ELEVATE YOUR ART MAGAZINE: Summer '23

ELEVATE YOUR ART

Members of the review team are integral to the success of hundreds of Photoshop artists. Highly trained, they provide over 15,000 video reviews a year for members of Beyond the Brushes.

Video feedback is the key to success for many who are new to Photoshop painting!

Artist: Kimberly Guardipee

www.guardipeephotography.com

Kimberly snapped a shot of her oldest and his grandpa moving cows on her cellphone. There was no question about turning it into a painting, but after further thought, she decided to create this one specifically for adding oil paints in the future.

WELCOME...

Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare?

They had a race, and the hare runs like his rear end is on fire. Then, the hare decides to take a nap because he thinks there’s no possible way the tortoise can beat him. We all know how that one ends.

Slow and steady wins the race! And that’s the topic for this edition of Elevate Your Art Magazine. Michelle

COVER IMAGE BY

Artist: Ann Lauwers www.anartistview.net

Ann is an avid gardener and dog lover. She wanted to present a moment of mixed feelings about owning a dog. The gift was definitely one the dog knew the owner would be happy to receive, but maybe not so happy as to how the gift was acquired. It’s the thought that counts, right?

Screen capturing artwork from the magazine for your own use - whether personal or commercial use - is a violation of the artists’ copyright which is punishable by Federal fines of up to $150,000 per image.

Please be respectful of the copyright of the artists. Thank you.

Magazine © Michelle Parsley, M. Photog., M. Artist, Cr., CPP Student images © remain with each individual as noted.

MASTHEAD & CONTRIBUTORS

MICHELLE PARSLEY PUBLISHER

HANNAH PARSLEY COPYWRITER

CATH SMITH EDITOR

ARTICLES:

SUE GERARD

IMAGES:

KIMBERLY GUARDIPEE

ANN LAUWERS

CATHERINE HALLECK

MARGARET GOODWIN

RUSSELL KINERSON

SHEILA TENNES

CHARI MAIER

DEB RICE

KELLY O”KEEFE

SHELLY BENJAMIN

TANYA GRIFFIOEN

JEANNE HANSON

KATHLEEN BARBER

Artist: Catherine Halleck catherinehalleckphotography.com

MARGARET GOODWIN

The garden is one of the most magical places for Margaret. She happened upon a photo and was immediately attracted to the sense of enchantment and light. The magical quality resonated with her, but she had to resist her photographer’s urge to paint every single flower!

Margaret kept this sweet pup for a week, and what better way to capture the cuteness than a painting? Her original version used the floor as the background, but it never seemed to fit. Since the dog enjoyed exploring the garden, Margaret decided to revisit and revamp the painting to better match the dog’s gentle personality.

The dueling bronco images came from photographs Margaret took in 2012 at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography’s Summer Intensive Program in Montana. One highlight was the photographic trip to the Augusta Rodeo; however, the photos have sat collecting dust on a disc ever since. After progressing further in Beyond the Brushes, Margaret finally had a plan of action. The level of detail was a challenge, but now, they are the first two paintings of a much larger series.

Russell aimed to capture the grandeur of the Garden of the Gods State back in southern Illinois. With an overcast day, the colors were less than vibrant, so instead he focused on finding the shot that would epitomize the landscape. Then, his paintbrushes did the rest.

Artist: Russell Kinerson

When new painters join Beyond the Brushes, it never fails — they paint at mach 10 without ever considering the repercussions.

The hardest lesson to learn is SLOW DOWN.

Too often, students assume they are getting better simply because they are painting more and more images, faster and faster. More often than not, students are merely reinforcing their current habits — often bad ones — not improving them.

Rather than addressing issues in a current painting, many times students start a new painting, or they “binge paint” several exercises at once. This is a predictor of eventual “failure” almost without exception. It would be much better to repaint the same image ten times and finally get it just right than to paint 10 images and make the same mistake in each and every one.

As growing artists, we aren’t just applying paint to canvas hoping we improve. We should be fine-tuning our technique by making corrections with every practice.

Without focused effort on improvement, painting becomes sort of like tying your shoes — you just do it without thinking. When this happens we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.

