Michelle Therrien

Oil Painting has got me hooked

February 26, 2020 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

Artistic desires

I have wanted to oil paint for probably the last two decades and yet never managed to include it in my art life. I am not sure what kept me from that besides investing in a new medium and fear that it was a hard medium to master.

Somewhere along the way, I had implanted the belief that oil painting was beyond me. Not sure if it was my original fear or planted there by some well-meaning person I met somewhere along the way. Either way, I avoided trying it for many years.

I have never been a fearful artist, I am usually the one who explores new things and likes to see how far I can push things in my creative adventures. Yet oil painting always left me wanting and yet not allowing myself to give it a try.

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What is missing in your art?

January 13, 2020 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

What my art journey needed this year.

Every year I pick a word or two that encompasses something I want to bring more of to my life in the new year. I think it works better than a new years resolutions and gives you much more room to grow.

It may be about life in general or pertaining to my art life. Often times what we choose overlaps and brings new things to every aspect of our life.

That being said I wasn’t sure at first what my word or words were going to be. I knew I would know when the came to me and they did.

My words for this year are Letting go and Play!

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7 Reasons why you should Play with your art

January 13, 2020 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

Art conjures up many different feelings for all of us

Art time can involve many different feelings and for some of us, we get so wrapped up having and wanting to do something good, something we feel has value that we limit our own possibilities.

With the internet now being a part of our daily lives and in the palm of our hands for many of us, we are constantly bombarded by the amazing accomplishments of other artists around the globe. Some of us take that as inspiration that we can reach for and others see that as they will never be good enough.

Whether art has a place in your life as a job, a hobby, an interest or just merely something you do for fun maybe the question we should be asking is do we play with and in our art enough?

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Better painting with Mixing Charts

January 8, 2020 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

So much paint and color to choose from

There are so many paint colors on the market in just about any medium you want to paint in. That can be overwhelming to artists and especially beginners.

Many new artists often feel like a medium can be so expensive because you need so many colors to paint. But that is not the case.

If you take the time to get some basic colors and spend some time making color mixing charts you will find out that you can make many colors with a small number of paint colors.

The color chart below was made using Windsor newton colors of manganese blue, lemon yellow, and magenta. these are the colors your printer uses to make all colors.

Each company makes their colors slightly differently so these very same colors in another brand might yield slightly different results.

You can see there is quite a variety of colors to be made from just three colors and I did not make up all the colors on can from these paints.

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Loosening up your art style

October 30, 2019 by Michelle Therrien 2 Comments

I have always admired artists who bring a loose style to their art. There is so much expression and feeling that is woven in that piece of art and I have always wished I could just see and create my art in that way.

Changing my style and embracing it has been challenging. The key is in finding a way to ease your brain into accepting a new style, one a bit messier than the perfectionist fiddler inside. That perfectionist can be quite judgemental and want to hold on.

That being said I have to admit I am that fiddler. My brain up to this point has been interested in fiddling with the details, perfecting them and somehow manicuring my art to death and fighting me as I move to let go.

Many other artists I know also have this same challenge so I know I am not alone in this pursuit.

So what is an artist to do when you want to do something other than where your brains seems to demand you go?

sumatran orangutan painting — watercolor underpainting and colored pencils

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Gouache Cactus Painting

September 27, 2019 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

I have never painted in gouache before but I love the matt finish and thought it was time to try it.

Arteza Gouache comes in 60 colors and I had to have the complete set cause who doesn’t want all the colors. It is also available in smaller sets as well but the 60 color set was about 34.00 on Amazon.

You can’t go wrong for that price.

This is not professional artist grade gouache but it will do for now.

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Creativity and the INFP

August 23, 2019 by Michelle Therrien 3 Comments

What is an INFP

INFP is just one of the personality types from the Myers-Briggs assessment test.

I am an INFP personality type. This means Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving. (Introverted Feeling with Extraverted Intuition) . If you would like more information about this personality type or any of the others click here.

The test is a questionnaire that anyone can take to find out how their personality preferences help them make decisions and how they perceive the world around them.

Each of us is different and there are 16 personality type combinations. If you are the curious sort like me and you want to know about these personality types then click here to check them out.

You can also take the test here at Humanmetrics to find out about yourself.

INFP and Creativity

This can mean quite a few things but mostly we are creative, inquisitive, we like to explore new things and possibilities, we are experimental, curious and surprise many of us creative types fit this personality type.

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Pastel Papers for beginners

August 18, 2019 by Michelle Therrien 1 Comment

You may be saying pastel papers are so expensive what can I do?

There are so many answers to that and if you ask that question in any art group on Facebook and you may be just as confused by all the answers you will get.

I want to help beginners make affordable choices so they too can enjoy a new art medium and not break the bank! After all, you can’t be sure if you like any medium until you spend some time learning and doing it.

This article will go over a few of the pastel paper options I prefer and used when I first learned pastels. Some cost a bit more and some are homemade affordable ways to have lots of pastel surfaces inexpensively.

I have included video links that I find valuable that tell you how to make homemade papers so you can choose for yourself what works for you.

I hope you find this information useful. I would love to see your art, feel free to join the conversation by leaving comments or questions below.

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Finished Not Perfect

July 24, 2019 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

I came across this short video today by Artist Jake Parker.

He is known for illustrating picture books, comics and much more. He is also part of SVSLearn.com. That is the School of Visual Storytelling where he partners with Will Terry and Lee White. They offer a lot of classes on basic drawing and perspective to digital painting and all about the children’s book illustrating industry. I highly recommend their classes.

This video that captured my attention. It is only a few minutes long but in it, he stresses the importance of finishing the art projects you start.

He expresses how important it is to complete your art rather than judging it for whether it’s good or not.

This is such a simple concept and a valuable one too!

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New Resources Page

July 24, 2019 by Michelle Therrien Leave a Comment

I like anyone else love a good list of resources to help me sort through to the things I am interested in. So I have put up a resources page where I will continue to add pages of valuable information for you to use in your artistic journey. Be sure to check back often or you can join the mail list and be notified when new information is added to this page. Join in the sidebar.

Photo reference is great to have and many times you will be told to take your own photos. And while that is good information, it is not always possible to take photos of all the things and or places you would love to paint. There are many sites and groups online that offer free photo reference for your painting pleasure. I have made a long list on the resources page that you can access. Or you can sign up for my mail list at the top of the page and download a pdf of that information.

Artist tutorials are so available to us these day thanks to the internet. You can learn things from people around the world. Sometimes that can be difficult to sort through with the amount of information out there. I have compiled a list of the artists I have enjoyed learning from in colored pencil, pastels, and childrens book illustration. I will be adding to this list ongoing so be sure to check back often to get updated information.

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