Victoria's Mentorship

In the Gifted & Talented Program this year, Victoria got to participate in a Mentorship. Each student in the class decided on something they wanted to learn about and did tons of research on it. Next, Mrs. Ferst helped set them up with a Mentor to actually experienced it. Then presented what they learned to their class.
Victoria learned about Oil Painting and then got to meet with Carolyn Caldwell to do a little oil painting herself.

It took some phone tag but we finally set up a time to meet with Vistoria's mentor in her studio downtown. Carolyn Caldwell (a local landscape artist) was very helpful and patient with Victoria. She set up an easel for her, and taught her some basics. Victoria was lucky because Grandpa Randy had sent her home last Summer with her own set of beginning oil paint supplies. We only had to grab a couple things and she was all set up to paint. She did a still life painting of a cube and learned how to mix paints.

Victoria's homework from Carolyn was to make color charts with the colors that she had in her paint stash. It took quite a while to get her motivated but she got them done. They take a lot of work and lots of white paint. But man! they are super cool looking!

Here's the Speech Victoria prepared to share at her class:

Hi I’m Victoria. I did my mentorship on oil painting with Carolyn Caldwell. She’s a local artist that does mostly landscapes and has a studio downtown. She was super nice an way patient with me.

Here’s what I learned: Oil painting is pretty complicated so please listen closely.

Oil Painting takes a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of practice and a lot of equipment.

I’d like to show you some of the equipment you need to just get started in oil painting.

Here’s the EQUIPMENT you need

1.Easel –at eye level when standing up (lots of kinds- Caroyln’s costs about $160) It’s best to stay standing up and step away from your painting a lot for a different perspective

2.Canvas-to paint on (different sizes and thickness) Canvas paper stretched over a piece of wood. Pass around Canvas paper so they can feel what it feels like

3. Palette- For oil Painting it should be flat to mix your paints on

4. Paints- There are tons of colors. It’s good to get a starter pack with some basic colors and you always need lots of white!!

5. You for sure need a palette knife. It’s for mixing and scraping your colors on your pallete. (Show how to scrap)

6. Brushes. So many sizes and types. Hard & soft bristles. Flat & round ends. Just depends on what you want it to look like.

7. With oil painting, you need paint thinner. Preferably the odorless kind so it doesn’t give you a headache. It’s to mix into your paint to make it easier to spread and also is used to clean up the oil paints. Paint Thinner Tin- comes in handy. attaches to the side of the palette

8. Paper Towels- Way handy for oil painting. You’ll need a lot of them to make color charts! (I’ll tell you about those in a minute)

9. Paint Smock or apron to protect your clothing.

Next, you need a SUBJECT

!. Decide what to paint. Still life, landscape, animals, etc

2. Show Cube painting.

I painted this with Carolyn in her studio. (Pass around the photo) It’s a still life. She set up a background with some light and a paper cube for me to paint. We practiced perspective and drew the cube on my canvas with some brown paint. (Don’t use a pencil or pen to draw on the canvas) Then we mixed some black and white paint to get the right shades of grey for my painting.

Now, I’d like to talk to you about COLORS.

With just a few colors you can make any color you need.

Carolyn gave me homework to make my own color charts. (Show)

1. Start with one color. Mix white and make different shades.

2. Mix with another color. Then add white to get different shades.

3. Label everything so that you can make those colors again.

4. These charts help you when you are making paintings and need a specific color.

After all of that- I realized that Oil Painting is way more work than I wanted it to be! Luckily, my Grandpa came to visit for a few weeks. He is a great artist and oil painter. BUT- He brought up a different project for me to do with him. He showed me how to do Acrylic Painting. It can look a lot like oil painting but to me it’s way easier and takes a lot less time.

(Show Painting)- Explain blending on canvas. Drys faster. Less money. Easier to clean up.

In CONCLUSION-

I am really glad that Carolyn taught me about Oil Painting. It was fun to learn about it and I love having my color charts. But I also learned that I really like acrylic painting and hope to do more of that in the future!

Victoria also got to give her presentation to her own 3rd grade class. I got to go and see her present. Good job, Sis!