For your class project, you'll be creating your own square painting of a bird, a butterfly, some flowers and foliage; the perfect gift or something to hang on your wall.

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How to get started:

Research your color palette and inspiration,
Simplify your elements so they are easy to draw.
Design your layout using the simple techniques I show you in class.
Paint all the elements, finally painting in the dark background around them, and adding a few extra little details at the end.

Things to consider:

Find a color palette that's a bit different, maybe no greens, so you have to find alternative colors for the leaves and stalks.
Can you find some different marks to stylize the bird's feathers, the flower petals and the leaves?
Play around with the geometric shapes, and brush strokes to use for the patterns in your elements.
When you've finished it, you could scan in your picture and use Photoshop to play around with the background color to see how different it can look.

Please share your work of art with the community by uploading your design to the "Your Project" section.

It's so exciting to see what you can produce, if you need any more help and tips please just let me know in the Discussions tab of this class.

List of materials:

A good selection of gouache paint
Three different round tip brushes, size 6, 4 and 2.
A3 size heavy weight cartridge paper
HB pencil and eraser
Ruler
Pot of water and paper towel.
Sketchbook or spare paper for practice drawing.

Can't wait to see what you produce!

Christie Walsh-Myers

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