(light playful music)
- Oh, do we have something fun planned for today.
So this little pad of mysterious paper
is something I have been intending to use
in a video for a while.
You folks probably know what it is,
'cause I've hinted at it
for, like, a month and a half.
This stuff here is canvas paper,
and today we're gonna be painting on it.
Now, I've actually used this stuff in the past,
and it is thebomb.com,
and I highly recommend it
for folks who maybe are afraid
to jump into painting on a canvas.
Maybe you have a budget,
or maybe you just wanna do some painting studies,
and you don't want to do it on a canvas.
Maybe you don't even wanna do it in your sketchbook.
This is another great option,
has the texture of a canvas.
This is not sponsored by them.
I just really like this stuff.
So we're gonna do a painting today,
and it's gonna be a good time.
Also, I got some new Acryla Gouache colors.
So this is gonna be an Acryla Gouache kind of painting.
We're gonna dip back into the folk art style
that I used to to all the time,
and see where this takes us.
(light playful music)
Actually, before we jump into this,
I have something I just wanna share with you.
All right, here's my old iPad here.
I have been in this experimental mood lately,
where I just wanna dip back
into a bunch of different art supplies.
You guys know, for the last year,
I've been so into acrylics and stuff,
but now I'm gettin' back into Gouache,
and I'm probably gonna get
some watercolor paints next week.
Anyway, I really want to get better at Procreate
and digital art, too,
because I really like making stickers and stuff.
So I'm excited,
because I'm gonna take a class
called "Digital Illustration: Learn to Use Procreate"
by Jarom Vogel on Skillshare.
And Skillshare is very kindly sponsoring today's video,
so I just wanna tell you a little bit about them.
I really like using Skillshare.
I've been using it for years.
They really helped me step up my game as an artist
and learn filming techniques
and just dive into new hobbies.
So basically Skillshare is this online learning community,
and there are thousands of classes that you can choose from.
And I have to say,
Skillshare has grown so much by now
that pretty much whatever you think of is on there.
Like, if you want to do watercolor painting,
there's tons of classes on that.
Maybe you want to learn color theory
and see, like, would these two colors go great together?
Well, there are classes to help you with that (laughs).
And then there's tons of other things,
like cooking and ceramics
and just entrepreneurial stuff.
It's really cool.
Skillshare is curated specifically for learning,
so that means their classes have no ads.
They're broken up into sections,
so you can take little pieces at a time,
fit it into your busy schedule.
I just think it's a wonderful place
to grow and learn.
So my first 1,000 subscribers
to click the link below
will get a one-month free trial of Skillshare
to try out.
I highly recommend it.
They're making it more accessible
to people around the world, too.
So Skillshare's entire catalog of classes
now has subtitles in Portuguese, French, and Spanish,
and I just think that's really awesome
that they are starting to add
a bunch of different languages
to help you folks and make it accessible.
Highly recommend Skillshare.
It has helped me so much over the years,
and I hope it helps you, too.
(light playful music)
All right, our palette is all set up.
We have our brushes.
This is going to be a nice, fun painting session.
If you are in the mood to create with me,
feel free to grab whatever it is you have
and we can just have a fun creative session together.
I feel like at this time of year,
life gets really busy,
and as much as many of us enjoy the holidays,
in hindsight, it is a very stressful thing.
And I think every January,
I just have to decompress a little bit.
But these moments that are tucked into the holiday season,
where I can just tune the world out and create,
are very special.
They're very meaningful.
They give me time to process my own life,
perhaps listen to a good podcast
or watch other YouTube channels (laughs).
So yeah, I'm really into the channel
called Simple Living Alaska right now.
They live off grid
and grow their own food and everything.
And I just love homesteading channels,
because I love gardening.
And now that we own a house,
mm, I cannot wait to garden this summer.
(gentle acoustic music)
So let's talk a little bit about my painting,
because I have not addressed this yet.
(gentle acoustic music)
I am painting a moth,
and
if you are newer to my channel,
I should probably backtrack a little bit
and give you some information about myself.
