The Artist's Reference: Color Definitions Simplified

HUE is the basic name of the color: red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple.

PRIMARY HUES are Red, Yellow and Blue

SECONDARY HUES are those you get when you mix two primary colors.

ORANGE = Red + Yellow
GREEN = Blue + Yellow
VIOLET = Blue + Red

TERTIARY HUES are those you get when you mix a primary with a secondary color.

YELLOW-ORANGE = Yellow + Orange
RED-ORANGE = Red + Orange
YELLOW-GREEN = Yellow + Green
BLUE-GREEN = Blue + Green
RED-VIOLET = Red + Violet
BLUE-VIOLET = Blue + Violet


VALUE is the relative degree of lightness or darkness of a hue - it's grayness (white to black) - place any color on a black and white copy machine and you'll see it's value.

TONE is created by adding both
white and black to a hue so that
the color is grayed down

SHADE is any hue with black added

HUE refers to the pure color


TINT is any hue with white added

CHROMA refers to the hue's intensity or dullness

The difference between chroma and value is this. . .

with chroma you are considering how pure or intense the hue is.

with value you are paying no attention to the hue and are only considering the lightness or darkness.

Got it? Now go paint!

Still don't have it?
Go paint anyway! The whole idea is to have fun with this.

25 Ways to Improve Your Drawing Skills

Do these and you're Guaranteed

to Improve your Drawing Skills!

1. Draw

2. Draw by copying
    others drawings

3. Draw more

4. Draw more than
    yesterday

5. Draw when you don't
    want to draw

6. Draw when you DO want to draw

7. Draw doodles while waiting on the phone

8. Draw with finger paint


9. Draw on a chalkboard

10. Draw when you have something
     to draw
.
11. Draw when you don't have
     anything to draw

.

12. Draw with a stick in the dirt

13. Draw with your toes in the sand

14. Draw in the air with your fingers

15. Draw on your best friends back (try it with a feather)

16. Draw in the fog on your mirror

17. Draw in the spilled sugar on your table

18. Draw with water and a paintbrush on the sidewalk

19. Draw with your children (kids LOVE #18)

20. Draw in the dust on your
      furniture

21. Draw on your smart phone or tablet

22. Draw every day

23. Keep drawing

24. Draw with your fork in your mashed potatos

25. Draw with just your eyes 
     (see: "Improve Your Drawing Skills in 60 Seconds")
 
Any questions?

Just as you would not think you could learn to play a concerto after a few lessons... You can't learn to draw in just a few minutes or even with a few lessons. Art takes years to master — to master ANYTHING you GOTTA do the time - there's just no way around it.

What Differentiates an Art Teacher from a Master Art Instructor?

What Differentiates an Art Teacher from a Master Art Instructor
(This article was inspired by Cynthia)

I wasn't always what I consider, a master art instructor. I began teaching because my friends asked me to show them what I was learning. I was an art teacher, a craft teacher, a fellow student and explorer – I was just . . . me. I was stumbling my way through the experiences just as they were.
 
I didn't feel like my work was any better than theirs. In fact, I usually viewed others artwork as way better than my own (and I still do). And I wonder why they were asking me then to teach them. "What did I have to give that was different?"

Then one of my college professors shared something with my then husband. He said that I was a Leader. "Wendy? A leader?" was his response (and also mine when this was related back to me). "Wendy who never tells anyone what to do or how to be? Wendy who moves through life with her head in the clouds, paint on her hands and a vague understanding of how the real world operates? Wendy who has no understanding of business or management or... or... anything??"

And this college professor replied, "Yes. It's the Wendy who is always, always watching, hanging on every word, demonstration, technique and soaking in every idea related to art. The Wendy who eagerly jumps into trying everything – who tries and fails – tries and fails – tries and fails over and over, searching for and gathering all the seeds of success. The Wendy who can't wait to begin a new project and asks in earnest for her work to be shredded in a critique so she can make it better . . . The Wendy who shares everything she learns with anyone who asks with infectious enthusiasm".

Ah! There was the key that changed my life.

How I ALWAYS See My Students:

• I see their vibrant joy and excitement as they learn and grow through their own personal journey of exploration.
• I see their beautifully completed paintings from the beginning and through all their progressions.
• I hold this vision when they cannot see it and focus on bringing them to it.
• And because I know they can do it – they know it as well and they have more faith in their abilities.
• When they have more faith in themselves, they relax and allow their best to become.
• They do this, not I.
• All I do is hold the vision by pointing to the doors and then keep them open.

Thank you My Students for the Gifts YOU Give to Me

• You don't know this but you teach me every day, and often many, many times in every class.
• You make me stretch and grow, to become a better artist and to be worthy of teaching you.
• I think about you everyday. I think about how I can help you see more and I look forward in delight to each time I get to add your photo to the Student Showcase.
• You show me better ways to see, gentler ways to share and higher methods to expand my knowledge.

• You open your hearts to me and trust me with your fear.
• I feel valuable because of your love and appreciation.
• My heart leaps with every single one of your successes, because they are mine too.
• You bring me up when I feel down and fill me up when I am empty.
• You are a blessing in my life. You are my reward.
• We laugh together in class and you bring me smiles in my quietest alone moments.
• You humble me with your creativity and the incredible beauty that you evoke every day.
• I am better because of you. Not only a better artist, but a better human being, a better woman, mother, daughter, friend and visionary – and better at just plain being happy.
• I love you all.

