The Society of Decorative Painters

Need an excuse to host a party? We didn’t think so. But if you want to have a party that’s a guaranteed hit and already planned for you, then read on!

SDP is happy to announce our Paint Party program, an ongoing monthly series of painting parties, which will kick off on Friday, June 8—also known as Name Your Own Poison Day. We’ll be celebrating the holiday with Arsenic and Old Lace, the classic story of the Brewster sisters—two little old ladies from Brooklyn doing their part to help society by gently killing all of the sad old gentlemen who visit them at their bed and breakfast with a special blend of their elderberry wine. This hilarious play, written just up the road from SDP Headquarters in Newton, Kan., was made into a film in 1944 starring Cary Grant.

So what’s involved with this poison-themed painting party? Take a look at the full party plan, downloadable from the link below. In it you’ll find Arsenic and Old Lace–themed dinner, drink, and dessert menus, painting patterns and instructions to paint your own Victorian brooch, and even a trivia game about Teddy Roosevelt, a central character of the film, and the toy that was made to honor the president. So download the party plan, find a copy of the movie—available from Amazon and Netflix—and invite your friends over on June 8 for a night full of painting, partying, and fun. Your friends will love it, and soon you’ll have more painting partners to invite to chapter meetings or to paint with you at your studio.

For our chapters and studios—use these parties as a way to get the community into your space to share with them the fun of decorative painting. We hope that this will help you gain new members and new students who are excited about learning to paint and joining a community that loves to have fun!

Download the Complete Party Plan
Download the Projects
Download the Recipes
Download the Teddy-Teddy Trivia Game

Zentangle has arrived! This new method of teaching drawing is creating new artists out of people who never thought they could draw, and giving existing artists a way to practice their art in a fun, fast, and portable way. You will discover Zentangle’s method increases creativity, focus, and self-esteem while providing relaxation and improving well-being.

Maria Thomas, a calligrapher, and Rick Robert, a former monk, founded Zentangle together. They discovered the method together one night after Maria had been drawing background patterns on a manuscript. As she did so she told Rick about her feelings of timelessness, freedom, and well-being and complete focus on what she was doing with no thought or worry about anything else. “You’re describing meditation,” Rick said. They then developed the patterns into what is now known as Zentangle.

Decorative painters will love this method of drawing. As with many decorative painting techniques, it is taught in a step-by-step manner that leads to a finished product that you will be proud of. One great thing about a Zentangle is that it can be easily completed in a single sitting. Those of us with multiple UFOs (unfinished objects) will appreciate this immensely!

The supplies needed are minimal. A piece of good-quality paper, a fine-point technical pen, and a pencil are all you need to do your first Zentangle tile. The costs to get started are very reasonable. And with minimal supplies, this is the type of project you can carry with you and do anyplace.

Zentangle can take many shapes and forms. Once you learn the basics, you can expand to decorate many other surfaces, you can even add color to the surface or the line. There are no rules in Zentangle-and no mistakes!

You can find a plethora of information about Zentangle on the web. Start with www.zentangle.com. If you look on the blog page you will find links to multiple blogs.

These blogs will take you in all sorts of directions into the Zentagle community.

My blog, Sue’s Tangle Trips, is one of those listed. As a decorative painter, I use Zentangle along with the things I’ve learned through decorative painting classes to give my art its own touch. I also teach Zentangle in the Chicago area and will travel.

There are Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT), throughout the country and the world.Listings can be found on the Zentangle website. Try a class with a CZT. You will love it!

Sue Jacobs
suejacobs.blogspot.com
http://www.suejacobs.com
sue@suejacobs.com

Attention to good detail is important whether you are painting realistic floral arrangements, fruit, vegetables, sharp focus still life, landscapes, animals, or portraits. The glint of light in an eye or on a water drop, pollen, tiny stamens in a flower center or bug bites on a leaf; good details give your paintings life and a spark of realism.

Details in the Center of Interest
Whether a detail is major or minor is dictated by its location in the painting. When painting the details in the center of interest area, they are developed to the fullest extent as the center of interest has the brightest and warmest colors, strongest value contrast and sharp focus. These attributes will help attract the viewer’s eye to the center of interest area. As details on objects move further away from the center of interest area and into the supporting areas or background, contrast is less, details are not as sharp-focused and therefore developed to a lesser degree to keep them softer and make them less eye catching.

