A DIY Private Painting Lesson - Painting & Drawing Tips

Do you Golf? Curl? I do. Both.  

In the winter I am busy curling.  But when the sun shines I am ready to head for the greens.  

It's been my life for many years. 

 

Sketchbook Activity: Bennet's Point, Vancouver Island, BC

No, I am not a Scratch Golfer nor a Curler that plays the circuit.  But I love the games and I love the energy.  I am pretty good with both but of course always obsessed with making 'that great shot'!!  So, yes, I am open to new adventures and ideas to up my game. 

A few weeks ago I had attended a 2 day workshop with Swapna Das.  (Instagram:  @kosen_rufu_artist) - Mastering the Art of Charcoal: A Creative Drawing Workshop. She has awesome ideas for drawing and so I knew I would find something there to up my Art Game.  And I did.  

Reference for Bennet's Point Painting

It started with a quick Warm Up.  

I know, you have heard that before, but bare with me.  Swapna had a few different ones, and this particular one really resonated with me.
Look at your reference, whether it is real life or a photo and make a quick sketch of the MASS in black and white.  No detail. Just shapes. Make it big. Close to the size your final picture will be.    If it is Value 5 or more it is black.  If not just leave it white.  Work quickly.  You only get 2-3 minutes.  

A 2 minute study to grab the darks

Now stop!! . . .  Step back. . . . .  Evaluate.  

Are the shapes interesting? Do you need to group some of them? What does the negative space look like? 

I found several things happened at this point.  
1.  I became more familiar with my subject and my plan for my painting

2.  I could see where I needed to make changes to my composition

(Ok, I do admit I snuck a little light smudges in the back for the horizon.  But I really did try and just do the darks) 

Capturing the line and shadows 

Step 2: Capture the line

Now here, you will spend more time.  Using a pencil or pen, capture your plan with a line.  Take 5-8 minutes and set up the shapes. Outline the shapes and their relationship to each other. 

As you can see I didn't stop there with my line drawing.  I went one step further and added detail and shadows.  I wanted a closer look at how to deal with the foreground.  (As adults, we definitely have a hard time faithfully following the rules.  🙄 )

At this point you will notice:

1. If your composition is really working. 

2. You are way more familiar with your subject 

3. The black and white masses help you understand how to deal with the values in those nebulous areas.  In my case, the foreground below the tree. 

4. How to set up the values in the mid and foreground areas.  When I looked at mine I felt I had a great sense of depth in my drawing. 

Bennet's Point, Vancouver Island, BC

Step 3: Get Down to Business 

Time to paint your picture.  You will find as you paint that your process will now be slightly different.  You will be faster, have a clearer plan of how to proceed.  And a place to check that your are on track.   

I found as I worked away, I was flipping back to my studies: checking my values to see if they were right; looking at my colour choices to see if they should be warmer or cooler; making sure I was grouping shapes as they should be.  It was nice to have something to refer too.  

A close up view of the foreground.  

As a follow up, I made a grayscale version of the picture for your to look at.  I found it interesting to compare it with my line drawing and mass sketch.  

Grayscale version of finished Bennet's Point

Take-Aways: 

1.  It definitely helped me keep control of my values in the foreground.  

2.  I found I was able to group my darks more affectively. 

3. I felt I found an interesting pattern for the branches at the bottom of the tree.  That was a very tricky area. 

Would I do all of this for every picture? No.  But I certainly like the idea of creating a 'Black and White sketch of the Mass'.  I usually do some kind of a value study for all my work and this really seems to fit right in with my process.  

 

Take a picture and try it.  It's your own DIY Painting and Drawing Lesson.  

Taking Registrations for my Spring/Summer Events: 

•  Join me in the Shuswap for a 4 Day Outdoor Sketching Art Retreat hosted by Joanne Denis, June 20-23, 2025.  I will be the instructor.  This is an all inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland.  $350-$600 depending on the room choices.  www.aventurasbc.ca
  
  
• Create Your Own Adventure - Let's go Outdoor Sketching  Grab a friend or 2 and let's go.   2.5 hr $65ea.  Contact me to set up a date. Location: Lower Mainland
  
  
• Save the Date:  next set of 3 Zoom classes Thursdays, October 9, 16 & 23.   Enhancing Your Drawing & Painting Skills.  New focus for each set of classes

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

How to Become Confident with Your Pen Work - Drawing & Painting Tips

Do you remember when you were learning to Ride a BIKE? 

