Those roses are beautiful, look like velvet. I know you will enjoy them.

Your little stocking with the snowmen looks so cute, hope the one little guy doesn't fall out! LOL You are such a fast painter, and these all have so much detail on them too. Good job.

Luvs

Luvs,
You must of been posting when I left here. I get alot of comments on how fast a painter I am. What I have learned and taught my students in the past is to always use as large a brush as you can handle for your projects. I can paint my base coat and float my project while others are still base coating because they are afraid to use a larger brush. I always shade light and reshade if need be.

Hope this little hint will help by trying a larger brush. A good shader brush for the floating will make any project paint faster. If this doesn't apply for you maybe it can help someone else.

I have several ladies wanting me to teach classes again now that they know I'm back to painting. I don't have or want to take the time right now. I enjoy all of everyone hints I get on here so feel free to offer me advise anytime.

Thanks again for all your nice comments on my painted projects.

Hi...beautiful bouquet! What a cute stocking project. Love all the colors you used and especially the dark background. I always like that look, but never think to do it on my own projects. Duh. ha

I am one of the students that needs her hand smacked with a ruler for using tiny brushes. Probably why it takes me so long. Ya'll will be proud of me though because I finally bought a set of larger brushes and I will try to train myself to use them more in 2009! ha No telling what my projects will come out looking like so just bear with me til I get the hang of it. ha I still have to work really hard on my shading. Still doesn't come easily to me. Since I'm self taught I love getting lots of advice so feel free to give it out as often as you like. =)

So did you gift the snowman stocking or are you keeping that one?? ~Anj

Phonegirl, I still love tips that make things quicker, easier, or better. I'm open to any suggestions.

My biggest problem is that I hate having to do the basecoat in two or three thin coats--would rather just put it on thicker the first time--but that does not usually work out as smoothly as the multi layers. I'm also lazy and hate to have to change brushes for different areas, so am guilty of often using a smaller brush that will fit in more areas, even though I know it would be faster with a larger brush!

My latest favorite thing now is using the angle brushes for base coating and shading, it's so much easier to get it into the tight spots and yet big enough for the other areas too. Love it.

So on your plaid, did you get it that good with only one coat, or did you have to go back over it more than once?

And do you base and shade one area before you move on to the next area. Or do you base all the project then go back to do the shading?

I'm just trying to figure out ways that will make my painting faster--although I know I could be faster if I just got in there and worked on mine more often! LOL

Luvs

Why I love this forum, just can't get enough fun in my life without it!!!
Anj, don't let anyone smack you for using a small brush. Just stop using them. I'm still cracking up over that. Just try to use larger brushes. ha ha

Luvs to answer a few of your questions. I did paint the plaid in one coat. Find your paints that give you the best coverage and use them for projects like this. I used Folkart - Thicket for the stripes I'm pretty sure. You want to do this in one coat so that the cross over lines end up darker.

My favorite brushes are Loew Cornell and I use the flat ones to base unless there is some little spot I can't get into. When you first load your brush be sure to work the paint in and this will keep you from doing more than 2 base coats to cover. I never start without my brush being loaded.

I always use the shader brushes to shade with. Wet your brush good and just touch the side of your water container to get rid of some. Pick up paint and work it back and forth on your paper to make sure the color is blended. Don't want any major color hanging on the edge of brush. Make sure the paint doesn't go to the furthest side of your brush. If it does, do a quick rinse through your water and reload. If I want a real smooth look I load my brush with the base color and then into the shading color. If you haven't tried this do and let me know what you think. This comes with practice, practice and more practice. I love to shade unless my project is not smooth. For an example of this look at my snowman I just posted. The wood wasn't real good and I couldn't get my right cheek where I wanted it. I hate it when I have to pick my work apart. ha ha

I love to help others and as good as you two are I can't imagine any problems once you get the loading process down. Oh I base the whole project before doing any shading.

I'm self taught so it's not that I know to much. I just started with Chris Thornton and she explains her projects to the max for dummies. lol I really like Between The Vines but if a new self taught painter tried it I bet they would give up for sure. I'm working on stockings and I had to figure out the rest of the pattern so DH could cut them out for me. That's why I painted the last snowman without the stocking.

Best get back to painting! Hope this helps and thanks again for all the help you've given me. FYI, I covered this with Triple Thick that you brush on and it looks like glass and I washed the brush out with soap and water.

I'm doing much better with my shading since I learned the spray bottle trick, but if I ever heard about 1/2 loading it with the base color it didn't stick in my head! Sounds like a no brainer now that you say it. I'm gonna practice that! Thank you!!

I could do better with loading my brush too. No wonder I'm so stinking slow. ha I need better technique. Thanks for the reminders on the details. I'm stoked to get to painting now, but I'll have to wait til tomorrow. ha

I really like my Loew-Cornell brushes too. ~Anj

You know it is so good when we discuss some of these things on here. I had read about loading the brush with the base color and then side loading with your shade color, but had completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it on here Phonegirl. I remember wanting to try it because I hate it when I get a "shadow" line with the water side of the brush. (I often take a clean wet brush to "erase" that area.)

