• 9-student limit in classroom with professional instructor.
• Students participate in the Art Show in May.
• Kids play room is available for over age 10 or teen monitored.

In-depth:
This class is a lot of fun and the instruction is foundational for becoming the kind of artists who can enjoy their own work as well as continue developing their skills. We begin the year with an emphasis on accuracy drawing, then move to face drawing skills and personal expression. We break up these segments with painting projects and color journals. The color journal days end with the student having created a two-page chart with 25 different versions of a basic color, such as blue. The colors are complex, and are based on useful painting colors instead of a simple light and dark chart that is easy to teach. Personal style is not taught, but rather encouraged. We don't call any of our work a "mistake", but instead refer to work as either "learners" or "keepers". (sometimes you even get an "oh-my-word-I-can't-believe-I-did-that-amazing-thing-ers")

Tuition: $855 for a 35-session curriculum.
or 9 monthly payments of $95 (there is also a once-a-year $25 registration fee)

Supplies:

Art supplies and kits are available from Firstlight this year! here is last year's supply information. The kits are mostly the same, with a few changes and a couple of additions. The new kit and supply list will be posted soon. Use the link at the top of the page to view your supply purchasing options

These are minimum sizes and lowest cost alternatives. Also, you can get larger size watercolor paper for special projects. A large portfolio is nice for carrying artwork and pads, and a bin of some sort from either our online art store, or the hardware store is very helpful. You'll need everything on the list unless noted as optional.

• Student quality acrylic paint in 10 artist's colors (see list below*)
• Canvas pad - 12 x 16 - NOT paper pretend canvas. you can also get any other canvas boards or stretched canvas.
• Plastic palette knife
• Palette pad (any size)
• watercolor paper pad 11 x 15 90 lb.
• 4 or more Brushes - various sizes from 2 to 12. Synthetic (Round shaped) acrylic brushes are best.
• Drawing pad - 14x17 50 sheets (you can get taped but spiral holds up much better.)
• Newsprint pad - 18x24 50 sheets.
• Charcoal paper pad - varied tones of grey paper.
• White Charcaol sticks -
• oil pastels set of 24 or more

• Paper stumps for blending and a
• sandpaper board for cleaning them.
• Pencils - 2B, 4B, and Ebony
• kneaded Eraser & White eraser
• Vine or willow charcoal - Get soft.
• India ink - water proof
• Painters masking tape or artists white tape (blue or purple)
• Pen nib holder and artist nibs. 2 pack or 4 pack art nibs.
• compressed charcoal - soft or extra soft.
• Spray mist bottle is needed. Not a tiny one, more like a utility spray bottle.
• drawing board 19x24 or thereabouts.
NEW: white charcoal sticks or conte crayons
NEW: Pad of greyscale varied tints 12 x 18" charcaol paper

Also bring:
• Old toothbrush for spattering
• Paper towels & Water jars (plastic is best for transporting. I use large yogurt tubs)
• A painting apron (or please do not wear good clothing to class. We get paint on ourselves. Really we do.)
• Transportation devices, such as a tool-bin (see website for info) and a large portfolio (not paper!)


PAINT COLOR LIST:
(please use exact names listed) YOU CAN GET ANY BRAND!! The cheaper brands are good for beginners and are called “student grade”. They cost less, and since young students tend to waste more paint and don't like to mix as much, it's the best choice for them. The expensive tubes are the same colors, but they have more actual pigments in each tube. I use Golden Acrylics, but I extend the color by mixing with lots of white. Golden is the top of the line professional brand.

Safety note: Please do not get actual Cadmium or Cobalt colors. Cadmium and Cobalt are toxic heavy metals, similar to lead. However, if the name includes the word, “HUE” it is ok, because it means that it does NOT have these toxic metals in them, but are just trying to mimic the hue of the paints that do use the metals. If you're unsure, ask the sales people to help you. Single pigment paint is best.

1 White (titanium) - get a large tube. We use a lot of white. If you want to spend a little more on any color, do so for the white. A higher priced brand will be more opaque and cover other colors better.
2 Non-cadmium light yellow, such as Hansa Yellow or Cadmium Hue
3 Non-cadmium warm red. Pyrrole Red or Napthol Red Medium or Cadmium Red Hue Medium.
4 Magenta red, or quinacridone magenta.
5 Pthalo Green (if noted, get blue bias, or blue shade, not green). Do not get the pretty greens as these are all mixable using pthalo and other colors.
6 Non-Cobalt bright blue, such as Cyan Blue or Curelean.
7 Ultramarine blue
8 Dioxazine Purple or Winsor Violet, (the Van Gogh or Amsterdam brand is called permanent blue-violet)
9 Burnt Umber
10 Burnt Sienna