Brushstroke Flowers: Preclass

How this class came about

Mom celebrating her snowman award at 94 years old. They framed the painting, used it for printed cards, and she won a donation to charity in her name.

In March of 2024, I got a call to jump on a plane right away, as Mom was quite ill. I spent two weeks with her, caring for her and just spending real quality time with her. We had more art conversations in those two weeks than I’d had with her our whole lives! Something in those tender moments was so special, where we saw each other as art peers. I asked her advice on so many things, and she delightfully doled out her strong opinions, one of which was THIS COURSE. Yes, the one you’re in right now! She thought cardmakers needed to learn how to paint their own simple flowers instead of buying all those stamps. “Flowers are so easy! People should learn sumi-e. You should teach them.” And I rushed to deep dive into sumi-e for a month to see what “my” approach to this type of painting would be. not to become a sumi-e painter, but to put my own spin on it, and share it with YOU!

Mom has congestive heart failure, and is in hospice as of Aprili 2024 as I’m writing this. We don’t know if she has days, weeks, or months left, but I have sent her the “mom” card shown in this class to show her that I did indeed create the class she wished for! I hope you enjoy it, and that you send a card to your mom, or to a mom you know. My mom would love that.

Welcome to the preclass lesson!

Let’s talk about the supplies needed for this course – you may already have plenty at home you can use! I always encourage trying out what you’ve got whenever possible. In the video below, we’ll check out the supplies and alternates, and you can read more and visit the links below that in this lesson.

Before we start…a little housekeeping

I retain the copyright to the content you are learning in class. That means…

1. Do not sell or give away the concepts from my classes – you may not re-teach my instruction contained or created within these lessons.
2. Do not post a video tutorial or step by step photo tutorial of your own redraw of class content.
3. Do not repost any handouts you receive in class.

However…I love to see students making strides and taking this teaching and personalizing it with your own skills.

1. DO make your own designs and develop your own style! I love that!
2. DO gift your creations made with these techniques, of course!

At the bottom of each lesson you’ll see some ways to share your homework and ask questions, so that’ll be handy for you.

Supplies:

As with all my classes, use supplies you love, being prepared for different results. (Which is not a bad thing!)

Ink:

You’ll want a black ink, preferably a waterproof one. i’ll be using Platinum Carbon Black Ink (which is what I love for my fountain pen) but any black ink should be fine if it’s waterproof. Sumi-e ink especially! You MAY use black watercolor, however please know you’ll need to mix up a lot of it to have enough to paint with – buying a bottle of ink is much easier. Get any kind of little dishes to mix up your ink values, like these. 

Colors:

Watercolors or inks.  ANY floral colors, ANY brand! You could actually use one color for this entire class, making all your flowers pink, or red, or yellow, etc. (just make sure it’s a bright enough color to stand out against black; a dark purple wouldn’t have enough contrast.)

Papers:

You can use one or more of the recommended papers – there will be demonstrations on both, and if you decide later to go back and purchase the other one, that’s fine. 

1. Sumi-e paper  (about $12 for a 48 page pad)
2. Arches Hot Press pad or sheet
3. Arches Cold Press pad or sheet

Brushes and Buddha board:

The set of Chinese calligraphy brushes are only about $14 for 12 brushes! They’re not great ones and won’t last terribly long but for that price, who needs them to? If you already have brushes like these, feel free to use those; there’s nothing special about these that a better quality brush can’t do.)

OPTIONAL but highly recommended is a Buddha board. It’s so wonderful for practicing brushtrokes for all kinds of projects! The one shown in class is 9×12, a smaller one can work, but this is a good size. If you don’t get this, just do more practicing on paper, and ask Santa to get you a Buddha board this Christmas1

Cardmaking:

 There are a number of techniques that will be shown, and you can choose which you’d like to try. 

1. Cardstocks for card bases and layers: Black, white, then colors like gold, yellow, red (colors could be simply ones that you’ll paint the flowers). 
2. Dimensional adhesive (whatever is your favorite, this is what I use)
3. If using the thin sumi-e paper, you will need heavy duty cardstock that’s a nice bright white like a bristol or a Neenah to adhere the sumi-e paper to so it’s not flimsy, and some Nori Paste, along with a cheap brush like a hake brush to paint it on with, and some deli paper or glassine will help in securing it overnight between a book while the glue sets.
4. Cutting tools like detail scissors, xacto knite, paper trimmer
5. Stamped sentiments as desired
6. Ribbon, twine, thread as desired
7. Punches or dies as desired
8. If desired, colored sealing wax  

Making masks for this class

From a cheet of cardstock – preferably something not white so you can easily see the area you’re filling –  you’ll cut out the full size card opening for the cards you would like to make.

1. Cut a piece of the correct card front size
2. Tape it to the paper you’ll cut from
3. Use a knife and ruler to cut out the rectangle

In this class I’ll be using an A2 (4.25″ x 5.5″) mask as well as a slimline – mine is marked for 3.75″ x 8.5″ but it depends on your country’s envelope size.

When we get to the design lesson you may want to create some other masks!

Video 2: Can I paint with a $1 brush?

This was public on YouTube but gives a nice overview of the process you’ll be learning in this course!