Grandparent's Farm

6 cousins all collaborated on this painting for a very special gift for their grandparents!   Using pictures of the farm and house, we worked on painting their farm and had everyone involved in this masterpiece!

We met with the 3 families at Tribeca for paint session 1.   We started off with 7 year old "B" for the road.  His cousins were already into it!  I love the crowd of admirers!

  Focused painter!

We put down some grays and browns and then worked on blending.  Then the road was complete!

Next up was kindergartner "B" working on the sky.  He is a master of skies as he has painted with me before!  After his blue beauty was in, youngest cousin came to put in some clouds!

She got to stamp with a sponge!  You can see me gesturing ideas of where to go.

So cute!  I love her smile!

Wonderful work!  "B" did some final touches and then cousin number 4 was up!

Kindergartner "E" put in the trees on the horizon line.

Looking beautiful!  Great job!

And our final painter for the day was 1st grader "B" to do the fields in front of the house.

She did some q-tip painting too, to add in some accents to those fields.

And the landscape was in!

My final painter was the oldest, wisest cousin, 6th grader "L".  He did the detail work of the blue tractor and the home.   Here he is using the picture of the house to help him out with details, as well as my pencil sketch.

He also added in a corn stalk to the fore ground.

Last, but certainly not least was the tractor.  I had an image ready for him to reference as he painted in the important details.   No rest for the weary 6th grader on a Friday afternoon, right "L"!?

You can see that I had painted in white to sketch in some guides for him as well.   It made it easier for him to see.

 Finally, "L" finished up some last minute details of the house (including the tree in the front of it).

And we called it done!   The masterpiece collaboration of 6 artists was ready to be gifted!   I'm sure they will love it!  Great work cousins!

The Canopy Drive

Okay, this painting is amazing.   The picture quality is NOT!   Without natural light, I apparently can't photograph!   This beauty was finished in the evening hours so I seriously struggled!  I'm going to argue that the painting makes up for that.   It was done by 3 siblings, the youngest is an eighth grader, then a senior in high school, and the final canopy was done by the oldest is who was the first painter I worked with that came over in dress clothes after work (internship).   He will be finishing UWW after this fall.  This family is super artistically talented (obviously!) in music and arts but this was the first time they really delved into acrylics.   I completely enjoyed watching the painting progress and working with all of them.  

8th grader "M" was first up, and she was hesitant to start.   I had her begin with the sky so that she could feel more comfortable working with the media.

Then, after her confidence with the paint was better established, we moved to painting the barn.   We discussed shadowing, blending, and paint techniques to achieve the right look.  Then she went to it!

Awesome.

While the barn was drying, "M" added in some base colors for the road.

Here is where we wrapped after her first session.  For session 2 we moved into more details (eagles, flag, etc.) and then a base color grass.

I was loving what I saw!   You were amazing "M"!

  High school senior brother was next up and during his painting session he dealt with a small baby crawling around and lots of kid noise.   However, I think he was pretty engrossed in the process, so while I was going nuts, I think he zoned it out.   He put in a few of the tree trunks by the barn and another flag pole.     When his brother painted, he ended up going over much of this work, but "M" you can forever claim the barn tree trunks and flag!   They are yours!

  

 I have known this oldest brother from years ago when he played drums for a VBS I organized.   It was fun to get to know him again and watch his artistic process.   He has a natural eye for color, and I loved how involved he was in creating the painting.   Also, I came to love his musical tastes and still listen to them constantly on Pandora!   If you haven't heard of Icarus Account, I highly recommend looking them up.  

First up was the foliage by the barn.  Don't worry, the flag was taped off to preserve it!

  Hmmm...I realize I snapped a lot of pics of the painting itself, but only have a hand of the artist....I improved upon it on our following meetings!

The canopy progresses.  You can see here the painting building as well as a variety of corporate clothing as we met multiple times after work.  Enjoy!

Awesome build up!  I was getting so impatient to see both sides in!

Okay, now I was contented.  This picture is such a better capture of the foliage than the one at the top of the blog story!  

Our final session was a shift in techniques as Marshall was going to be doing the shadowing on the road and grass to really complete the painting.   Look at the difference from the image above to the one below.  Awesome.

Small details.

And painting is complete!   Just wow.  Beautiful!  Watching this come together was so fun.   I love that this painting captures mom's favorite place!  Enjoy it for years to come!