Christmas Berries: Preclass

Welcome to the Preclass lesson for Christmas Berries! This is a level 3 class – intermediate – and that may mean you have most or all of the supplies needed to complete these lessons. Watch the video below, and see the reference list below that for more on the supplies and recommendations on where you can find them.

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.

Paper

Arches Cold Press Pads: BLICK  AMZ

Paints

My House of Hoffman Palette is shown in the lessons – but nobody needs this crazy thing. But I do recommend a metal palette coated in white like this one. You need to be mixing on white, not silver metal, so you can see what color you’re creating.

Daniel Smith Watercolors:

    1. Anthraquinoid Scarlet – any “Christmas” red”
    2. Green Gold – or mix one of your greens with a yellow
    3. Sap Green – a standard kind of green
    4. Cascade Green – also known as “Christmas tree green” if you have a tube of that; it’s the same paint but with a minty smell. You can also mix a bluish green from colors you have.
    5. Payne’s Blue Gray – Paynes Gray can work, but you may want to add a little bit of blue if your mix doesn’t come out as desired.
    6. Yellow Ochre – It’s basically a ‘dirty’ yellow, so if you don’t have this, add a little red and a tiny drop of green to it, or as shown in the video, mixing Green Gold with Anthraquinoid Scarlet can really make a comparable color.
    7. A purple will be helpful for tiny purple berries – I mixed Cobalt with Quin Rose.
    8. Browns for stems can be Burnt Sienna or Transparent Red Oxide – but we’ll also be mixing reds and greens for most of that.

Masking

Have an old yucky brush on hand, small enough to do berries. I put a little liquid dish soap in a dish so I can coat the brush in it, wipe it off on a baby wipe, then proceed with the masking fluid; it protects it at least a little.

  • Grumbacher Misket Liquid Frisket: BLICK  AMZ
  • Rubber Cement Pickup: BLICK  AMZ

Brushes

In this class I’ll be demonstrating using the Silver Round brushes – but with a gap, my #8 is found lacking and I need to get a new one! You don’t need all these sizes, but a small medium and large is recommended. Or use any comparable brushes you have.

    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #2 BLICK  AMZ
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #4 BLICK  AMZ
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #6 BLICK  AMZ
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8: BLICK  AMZ
    • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #12: BLICK  AMZ
    • Mottler Flat Wash 30, DaVinci Cosmotop Spin Brush: Blick  AMZ – the only one on Amazon is the size 20 but it’ll work.

Other

Quick links to share your work wherever you like:

Artventure Community

Where you’ll be right in Sandy’s pocket for quick feedback and answers to questions

Student Facebook Group

Our closed group is a safe place to share for those in all our classes who love the ‘book!

Social media & blogs

Post wherever you like to share, and let your friends know which class you’re taking. They might like it too!