SusieG Studio

When I saw this class listed in the catalog, I was intrigued with what I would be painting on.  It’s not a canvas, but a panel.  From what I understand the lotus leaf is grown in Thailand.  The leaf is cut and dried and then applied onto a panel and dried again.  A single panel can contain several leaves of different sizes.

Again, I arrived early to class and found that I had a spot reserved at a table.

I immediately liked my panel and the leaf composition.  We each had a tray of acrylic paints along with our mixing plates.  From a community table, I picked out an apron to wear as I was told that this particular paint would be hard to remove from fabric.

There were 11 others who signed up for this class and we were given three hours to complete our painting.  Carla, our instructor, roamed around our tables providing us with background information on the panels,  She also helped us with mixing colors,  using the different brushes, decorating ideas using stencils and more elaborate paints, and suggestions on what colors to use.

I chose to do something Caribbean related.  Well, I tried.

After I finished my painting, Carla went ahead and applied a spray varnish.  The colors came out a bit darker than I originally painted.  Now I know what some artist talk about when applying fixatives or varnishes to their artwork…tends to make the artwork darker.  So it does.

I am looking forward to the Fall/Winter catalog and hope to see this class offered again.  I would like to paint two more panels to complement the one I have already painted.

This was a very relaxing class.  I enjoyed picking out my own colors to paint with.  All twelve of us created some unique pieces of art.