It was hard.  And the ground was hard. Road Rash was not fun.  

Learning to draw confidently with a permanent ink pen is WAY easier!!

Pink Flower Puff - Sketchbook Activity - Freehand Line Work 

I love drawing with black ink. I love sharp crisp lines.  Although, I often use other colours, black is by far my favourite. Learning to draw with a pen, is all about mark making.  Pen work can be used to add mass, to create shapes, to produce texture and enhance the flow of your work.  

Creating interesting marks with your pen confidently is alot like learning to ride your bike.  Learning a few basics before 'going it alone' really helps.  

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Become Friends with Your Pen - The Line 
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Wendy's Drawing with Pen 101 

Start with Confident Line work that sweeps across the page. 

First your materials: 

- .05 or .08 Pigma Permanent Ink Pens.  
(If your book is smaller than 9 x 12, use the smaller pen.   I like black but they do come in other colours.  Steadler pens are a great brand as well and come in these sizes)

- Multi Media Sketchbook: They have smooth paper for drawing on and will take water if you want to add watercolour (I  use the Canson XL 9 x 12) 

- HB pencil, kneaded eraser and vinyl eraser

- 3 favourite watercolours and a brush

That's it!

Make some interesting shapes with your watercolours 

1.  Put a wash on your page: Paint 3 of your favourite colours on your page, making sure to make interesting shapes, keep the colours light, leave white spaces and take some of the colour out to the edges of the pages.  Let it dry completely.  

It is really hard to draw on plain white paper.  It kills your confidence.  Having colour on the page will really help you relax and just draw.  Try it.  

2.  Loosely Draw a Flower Vase: No perfection here.  Take a pencil and lightly draw a vase that is an interesting random shape. Don't worry about symmetry.  Once you have the shape, draw it in one long continuous line with your pen leaving the top open for the flowers that will cover part of it.  

Outline a design on the vase loosely with a pencil and then use your pen to draw it.  Don't trace over the pencil lines just use them as a guide.  Add the details as well - freehand.  

Flower 1: Draw an elongated shape with a center, echoing the shape

3. Draw your Flowers: For this project I will introduce you to 3 different flowers.  Each is to be done freehand with your pen.  The first one will be an odd loose shape and the other two will be circles.  Not perfect circles.  Just loose circles.  

Flower 2: small .5 inch circle with a small circle in the center.

Use a pencil to draw the flower's shape and centers.  For the little flowers (Flower 2)  use your pen to fill in all the details: 3 petals, darken the center and a few directional lines in each petal. For Flower 3 - The Carnation type flower, draw circles of wiggly lines.  The first circle is small, the center and then do several rows around it, to get the size you want.  

Flower 3: Circles of Wiggly Lines 

Draw loose flower circles behind and above your basic 3 flower shapes to fill your vase.  Be sure and have some peeking out from behind, some hanging over the edges and others reaching for the top.  

4.  Take a flower break: Draw lines from the top of your vase to the bottom leaving your design shape in the middle untouched.  Draw the lines freehand, sweeping down the page in a continuous manner.  They do not have to be an exact distance apart.  Let them follow the flow of the vase.  

Add a few embellishments as you fill up your Vase - WIP. 

5.  Add Embellishments: Add some darks using leafy branches, sweeping little lines with little black circles and longer droopy leaves.  I also grounded my vase by putting a lined mat under it.  

6.  Lightly paint your vase and mat: I painted my vase with a light wash of the pink, to make my flowers pop.  I also added a light shadow under the flowers that spilled over the edge of the vase.  I then painted the mat a slightly darker pink.  

