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Have you had fun at a painting party? Want to further your skills? Join a weekly art class. Learn to draw, paint, and create.

Monday, December 7, 2020

Art Classes, Roswell, GA.

 "Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness.  It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind.  As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life." - John Lubbock


Time to re-post some pics of my wonderful students.  I miss all of you so much!  I hope you're staying motivated and inspired.  I look forward to the day that we're together again!

To find information about art classes, or to see more of my students work,  CLICK HERE.

To sign up to receive this blog, please put your email address in the box on the right. Thanks! - Jill Saur



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Monday, November 30, 2020

Values In Painting

 VALUES IN PAINTING by Jill Saur

 

I hope all of my students are doing well during this pandemic.  Please don't let the light of your artistic gift be dimmed during this time.  Hang in there.  I've heard from some of you that you're not painting.  I went through my own period where I put my brush down.  However, hope won out and I've been painting up a storm.

Here's a reminder about values in your painting.  Let me know what your up to and send me some pics of your work!  My Best, Jill

The paintings below are by Winslow Homer. The first painting is the original.  The second painting is the same one.  I removed the color from the second image to see the tonal values.


Lightness or tonal value is the light or dark of a color, regardless of its hue. Creating a black and white painting is very helpful to train your eye to perceive value.


Sometimes it’s easier to classify values into three groups: lightsdarks, and mid-range.  Roughly, values from one through three are the lightest values.  Values from four through seven are the mid values, and values from eight through ten are the darkest values.  A general guide is that mid-tones should occupy 70% of your painting, the lightest lights 20%, and the darkest darks should occupy 10% of your work.

If I'm going to paint from a photo that I take, the first thing I do is put it in a photo program and I turn it into a black and white image.  When I do this, I know immediately if the image has a good range to make the composition interesting as well as intriguing.




















A number of my students have been working on value drawings and paintings.  I hope this tip helps you see the importance of training your eye to see and use value changes in your artwork.

www.JillSaurFineArt.com

Monday, November 16, 2020

Van Gogh Digitized Works

 

Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890


Here's a treat for all you Van Gogh lovers.  The Van Gogh Museum has archived and digitized all of Van Gogh's drawings and paintings for you to enjoy from you own home.  Since the pandemic, visitors have not been able to see his works in person.

Check out the link below.  It's awesome.

I miss all of my students and hope you're doing well during this time.  Stay safe and healthy and I look forward to seeing you in the future! - Jill Saur


https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection?q=&artist=Vincent%20van%20Gogh&pagesize=105

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Be Astonished




Martin Glaser, a legendary New York graphic designer, famous for creating the ‘I Love New York’ logo, recently spoke about something that’s dear to my heart.  Martin said, “If you can sustain your interest in what you’re doing, you’re an extremely fortunate person.  What you see very frequently in people’s professional lives, and perhaps in their emotional life as well, is that they lose interest in the third act.  You sort of get tired, and indifferent, and sometimes, defensive and you kind of lose your capacity for astonishment, and that’s a great loss, because the world is a very astonishing place.”

Most Americans lead very busy lives and almost everyone is overwhelmed or distracted by  the covid virus.  It takes effort to re-charge and refresh the creative side but it's vitally important.

I’m in the third act of my life and  I still find wonder in observing nature, seeing the cloud formations before a storm, and getting up early to watch the sunrise over the misty waters of the Chattahoochee River. 

I agree with Martin Glaser, the world is a very astonishing place and I hope you're able to take the necessary time to be utterly astonished too! - Jill Saur

If you'd like to take art classes with me, please visit my website for details.  Thanks!

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Art Classes - Roswell, Ga.

 "Creativity takes courage." - Henri Matisse

I sure miss my students and being able to teach in the studio.  Here's a look back at some of the beautiful works by my students past and present.  I love seeing the diversity.

Creativity does take courage doesn't it?  Putting yourself out there for all to see, expressing your feelings, your emotions, while all the way learning how to do it with a brush, a pencil, paint, and maybe even charcoal.  The rewards, however, are endless! 

