New Instructional Magazines

I just published this new instructional magazine, and I am really happy with the way it came out.
  I have been teaching classes and doing demonstrations based on the concepts in this book for a year now.
SPLAT!!! makes me really happy because it incorporates careful planning with fresh playful brush technique.

The magazine is affordable and easy to understand.  I really hope my students and past students pick up a copy.


I published "Tools for Painting Landscapes last spring.  It is based on class noted I took during a William Reese Workshop I attended in 1994.

The next magazines, (coming Soon) will be on creating color harmony, perspective, and values and light.
  I'll keep you posted.

I've Been Working on a New Book

Life sometimes gets in the way of plans...

this winter, it was two bouts of pneumonia,

 a six week stint babysitting my lovely toddler grandson, 

taxes, teaching classes...

and a broken arm.

But then, somehow, I managed to finish 

 this little book.

Want to purchase this book?

I painted 16 illustrations and wrote the story for my grandson's second birthday.

He loves looking at the original paintings with me while I tell the story.

He gets so adorably worried when the Raccoon runs home with sticky hands.

There are a lot more stories inside my head waiting to be told and painted.

This is the second.

I hope life gives me a little bit more of an opening to get them done.

Oliver's book of "O"

link

Nostalgia

Apple Cart 12 x 16 Acrylic on Panel 

Snow on the Woodshed 12 x 16 acrylic on panel

Nostalgia

The last few weeks I have been painting images from a warm and fondly remembered past.  I have recently been longing for a time in my life that was less fearful and complicated.  

Painting is my own safety zone for memories, thoughts and ideas.  I can push myself forward or fall back at my own rhythm.   Maine and Prince Edward Island are places where I connect with my family and friends, with nature and a slower pace...

   

In a  season that has been filled with worries and concerns for the future and where the unknown looms very large, painting provides a present moment space of  fierce awareness.  It separates me from the chaos of the news, the phone and the internet, and leaves some room to take a breath.

Horse Power 24 x 20 acrylic on canvas

Training Day 18" x 24" acrylic on Panel

Lobster Pots 18" x 24" acrylic on panel

Winter Workshop in Arizona

• 

I am teaching a five day workshop at

Scottsdale Artists' School

Impressionism in Acrylics: A Fresh Approach to Painting in Acrylics

Instructor

Dianna Shyne

Course Meets

01/05/2016 - 01/09/2016 9:00AM - 4:00PM on Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Tuition

$635/ 5 days  

Scottsdale Artists’ School
3720 North Marshall Way
Scottsdale, AZ 85251 map 

(480) 990-1422
(800) 333-5707

 

Award-winning artist Dianna Shyne, will share tools and techniques she uses to create dynamic impressionist paintings. Dianna’s classes are always fast, fun and packed with information. The possibilities with this medium are endless, but a good understanding of handling acrylics is essential.
Dianna has painted for over 30 years in watercolor, oils and acrylics. Eighteen years ago she settled on acrylic paint as her medium of choice for its speed, resiliency, low toxicity, and rapid drying time. She has spent years working on ways to teach these concepts in practical, easy to learn lessons.
Whether students are seasoned oil painters, experienced watercolorists, or newcomers to acrylics, Dianna will take students through the steps to create vibrant, oil-like acrylic paintings. With demonstrations and lectures on color mixing, values, design, composition, and color harmony students will do exercises to improve their skills while still having plenty of time to work on their own paintings.
Students will receive a packet of printed materials to help them remember these concepts long after the workshop has finished. Come learn the strengths of this incredible medium in a fast paced, fun and energizing environment to create impressionist painting artists never thought possible with acrylics.

Getting Going Again

Two Turtle Day 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas

  It's been months since my husband went in to Seattle Cancer Care Aliance for a stem cell transplant to treat Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bones and blood.  I became his care giver, and set aside everything else.   It was important to let go of art because when I paint, I get forgetful...loose track of time...get absorbed in the process.  Michael needed me to be fully present, so I set aside painting and teaching.

