Hello,

New SALE in my SHOP from Aug 31 - Sept 7th midnight. Save 20% with code FIRSTSALE.

So thank you for visiting, and hope you enjoy the many art tips in my BLOG, and paintings in my SHOP and just feel blessed while you hang around awhile.

Joanie

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High Key, Low Key, Neutrals.....playing with values and palettes

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Hello Artsy Folks I visited San Francisco Legion of Honor this week to visit the inspiring (Edouard) Manet and (Berthe)  Morisot exhibit. What amazed me observing a few glorious rooms full of their work, it was so evident that these two artists painted their works with very contrasting approaches to value.  Whether intentional or not I haven't a clue.  Manet used the full value scale masterfully, so many deep darks to express his subject material. Whereas Morisot, to my amazement worked from mid to high value tones. Just stunning. Her work felt so feminine, soft, energetic, immediate.....her strokes confident and seemingly quickly done. Her work was fresh, and underdone vis a vis Manet's which, still absolutely masterful, but truly more masculine, with distinct lines between subject and background, values doing much of the work, and much less abstraction overall. My impressions was that he worked perhaps more thoughtfully, deliberately compared to Morisot's energetic fre...
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Let's start 2026 with Color Studies!

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Apologies for the emailed version of this full of typos. I was doing 5 things at same time under deadline and oops, no time to edit! Hello folks, and welcome to a New Year. May this one be full of blessings and joy even when we don't necessarily see it ahead. It's there, waiting to be discovered. Kind of like Art, right?  We come to our practice, a blank canvas or sheet of paper....we don't know in advance what will happen in the process....but we proceed with a smidge of hope, and trust, and ..... there we have it. A new creation.   Every creation deserves to be celebrated....and not judged. Our smallest or grandest of efforts don't rule the outcome...sometimes it's that delicious serendipity that arises. That's what has me so plugged in to art. It's the surprise, the journey, the discovery. How about you?  Ready for another year of discovery? Starting next week (Mon Jan 5 and Wed Jan 7) our new year begins, that's two Zoom morning classes, 10am to n...
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Happy Holy Days

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May Love and Peace abound.  Ready to join us? There's plenty of creativity, inspiration and fun to go around. →  MORE INFO on my classes here . If you wish to join us for a month or more of classes, GET IN TOUCH and see if you don't get inspired, too! 🎨 Blessings, Joanie
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NOV - DEC Theme

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Final Six Weeks of the Year As for NOV and DEC - we will do our annual let's FINISH paintings!  Doesnt sound too exciting?  Well, imagine this....you could be 10 minutes away from a beautiful finished painting. Bring all those paintings that have stumped you....and lets look at them deeply, and figure out what needs doing to get them to just right! Signed, titled, varnished and ready to hang.  Now that is exciting, right? Give your paintings as gifts this holiday, or just hang them all around you and marvel at what you have created.   As well, we will be making holiday cards out of some of our paintings or painting a new one - so whether you send snail mail holiday cards, or like me, am entirely converted to digital everything....your art can still shine and bless your loved ones. For those wanting to jump in and join us, worry not....you can start a new painting, make it a holiday theme or not, and just join the camaraderie, encouragement, instruction an...
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Chosen Women Artists - the inspiration continues...

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Hello Creative Souls, This past month has flown by, as they all do, but this was especially exciting as we dove into our chosen women painters and painted like them, remained open to what moved us about their painting technique, style and subjects, and are ready in October to create our own compositions....and anything we learned from and wanted to carry forward in our own work. I chose Pan Yuliang and Suzanne Valadon. Pan Yuliang, especially......I just finished a well researched biographical novel about this amazingly talented artist from China. What a life!  Check out The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein. Loved this book! Love this artist who bridged Eastern and Western painting styles. The objective for painting our painter's paintings (that's a mouthful) was not to become masterful counterfeiters!  But to experience what it is like to paint someone elses decisions...their colors, their shapes, their compositions. And listen quietly to hear their voice....
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Furry Friends Workshop Saturday Nov 1 at Riley Street

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Wow, it's truly been years since I have taught a stand-alone workshop at Riley and I'm really happy to announce that I've got one on the books. 
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SEPT-OCT Study a Master - Woman Painter

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It's been awhile since we studied a master painter. And this time around, each artist will choose a woman painter (no longer living) who inspires us. Don't be shy about picking a painter you have never heard of. By choosing a woman painter we will not default to our usual heroes such as Matisse, Van Gogh nor Monet! Here is my folder of research, there are two files in here, greatly assisted by no other than Chatgpt.  There are two documents in this folder, one is 18th thru 20th C Women Painters by Timeline. The other arranged by Art Movement.  These documents are representative though not e xhaustive. So I encourage each of you to research the list, as well as find your own inspiration. Julia Daydreaming by Berthe Morisot
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August Art and Abstracted Landscapes showcase

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Hi folks I visited my daughter in Seattle last week and was so busy visiting the Seattle Art Museum and the Seattle Asian Museum, swoon, as well as other homey and outside adventures, to even post about August classes. Oops. We will continue with demo and instruction shared last month with animal portraits but this time choose your own subject. Masking and abstracted grounds work for any subject. Or keep on with animal portraits. I, for one, never tire of painting my furry friends. ❤️ Classes start up this week Monday Aug 4 and Wed Aug 6. In-person class full but have seats in Zoom 10am to noon M, W.  ........ Here are just a few of the beautiful paintings some of my students created in May June session. Carol P Carol P Julie J Jayne B Jayne B Deborah J Deborah J Judy O Ready to join us? There's plenty of creativity, inspiration and fun to go around. →  MORE INFO on my classes here . If you wish to join us for a month or more of classes, GET IN TOUCH ...
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A Cat Lady Paints Dogs - 4th and final post!

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When I first picked up the Dog Book that my friend gifted me, I thought hmmmmm....i might sketch a few dogs. Little did I know that after sketching a few random photos in the book, that I would end up drawing/painting almost every single page of the book!!! But I did. Once I started I just couldn't stop. I LOVE me a Focus! And I love to play with shapes, and use my imagination and not stick to accuracy as the goal. It's so much fun for me to just draw and sketch and paint My Way. I wish the same for you.  That's it folks.  Onwards..... Ready to join us? There's plenty of creativity, inspiration and fun to go around. →  MORE INFO on my classes here . If you wish to join us for a month or more of classes, GET IN TOUCH and see if you don't get inspired, too! 🎨 Blessings, Joanie
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A Cat Lady Paints Dogs - Sketchbook 3 of 4

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Hello Fellow Creatives, Looks like I will need one more blog post after this to show all the pics. Here's 3 of 4. Hope you are enjoying my doggos! In SUMMARY - what I have learned and where has this inspiration led me.... I am most definitely learning about and teaching myself more design ideas for my sketchbooks. I used to just draw something on each page, and then turn the page. No order, no theme, which or course is not essential since a journal should be what you want it to be. But for many years I would paint a dog one day, a cup of coffee the next, some random art supplies on my desk the next...and I would lose inspiration. And as a result I had many an unfinished sketchbook. I also experimented with making my own sketchbooks which is way fun, and i highly recommend you try at least once to bind your own sketchbook with coptic stitch. But honestly i am happy when I can pick out my paper, take it to FedEx and have them attach a spiral binding to it and voila. ...instant sketch...
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