STORY PAINTING

Unleash your imagination. Tell your stories.

STORY PAINTING

$397USD

Story Painting is my latest online course that I've created just for you!

I invite you to join me in this extensive class (4 chapters, 18+ tutorials, PLUS bonus FB class community) designed to help you to activate your imagination, move towards a series of work in your own unique style, create more narrative in your art and bring more whimsy, meaning and story to your work!

I'm ready to PAINT! >

"I’m a relatively new painter and I feel as though you’ve opened up so many new ways of seeing and creating for me. I really couldn’t recommend you more highly to others interested in taking their creative journeys to new expansive places."

- Kathleen Marvin

Are you yearning to tell more stories with your art?

Do you feel like you have little or no imagination?
Do you get stuck before you even start because you lack drawing skills?
Can you “see” the ideas in your head but struggle to get them onto paper or canvas?
Do you compare yourself to others and find yourself lacking?

Unleash your creative confidence and let me help you see the beautiful potential of your own unique creative voice!

Discover how to let go, get your imagination flowing and confidently move towards a cohesive series of work that tells a story YOU have created!

“I’ve enjoyed your class immensely Tracy and it is the best online art course I’ve tried. It’s made me more confident to have a go at things and was just lots of fun and inspirational. I hope to do more of your classes."

- Sivan Blakeney

About 5 years ago I began to wonder….

How could I start to gather my real life stories and experiences, fascinating places I have visited, quirky, wonderful humans and creatures I have met, stories I have heard and created... how could I bring all of these together and tell more story through my art?

How could I take the experiences that made me laugh and cry, which made me look at the world with eyes of wonder, and translate that emotion into my work? I began to look at the work of illustrators with a curious eye, wondering HOW they could have such amazing imaginations, HOW they could come up with such fun and innovative ideas and concepts. Sometimes I wondered if I really had the capacity to work in that way... To tell stories with my art that could be rich in meaning, sassy and playful, unique and compelling.

I decided that I surely mustn't be the ONLY one facing this dilemma! Storytelling is at the core of the human experience! It's how we learn, how we connect to each other, how we create meaning! From that decision it was just the tiniest leap of imagination into making another decision. I would create a brand new class for ALL of us to learn to tell our stories with more ease, more love, more fun and more unique personal vision.

In creating this Story Painting class I’ve found the answers to my own dilemma, I’ve made leaps and bounds in developing the confidence to explore, craft and weave my stories into my art and I am absolutely sure that after 8 weeks together you will do the same.

Now imagine knowing and believing that your stories are a gift to the world.

You'll come out of this class with solid ideas and direction for a whole cohesive body or work.

"The lessons were so easy to follow, they seem simple enough yet are so rich in content and the complexity they produce. Tracy is an awesome teacher, one of my favorites. She gives so much, always very generous and an absolute joy to watch!”

- Shetal Joshi

I’m excited to share so many discoveries and explorations with you!

Together we'll dive into the written word with fun and stimulating writing prompts and exercises.

We'll explore playful illustrative exercises in our sketchbooks to stimulate our imaginations and develop ideas.

We'll also work across a broad range of illustrative and painting tutorials, research some amazing artists, both past and present.

AND of course find inspiration in our own experience and story!

Where does inspiration come from?

How do we tell stories through our art?

Are you ready to have your imagination activated? ⁣

Ready for more story and meaning in your art? ⁣

Ready to learn how a dedicated sketchbook practice can take your creativity to a whole new level? ⁣

What will you be creating?

Here are just some of the lessons!

What's Inside Story Painting?

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 1

We contain multitudes: Everybody has a story.

This is one of the most compelling truths in life for me. The wonder of that. Each one of us containing multitudes. We are creatures of diversity and yet at the core of it all we want the same basic things. This week we will explore the beauty of our own story. We’ll begin to muse about our style, ponder the stories we hold and think about how we might begin to use our voice to tell our stories through our creative explorations.

Lesson 1

In our first lesson we'll create one of my favorite tools, an inspiration bundle. We'll then use our bundles to write several Japanese haiku poems in syllables of 5-7-5. Then we'll take a deeper dive using word association to create a bigger story and a possible jumping off point for our art.

Lesson 2

In our sketchbooks of surprise this week we’ll spend a few hours collecting items from around our homes to begin to hone our drawing skills. We’ll explore using our own images as templates to create a peek through to our sketches. This will be the warm up exercise to our painting this week inspired by Colombian artist Herikita and Romanian artist Aitch.

Lesson 3

Using our sketchbook explorations we will look at the possibilities of creating a painting from our drawings. We'll be using acrylic inks, collage and acryla gouache. In all exercises I encourage you to paint along with me using my reference images IF they resonate with you. Feel free to use my painting as a warm up to your own unique piece.

Lesson 4

In lesson four we use several of the ideas we've explored to create a gorgeous concertina “Storybook of me”. We'll be adding to our little books as we move through our lessons and by the end of our time together here it will include elements of illustration, painting, collage and poetry.

