Category: Blog

The Ultimate Drawing Class for Beginners!

Are you a beginner artist? Do you want to learn how to draw but feel overwhelmed about which method to try? Contour drawing, blind contour drawing, drawing upside down, constructing with shapes, etc. Then my class, Drawing for the Absolute Beginner is perfect for you! I will offer you guided instruction focusing on specific drawing methods every week, such as Contour drawing, blind contour drawing, drawing upside down, etc. Trying a variety of drawing methods can help you find the one that suits you best! This course is inspired by Betty Edwards’s book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. To learn more, visit https://delaplaine.org/instruction/.

And if this class is full, try your hand at another course I am offering, Classic Drawing, and also at the Delaplaine. This course is also a great fit for beginners, or artists who are rusty in their drawing skills and want a brush-up. This course has a slightly different focus. We will be focusing here on specific elements of art, such as line, shape, form, and texture. I will alternate the class projects with step-by-step handouts and drawing from observation. The focus here will be on applying each element of art every week to your exercises and projects to build more aesthetically pleasing artwork. Whichever class you take, learning the skill of drawing, or improving your drawing skills is a fundamental tool in your artistic toolbox and will greatly improve your artwork, whatever medium you choose, whether it’s: collage, painting, sculpture, pastel, etc! I’ve been drawing and painting for many years (since about age 2) and find that drawing weekly keeps me to tackle any painting with confidence!

Day 1, an upside-down drawing from my course Drawing for the Absolute Beginner.
Contour Drawing and Constructing with Shapes, an exercise from my course, Drawing for the Absolute Beginner.
A project from my course, Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, Uses a toned ground and a picture plane viewfinder.
A Negative Space exercise, from my Classic Drawing course.
Project from my course, Drawing for the Absolute Beginner.
A contour drawing exercise from my course, Classic Drawing.
The final project for my course, Classic Drawing.

A Journey into my new Mixed Media Course

Are you a blocked creative who’s lost their creative mojo? Then my course, Drawing, and Painting: A Mixed Media Survey, maybe just the antidote to your artist’s block! Journey with me on a survey of different art media such as acrylic, pastel, pencil, watercolor, and collage to learn different art techniques based on masterworks created by Monet, Klee, and many others! Take a sneak peek into the process of creating a Haystack house, based on the book that inspired this class, Drawing and Painting into Calm by Susan Evenson. To learn more about the course, visit https://www.frederick.edu/class-schedules/downloads/ilr_fallschedule2022.aspx.

Update: New Courses I am teaching at Frederick Community College this Fall!

Hello friends, family, visitors, and fans,

I am teaching two great classes this fall! If you have always wanted to try Oil painting but felt cautious, come and give it a try! Click on https://apps.frederick.edu/Flipbook/ILR_FallSchedule2022/index.html, to learn more! I teach noncredit courses in the Institute for Learning in Retirement at Frederick Community College in Frederick, MD.

Introduction to Oil Painting is very beginner friendly and will focus on basic skills such as value and color mixtures. The projects will be beginner friendly featuring landscapes and still lifes in an Impressionistic style. It’s a very forgiving medium and much easier to master than watercolor. I promise!

On the other hand, if you want to try a variety of different art mediums and learn which ones were capable, you will love my Drawing and Painting: A mixed Media Survey course. Do you love mixed media and art history? Then this course is perfect for you! Click on https://www.frederick.edu/class-schedules/downloads/ilr_fallschedule2022.aspx to learn more!

New items in my Red Bubble Shop are available, just in time for Halloween!

Hello friends, family, and fans,

It’s been a long time since I have added new content to my commerce art shops, so I thought now would be a good time to update my portfolio. I just added some new original artwork to my Red Bubble commerce shop. These artworks can be made into a variety of functional or decorative objects at affordable prices! For example, I have mugs, prints, clocks, aprons, and much more! My focus this month is on Animals and Halloween since it is getting closer to that time of the year! You don’t have to spend a fortune to own some fine art pieces on this site, and best of all, it’s an original kind of artwork.

Quoted the Raven, Nevermore, Mixed Media, 2021, Jodie Schmidt.
Dinosaur Party, Pen, and Pencil on Paper, 2021, Jodie Schmidt.

I am also working on making the original works available for sale on my Etsy commerce site. Come visit my red bubble shop and see what’s new:https://www.redbubble.com/people/jsjschmidt2017/shop?asc=u&ref=account-nav-dropdown. I plan to post a variety of small paintings and sketches at affordable prices. Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed Media Cow, torn paper collage, ink, crayon, painted papers, colored pencil, and candy wrapper on mixed media paper, 2021, Jodie Schmidt.

The Benefits of Creativity

Did you know that creativity can enhance your life in many ways? According to a Forbes article entitled, “Here’s how Creativity Improves Your Health,” by Ashley Stahl of Forbes, being creative has many benefits. These benefits include: improving your mood, reducing stress, and improving cognitive function since your right and left hemispheres to work together when you are creating.

It doesn’t matter what form creativity takes to get these benefits. Some different creative activities such as sewing, coloring in a coloring book, etc. Join me this summer in my Continuing Landscapes in Pastel to improve the quality of your life on many levels and make time for creativity in your life! To learn more, visit https://delaplaine.org/.

Continuing Landscapes in Pastel, Summer Course Update

There are still some spots available for my upcoming, Continuing Landscapes in Pastel at the Delaplaine Art Center. If you are an oil painter or love to work in color, but would like to try out a new medium, this might be a great course for you.

Or, if you want to work in a more forgiving art medium than watercolor, pastel could be the perfect choice for you! It’s a wonderful medium that combines all the characteristics of drawing which is generally a dry media, with the painterly characteristics of color and texture, such as oil painting, but in contrast, pastels have no drying time.

Working in soft pastels also doesn’t require a full complement of art supplies, such as pallets, brushes, or water jars. Instead, you can get started with just some soft pastels, erasers, pastel pencils, and pastel paper to begin your creative journey. Easy to set up and easy to clean up. No brushes or palettes to clean! And it’s so easy to correct your mistakes, with a kneaded eraser. What could be better? Here’s a sneak peek at some of the projects we will work on colorful meadows, fall scenes, and even a mixed media garden landscape. Please visit: https://delaplaine.org/ to sign up or learn more about this wonderful course!

Did you know value is the key to a successful work of art?

In my experience as an artist and teacher, I have learned how important it is to incorporate a wide range of value in my own artwork and art demonstrations. Test the truth of this insight by joining my art course, Continuing Landscapes at the Delaplaine art center this July! We will start with pastel techniques, and then work our way through the elements of art, such as value and color, etc. to build successful landscape pastel paintings. To learn more, visit https://delaplaine.org/.

Coming soon: Landscape Pastel Art Course

Don’t miss out on a chance to take my intermediate pastel course for landscapes! Pastel is a forgiving medium and it allows you to experience the best of both worlds with drawing and painting. With pastel, you can create colorful drawings that are easy to revise and there is no drying time to wait for, as with other art media, such as watercolor, acrylic, and oil. Also, this medium can be used in conjunction with other media, such as watercolor for painterly effects! To learn more, please visit https://delaplaine.org/.

Update: Summer Courses I am Teaching at the Delaplaine

Hello friends, fans, and family,

This summer I am teaching two great art courses at the Delaplaine Art Center in Frederick, MD! The first course begins on June 22nd, and it’s called, Drawing into Calm: A mixed media survey course. In this course, you will learn how to work in a variety of media from watercolor and pen to acrylic and pastel. We will explore which media are compatible, such as watercolor and ink pen, and gain inspiration from a variety of famous artists, such as Monet, Paul Klee, and Odilon Redon, among others! It’s a course that is perfect for beginner artists and will explore both drawing demonstrations and painting demonstrations, as well as collages. If you want to try new media or love art history, this might be the perfect course for you! Visit the Delaplaine website at: https://delaplaine.org/, to register or learn more.

The other course I am teaching is called, Continuing Landscapes in Pastel, and it’s perfect for experienced pastel artists who would like to learn more about color and value in the context of the four seasons. This course is geared toward more experienced artists who have some drawing experience. The four seasons, summer, autumn, winter, and spring will provide a context for exploring the elements of art, value, and color, such as using cool colors like blue or violet to depict snow, and warmer color palettes to illustrate fall foliage. Both courses are designed for adults. To learn more, visit https://delaplaine.org/instruction/classes-workshops/.

Harmonizing on a Line, Mixed media collage, Jodie Schmidt, 2022.
Mixed Media Cow Collage, Mixed Media: torn papers, metallic wrapper, painted papers, watercolor, crayon, ink, and colored pencils, Jodie Schmidt, 2022.
Odilon Redon Knock off, Pastel on paper, Jodie Schmidt, 2022.
Pizza Painting, Acrylic Paint on canvas board, Jodie Schmidt, 2022.
Mosaic Magazine Collage: Grand Canyon, Magazine papers, and pastel on paper, 2022, Jodie Schmidt.
Child at the Beach, Pastel on paper, Jodie Schmidt after Rebecca Le Mendonca, 2022.
Creating Depth, Jodie Schmidt after Marla Bagetta, Pastel on paper, Jodie Schmidt, 2022.
Rocky Tor, Jodie Schmidt after Rebecca Le Mendonca, Pastel on paper, 2020.
The Birches, Jodie Schmidt after Rebecca Le Mendonca, Pastel on paper, 2022.

Update: Spring Courses at Adams County Arts Council

Do you have an interest in telling your family history through mixed media collage art? I have just the course for you! It’s called, Your Family Story through Collage art and will begin on May 4th from 6-8pm at the Adams County Arts Council in Gettysbn. Take your artwork to the next level and create content-based work that tells a story, using a variety of media such as photography from your family collection, old drawings, card stock, acrylic paint, charcoal, and more! We will upcycle old sketches from your sketchbook to create new and unique artwork! Click here to learn more: https://www.adamsarts.org/portfolio-item/your-family-story-through-collage-art/.