of the blue dashes!
It is available on Amazon.ca – although not cheap (DaVinci is a high end brand), it is worth every penny if you keep it in your usual brush kit, reach for it often, and take care of it.
Here are some examples/inspiration for you, or works that benefited from The Dancing Brush!
Enjoy xo
The dancing brush was used to create impression of foliage ‘scribbles’
The Dancing Brush was used with the Interference Gold accents in the background. Subtle, nice touch 🙂
The Dancing Brush is THE BEST for pin stripes!
Many elements of this mixed media piece were created using The Dancing Brush, from gestural scribbles, lines to dots!
Using The Dancing Brush with Interference Turquoise, this piece came alive!
Courage + Experimentation = Evolution!
Almost a year ago, I started a drawing of trees on a wooden panel, and after 48 weeks of abandonment, I just mustered up the courage to experiment on it – and I’m super excited with the result! For as long as I can remember, I’ve drawn trees without leaves. Perhaps it was simply a love of simplicity, or a fear of layering or losing the intricate structure of the drawing (where shapes eliminate precious linework), but any of those reasons no longer serve me now… I have an itch to let go – to trust & be creatively reckless – to evolve! Cheers to the courage to create!
Magical Mandalas • art class
If you love mandalas and meditative art forms, you will love this drawing class! Delve into the ancient art of self-expression to create your own personal Mandala, and explore the sacred circle of symbols and patterns – so beautiful and easy to create – no previous art experience required!
The very act of creating a mandala can lead us to many blessings, such as the experience of wholeness and inner clarity and possibilities! The artistic process embraces the joy of colour and imaginative mark making, and with the guidance of artist & instructor Sharlena Wood, you will have a finished piece of art to hang on your own wall!
All materials will be provided. Options for prints & framing your Mandalas for any occasion will also be available through Great Spirit www.GreatSpiritGallery.com
Date • Wed Dec 9th 2015
Time • 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Where • RAWspace – 270 Carlaw Ave #102, Toronto ON
Cost • $55 per person – All materials will be provided.
Max 8 people • Space is limited ~ sign up today!
Email to sign up • contact@Rawspace.info
Website • www.RAWspace.info
My favorite art materials!
A reference for artists taking Painting Wildlife: Acrylic Mixed Media and Drawing Wild Animals on Craftsy.com
Generals Charcoal Pencils
Generals White Charcoal Pencils
Wolffs Carbon Pencils
Generals soft lead pencil sharpener
Staedtler Art Eraser – Kneadable Eraser
Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser – I use a utility knife to cut off triangular pieces
Pan Pastels with Sofft™ tools
Unison Soft Pastels
Generals Charcoal Powder
Escoda Round Sash Brush
Escoda Chunking bristle brushes in various sizes for detailed work with charcoal
Faber-Castell PITT Oil Base Pencil: Black, Extra Soft
Robert Bateman Sketchbook. Amazing quality for practicing, also for final drawings!
Art Spectrum Colourfix Paper for Pastel work
200lb CP Watercolour Paper • won’t buckle for mixed media!
Illustration Board. Vellum Surface for mixed media.
Strathmore 500 Bristol Paper. Vellum surface has a toothy finish that is AMAZING for pencil, charcoal and carbon drawings.
TriArt Dry Media Ground. Available on Amazon.com
TriArt Clear Gesso. Available on Amazon.com
Professional-FQ Liquid Acrylic No.1 Essential, 6 x 60ml. Available on Amazon.com
Heinz Jordan wash brush
Richeson Jack’s Linseed Studio Soap
Krylon Crystal Clear
The Magic of Mixed Media • Phoenix Process
materials • My favorite tools: Birch Panel 24″x18″ Tri-Art Finest Quality Gesso (fav is clear, but here I used White) Tri-Art Finest Quality Dry Media Ground Tri-Art Finest Quality Liquid Acrylics (for this piece I used Carbon Black, Transparent Pyrrolle Red Medium & Indian Yellow) General’s Charcoal Pencil 6B General’s White Pastel Pencil White Vinyl & kneadable Eraser General’s Soft Lead Pencil Sharpener Unison Soft Pastels Bristle Brushes in a variety of sizes (for blending)
blocking in • (prep – applied gesso, allowed it to dry, then sketched in Phoenix) blocking in with Carbon Black acrylic. For any linework or details that was missed/messed up when blocking in the negative space, I went in with Titanium White after and refined it.
colour glaze • Adding glazes of transparent acrylic colour (acrylic + water). I’m really care-free at this stage, as I will be refining it later with drawing. When you use transparent glazes, you can go right over the black areas without any worries 🙂 NOTE :: This piece was approx 10% painting and 90% drawing, however NOTE this process works for 90% painting too, and just a few accents of pastel here and there. Depending on what you want, you can be more precise at this stage, I just knew what I wanted for this piece at the start and that I was going to cover most of the paint up with pastel!!!
colour glaze complete • completed glazes. Knowing that any inconsistencies will be resolved in the process, I still went in with Carbon Black acrylic where I wanted to establish a clearer vision of the overall shape and design at this stage (trying to avoid details as they come later!).
dry media ground layer • Time to add a layer dry media ground. I use a ‘colour shaper’ rubber brush tool for application, it’s fantastic for applying this medium!
dry media ground complete • A thin layer of Dry Media Ground is all that is needed. It may look white going on, but don’t freak out – it dries translucent (clear with a slight frost as it’s very matte). Allow to fully dry before drawing (approx 3-4 hours, overnight is best).