Pink Flower Fluff - Sketchbook Activity - Freehand Line Work

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Become Friends with Your Pen - The Line 

Taking Registrations for my Spring/Summer Events: 

•  Join me in the Shuswap for a 4 Day Outdoor Sketching Art Retreat hosted by Joanne Denis, June 20-23, 2025.  I will be the instructor.  This is an all inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland.  $350-$600 depending on the room choices.  www.aventurasbc.ca
  
  
• Come join me for An Adventure - Let's go Outdoor Sketching   2.5 hr $65.  This is small group instruction.  Contact me to set up a date. Location: Lower Mainland
  
  
• Save the Date:  next set of 3 Zoom classes Thursdays, October 9, 16 & 23.   Enhancing Your Drawing & Painting Skills.  New focus for each set of classes

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

Painting Green Bushy Trees and Shrubs - Painting & Drawing Tips

Here on the West Coast, ‘green’ is a year round colour in Nature. 

But painting ‘green’ things is a challenge that can bring any artist to their kneels.

View Off Bold Point Trail, Quadra Island - Matted 14 x 18 $340 

I love the colour green.  But I also, have been humbled when trying to paint my dream. 

I have discovered a few things that really help.  I would love to share them with you.  Maybe you could share a few of your secrets too. 

Wendy’s Secrets to Green Trees & Bushes

(I decided to demo with the shrub as it was smaller and easier to see the steps I follow.  This is an ink and watercolour painting.  You can omit the pen work if you wish. )

 

Note the pattern of the shrubs running along the rocks

1.     Try a find a pattern in the shape - When it came time to painting this shrub that trailed along the rock, I first captured the movement with loose pen strokes.  Notice there are two rows.  The second row of line work was to capture the change in value.

I first painted the water behind the shrub - note the looseness around the pen work.  

2.    Focus on the Colour temperature - As I blocked in the colour of the shrub, I was mindful that the colour green in the sun was more a bright cool yellow, top right side.  So I blocked it in with a cool yellow.  For the remainder of the shrub I painted a more neutral midtone green.  This of course blended at the edges with the yellow.

Blocking in the colour for the shrub

      I danced my brush strokes across the area to get the feel of the bouncy foliage in my strokes. 

3.    Add a darker layer - Looking at the foliage I noted the colour and value changes as it moved right to left - Olive green to blue green.  And also in waves of light green backed with a darker value green for the upright branches and darker closer to the rock.   Again the brush strokes danced like leaves rather that just one big stroke.  Some of the ‘dabs’ of green were on the yellow. 

4.    Dropped in the Very DARK - Using my darkest green, almost dry brushing, I added the greens where they fitted in.  This was really the same areas and in step 3 but not covering as much.  Thus creating another value layer of green.    At the same time I also added a bit of warm yellow under the upright branches and to the patch behind the trees to indicate some branches were slightly shaded. 

   Throughout the process I was working wet on dry with each layer and using short brush strokes to mimic the pattern and movement within the shrub itself.    I have found that creating full bushy trees and shrubs is very much like painting fur.  There is a need for different values, attention to the pattern of the values and attention to the colour temperature.  

Close up of the trees from the painting 

When you look at the trees and other shrubs in the whole painting you can see I followed the same process.  

I know there are other ways to paint trees and get that fullness but I prefer to glaze with my colours and so this is my favourite way to proceed.  I would love to know some of your secrets.  

Taking Registrations for my Spring/Summer Events: 

•  Join me in the Shuswap for a 4 Day Outdoor Sketching Art Retreat hosted by Joanne Denis, June 20-23, 2025.  I will be the instructor.  This is an all inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland.  $350-$600 depending on the room choices.  www.aventurasbc.ca
  
  
• Come Outdoor Sketching with me in local parks.  2.5 hr $65.  This is small group instruction, max 3.  Dates to be determined as weather warms up, contact me to get onto my call list.
  
  
• Save the Date:  next set of 3 Zoom classes Thursdays, October 9, 16 & 23.   Enhancing Your Drawing & Painting Skills.  New focus for each set of classes

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

Making Reflective Light Your Friend - Wendy's Painting & Drawing Tips

LIGHT and SHADOWS. 
They have been my constant friends this last few weeks.  I have just finished 2 sets of Online classes focusing on these two friends.  

Seagull on the Post - 5 x 7 - $75 (no mat) 

I know, we all understand light and shadows.  We see them everywhere.  However, the more I studied and talked about them, I realized the less I knew. 