~ Thank you with all my heart and soul,

Wendy Froshay 

From 3 Generations of Artists
GrandDaughter, Mother, GRAND Mother

   

How to Improve Your Drawing Skills in 60 Seconds

Get Better Drawing without Trying
Want to Improve your Drawing Skills - with EASE? Want to get better at drawing no matter where you are and spend less than 60 seconds?

This tip is a BIGGIE!
Now it doesn't sound like a BIGGIE, but trust me, it is!

Draw a little every day.

"What", you say. "That's it! Too simple."
Then I hear you add..... "When am I going to fit THIS into my crazy, busy schedule?!
 

Draw without a Pencil
While you are standing in line at the supermarket, the post office, or waiting for your coffee order; trace subjects and/or people with your eyes.

Once you have traced a subject, close your eyes and "draw" the subject in your mind. When done, open your eyes and retrace your subject to see how much more detail you can remember. If you still have time, close your eyes and draw your subject again in your mind. (NOT recommended while sitting in traffic - unless you are a passenger!)

In a dull business meeting? Trace the speaker while they talk. (They'll believe that you are really intent on what they are saying and love you for it..... shhh... it'll be our little secret). Funny thing about doing this though, you may find that whenever you see them again - you'll remember what they were talking about. Give it a try!

Most of the time you will find that you spend 60 seconds or less each time you do a tracing.
x
Improve Your Drawing Skills Dramatically
Even if you go for months and ONLY draw with your eyes – taking 10 minutes a day (you can rack that time up waiting on the phone, standing in line, sitting in a dentist's office…)…. Let me repeat this…. EVEN if you go for months and ONLY draw with your eyes YOUR DRAWINGS WILL IMPROVE DRAMATICALLY!

How do I know? I actually had gone for a few years (yeah, I said years *ouch*), without lifting a pencil (while corporating in the corporate world). I thought for sure my skills were wasting away. Then, one day, after I'd begun drawing with a pencil again, I looked back at older work and realized that I was better! ... and not just a little better, but WAY BETTER! Yeah!

How simple is that? Can you fit this into your schedule? Do it for a week (on purpose) and after awhile, you will do it automatically.

Training the Mind to See 
Learning to draw is not just a matter of training the hand to draw. The hand cannot draw what the mind cannot see. (Make that a mantra).

How to Discover Your Inner Creative Genius

Written by Guest Author: Tien Frogget

Edward de Bono said it beautifully... "There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all." And the truth is, you are more creative than you realize. 

How do I know this? 

Because you are a human being. Human beings are creators at heart. The only thing that holds you back from harnessing your true creative power is (you guessed it) - you. Just about everyone has felt disheartened at some point by their own creative abilities. And it is this feeling of not being good enough that holds us back. 

"In order to perceive, you must first believe." 

You are never going to experience your own greatness if you aren't first willing to believe that you are great! Remind yourself of this next time you are doing something creative, and give yourself permission to be great - even if it's just for ten minutes. Say to yourself, "for the next ten minutes, I am a master at what I do." 

Pretend. Imagine. Dream about it in your mind, until you begin to believe. You are an actor and you get to step into the skin of the genius expert who takes the most beautiful photographs, or paints the most beautiful paintings, or creates the most incredible designs in the world. 

Creativity is the very force that propels us forward in every single aspect of life. It is creativity that gives us new possibilities, that innovates and streamlines the way we do things. It is creativity that inspires new technologies, that has transformed the human race from a life of pure survival to a society that is increasingly more entertainment and joy-based than ever before. 

The shortest path to discovering your greatness as a creative individual is the one of FUN - and not caring how anything turns out. All great creations come from a place of total acceptance and letting go of the end result. Trying to be something, trying to be great, pushing circumstances to come together to create an end result is the slow path to good creations. Letting go and creating purely for the joy of creating with rocket you forward into great creations.

Pure creativity is not usually logical. It doesn't follow the rules that anyone who has gone before us has laid down for us. It breaks them all, against all odds, and reinvents the way we look at things. It comes from a whole new way of thinking and being. That's why I'm such a huge advocate of just playing - going out and taking photos for the fun of it, or painting pictures just for the fun of it, and not worrying about the classes and the rules. Not so much because you don't learn from classes - (you do, in fact) - but the classroom mindset gets in the way. 

All beginners are fresh and new, and ready to create. Then when you sit in class you are told that it is difficult, and hard, and there are certain things that work, and other things that don't... and the general mindset is that you are in a class full of people who are also somewhat talented and there's a pressure to stand out, to do better, and everyone is constantly comparing your work to everyone else's and then the beginner gets stuck in their head - the pressure to be better gets in the way of actually getting better. Instead of just enjoying the learning process they are trying to prove themselves, and then when they can't create genius right away, they begin to doubt their abilities as well as the possibilities. 

Become one of those people that constantly inspire us by stepping outside of the box and doing new things, experimenting, and most of all -- being willing to make endless mistakes. Create for the joy of it, not because you are trying to be successful at it. Find love in the journey, and you will amaze yourself. 

You are a valuable resource of powerful creativity. And you are great. 

Don't forget it.

  Enjoy more of Tien Frogget's writings at Paradigm Drift

How To Become An Art Collector

So how do you become an art collector?

Not by spending a lot of money,

but by buying affordable pieces

that you love

over

a long period of time.

Easy.