  

We moved to the Pete Gross House in Seattle near Lake Union to be closer to the clinic, and set about to go step by step to save Michael's  life.

 

Living a short walk from the lake allowed me to meet several of the residents.   I counted how nice the weather was by how many turtles lined up on logs.  A "two turtle day" showed promise, a "ten turtle day" was the nicest day of the year.  My other favorite resident of the lake was a gorgeous great blue heron who was so engrossed in fishing that he completely ignored my presence.  On lovely days between cancer treatment appointments, my husband and I would stroll down to the lake and watch  sea planes , sail boats, kids splashing in the water, and the heron in his slow motion fishing beneath the watchful eye of the Space Needle  amidst the roar of urban traffic.

On Stilts  24" x 12" acrylic on hardboard

Patient Fisher 24" x 12" acrylic on hardboard

So here we are two months post transplant...home on Camano Island.  Cancer is in remission.   Now I am beginning to paint  again.  My classes are scheduled to begin soon, and I can't stay out of the studio.  Right now I am painting the images from South Lake Union that kept me refreshed during a stressful time. Thankful and blessed that my husband received wonderful medical care, and that we are home again, putting our lives back together.

 

 

For a list of my upcoming classes and workshops click here.

 

 

 

 

Two Spring Demonstrations

 

Valley Bloom was painted as a demonstration forfor Mercer Isalnd Visual Arts League (MIVAL) on April 2nd 2015 (as a one hour demo).  I put another couple of hours into it at home...I think it still needs work.  But I love the Skagit Valley when it is in bloom, and I think it a worthy subject to get right.

Valley Bloom 36" x 36" acrylic

"Winters End" was painted as a demonstration for Evergreen Associations of the Arts (EAFA) on March 19 2015.  It was started as a one hour demo, and I added another hour of finishing as home.  I did a smaller study of this painting last fall.  I used a photo I took in a back alley in Cle Elum WA.

"Winters End"  36 x 24 Acrylic

Small Studies...

A while ago, I started painting small studies in my classes to illustrate the lesson .

Some of my students asked if they could purchase them, so I mounted, varnished and framed a number of them to show and sell as small works.

They are priced well below retail as they were quick impressions.

I have posted about half of the available images.

These painting will be available for sale at the Winslow Art Center in Winslow WA on Bainbridge Island, Friday December 12th and Saturday December 13th.

 



          

A Bend in the River

12 x 16

$175 

Painted to illustrate the power of using fewer pigments

 

  

                                    

A Peaceful Place

 12 x 16    

 $175

We painted this image together using several different color combinations                

 

Apple Basket

8 x 8

$100

We each painted a copy of this from a black and white photo to see if we could find warm light, cool shadows and reflected light. I had the students work very quickly to not overthink.

 

 Backlit Aspen

10 x 8

SOLD

Painted as a quick Plein Air demo several years ago.

 

Bagno Vignoni

12 x 9

$150

Plein Air demo in Italy done during a short sun break between rain bursts.

 

 

Blue Shadow

9 x 12

$150

Painted as a demonstration exaggerating the coolness of shadows in warn light.

 

 

 Bright Winter

$250

In this class exercize, I gave my students a black and white photo I took in a small town in Eastern Washington, and a copy of a winter painting by Russian Impressionist, Isaac Levitan, and we attempted to merge ideas from both images.

 

 

 

Castella Di Piano

12 x 9

Sold

 

 

 

 

 Fall Colors

16 x 20

$550

Painted as an in class demonstration at Winslow Art Center to illustrate finding the unique color harmonies of Autumn

 

 

 

 

 

 Green Magic

8 x 10

$100

Painted to illustrate using an analagous color harmony (all greens).

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Solo

12 x 9

$150

I had my students paint this several times using different triads of colors.

 

 

 

 Red Tea Pot

12 x 12

$175

Painted to illustrate ways to light, shadows and reflections on Red