Here are three tips for improving your painting technique:

WIN YOUR RACE

1. SLOW DOWN.

Slowing down is really the key to get any skill under your belt. The goal should be to progress through the painting smoothly — not quickly. Speed comes with experience.

2. PRACTICE AT THE EDGE OF YOUR ABILITIES.

Don’t aim too high or too low. Find that perfect sweet spot where you’re slightly uncomfortable but not so uncomfortable that you want to quit.

3. GET FEEDBACK.

Fresh eyes from someone you trust is always a great idea to help you improve.

If you find yourself saying, “I moving so S.L.O.W.!” Lemme tell ya’, fast growth is completely overrated!

When it comes to art — and especially to mastering art — f you rush to more advanced stages before you’re ready, if you focus too much on the finish line, you miss the strategy going on during the race. It’s not “if” you fail, but WHEN. Take your time and master each technique.

Create the fundamental habits that will make painting achievable and repeatable. Win your race!

Sheila’s sister has always loved artistic pictures of angels. After finding inspiration in a photo of a girl flipping her hair, Shelia decided to get to work painting her sister an angel of her very own. Not only was her sister surprised by the gift, but she also found it to be a blessing.

Artist: Sheila Tennes instagram.com/sheilatennes

Artist: Chari Maier

Chari needed more practice on warm/cool techniques and detail. A photo of Carnival in Venice caught her eye, but the drab wall background wasn’t going to cut it. After a review from Michelle, Chari went outside her comfort zone and added more background shadows to make the painting pop. Now, they are ready for Carnival!

SUE GERARD

SLOW AND STEADY

BEFORE BEYOND THE BRUSHES, SUE’S ONLY ART BACKGROUND WAS IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMPOSITING. FALLING IN LOVE WITH REVIEWER AND STUDENT PAINTINGS, SUE DECIDED THAT SHE COULD PAINT TOO!

Artist: Sue Gerard

Artist: Sue Gerard

Joining in September 2020, Sue told herself to go slow and steady to learn to paint. That mantra has been one that has followed her throughout her painting journey and has proven time and time again to help her win the proverbial race.

If Sue could give anyone advice, she’d tell them to just try and play with it. In this series, she struggled with finding the balance between being too photographic versus being too loose and painterly. Trying different things and not being worried about getting each painting perfect on the first try kept her calm and collected.

Sue said, “ It doesn’t have to be right the first time, and you learn more in the journey of the painting than the end results .” Definitely something we can all strive to remember, especially in the thick of a challenge!

However, just because it is a challenge doesn’t mean it is bad. Sue enjoyed working on the feathers and trying to get just the right balance of all the beautiful colors and textures. And her enjoyment of balancing out colors actually comes from a challenge. Sue struggled with the charcoal lessons, but once she got them down pat, learning about values helped her in the colorful paintings too!

For the birds, her color scheme was to use complementary colors and really make the birds stand out. Brushy Goodness did the trick in getting them all put together.

Now, you might be asking at this point, why birds?

Well, Sue loves birds and wanted to share her love through painting. She ended up enjoying painting the first one so much that she started a series.

So how does the dog fit in?

Love is still the answer. When her neighbors lost their dog in a storm, Sue painted them this memorial portrait. Each brushstroke has been imbued with a sense of awe, love, and support that only Sue could provide.

That distinctiveness in style is probably what drew Sue to admire the paintings of Norman Rockwell. Just as he reflected the culture of the time, Sue strives to reflect herself in her art. Her brush of choice to accomplish this is none other than Brushy Goodness. While it is a crowd favorite, Sue has found that so many different things can be created with it.

Slow and steady, she has learned and pushed through every challenge. When her mantra can’t wave away the frustration, country or instrumental music come in to lull it away. It’s because of her commitment that with each passing day, Sue is winning her race one step at a time.

Her paintings demonstrate that love prevails and slow and stead gains the victory!

SUE IS A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO LIVES IN A SMALL TOWN IN EASTERN IOWA. SHE LOVES ANIMALS AND LEARNING TO PAINT, BUT HER ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE IS WHAT SHINES THROUGH THE MOST. HTTPS://WWW.SUEGERARDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Artist: Sue Gerard

Artist: Sue Gerard

Artist: Sue Gerard

RUFUS IS A Liar

Do you know one of the worst things about Rufus?