To inquire about art classes, please see my schedule on this blog.  I have a contact form on my website where you'll find more information about me, classes, and my artwork:  CLICK HERE

To sign up for this art class blog, please put your email information in the box on the right.

Thanks for viewing! - Jill Saur













This blog lives at:  www.DailyArtClass.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Art Classes Roswell, GA.

"Revelation" 


I've been silent on my blog for some time now.  These have been difficult and complicated times.  Due to the Pandemic and being unable to socially distance my students from one another,  I've had to discontinue my classes.  Since the beginning of March, my studio has been quiet.  I miss the friendships that I've developed with my students, the bustling of creativity welling up inside of their creative minds, and most of all, their smiling faces.
Isolation is a common thing for many artists, but I'm one of those artists who enjoys a mix of solitude and social interaction.  I love my quiet time when I can reflect upon nature, God, and life itself.  That's the time that helps me be a better artist and teacher.  Not being able to share that side of my life with my students leaves me feeling a bit somber.
I challenged myself this morning to choose one of my paintings that represents how I feel.  It didn't take long.  I knew the instant I pulled this one up that it speaks to everything I feel.  This 36"x48" oil painting, "Revelation", is a very complicated piece.  Capturing all the nuances of this dramatic sunset on Lake Lanier was challenging at best.  The stillness of the water speaks to the isolation I feel in my studio.  The symphonic and dramatic sky represents everything going on around me in this unprecedented time.  However, even more than that, the sky represents God's overpowering beauty and reminder that He is the one in control and will one day return to make everything on this planet right again.
It's funny.  Before I sold this painting to a precious client, it hung in my art gallery.  Several times a week, a lady came into the gallery during her lunch break just to visit with this painting.  She would tell me it would inspire her and bring her comfort.  She used to say, "You know, this painting reminds me of The Second Coming".  It was because of her that I changed the name of this painting to, "Revelation".  Hmmm, I think I'm feeling better now. - Jill Saur

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, GA.

"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness." - Gilda Radner

Do you remember Gilda Radner?  I loved her comedic genius and laugh!  What a great quote from her to take with us in our artistic journeys during these days of sheltering in place!

I'm sharing a post from several years ago that I thought would lift your spirits.

Please enjoy these works by my awesome students!  I'm always taken back at the site of all their beautiful work.  To see more of my students work, or to inquire about taking art classes with me, please visit my website.  CLICK HERE














THIS BLOG CAN BE VIEWED AT www.DailyArtClass.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, Ga.

© 2006 Jill Saur fine Art "Little Boy Blue"  all rights reserved

This is a watercolor that I painted when I was on location in Hawaii fourteen years ago.  This was a quick gesture drawing of a little boy that I rendered by the pool. I painted a watercolor wash over the ink.  These types of paintings are quick, fun and very doable when you're on vacation or sheltering in place at home during a pandemic!  

If you don't have watercolor paint, you can order a few tubes online and you can use a plastic plate if you don't have a watercolor palette.  You can also do quick studies on your drawing pad and use colored pencils or minimal acrylic paint to suggest some color.  

You can gesture family members while they're watching television.  I used to do that with my daughter when she was growing up.  Enjoy.  Send me pics of what you do if you venture into this. 

Missing all my students! - Jill

www.JillSaurFineArt.com

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, GA.

Andrew Wyeth – American Master Artist  (1917-2009)

He was the quintessential example of a true American artistic genius. He was, Andrew Wyeth, my favorite American Artist. 

When Andrew Wyeth died in 2009, he left behind a body of work that depicts a simpler, yet somewhat complicated time in American History.  He wove together his love for the African American community over the hill from his home, and the farming community just outside his doorstep.

After reading no less than four books on this mans life, I discovered Andrew’s disciplined artistic journey began as a young boy and his respect for the human spirit never wavered.