When the ground is dry, it’s time for pastel! Draw it on where you like. For blending and softening use a dry bristle brush (I have a collection of brushes just for blending pastel…I never wash them!) 😛
erasing & removing areas. tip with kneadable eraser – press it into the surface and LIFT (repeat) for maximum effexctiveness. No matter the surface – it will not damage paper this way, and on a birch board, it gets into the grooves better than rubbing it side to side.
erasing lines that were covered too much by the pastel, allowing some of the paint underneath to show through is part of the magic!
A balance of pastel details and refining of design, and allowing some paint to show through.
Refining edges and dark areas with charcoal, smudging with a brush gives a soft effect and eliminates the lines, maximizing the illusion of depth.
charcoal pencil details
White Vinyl eraser tip – cut large eraser into small triangles to achieve finer lines and details with a variety of small points and edges.
Charcoal pencil (or pastel pencils) are perfect for delicate linework, whereas round soft pastels are too large.
kneadable eraser reveal! lifting out pastel where it’s not needed (or where it got too messy).
darkening up some areas with charcoal for contrast. Again, use a brush to soften the strokes if you like.
I LOVE soft pastel! final details will not be brushed out, rather allowed to ‘sit’ on top of the surface to allow for max colour density and texture.
I LOVE charcoal the most though! and brushes have become one of my favorite drawing tools. Final stages of going over any areas that need to be DARKER! {I love lots of things, such as dramatic contrast! 🙂
working all over maintains unity and allows for better problem solving when one can see all the pieces coming together… much better than starting from a corner and progressing out!
tail complete, many layers of paint and pastel and charcoal!
Phoenix – mixed media *FINAL* (edited for clarity, contrast and colour balance)
Learn more about this process in Craftsy’s online class – PAINTING WILDLIFE: ACRYLIC MIXED MEDIA
Whisky Comparison
Another commission request for two portraits. Unless I’m on a path to certain insanity, my hope is that after years of drawing pets, I’m getting better. Even more so, that drawing the same reference twice, is actually the key to keeping fresh and growing in my own style. The second one always seems better…. but who’s comparing? 🙂
Two portraits of Whiskey
Win a FREE art class! DRAWING WILD ANIMALS
PanPastel Colors just launched a wicked giveaway for three Drawing Wild Animals classes + PanPastel product kit! Check out PanPastel’s post.
I am also gifting a free link for my treasured online art class, DRAWING WILD ANIMALS! (class description at the end of this post)
Simplify the steps for drawing iconic animals. Depict wild animals with true-to-life proportions, dimension, textures and features.
How to enter?
- Make sure you are signed up to my mailing list
- Caption the below photos or SHARE this with your friends
I will randomly draw a winner on Wednesday, and will share a funny, behind the scenes treat for mailing list peeps! So please SHARE – even if you are on the mailing list and/or already enrolled in the class xoxoxo love light
Sharlena ‘Behind the Scenes’ of Drawing Wild Animals
Sharlena ‘Behind the Scenes’ of Drawing Wild Animals
Sharlena ‘Behind the Scenes’ of Drawing Wild Animals #3
Drawing Wild Animals
Online class @ Craftsy.com (<——this is a $20 off link to buy the class!). Learn how to draw wild animals with dramatic detail and dynamic depth alongside artist Sharlena Wood. You’ll get step-by-step guidance for depicting three beloved animals in black and white: the elephant, the panda and the leopard. Throughout class, Sharlena will teach you to work with PanPastel and charcoal — mediums that make vivid animal portraits easier and faster to draw. Start by blocking in your animal’s main shapes and get tips for drawing them with accurate form and proportion. Move on to rendering value shifts with confidence to create drawings with remarkable dimension. Then, bring your work to life as you find out how to accurately draw animal skin, fur, spots, eyes and more. Discover new techniques and mediums as you draw powerful portraits of these amazing animals.
The Craftsy guarantee
•7 HD video lessons with anytime, anywhere access
•Class materials, including supply lists and beautiful reference photos
•Hours of close-up instruction
•Answers from Sharlena in virtual classroom
•Watch classes on your own schedule: wherever, whenever you want.
•Your access never expires.
•100% money back guarantee.
Sharlena Wood creating in the Craftsy Studio
Sharlena Wood 