The most powerful visual tool artists have is light. Don Andrews, artist and author, explains and demonstrates a few of the ways he incorporates light into his paintings in this not-to-be-missed demo featuring American Journey watercolors.  Any artist looking to make his paintings more vibrant and eye catching will benefit.

Are you afraid of painting figures in your landscapes? Join renowned watercolorist, Don Andrews and lose that fear today!  Don will paint with American Journey watercolors and will explain the common mistakes all artists make. If you would like to take your landscapes up another notch and learn techniques from one of today’s most popular instructors, then this demo is not to be missed!

Fresh Paint: The New Acrylic Mixed Media
with Phil Garrett
Sponsored by Golden

Join Phil Garrett, and explore a multitude of new surfaces for painting and collage created with Golden’s Glass Bead Gel, Translucent Molding Pastes, Fiber Paste (paper in a jar), Crackle Paste, and more... Learn Phil’s tricks for mixed media application and layering, including using unique metallic paints, stencils and more. He will also introduce the new digital grounds that allow transferring of your digital images onto a multitude of flat surfaces (non-porous papers, acetate, acrylic skins and even aluminum foil). Finally, Phil will answer questions about some of the technical challenges of working with inkjet printers and explore ideas for incorporating these images in paintings and works on paper.

Exploring Unison Pastels
with Virginia Dauth
Sponsored by Jack Richeson

Join acclaimed pastel artist, Virginia Dauth, and learn why she loves pastels.  She will offer tips and insight while demonstrating a landscape using Unison Pastels on the new Jack Richeson Unison Pastel surfaces. Virginia creates her vibrant landscapes from the classical sense to the modern and sometimes stylistically in between, and she defines her style as expressive colorism, with the use of bold stroke and the pushing of intense color.  If you are interested in working with pastels or just learning more, this demo is just what you need!

Using Acrylics Like Oils
with Phil Garrett
Sponsored by Golden

Join artist, Phil Garrett, and learn how to prepare supports (canvas, linen, wood panel etc.) to get the most from acrylic painting. Phil will use Golden heavy body and fluid acrylics and offer tips on which pigments provide clean color mixing and a basic palette for using acrylics with traditional oil painting techniques.  Furthermore, participants will learn which gels and mediums to add for altering consistency.  Phil will underpaint, overpaint, blend and glaze and in the last part of the lecture discuss how varnishing the completed painting can contribute to an oil paint-like look. This demo is packed with valuable information for any artist looking to make their acrylics more oil-like.

Are your paintings lacking that something special?  Maybe you need to add wake up your paintings with iridescent colors.  Join Mary Bean, artist and instructor, and learn to use American Journey Iridescent watercolors to add special effects.  In this demo, Mary will focus on adding vibrant fall leaves to a nearly complete painting.  The beautiful iridescent colors bring the painting to life and capture the imagination of the viewer.  This demo is not to be missed!

Goof Proof Greeting Cards – Summer Florals
with Catherine “Bonnie” Jones
Sponsored by Cheap Joe's Art Stuff

Join Bonnie Jones as she brings greeting cards to life using Cheap Joe’s own American Journey watercolors and Goof-Proof greeting cards.  She will focus on summer cards full of bright and colorful flowers.  Perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and much more.  Once you see how easy it is to create beautiful and personalized cards, you’ll never purchase greeting cards again.

Creating Special Effects with American Journey Iridescents – Flowers
with Mary Bean
Sponsored by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff

Flowers should be bright, beautiful and appear ready to be plucked to make bouquet.  But, if you are painting flowers only using traditional watercolors, they may appear a bit flat.  You need to add special effects with iridescent watercolors! Join Mary Bean, artist and instructor, and learn to use American Journey Iridescent watercolors to paint flowers so realistic that you can smell their scent on the breeze.  In this demo, Mary will focus on adding vibrant flowers to a nearly complete painting.  The beautiful iridescent colors bring the painting to life and capture the imagination of the viewer.  This demo is not to be missed!

Creating Watercolor Mini Gift Bags
with Catherine “Bonnie” Jones
Sponsored by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff

Who knew it could be so easy to make your very own personalized gift bags?  Artist, Bonnie Jones, shares her many years of expertise as she teaches participants how to paint a gift bag with watercolor paper.  Bonnie will share the secrets to making mini gift bags in this demo, first painting the beautiful flowers and then transforming the painting into a gift bag to give to someone special or keep for yourself.  This demo is not only very useful, but also great fun!