I think the reason I loved the One Stroke painting so much was because I could load my brush with paint and not have to go back over any areas. And I could also paint right over part of an area while the paint was still wet which always amazed me. For the One Stroke, I try to only use my Folkart paints because they are thicker. But I love my Americana and Delta paints for other things--so guess it's good having a variety. Mostly I buy paints when I find a good sale on them.

Oh, talking about One Stroke painting reminds me--did I mention that I found not one, but two of those metal cake plate covers at the TS? I've always wanted to paint one with roses on it and now I can! And the best part was that I got them for $1.99 each. I need to do some practicing before I do them--haven't painted any roses in quite awhile and I don't do as well when I haven't practiced.

I like allot of the Jaime Mills Price designs too, but you are right, she puts a ton of little details on them that might be intimidating for newbies. I don't have any of her books, but do have some of her designs in my painting mags.

Anj, remember how I hated doing lettering? I finally went back to using my small brushes when I do it instead of trying to use one the width of the letters. The small brushes are working much better for me, think it's because I have more "control" if that makes any sense at all. LOL I think we just have to do whatever works best for us.

Luvs

PhoneGirl...you tips are great! Never thought of side loading with the base color and then the shade color. Every time I shade I have to really slow down and not rush it! On large areas I also use a larger brush than I will be using for the shading and fill it with float mix and starting at the bottom of the line move upward to the starting point. This leaves more mix at the end of my stroke than at the beginning where my shading brush has the most paint. The larger wet area help draw the paint outward.

I also like to "outline" my base coats by using a small to medium angle brush to make a clean first line, then add the rest of my base coats. And yes I am to picky! I like everything to be exact! And I like the detailing parts best. The sanding and sealing and base coats are a waste of my time - but have to be done! Darn it all anyway!

You Stocking and Snowmen is adorable and I really like the highlighting in the sky, you added whisps of color around the snowflakes and across the sky - never thought of doing that to add depth or brightness to the flakes. JMP is one of my favorite's, did a couple of stand up's for the DIL and DD - think I will find some for me!

Belle

Luvtocraft - - Best Christmas gift I received this year was a JMP painting book. Here's a site that lists a couple of hr books at really great savings: http://product.half.ebay.com/Painting-Heartwarming-Holidays_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ48052607

Anjabee--- Only paint brushes I have are the One Stroke brand. I want to purchase other brushes; maybe Loew-Cornell. Could you tell which ones I should buy to have a basic set ??

Hey retiree....I would love to help you, but they make so many different ones I wouldn't know where to start to tell you about a basic set. I personally like the short ones with the acrylic handles that I think are marketed as craft brushes. Probably not very professional, but I like the feel of them. I have a bunch of liners in different sizes (cause I am addicted to tiny brushes), some shaders, angled and flat brushes in different sizes. I just bought some of the Royal soft grip ones that I'm liking too. I'm sure some of these gals who have taught and have waaaaaay more experience than me can help you better! Please give her some advice guys!!

Oh, PG~ I tried your shading technique today and it worked so good! So fast and easy! Thank you again.~Anj

Luvs,
I can hardly wait to see your covered cake plates painted. That is such a good price for them that it will make them more fun to paint on. I was given a vase and if you lived closer I'd proposition you to paint on it for me. I would offer to send it if you were interested but it would probably end up broken. I'll hang on to it and maybe someday try painting on it.

Belle, it's great to be picky. It shows in your work. I painted all kinds of things on my nail clients for the holidays. They wanted it free handed to show off. Guess you know mine are plain most of the time cause I don't do well painting with my left hand. It's hard enough to do my own nail enhancements.

Anj, glad you liked trying a different shading technique. It will show a line just like the other if you don't keep your brush clean but I like it for smaller areas. I used it alot when painting my cows years ago.

Retiree, I agree with Anj on her suggestions for brushes. Two sets of Loew Cornell that I received for Christmas are #2121 (purple handles)and #2116 (green handles). Good variety in these packs. These sets have 8-9 brushes in them and are very reasonable at Michael's. If you take your coupon in and use it they would only cost $5-$10. I would think your one stroke brushes would work fine.

I would like to see some of your projects if you would post on here. Do you post and I've missed them?

Retiree, I use allot of the One Stroke brushes. I love them because they hold allot of paint and still keep a good chisel edge. My favorites are the angle ones in various sizes. I also bought some of the soft grip brushes when Michaels had them on sale for like $1.99 each. I really like them too. Each time you go into Michael's or Joanne's, just watch for the sales or do like PG said and use one of the 40% off coupons. Hope you will be joining us allot on here. We love to see what everyone is painting. Luvs