coloured pencil classes

Plum project from my CP Basics course, copyright Teresa Mallen

 

Interested in studying coloured pencil this Fall? My revised teaching schedule has been posted on my website. Click here for the link. Don't miss out as we have an awful lot of fun in these sessions. :-)

 

My Coloured Pencil Basics course, held over two Saturdays, here in my studio, in September, is filling up quickly. If you have ever wanted to take a coloured pencil class, now is the time to ditch your fear.

Over the past ten years of teaching, I have seen what works for my students and I am confident that my exercises and projects will give you the results you desire. You can do this!

I have designed these courses so that they are jam packed with content, with tools, tips and techniques you absolutely must know and it is all presented in an easy to follow and fun manner.

Plus these courses are loaded with juicy bonuses!

I provide line drawings and step by step instructions for each of our projects. The picture posted above shows how a plum gets coloured up. The best part of my hand-outs is that you can finish exercises at home if you find you run out of time in class. Working at your own pace is deliciously freeing...and art making should be fun.

If you are at all tempted, head on over to the classes page of my website, to read all of the details and to conveniently register on-line.

 

If you don't live anywhere near my studio, I have great news - on-line courses are coming soon - as early as January 2015 for the Basics course. I shall keep you posted!

 

Facebook, classes, newsletter

My Studio

Lots of news...

• Teresa Mallen Studio is finally on Facebook. If you can see this entire blog page, then you will be able to see the Facebook badge in the column on the right. If you subscribe via email or some other way in which you don't see the whole page, you can find me by clicking Facebook. Go ahead and 'like' my site!!!! Thanks.

• I am offering a class this fall entitled Coloured Pencil Basics. if you have ever wanted to explore the world of cps, then come to my studio for two full days and get all the tips and tricks explained to you. As for the picture above, well I add more tables to my studio space when teaching and the doggie isn't around. (this isn't our new pup, this is our last dog that passed away back in December, just in case you are trying to keep up with my life and are getting confused) Anyway, I realize that dogs, especially big dogs with deep sounding barks, are not for everyone so our new guy won't be allowed to visit during class. For a complete run down of the course, please click here. Registration is now open. You can register on-line with your credit card via the shopping cart on the site. Note, you do not have to be registered with PayPal in order to use your plastic. Spaces are limited so don't delay.

• My summer newsletter has just been published and sent out to my newsletter subscribers. It arrives in your inbox via email. Didn't receive it? Perhaps you have changed your email address since subscribing, or perhaps it got picked up by your spam filter - maybe you need to add my email address as one of your accepted ones or goodness, maybe you haven't ever signed up? If you want to read my newsletter simply sign up to receive one - click here to do that. And please note, I only send out an issue a couple of times a year. I have no intention of inundating you with spam. My in-box gets full enough too and I have no desire to be a nuisance. The newsletter lets you know what shows I am going to be participating in, you are the first to find out about classes that are being scheduled and I share any other tid bits of news that are relevant at that time.

Keeah, enjoying some freshly cut meadow grasses

I would like to say thank you to the lovely folks that have taken the time to email me to say that they like seeing the farm animals. This one is for all of you! :-)

new course dates and studio pictures

We all love seeing where artists work don't we? Here are a few pictures of my studio. I teach in my studio as well and the picture above shows how my studio looks when I teach, all nice and tidy. I set it up with more tables and chairs but you get the idea. You can click on the pics for a larger image.

I have added new dates for my Coloured Pencil Basics course. The course will run Saturday mornings from October 24th until November 7, 2009. This is a great introduction course as it provides everything you need to know in order to 'paint' with coloured pencils. Students learn how to correct mistakes, how to create colours on the paper and they experience the difference it makes when working on different papers and surfaces. Also covered are stroke techniques, how to burnish cp pigment so it looks like paint, and much more. For more information or to register, please see my website, or click here.