How can that be, you ask.  I have been painting and drawing for over 25 years now, surely I would know all about them.  

Well, if you follow my blog, you will seen my blog on Make Magic with Ambient Light.  As I worked with students digging deeper into this type of lighting, I realized it had much greater implications.  

In order to move forward, you needed to really understand the function of Reflective Light.  

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Make Reflective Light Work for You.  
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Seagull on the Post

This resulted in an paint exercise with this little Seagull. He is a happy little guy perched on some pylons at a dock.  He was most obliging to hold still while I got some clear shots of him basking in the sun.  My exercise for the class was to change the background colour around him.  

No more BLUE.  

This proved to be a big change.  In order to change the 'blue' to another colour each part of the painting had to then reflect the new colour.  I choose pink/yellow for my background.  

Suddenly everything I knew about Reflective Light went out the window!

As I painted each area I needed to evaluate what light was hitting it and what colour that light was.  No more blindly following along where my photo took me.  This by the way is where you find out how little your photographs really tells you.  

Can I really put PINK on a WHITE seagull??

What colour is that shadow if it no longer reflects the blue from the sky?
What colours are the really dark spots?  A cool black just doesn't cut it.   

What colour should the metal caps be?  Should they really be pink? 

Does this mean my seagull is no longer gray and white??  

Reflective Light bounces everywhere!!

Suddenly the colour of everything was in question.  That simple little picture became very hard.  In the end I was really pleased with this exercise.  My students really felt challenged, they were excited with their results, and inspired to do more.  As their teacher I was thrilled. 
Take the Challenge, change up your "sky colour" and see where it takes you.  

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Make Reflective Light Work for You.

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Taking Registrations for my Spring/Summer Events: 

• ·         Join me in the Shuswap for a 4 Day Art Retreat hosted by Joanne Denis, June 20-23, 2025.  I will be the instructor for Outdoor Sketching.  This is an all inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland.  $350-$600 depending on the room choices.  www.aventurasbc.ca
  
  
• ·         Come Outdoor Sketching with me in local parks.  2.5 hr $65.  This is small group instruction, max 3.  Dates to be determined as weather warms up, contact me to get onto my call list. 
  
  
• ·         Save the Date:  next set of 3 Zoom classes Thursdays, October 9, 16 & 23.   Enhancing Your Drawing & Painting Skills.  

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

Bringing Light into Your Painting - Painting & Drawing Tips

Grab the Light and Make it Shine!!

I think that is what every artist wants at some point in their work.

Late Walk on the Trail - watercolour Matted 11 x 14 $225

  I just finished teaching a series of 4 classes focusing on Shadows and Depth.  I found I became a little abscessed with the topic.  I began to analyze every painting and photograph I saw.  It was interesting to see the different techniques artists used. Reflective light and Ambient Light were the most interesting.  My class will attest,  I really pushed the limits with Ambient Light.  (See last post "Make Magic with Ambient Light")  

Getting a feel for the painting and setting up the darks in the midground. 

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Last Chance to Join the Class: 
In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost:  Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

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To create depth in your work means shadows and light will play a big part.  For the final project we worked on a reference photo I took last fall when visiting Campbell River.  My sister and I were walking along the trail that winds along the side of the Campbell River. There are several little side streams that have branched out from the river and run parallel to it.  This little scene was from one of those streams.  

In the fall the salmon run along this area and there is lots of activity. Salmon, bears, eagles, and people are everywhere.  Now things are quiet.  The dead salmon are gone, and life is back to normal.  These two seagulls were resting quietly, probably remembering the heady days when salmon were laying everywhere.  

It was late, I caught the sun peaking through the trees on this magically little place.  I loved it.

It was tricky.  

My first thought was, get some colours in the background but keep them light.  The background was the lightest part of the picture.  

Balancing the colour on both sides and adding more detail to the mid ground

Next, get some darks happening.  

In order for light to shine it needs some darks to set it off.  In my picture, the darks were in the midground.  They were the trees and branches.  There was also a few shapes on the ground that were silhouetted by the light. 