Details in the Supporting Areas
In the supporting areas away from the center of interest, details should be calm, quiet, soft and subdued. Softer means less noticeable but not poorly painted; they should be neatly and carefully executed. Control of value, temperature and intensity are the important factors in keeping details quiet in the supporting areas.

Line work and Brush Control
Detail line-work should have graceful flow and clean edges. Detail and liner brushes in excellent condition are important tools. Paint must be the proper consistency in order to make perfect lines. Detail strokes should be executed with one continuous flowing stroke and not be over-painted, overworked or have cleaned up edges. It has been said many times that practice is the key. Practice is the only way to achieve good technical skills and brush control. Skillful and beautifully painted details will give your painting a professional touch.

Find out more about solving problem areas of painting and learn about finishing touches that are vital to improving your skills at Advancing Your Skills class – Friday, May 18, 1-5 PM – SDP Conference in Wichita.
Visit my web site at http://jeanarcher.com. Read or subscribe to my free blog about painting at http://jeanarcher.com/myblog/

Place your order today for the limited edition giclee print of Sherry C. Nelson’s MDA/TDA Marvelous Spatuletail. This gorgeous print will be a wonderful addition, or a great start, to any art collection as it serves to commemorate the 40th year of the Society of Decorative Painters. Don’t miss your opportunity to own this special piece from the world renowned artist and past SDP president Sherry C. Nelson MDA/TDA. This commemorative Giclee is the highest quality print, second only to the original artwork. Order online now from the SDP online boutique, or contact Shandi High at shandi@decorativepainters.org or (316) 269-9300 ext. 110.

• -Size: 15″ x 18″ (27.9 x 35.6 cm)
• -Presented on archival paper (315 gsm)
• -$70 USD per print, plus shipping & handling
• -Limited Edition
• -Printed from the original work in oil
• -Pre-orders must arrive at SDP Headquarters no later than April 5, 2012
• -You may have your print shipped directly to you, or pick it up at Conference where Sherry Nelson MDA/TDA will be signing each piece.

Just what is decorative painting? If you are asking yourself this question, you are not alone! As our industry changes and stretches, so do our challenges. And as we rise to meet those challenges, our abilities and our diversity grow as well.

When I first began decorative painting, I learned to paint on plates, boxes, slates, and other small wood and tin pieces. Today, I not only create beautiful treasures on those pieces, but I also take many of the techniques I have learned and apply them to bathroom walls, office desktops, and hallway mirrors. The techniques I have created and the colors I bring together work far beyond the small pieces I originally created them on.

Our industry offers a wide variety of products that allow for endless creative possibilities. Adding texture is a great way to transform a surface, and with modern tools we can create texture in many new ways. A transformation can take place with texture paste, contrasting colors, and a touch of strokework for a border around the door or window. If you like the look of strokework but it isn’t your strong suit, stencil it.

All the learning at Conference doesn’t need to be kept to one application nor to one piece. You can take those color combinations, those product applications, and parts of those designs and apply them to all kinds of places in your home or office. This May, I will be teaching Techniques in Texture at SDP’s 40th Annual Conference. We will create four different techniques with four different color combinations. We will use texture pastes, stencils, and color to create exciting looks with fantastic textures. These techniques are vibrant enough to stand alone on a frame, a table, or on a wall. Create a beautiful frame in class for that special oil painting you just painted. Or use the techniques as the background on a floral or maybe a stroke design.
Take all those wonderful techniques you learn at Conference and go wild. Decorate your world and remember: Smile while you paint, and it warms the heart. Paint with your heart, and it warms your soul.

Maureen Baker
www.maureen-baker.com

Sonia Giusto shares a technique that will allow you to paint a gorgeous chrysanthemum flower, in less than five minutes! See the full video, below.
Visit Sonia’s website, http://www.soniagiusto.com, for more fantastic painting lessons. Be sure to watch for one of Sonia’s projects in an upcoming issue of The Decorative Painter, later this year.

See the full video online