Dear PaintPal Club Member,

We want to remind you that the January episode of PaintPal Club will be the last one that you will be able to get from the PaintPal Club site.

As of February 1, 2012, you can go to http://www.artistsnetwork.tv to get any PaintPal Club episode you like (Please note:  the PaintPal Club library will open with six episodes. A new episode will be added each week until all of the episodes are available to you). 

So many of our members and prospective members have asked if they could purchase one episode at a time as that would fit into their schedule better and they would not need to pay the entire year’s subscription price. Now you can do just that!

Here is how it will work:

(Please NOTE: If your subscription runs past January of 2012, you will be receiving a refund to your PayPal account for any unused portion of your subscription)

1. On your internet server, log onto: http://www.artistsnetwork.tv

2. You can find Paint Pal Club Episodes by using the blue navigation bar at the top of the page.

Under Medium: Paint Pal Club: Watercolor with Jan Fabian Wallake

Under Workshops by Artist: Jan Fabian Wallake

Under Buy Workshops: Subscribe to Paint Pal Club: Watercolor with Jan Fabian Wallake

3. Once you find an episode you like you can subscribe to it for 6-months by clicking the BUY NOW button.

If you wish to subscribe to the entire library of Paint Pal Club episodes for 6-months, go to Subscribe to Paint Pal Club: Watercolor with Jan Fabian Wallake under the Buy Workshops tab on the blue navigation bar and click on the BUY NOW link.

4. You will be asked to give your payment information. Just follow the prompts.

Remember, it costs nothing to browse our PaintPal Club library. Each episode has a listing of what will be taught so that you can choose what you want to learn.

PAINTPAL CLUB IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST WAY TO LEARN TO PAINT WITH WATERCOLORS!

I took a walk through the woods yesterday. The sun was splashing through the new spring leaves onto the forest floor. Everything was clean and fresh. It occurred to me that this is how I like to paint with watercolors: clean, fresh, and light-filled.

I am in Arizona and the colors are spectacular! I am seeing buds on the cacti. Soon their beautiful desert flowers will bloom. I especially love the Prickly Pear that glows with aqua and purple tones. The book I read on desert plants said that Prickly Pears are “dangerous and delightful”.

I just returned from a week in LA. We met with PaintPal Club advisors and our technical experts. The ideas were really flowing! We have exciting plans and added benefits for our Members. One idea is to have a whole list of short “Tutorials”. As a PaintPal Club Member, you will be able to go to the list and pick a topic to view a short “How-to” on anything from how to paint “negatively” to how to create a beautiful lacy pattern and so many more!

I had a lovely day today. My very good friend, Patti, just had a birthday…her 94th! I took a cake, candles, forks, and coffee over to her place to celebrate. I also took some watercolor paints, a few brushes, and some small watercolor papers. We sat together, had cake and coffee, talked and painted at the kitchen table. She has painted for years but lately has lost touch with her art so I thought spending a few hours painting would be a happy afternoon for her..and it was…for both of us!

Jan’s Madeline Island Workshop:

Looking for a great summer Get-Away? Why not combine your love of watercolor painting with a week on beautiful Madeline Island in Lake Superior. The Madeline Island School of the Arts will offer a Watercolor Painting Workshop with Jan Fabian Wallake, internationally-known artist, painting instructor, author of “Watercolor: Pour It On”, and head of PaintPal Club).

This fun workshop will be held August 1-5, 2011.

Class description:

Jan Fabian Wallake TWSA, RRWS, NPWS, MnWS

WATERCOLOR: Pour It On Course Description

Loosen up your watercolor paintings! This class will show you how to enjoy the freedom of loose, flowing glazes of color that will add a brilliant glow to your paintings, how to create successful designs, how to apply luminous color washes and avoid dull colors, how to “rescue” a painting, how to integrate background with subject, how to develop artistically strong design compositions, and how to create dramatic, award-winning paintings. Jan applies glazes in a unique process that results in glowing colors with incredible transparency. You can apply this technique to your own artistic style, whether it is realistic, surrealistic, abstract or anything in between. You may even start on a new creative path. The class is based on Jan’s book, “Watercolor: Pour It On”. Daily demonstrations, group and individual work, and a lot of one-on-one attention are the basis for this exciting workshop. Jan makes watercolor painting fun and is enthusiastic about her unique “pouring” process so all levels of painters expand their creativity.

To Inquire:

http://www.MadelineArtSchool.com/

Lots of landscapes have a strong horizontal emphasis. That is natural. However, that may not make the best or most captivating composition. You can counter the power of those horizontal lines by breaking them up. For example, you might start painting a distant horizontal shore line on a lake scene then soften or “lose” the line. Maybe you will pick the horizontal line up again as you continue painting the shore line.

You might add a “vertical” element such as trees to counter the horizontal thrust. It does not matter that trees may not in the actual scene you are painting from. You are an artist and can create a design that intrigues your viewers.

Here is a great idea for organizing your tubes of watercolor paint. Any local hardware store will have plastic small-parts storage units that are made up of many small drawers. Sizes may vary, but I like the larger ones. You can sort all of your tubes of blues into one or more drawers. You can also sort by “temperature” of each color, i.e. all “cool” yellows in one drawer and all “warm” yellows in another drawer. Label each drawer with names and color swatches. Be sure to keep the unit in a cool, dry place.

The naming of watercolor paints is often like a foreign language i.e.”Alizain”, “Aureolin”, “Quinacradone”, “Perylene”, etc.

Thank goodness the manufacturers add a color bar to each tube of paint so that we can get an idea of what we are buying. One of the most helpful things I have done is to make a small color swatch of each color I add to my paint box. Here is how to make one   of your own colors:

Separate all of your tubes of paint into groups of “Reds”, “Blues”, “Yellows”, Browns”, etc. Next, take a strip of good-quality watercolor paper and mark out sections for each of the color families you have grouped.
With a small, flat brush, paint a tiny sample on the paper under the appropriate color group. Use a pencil to mark each color with its name as it appears on its tube. When ever you buy a new color, take a minute to add that color to your chart.

This is a great way judge whether a color is “cool” or “warm” in temperature. That is important information when you choose colors to “mix”. For example, a cool greenish yellow mixed with a warm orange/red will mix to a dull grey-orange. That is good if that is the tone you want but if you want clear, bright orange, you will want to mix a warm yellow with a warm red. Use your color chart to make these decisions.

If you are painting thin lines such as telephone lines, wire fencing, or even signing your art, you could use a “rigger” or “stripper” brush, but I have found a tool that works better. It is an ordinary “Dip” pen; the kind you would use for calligraphy. I like the C-4 nib for most lines, but any ‘capped” nib (that is, one that has an additional nib or cover plate layered over the base nib) will work. Choose the one that fits the type of line you want.

Mix your pigment and water to a “milky” consistency and, with a #6 round brush, scrap the color between the nib and its cover plate. Tap the nib a few times on a separate paper to make sure the color runs out properly. Then, draw beautiful, clean lines.