Like one of the worst kinds of first dates, he is incessant and persistent. He forces his way into your life and tries to learn all of the intimate details about what makes you tick. Then he starts whispering sabotage in your ear…

“Paint.

Paint FASTER.

Paint more and more and MORE!”

Since Rufus knows you (trust me, he KNOWS you), he will constantly be in your ear telling you that if you just paint faster, paint more images, paint with this brush or that brush that...

“ you will be as good as so and so .”

STOP!

First of all, comparison is the thief of joy.

Secondly, painting volumes of work doesn’t improve your technique, and it’s technique that makes you as good as YOU can possibly be.

Trying to rush, rush, rush through lessons so you can achieve some kind of far off greatness is one of the biggest jerk moves Rufus has ever made. He will make you think that you’re doing the right thing with all the extra effort when in fact, you are destroying your potential artistic future by focusing on volume.

Recognizing the devious tactics of Rufus lets us steal his power and eliminate his stumbling blocks. So, when Rufus begins his attack, just tell him not to let the door hit him on the way out!

DEB RICE

Deb chose the professional route in Beyond the Brushes for critiques and has made it to the Proficient Artisan stage. During this stage, she has been encouraged to explore different styles and delve into what reflects her in the artwork. This series of paintings represent her freedom to discover and let her creativity soar.

“Veiled in Blue” started as an experiment with the style of Stanka Kordic and Brad Kunckle but turned into a lesson of newfound respect for the artists.

“Trouble Ahead” is her journey into cowboy art. The environmental background proved to be a challenge, but the brush-building and modification lessons helped her leap over the hurdle.

In “The Newbies,” Deb explored loose brushwork and a colorful palette to create the lively bucking bronco scene.

Finally, “Museum Memory” was her step into storytelling and folk art, and she hopes to use it in the future illustrating children’s books.

As Deb continues her journey through Beyond the Brushes, she strives to use what she learns to explore and express herself to the fullest.

Artist: Kelly O’Keefe

www.kellyokeefephotography.com

Kelly made her friend cry presenting her with this painting of her two daughters. The girls are about to become teenagers, and Kelly and her friend wanted to do something special. All those years cheering Kelly on led to a painting more than worthy of display at her friend’s orthodontics office.

Shelley photographed her friend’s daughter’s wedding. While snapping as many shots as possible, she caught a dazzling photo of this young woman. All of the ladies looked beautiful and ethereal with flowers in their hair, but this one stood out to paint. Needless to say, the young lady is delighted she did.

Artist: Shelley Benjamin shelleybenjamin.com

TANYA GRIFFIOEN

Tanya uses her grandchildren as willing subjects.

First in line is sweet grandbaby Grady. The sweetness and innocence of sleeping babies make Tanya smile, so with the photo of Grady in hand, she decided to make a composite. Inspired by Thomas Sully’s “Child Asleep (Rosebud),” Tanya found just the right bed and window to compliment her precious grandson.

Most children don’t think they’re lucky to have a photographer in the family, but it’s when the camera comes out that Jozie especially enjoys time with Grandma. While practicing using a grid to draw, Tanya decided to use the Turp brushes to make a bust portrait. Since Jozie loves zebra print, Tanya knew it had to be included.

Rounding out the paintings is her grandson, Gavin. After finding a baby bird and a destroyed nest, he took it upon himself to care for it. He kept her warm and fed, sharing the delight with his sisters. There were many laughs shared when it matured to flying around the house. The charcoal brushes burned this memory into their minds, but the bird’s return to the children’s hands each spring keeps it in their hearts.

Jeanne captured this touching moment between her daughter and grandson a few years ago. Coming back to it, she thought it would make a great painting, and oh boy, was she right! After some color adjustments and alterations in the clothing, the final piece is a perfect memory of love.

Artist: Jeanne Hanson, M. Photog, CPP FB/PhotoartByjeanne

Kathleen lives in the Pacific Northwest and finds inspiration while walking amongst the tall evergreens. She’s not one to keep her head in the clouds though. Instead, Kathleen searches the ground floor for exciting and unique painting subjects. It has become one of her favorite things to do.

Artist Kathleen Barber kbarberfineart.com