He is the only artist I’ve ever known who was given unequivocal license to enter the homes of those he knew.  At any time of the day or night, he would enter with canvas, brushes and paint, to render some of his most haunting work of his subjects while they were sleeping, cooking or just sitting and looking out the window.

Several years ago, in Atlanta, GA., The High Museum hosted an Andrew Wyeth exhibit that contained an extraordinarily large body of his work.  Just viewing one of Andrew Wyeth’s emotionally charged paintings was such a powerful experience that seeing such a large body of his work in one place was almost overwhelming.

Andrew Wyeth once said, I search for the realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture around it, I always want to see the third dimension of something.  I want to come alive with the object.”  

Andrew’s desire was to capture a moment, not a frozen moment, but a fleeting moment.  I suppose that’s why his work is so haunting.  He succeeded! Jill Saur  



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Andrew Wyeth Painting

Friday, March 27, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, GA. A Restful Space

"Like blank spaces around words and paragraphs on a printed page, the gap between the sounds uttered by our speech set the boundaries within which words, phrases, and sentences can take shape and morph into images in our minds. Structurally speaking, the pauses in one’s speech pattern are the mortar that keeps the building blocks of language together. Ultimately, how we lay those bricks, and the amount of plaster we employ, is what confers us intelligibility while tagging our unique phonic signature." - Ewandro Magalhaes

I love everything about that paragraph written by Ewandro. You probably already know where I'm going with the thoughts he expressed.  I'm thinking about the spaces between the images in our paintings, the areas where the viewer is able to breathe as their eye moves around the painting.

Below, you'll find Van Gogh's painting of wheat fields.  Although this painting has a lot of movement, there is a beautiful space, a resting place, in the inviting golden fields.

My hope for you during this time of sheltering in place, is that you will find a restful space.


Van Gogh's Wheat Fields

Art Classes:

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, GA.



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Beethoven

We can’t breathe tomorrow’s air.  We can only breathe one breath at a time in the moment we live in.

Each breath builds upon the one taken before it.  Every work of art builds upon the one created before it.  Be patient with yourself.  When you learn one thing, then you move on and learn the next thing.  Beethoven didn’t write a symphony the first time he sat down to learn to play the piano.  First, he learned the keys, he learned how to read the notes, and then he started to play other composers works.

With his newfound understanding, Beethoven was able to express the inspiration he felt from other composer’s works by composing his own music.  His tenacious perseverance and genius entertains us to this day! - Jill Saur

Listen to the genius in his work performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Hilary Hahn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cg_0jepxow

Consider your own artistic journey, for it is an abundant one!


www.JillSaurFineArt.com

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, Ga.

Greetings to all my students! During our lifetime, we're seeing and experiencing an unprecedented event in our country. I hope all of you are doing well. I have students in the medical profession at our local hospitals, and my thoughts and prayers are with you.

I spend my days reading in my studio and working on different projects. I've been taking this time to work on the continuation of my color studies. This is something that all of you can be doing. Right now, I'm simply working on one color at a time. You can paint the color in the first box, and in the boxes below that, you can add a little white. This gives you insight into the full range of values for each hue. It doesn't require a lot of inspiration to do this study, but this study can be the impetus to give you inspiration and ideas for future paintings.

I miss all my students and seeing your smiling faces every week. Please take care of yourselves and I hope to see you all when we get through this time.

I'll leave you with my favorite Psalm.

Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.


Painting Classes Roswell GA
Jill Saur's Color Charts 2020

Painting classes roswell ga
Jill Saur's Color Charts 2020

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Painting Classes Roswell, GA.

"Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness.  It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind.  As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life." - John Lubbock

I'm so impressed with the work that my students are doing.  Week after week, I'm seeing paintings that are visually stunning. How exciting it is for me to see such growth!

To find information about art classes, or to see more of my students work,  CLICK HERE.

To sign up to receive this blog, please put your email address in the box on the right. Thanks! - Jill Saur



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painting classes alpharetta ga



painting classes alpharetta ga