Setting up the Water and Seagulls

I didn't want to lose the light so I focused next on the two sides.  They were both the same but different.  The right side was in full shade.  There was a little reflected light allowing for some colour but dark tones.  

The left side was quite different. Here it was shaded but with lots more reflective light. The greens ran to more of a blue-green.  And the values a bit lighter then on the right side. 

Once I had the sides settled I could see it was time to do the water.  The colours needed to be mid-values to light to keep the attention to the front of the painting and offer a balance to the light of the branches in the sunlight. I tried to include the colours in the midground to keep unity in the painting. 

 

Really pulling in all together now - checking patterns, shapes and values

Now it was time to pull it together.  I focuses on the shapes and patterns I could see.  There was no way I could put details in the light.  The perspective did not allow for that.  I used light and dark cold yellows but also used my Cobalt Teal Blue mixed with the yellow to give me some great cool greens.  Also,  I made sure I dropped a bit on the midground and on the water.  Changing the value and hue slightly to reflect its location in the picture. 

It was time for the branches.  I left them til last.  It is almost painting with negative space to put them in.  Once I dropped them onto the leaves I went back and grounded them with some darks. Then it was time to add a few highlights on the water and seagulls, even a bit of foliage in the mid-ground.  

Finally I stepped away.  "Late Walk on the Trail" was done.  

Last Chance to Join the Class: 

Join the Conversation in my February set of Online Classes - We will take a Deep Dive into how Depth in your Paintings is created at every step of the process - From Composition to Completion. 

 Looking Forward to Seeing you there  ↓↓↓↓↓↓

In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost: Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

Make MAGIC with Ambient Light - Painting & Drawing Tips

Ambient Light is the Sunset Light - It casts lovely soft oranges and yellow over everything it touches.  It certainly does feel like Magic.  

Heron in the Sunset - Vanish Watercolour $850

But for Artists, Ambient Light offers more . . .

Using Ambient light you can create your own scene. You can set the mood.  You can create a scene full of  drama and intrigue, or one of peace and tranquility. 

Let me explain.  . . .

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Special Note: 
1. There is further discussion and examples on my YouTube video: Make MAGIC with Ambient Light 

2. Join me for In-Person Online Drawing Classes:

 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursday, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost: Early Bird $75 after Feb 4 $90

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Think of Ambient light as reflective light. Like reflective it brings colour with it.  The difference is the colour from reflective light affects a small portion of whatever it strikes.  Ambient light is more pervasive, sending colour to everything.  This sunset colour changes with the weather and time of day.  Stormy dark nights have dark cold, blues and blacks while sunsets in summer are full of warm golden yellow or red hues. My heron, above, has the lovely glow of a summer sunset. 

You might think I was fortunate to get such a great shot of the heron at sunset.  

But I didn't!!

It was a warm sunny day when I kayaked near this fellow and go a great photo

↑↑↑This is my reference for my painting.  

Instead of using the blues of the sky and water I chose a different colour.  I wanted to catch the evening oranges tinged with reds and yellows.  

Setting the Stage

The first thing I did was paint the sky.  I also used a molding medium to create bumps for my barnacles.  This allowed me to have bits of colour on the rocks and made great contrast with the smoother areas of the rocks.

  

The underpainting on the Heron

When it came time to painting the heron I decided to use an underpainting as a way to extend the ambient light to his body.  As I applied it I was thinking of the lights and darks on his body and where the ambient would be seen.  

WIP - working on the feather pattern 

When I painted the feather pattern the light areas had the pinks of the ambient light showing while the darker areas did not.  The mottled layer of the underpainting on the heron, ensures that the reflective light/colour off the rocks and the sky above are also picked up on his body.  

Makes for a very interesting picture, eh?!   

Learning to work with the properties of Reflective Light and Ambient Light teaches you many different ways to push and pull your values and colours in the creation process.  

There is further discussion and examples on my YouTube video: Make MAGIC with Ambient Light

Join the Conversation in my February set of Online Classes - We will take a Deep Dive into how Depth in your Paintings is created at every step of the process - From Composition to Completion. 

 Looking Forward to Seeing you there  ↓↓↓↓↓↓

In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost: Early Bird $75 after Feb 4 $90

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy