[music fades]

Cinnamon: Hi. How are you guys doing today?

I'm Cinnamon Cooney. I'm your art sherpa. Welcome to the live event. And if you're here on replay,

thank you for coming, and going ahead and giving this painting a try.

Today, together, we're going to paint

this wonderful aurora borealis, inspired by Acadia National Park.

[inhales deeply]

Let's all take a deep breath. Woooo! What a time of year, right?

John: Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon: Oh, I'm feeling it. Are you feeling it, John?

John: Oh, I am.

Cinnamon: Today my co-captain, John Cooney, is with you. He's gonna be directing the camera so you can

follow my craziness around, and paint along easily.

John: Pushing buttons.

Cinnamon: Pushing buttons. We're gonna tell you everything you need to know to complete this painting.

So even if it's your first time painting, you're gonna have enough information to get a painting done.

That's gonna be really exciting to you and a lot of fun, so....

I'm looking forward to doing this with you guys. Everyone here who's live, how are you doing?

Happy holidays. Are you surviving the stress?

[chuckles]

It's really quite extraordinary out here in Humble. The, uh- Oh. Stunt Hands is adjusting the camera.

Um... Yay, Stunt Hands!

[exhales]

It's been really intense on the roads, right?

I mean it is kind of the rest of the year, and people will be painting this painting all year so wherever you are in your year,

[inhales deeply]

Let it go. Release it. We're gonna paint it out. We're gonna get rid of it.

We're gonna talk about materials real quick. I'm gonna put this painting up.

Show you again what you're gonna be doing.

Now, in the comments below, if you look down, if you click down, there's gonna be a link to the full painting.

I highly recommend that you either print out the finished painting or have it up on a screen.

Cause that will really help you follow along and make things much more calm and much more relaxing,

and that's gonna be the theme of today.

Just calming it down.

John: Yeah.

Cinnamon: Just relaxing it out. That's what we're gonna be about today.

I'm painting on a pre-gessoed sixteen by twenty canvas from Michael's.

Many of you ask me if you need another coat of gesso for your canvas.

And the answer to this is....

On these pre-manufactured canvases, especially the economic ones,

the coatings are not really consistent from canvas to canvas, and if it's bothering you,

I would say go ahead and hit it with another coat of gesso, but remember, gesso is absorbent.

So that's something that will impact you too, but it can help your finish, and you might like that.

Um, also today let's cover our fun materials. We have a few special materials today.

The toothbrush.

An old toothbrush that no one in your family is ever going to put in their mouth ever again.

I mark mine with tape so these people will stop taking it back to the bathroom to brush their teeth.

I also have sponges. Now I got a package of different kinds of sponges

from Michael's for about four dollars.

You could- This is gonna be for a future painting. I really liked that sponge.

These are just natural, free form, shapey sponges.

If you didn't have an ability to get one of those, you could take a kitchen sponge and kind of

tear little bits out of it and make it an unusual, free form, weird little shape.

If you can get these, for the convenience of not having to

fidder with a sponge, I would say do it, but if you've gotta pull one apart-

I've certainly done it before, and it will work.

The other, um, thing that's gonna help us today is fluid-

See the Golden fluid paint here? John: Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon: Now, here's the thing. Artist Loft now makes a fluid paint.

It's like a dollar.

[chuckles]

So.

Um, the only thing to watch on that is that it's not chunky or gummy.

So you don't have to spend the money for the Golden.

I'm using the Golden today cause it's very consistent and I can count on it.

And I'm gonna give you some more tips on how to get a successful spatter, cause I think that's really been

challenging everyone, and that's sort of the secret to the stars.

John: Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon: The other kind of unusual materials. Quinacridone Magenta.

But what if you couldn't get quinacridone?

Well, any bright pink magenta would work, guys.

John: So you could substitute passamaquoddy pink in there and be fine?

Cinnamon: You could totally substitute passamaquoddy pink.

And then the other two colors that I'd like you to have is either some type of Aqua. Some type of turquoise.

This is Liquitex Bright Aqua Green.

But you know I also love me some Southern Ocean Blue.

So, there's a lot of options out there. And then of course, our Dioxazine Purple.

Our Phthalo Blue. Our cad yellow.

Our black.

John: Mm-hmm. Cinnamon: Right. Mars Black.

John: Mars Black.

Cinnamon: But listen. On this kind of painting,

if you happen to have carbon black, your painting isn't ruined. Don't worry about it.

And I also like to use a transparent mxing white.

Now, yes, there is a student grade transparent mixing white.

Zinc white also works, and if you just have regular white, that will work too.

And there is an exchange, if you find similar or approximate colors is craft paints.

You guys are not in any way lost.

I'm still celebrating my... Cause I feel this is spacey.

I've got- I don't know why I feel Batman ties into the aurora borealis today, but I did, so.

I'm wearing the Batman. Cause the bat signal would be in the night sky, I guess is what...

The process was.

How's everybody doing?

John: Oh, they- It's quite a lively crown with us today.

[Cinnamon laughs]

John: I'm surprised. We got about seventy five people out here, hanging out with us,

on this, you know, wonderful Christmas eve.

Cinnamon: [chuckling] Clinging to art for sanity, I imagine.

John: I'm just so happy that we have such a big family with us today.

Cinnamon: It is a big art family.

John: Yeah. That's a real blessing.

Cinnamon: It's our calm supportive family. John: Yeah.

[both laugh]

John: So, we have a lot of wishes coming in today.

Cinnamon: Yeah, I would like to definitely- Cause it's the holidays,

because we have a lot going on, I'd like to do some wishes.

Wishes, if you're brand, brand new, go ahead- If you're not into wishing you can fast forward but I highly recommend

you try this experiment cause it makes you feel so much better.

A lot of artists, like art journalists, like to put words or wishes or intentions in a canvas. Hopes. Deams.

They can be serious. They can be silly. It can be like, I really hope this piece sells. It's all good.

It's just the idea of being just a little bit optimistic and hopeful, which you have to be, to paint a white

canvas and think you're gonna get something out of it.

Do you have a wish for us, John?

John: We have- I have some wishes up for us. Yeah, we have a couple quick wishes and then we have a special

wish that we're gonna do here. So. You know, a lot of our community have been sending out

light and love to all of- all the people out there with crazy weather and crazy driving and

crazy stuff happening. It's- You know, this time of the season there's a lot of...

A lot of risk in going out there due to weather or just crazy drivers.

There's been a lot of car accidents, so we wish a lot of light and love to all those who are out there traveling.

That they have safe journeys and get to where they're going safe and warm.

Cinnamon: So what I have written is light and love for the craziness. Safety to travelers.

John: Yeah.

Cinnamon: That's a wish that we have. I'm writing these in watercolor pencil. Don't do these in pencil

or pen cause it can bleed through your paint. You can do it in chalk though.

Kid's chalk will work too. Or you can always write

on the back here.

Works too.

John: We're gonna send out a couple of special- We've had some family losses ins ome of our community members.

Cinnamon: Oh... Uh- oh.

John: Bonnie M. her, uh, her brother's wife, uh...

Her brother passed away last night. So, you know.

Cinnamon: I'm so sorry Bonnie.

John: Yeah. We'd like to send love to her family.

Cinnamon: Bonnie.... John: Her brother's wife and children.

Cinnamon: Love and strength to your family, Bonnie. We're very sorry for your loss.

John: And to Sue Clark, who also had a loss in her extended family on the twenty first.

Cinnamon: Oh, Sue. I'm really sorry.

To all of you tonight,

and into the future that run into this video, if you're experiencing loss, our heart is with you.

And we just wish you strength and love.

Cause that's what it takes to get through.

Strength and love.

John: And we're gonna end with we wish that all the little brushes out there get all the gifts that they ask for.

Cinnamon: Yes! We wish ALL the little brushes... John: And big brushes.

Cinnamon: All the little and big brushes.

All the gifts, spiritual and physical, they wish for.

John: Mm-hmm.

And for all the mommies looking for little packages. New buns in the oven....

[Cinnamon chuckles]

John: Babies, we wish all that too.

Cinnamon: We wish all that too.

John: So, you know, love you guys. Thanks for all those wishes.

Cinnamon: And I'm gonna put a wish out there. I wish hart party keeps growing.

John: I do too. Gosh. You know, I'm just so epically grateful.

Cinnamon: And as it grows, I wish that it stays so loving.

And supportive.

John: Me too.

Cinnamon: Alright. John: Ok.

Cinnamon: Now, I could really scribble on my canvas today, because we have to do kind of an underpainting

in phthalo blue and dioxazine purple, which is why I hadn't put all the paint out.

Cause I wanted to deal with this first, to get this first coat in. This is a really important coat on your canvas.

John: Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon: You gotta- To get this space, you have to get a really rich, deep, deep base.

Started before you start sponging.

John: Oh, yeah? Cinnamon: Yeah.

That's one of the tricks to it. Space be deep.

[both laugh]

John: I love your space paintings, and while you're doing that, there's some-

Cinnamon: I've gotten- I'm using a really big brush. Just cause I want to enjoy just getting the paint on easily.

This is a number sixteen Pro-Stroke by Powercryl Creative Mark.

These brushes are crazy expensive except a couple times a year.

Jerry's Artarama puts them on clearance and then they're like five bucks.

John: Oh!

Cinnamon: And that's why I can have like, I don't know, I think this brush is like forty five dollars regularly. So.

Definitely watch for those Jerry's sales.

I don't know how long they'll keep having those wonderful discount sales, but they-

In twenty fifteen, coming on twenty sixteen-

John: Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon: Bonus sales. So I'm getting my brush a little bit wet to prime it and warm it up.

And I'm just gonna grab an even mix of dioxazine and phthalo, which look probably exactly the same.

This is the purple and this is the blue. John: Yeah.

Cinnamon: Notice that I don't just mix these together.

John: Oh yeah.

Cinnamon: I am always in the habit of working from the outside of my paint plops.

And I do use water. To thin my paint.

Um, right now in acrylic the thinking is is that you should be using mediums or flow agents to thin your paint.

But I have to tell you, that while that's wonderful in a fine art practice,

um, it's very expensive.

John: It could be cost prohibitive?

Cinnamon: It's cost prohibitive and this paint is designed to be thinned up to thirty percent with water.

You know, all these companies have, um....

A lot written up on their websites. They all have websites with information.

And they'll tell you what their extensive testing has shown their paint can withstand,

and they're generally pretty right.

John: Yeah.

Cinnamon: So just putting this nice...

deep indigo up into the sky here.

John: While you're laying that in there, we've got a couple birthdays among us today.

Cinnamon: Oh! Do we have some birthdays? I love birthdays.

John: Yeah, we have some birthdays.

Uh, I saw- Let me scroll back up here, as soon as you switch back over. There you go.

Let's see here. I think Cleo and I think, uh.....

There's one other up here that I missed, but......

Cinnamon: Happy Birthday, Cleo!