Below is a picture of how my studio looks right now...not so tidy, but hey I'm working!! :-)

In the next photo, may I draw your attention to the lovely green chair on the left? You might recall that I discovered several old chairs in the attic of my parents' farmhouse. This poor thing was covered in pigeon poop and the arms and legs were discoloured from water damage. After a good scrubbing and after applying some wonderful wood refinishing products, I have a lovely chair. One down, three other chairs to go. One chair is a lovely antique rocker that is broken (nothing modern carpentry glue and some clamps won't mend) and one is an elegant antique chair with a woven rush seat (You guess it, the woven seat is broken. I have discovered a small local company that does this sort of restoration and they also sell kits to repair such seats should I get inspired to fix it myself.) The third chair is a rose coloured one that matches the green one in the picture. I am not sure where all these chairs are going to go in my house but I couldn't see them get hauled away as garbage.

I am leaving the bliss of my studio this afternoon in order to do some advertising and to enter the bliss of the National Gallery of Canada. I am participating in a studio tour in November. The brochures have just arrived from the printers so I am heading out to drop 400 of them off at the Council for the Arts in Ottawa. They do quarterly mailings, so thanks to this service, these brochures will end up in the hands of some movers and shakers in the city. After that I am heading off to see a special art exhibit. I am a blessed gal!

New Coloured Pencil Basics Dates

A new session of my Coloured Pencil Basics course has just been scheduled. It will be held over a day and a half at the end of April and the location is my studio here in Ottawa. The dates are Monday April 27th, 9:30 - 4:00, and April 28th, 1:00 - 5:00. This session would be perfect for those of you who work weekends and haven't been able to make it out to my other dates. It is also a good solution for anyone who has to travel from out of town. By getting accommodations for one night, you would only have to make the trip once.

For details on the course and to register on-line, please click here. Hope to see you then!

A big eye and coloured pencil classes...

Portrait course eye exercise, approx. 5" x 6"

coloured pencil on Stonehenge, copyright Teresa Mallen

Happy Halloween! Did my big eyeball scare you? Hopefully it isn't too ghoulish!

Here at Teresa Mallen Studio, November is portrait month. Over the next four weeks I shall be teaching a course on how to do portraits in coloured pencil. I have been having an absolute blast creating new exercises. I love it when a subject comes to life on paper and it is even more thrilling when it is a face.

This is a real nitty gritty course, chock full of fabulous info on how to avoid common drawing errors. There is also lots of practice in creating skin tones. The big eye is one of the exercises. There are so many mistakes made with the eye. Usually it is because we think we know what an eye looks like, but when it comes to drawing and capturing a likeness, never assume anything!

I shall share some of the other face parts next week. For now I shall leave you will some photos taken two days ago. Mother Nature got in an early Halloween trick as we have had a snow and ice storm. Now before you start thinking that here in Ottawa we must live in igloos and have no sun for nine months of the year - we are not that far north! We never get snow in October and often not in November either. So this snow will melt when it warms up next week.

My husband snapped this picture. I am in our backyard (decked out in one of his old coats) and no I am not raking snow. I was using the rake to get ice off of a lilac tree.


You might wish to scroll down to the October 18th post to see how this tree looked just a week and a half ago.


Remember the picture of one of my favourite spots? Well, here is how it looks now.

Forget the costumes and carved pumpkins...isn't Halloween just an excuse to eat candy? Enjoy! Just adding beauty to my life, right? :-)

coloured pencil workshop

Detail of Mixed Media 'Tapestry'

copyright Teresa Mallen

For those of you in the Ottawa area, I will be holding a workshop next weekend, Saturday September 20th. The project will be a coloured pencil mixed media piece. Above is a close up look at the project. We are using canvas, gesso, fluid acrylics and coloured pencils. All materials (except the pencils) are included. I have had a cancellation so if you are interested in joining us, just contact me, (teresa@tersamallenstudio.com). There would be room for a friend if you wish to bring someone along. No experience in painting or coloured pencil is required. There will be food, beverages, music and lots of laughs. If you are free, why not escape for a few hours? You will even have your own mixed media 'tapestry' ready to hang at the of the session. Hope you can join us!

If you would like further details on this workshop or other classes that are available, click here: classes.