My Paint an Owl E-course

My first backgrounds

I signed up for Juliette Crane's How to Paint an Owl E-Course and it began two weeks ago.  First I want to say when I signed up I had to wait for almost four weeks for it to begin . . . I could hardly wait.  I have always admired Juliette's work and I follow her blog and Etsy shop regularly!  When she advertised that she had created her lovely owl painting course I knew it had my name written all over it!

Week one:  Was learning how to create backgrounds . . . using acrylics, stencils, spray paints and whatever we wanted to have fun creating beautiful backgrounds for the owls to be painted on.  On Monday she posts the lesson, through her written word, pictures and videos.  She is giving it her all so that we can learn from her experience.  I posted my first background on facebook, and I couldn't believe the comments from friends that came that day.  They couldn't believe that I was going to actually paint over it.  I learned from Juliette that it is all about the painting process, that learning and painting and enjoying the process is as important as the finished piece.  So here is my very first painted background . . . I painted it on a 6 x 6 canvas that I purchased from Dick Blick when I was in New York City (that has meaning in itself to me!)

I believe I am hooked on spray painting with lace and doilies . . . it gives such a beautiful adornment to the piece.  I started hunting through some of my mommy's old crochet pieces and found some really beautiful little doilies . .  they were already stiffened so it made them easy to paint with.  I know this sounds sentimental, but I lost my mom not too long ago and using her work is like having a little piece of her in every piece I create . . . it comforts me.  Art is like that, there is sentiment in everything we do.  I love having hidden treasures lying within my artwork.

Week Two:  We get to actually paint on our owls!  Juliette is wonderful with sharing her techniques.  We learned to draw our owls by first sketching out what we think we want our owl to look like by using simple shapes and then actually drawing our owl on top of our background. See there I go covering up my beautiful background!  I think I will call her Lovie!  

So I began by sketching my little love owl on top of my background and then I began painting and embellishing!  I definitely have a long way to go and still have three weeks to learn even more from Juliette.  This is such a great experience and I am so happy to be a part of it.  I can hardly wait until the next lesson!

Art is about continuing to reach outside of your comfort zone.  Painting owls is definitely outside of mine!!  With Juliette's inspiration I am open to exploring new painting ideas.  I love learning, learning and learning some more.  It is so much fun to take an e-course.  You can learn at your own pace, paint in your own studio and take the time to learn the way you need to.   We have videos for instruction, Facebook to share our thoughts, Flicker and Picasa to post our artwork, blogs to share our excitement and discoveries and so much more which brings the class community so much closer.  I will keep you posted and promise to post another owl that is refined and has her own definition!  Everyday I am feeling more confident in my artwork and in my abilities to create.  Have a blessed week and don't forget to create something wonderful, it is good for the soul.