Well, I always considered myself more of a "pencil person"- so I guess I'm a beginner :)

So far the class is very enjoyable! I tried practising brush control before but it wasn't so fun so I got bored and quit. But this class is really fun, and I'm enjoying painting colorful flowers while trying my best to stay inside the lines and applying all the new techniques.

Trying my best :) - image 1 - student project

I started painting the succulent from left to right, and I think that the right side turned out better- so I guess my brush control is starting to improve :)

Trying my best :) - image 2 - student project

In the flower exercise I struggled a bit to spread the darkest tone (probably not enough water?) but overall I'm really happy with the results.

Trying my best :) - image 3 - student project

And this is my base layer for the branch.

Thank you so much for the lovely, fun and helpful class :) !!

update:

Trying my best :) - image 4 - student project

The next exercise was the pineapple, I had alot of fun paiting it! I tried to layer the color so it will create a turtle-like texture :) I really like this new technique and I think it could be really useful for me :)

Trying my best :) - image 5 - student project Lastly for today I painted the leaf with triangles, in this exercise I think I improved the most so far :) It was really hard for me to keep the same pressure on the tip so the lines will be even. I started way to small for begginer like me haha but after a difficult start I made the triangles bigger and tried to be more mindful and calm. And as I kept painting the leaf I felt like I'm getting better and better :)

update2:

Trying my best :) - image 6 - student project

Today was a really fun day! :) I done the rose first, and I felt more confident and capable to paint the lines close and with the same pressure on the tip. I think the 'triangles leaf' exercise really helped me a lot with this skill :)

Trying my best :) - image 7 - student project

Next I did this leaf, I thought that gold and indigo will go well together- but I didn't have gold so I tried to mix something similar ;) it was really fun and each texture required me to use the brush differently, especially when I did the small circels and squares.

Trying my best :) - image 8 - student project

And finally the 'forgotten branch' :) I think I did the first layer a bit too dark so I had to use a really opaque color for the texture, but I'm still happy with the results.

Trying my best :) - image 9 - student project

So far I'm having a lot of fun! I can feel my improvement from exercise to exersise, and I'm really happy with how the paintings turned out :)

update3:

Today was time for me to try using the new techniques and create two galaxys. It was so much fun!!!

I wasn't afraid to work small, and tried to be a bit more ambitious and I'm glad I was :)

Trying my best :) - image 10 - student project

For the first one, I chose to paint a haunted house. I used this reference but made some changes, for example I dicided to change the zombie with a friendly alien that's waving at us :)

I found Maya's tips and exercises really useful and they helped me a lot to be able to pull this one off :)

Trying my best :) - image 11 - student project

For the second galaxy I did a floating ship instead of houses. It was really challenging to leave the white areas, and I worked really opaque so I will have enough contol. I think I will try to do this exercise again in the future with more water so I will be able to get more textures.

Trying my best :) - image 12 - student project

And here they are together :) These two exercises were so much fun!!! :)

update4:

Trying my best :) - image 13 - student project

Today I painted the mini landscapes :) As usual, this class was a lot of fun! I used a 2 euro coin to make the 3 small circles and a jar for the bigger one. It was really challenging painting the tiny details and stay within the lines. I tried to be careful and mindful, and I felt like the previous exercises helped me a lot to be more precise and in control :)

Itay Lev

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