So I consider myself to be
an experimental artist.
That means I go through phases,
and I fully embrace that as an artist.
I don't stick to one style,
and I don't stick to one medium,
because it makes me feel like I'm trapped in a cage,
and it stifles my creativity.
But years ago,
probably two or three or four years ago,
I don't know, wherever the timeline is,
I was so into painting moths,
and I really loved this folk art style.
And if any of you were with me
when I was really just jivin' with that style,
I did a lot of moths
on paper this exact size
with this similar layout,
similar limited color palettes,
and I just went with it.
I did some folk art,
and it was really fun.
I did it with tea cups and tea kettles
and all sorts of things,
animals in clothing.
I just love folk art.
But
it is definitely not like a full-time thing for me (laughs).
I get kinda bored if I do it too much,
so yeah, that's why I only visit it occasionally these days.
Anyway, I really love painting moths,
and I can give you some background information on that, too.
When I was an undergrad,
I helped with research in a lab,
and basically I was
doing some work with some butterflies, lepidoptera (laughs).
And, ah, it was just so cool
looking at them under microscopes
and dissecting them
and figuring out a lot of really cool stuff for research.
I mean, I didn't figure out a lot of the stuff.
I was just like the busy hands (laughs),
but my professor, like, he knows his stuff,
and that really inspired me.
And I got really into just looking at pictures of them
and wanting to draw them.
I did some biological illustrations,
and to this day,
I still just absolutely love painting them.
So, yeah,
this is what led me to that.
I'm using Acryla Gouache.
And I used to use regular Gouache a lot,
but I think because I love acrylic paint,
I prefer Acryla Gouache over regular Gouache.
(gentle music)
I really like the finish, how matte it is,
and how it does not reactivate with water (laughs).
But I still really enjoy Gouache, too,
so it's all good.
Anyway, since it's, like, winter and fall,
I wanted to do a color palette
that reflected that and really limit my options.
So what you're seeing here
is a lot of reds and oranges and blues,
brown, gold.
And I just thought, wow, you know,
I don't really dip
into this particular color scheme that often.
I usually choose mint and pink and greens and stuff.
So it was quite liberating to explore
a different section of limited color palettes,
and I think I might have to work with this color scheme
again in the future.
Anyway, I
thought it would be fun to add
little weird shapes and berries and plants
at the end all around it.
Pretty happy with the way it came out.
(gentle music)
Here is our final painting.
My goodness, it looks so vibrant
in the natural sunlight.
It got pretty dark out last night
when I was painting this (laughs).
I really enjoyed this.
As some of you may know
who've been with me for a while,
I love painting moths.
It's something that I used to do a lot
a couple years ago,
but every now and then,
I dabble back into it, when I'm in the mood.
Usually I do a couple paintings in one video,
but this painting actually took me, like,
three hours, give or take.
And after I did this one,
I just felt like this is a good stopping point,
and this week, we're only gonna do one painting.
That's all right.
But I hope this inspired you.
I hope it makes you want to create something.
If you stayed 'til the end,
the comment of the day,
what is your absolute favorite thing
to paint or draw that you could just paint or draw
over and over again
and just not get tired of it?
What is that for you?
I'm a phasey person, it changes.
In the summer, it's usually water.
I could do that over and over.
And then in the winter,
sometimes it's like eyes.
Sometimes it's like moths.
I think I just get really experimental in the winter.
I might have to use this stuff in more videos.
It was just really refreshing,
and I like that it's a nice, small piece of paper.
It doesn't warp, no matter how much I layer.
Yeah, good times, good times.
I can try to link it down below.
I got this as a gift from Chloe,
so I don't know where she got it,
but I'll try to find you a link
in case anybody's curious.
I will also link that free trial to Skillshare,
in case you want to treat yourself
to some wonderful classes this holiday season
and maybe pick up a new hobby.
Now I gotta clean these paints up,
but thank you so much for watching.
I hope you have a beautiful day,
and I will see you folks next week, bye.