 1. Name the paint colors I was given. 2. What 3 brush sizes did I use? Why did I need all 3? 3. Did I enjoy painting? Give 1 piece of supporting evidence from the text. 4. Would you like to paint with Melanie? Explain your position. Answers are at the end of this post. I wanted to write this post for over a month. Finally, it’s done! I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I painted a picture, way back in March! I haven’t painted, or held a brush since elementary school. Really! Talk about going out of my comfort zone! I used deep breathing, and humor, to fight off a panic attack. Kidding! Sort of! I tried to copy the picture below. My teacher, Melanie painted all 3, but if you look closely, they’re each a tiny bit different. I wanted mine to look exactly, perfectly like them, but my painting is like me, imperfect, unique. I’m trying to decide if that’s good, bad…maybe both?
Melanie Sunderland Fullenkamp is in the 2nd picture, and she’s my kind of teacher…she knows her subject and how to communicate it. She models what to do, then gives clear simple instructions. Perfect for an art-challenged person like me. And, she knows the power of praise. A compliment keeps people working, trying. It was my favorite tool to use as a teacher. It works on 2nd graders, on me too!
In the second picture, I also painted orange below the pink. Then I drew a horizon line in pencil. It’s where the orange meets the darker pink. In the original, that line’s much smaller. I wanted mine bigger, to be like my lake. That’s why the dark strip is huge. It’s a big blob of mountains, for now. One of the things I discovered while painting, is that I’m always editing. I wanted mountains so I asked Melanie how to make them. Good teachers help students get the results they want. Thanks, Melanie!
While painting, we had a few visitors, a newspaper reporter and the president of Riverside Art Center. Riverside hosted this class. By the time they arrived, my colors had deepened and darkened. The mountains started to have peaks like the ones in Tennessee. No one else had mountains, but Melanie coached me on how to paint them in. I added brown lines with a thin brush. I filled them in using both the middle and small brushes. I went back to the small one to make ripples in the lake.  Then I made the black bottom with my favorite brush…the big one! I drew in the sun, first with pencil. Then I painted it in using the middle brush. Next I used the small brush to paint yellow lines around the sun. Would you believe the smallest brush is the hardest for me to use? It doesn’t feel solid, like pencils, makers, and crayons. I know how hard to push, to get the look I want. With this tiny brush, I don’t. I dot in the color. Straight lines are scary! I’m afraid I’ll mess up. I also used that small brush to add peaks to the mountains and ripples to the lake. White for mountains. Brown, yellow, and white for the ripples. I thought the first picture got too dark, so I added more yellow to the 2nd. That’s the nice thing about painting, mix in another color, and your painting changes. Now, looking at it, I think it’s too yellow, like the lake swallowed the sun…maybe I could write a story about that! Hmmm…  I also added in the dog and the tree, the rocks and the plants. The dog was easy, even for art-challenged me! I traced the dog stencil in pencil. Then I painted in his silhouette using the middle and fine point brushes. For the tree, Melanie modeled how to quick draw 5 lines in pencil. They’re the basic tree lines. Then I painted them in using all 3 brushes. I used the big brush for the trunk. The middle one for the limbs. The little one for the branches and leaves. I love leaves…little dots of color. But Melanie had a warning: know when to stop…you can have too many dots! I also used the small brush to dot in the rocks and plants near the tree. The last step, easy-peasy, let it dry. Then sign your work. I would never sign in paint. I went back to good old marker. It’s great for fine lines!  This is our class picture. I think we all did a great job! But, I like theirs better. Why? It looks more like the original. They liked mine, because it was more impressionistic, more like modern art. That’s easy for me…just dot in, whisp in your lines with that small brush. PS- finding this picture makes me feel better about that lake. It looks a little less yellow, no LOL!
How I Painted a Picture  1. Name the paint colors I was given.
White, Pink, Orange, Brown, Yellow, Black, White 2. What 3 brush sizes did I use? Why did I need all 3? 1- large, for big areas to paint 2- medium, for smaller areas or defined shapes 3- small- for tiny areas or for line definition 3. Did I enjoy painting? Give 1 piece of evidence from the text. Ex: No she didn’t. She was fighting a panic attack all the way through the painting. Or yes she did. She wrote that she couldn’t believe she pained a picture. 4. Would you like to paint with Melanie? Explain your position? Fair: Yes, I like to paint. Or: No, I can’t paint. Great: Yes, I love painting and mixing colors to create a picture. Or: No, I can never get the picture on paper to look how I imagine it.
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AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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