Do you have a passion for peonies?  Acclaimed colored pencil artist and author, Kristy Kutch, has fond memories of her grandmother’s garden full of beautiful peonies and loves to create vibrant peony paintings on Aquabord (formerly called “Claybord Textured”) from Ampersand, because it is a wonderful surface: forgiving, sturdy, scrubbable and ideal for creating textures. Furthermore, water-soluble colored pencils are the ideal medium for beautiful color, and Cretacolor (from Savoir Faire) offers a gorgeous range of 72 colors, available as both unique Aquamonolith woodless watercolor pencils and Marino watercolor pencils.  Learn Kristy’s secrets for breath-taking peonies using materials perfect for the artist who loves to draw but also appreciates the beauty of watercolor.  Be amazed as the very rough-looking, granular colored pencil layers blossom into beautiful washes with just a few strokes of a damp brush. This is truly a fascinating, painterly process, which yields stunning, vibrant results!

Exploring Shiva Paintsticks – From Fine Art to Fabric
with Mike Richeson
Sponsored by Jack Richeson

Shiva Painsticks are pure, solid sticks of oil color, which can create amazing paintings using all of the same techniques as traditional oil paints, but without a brush, or they can be used on fabric with stunning results.  Join Mike Richeson and learn more about this fun and easy-to-use product.  Mike explains the versatility of Painsticks and why they are a favorite with so many artists in this informative demo.   Watch as Mike applies Paintsticks to traditional painting surfaces and to fabric.  This demo is perfect for the oil artist or any artist wanting to learn more about Shiva Paintsticks!

Who doesn’t love red, juicy cherries?  Join artist, instructor and author, Anne Abgott, and learn to paint luscious cherries using Sennelier transparent watercolors on Fabriano paper. And, she will also explain how to use Cretacolor Aqua Bricks for the background.  Watch and learn as Anne shares her tricks for painting fruit so plump, it will leave your mouth watering. 

Interactive Acrylics – Tips & Techniques
with Jennifer Von Stein
Sponsored by Chroma

Jennifer Von Stein, resident artist for Chroma, takes the mystery out of Interactive Acrylics.  In this demo, she will explain how to reopen the paint layer with water to add paint, remove paint or feather edges. Jennifer also shares her secrets for using Binder Medium, Slow Medium, Fast Medium and Unlocking Formula.  Furthermore, learn when and how to use these mediums to their best advantage and take control of the painting process.  This demo is ideal for any artist wanting to learn more about Chroma’s exciting and fun Interactive Acrylics!

Stimulate your creativity by mixing light-fast drawing ink, watercolor and colored pencils in this exciting demo with artist, Tara Belk, as she creates with Pitt Pens and Polychromos Pencils (by Faber Castell).  Tara explains how to combine the best qualities of several mediums to make your artwork more vivid and colorful.  Learn to create loose flowing compositions with selectively detailed accents that enhance your artistic style and make your work stand out.  These techniques are also ideal for book illustrations, greeting cards and “sparking up” a drab watercolor or just having fun in your sketchbook.  This demo is guaranteed to make your work more expressive and be lots of fun!

10:00am – 11:00am
12:00pm – 1:00pm
2:00pm – 3:00pm

Do you think it’s too difficult to mat your artwork at home? Here’s your chance to learn how to properly measure and calculate border sizes for artwork. Plus, learn proper mounting techniques to protect your art for long term display.  Join Brian Buell, Director of Sales from Logan Graphic Products, Inc., as he takes the mystery out of cutting your own mats at home. All supplies are provided including a selection of 8x10 artwork prints for you to pick out, mat and mount that you take with you after the class!  He will provide Logan mat cutters to each student to practice the basic techniques.  Learn to cut single and double mats, and learn how to get the best performance from your mat cutter.  Brian will offer various layout and design advice, as well as, providing information on where to locate the materials you need to make your own mats and frames. Learn just how easy it is to mat your own art pieces, save money and have fun doing it. All class fees are donated to Cheap Joe’s Brushes for Vincent Program, which provides art supplies to children in need.