Intro to Mixed Media – Cactus Series with Artist Anna Swanson – 4 Week Live Online Course

Learn the basics of drawing, painting, and collage to create a colorful & floral cactus garden piece with artist Anna Swanson.This is a 4-week course, totaling 8 hours of instruction, starting Saturday, July 11 and repeating every Saturday until August 1. Class will run from 11am – 1pm. Materials available for curbside pick-up.

Over this 4-week course we will:
Experiment with pencil and paper to sketch your design
Learn about different cactus plants and flowers you can draw/paint
Focus on drawing, planning, and choosing a color palette
Learn different brush use techniques and skills
Mix paint colors
And leave with a final project of painting a larger scale piece with acrylic paint.

Tuition covers:
Four sessions of 2-hour instruction, demo, and practice
Limited class size for hands-on instruction
All materials you will need during class, including paints, brushes, paper, canvas, and more.
Optional projects to work on at home to continue your practice in-between the times we meet
Who is this course suitable for?
Individuals who have little or no prior painting experience, or individuals who would like to relearn intro skills.

Syllabus:
Week 1:
Discussion: Composition and balance, Types of cactus plants
Instruction: Intro to composition, balance, drawing, and sketching of cactus and flowers
Project: Sketch out the cactus design, flowers, and blooms on paper with
pencil.

Week 2:
Discussion: Intro to design principles and how to determine your design
Instruction: Demonstration of drawing and sketching of cactus and flowers on canvas
Project: Draw out design on big canvas adding detail and background color.

Week 3:
Discussion: Color planning and mixing
Instruction: Create palettes on paper with paints
Project: Begin adding first layer of paint to the canvas

Week 4:
Discussion: Final tips and techniques, Details and layers
Instruction: Adding more layers, light and dark details, background color, and finishing details
Project: Guided instruction through final 20×20 painting on canvas

Materials List:
Paints
Sketch paper
Intro Brushes
20×20” canvas for final project
Pencil
Palette

About the Instructor:
Anna Swanson is an Austin based painter, elementary school art teacher, and mom. She received her BFA in fiber art & textiles and obtained her elementary art teacher certification. She is a stylist at heart, and loves teaching children’s art in her art studio with her daughter, whom her business is named after. A small collection of her original pieces are at Austin Art Garage and Gallery, and prints of her work are on Minted.com and Greenbox Art and Culture.