Bonus

Using a page in my sketchbook as a palette leads to a fun bonus tutorial to spark your imagination!

Chapter 2

Portals of possibility.

The possibilities for imbuing our work with more narrative are endless. This week I help you to find inspiration in unlikely places, and to look for the unexpected bends in the road. We’ll explore set and setting, character, color, mood and emotion as we look for ways to add more meaning and story to our art.

Lesson 1

This week we'll take a used book from the thrift store (try to find something uplifting) and create some black out poetry on at least two pages using enchantment as our theme.

Lesson 2

In our sketchbooks of surprise this week we’ll spend a few hours collecting and sketching items from around our homes. We’ll explore using our own images as templates to create a peek through to our sketches. This will be the warm up exercise to our painting this week inspired by artists Miglena Papazova and Romanian artist Aitch.

Lesson 3

Let’s take our sketchbook characters on a journey! We begin with a sketch and some intentional mark making and little by little our scene and characters emerge. You can choose an existing story to illustrate or create a scene of your own inspired from your sketchbook. I’ll be creating a scene from the Owl and the Pussycat, one of my favorite children’s books!

Lesson 4

In this lesson we bring together several elements to create a vibrant story painting that will draw the viewer in and have them wanting more. I encourage you to use a combination of real life characters and stories you have met and experienced and add in a narrative element from your sketchbook explorations.

Bonus

A moment of inspiration whilst making marks also led me to film a bonus illustration video for you in our sketchbooks!

Chapter 3

The mundane and the miraculous.

Einstein said “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

This week we honor the mundane by recognizing the miraculous within it. We use our intuition to play with possibilities in our sketchbooks and have fun creating story paintings with unrelated subjects.

Lesson 1

This week we spend some time with our second hand books cutting out interesting words and phrases. Find a fun vessel or container to store them and use them anytime as inspiration prompts.

Lesson 2

In this sketchbook exploration we discover ways to use collage and book text intuitively as a possible spark of inspiration for new works and stories.

Lesson 3

A colorful beach house that caught my eye in Florida will become our focus. Together we’ll bring life and story to this home by adding elements of fun and whimsy to tell our own unique story.

Lesson 4

In a more illustrative and whimsical approach this week we will find inspiration in the delightful work of Andrea Daquino, Jane Ormes and Manon Gauthier, all of them fabulous storytellers who incorporate collage, drawing and painting in their work. Lets combine some of our characters, household items and collage stash and see what fun we can create!

Chapter 4

Life is a celebration.

As we learn and practice we make discoveries about ourselves, our lives and our art that give us the confidence to move through the world with greater ease and clarity. This week we celebrate what we have learned, the steps we have taken and the ways we have grown. We’ll share with each other epiphanies and the ideas that we will move forward with and we’ll work together on two very celebratory paintings to mark 8 wonderful weeks together! Bring your champagne to class!

Lesson 1

In this lesson we will write about a memorable occasion in our lives, a celebration or momentous event. Our challenge will be to describe the event using only short sentences of seven words or less in length. We'll focus on the atmosphere and presence, the drama and emotion. When finished we will read our words back to ourselves to see if we have captured the same energy that we remember from the actual event.

Lesson 2

This week is a culmination of all we have learned and a celebration of new ideas we have decided to explore. I’ll take you through my own sketchbook process of choosing an idea I have sketched out and working towards developing a cohesive body of work for a new series. My hope is that by the end of this class you will be able to begin working towards a series of your own using these techniques.

Lesson 3

In the theme of celebration this week we will find our muse by studying the work of another. Marc Chagall is one of my favorites and I love the joy and celebration of his work. Or of course you might want to choose your own muse! We will create our own interpretation of the work we choose from one of these masters, adding a little of our own voice in the mix!

Lesson 4

In our final painting let’s continue the celebration of the journey by creating a narrative painting/illustration, which combines our central character (us or someone else) with the spirit animal of our choice. One that illustrates what characteristics we wish to take with us on our continuing journey as an artist following our bliss.

Do you always compare your art to others?

Think that yours is NOT GOOD ENOUGH?

I want to teach you how to turn negative comparisons into endless inspiration!

You're overthinking each brushstroke.

I understand. I’ve been there. And I can help you move into a place of more inspired art making.

You want to throw your art away/paint over it.

The feeling that one wrong move could ruin everything. The angst that stops your creative flow.

Introducing

STORY PAINTING

Story Painting is my latest online course that I've created just for you!

I invite you to join me in this extensive class (4 chapters, 18+ tutorials, PLUS bonus videos that you can access in our FB class community) designed to help you to activate your imagination, move towards a series of work in your own unique style, create more narrative in your art and bring more whimsy, meaning and story to your work!

Let's PAINT!

I’ve been at this a long time and know that making art can be messy, sublime and all the things in between.

Mistakes are important, learning curves are meaningful and we can all benefit from the struggle that is inevitable when we leave the chrysalis to become the butterfly…

BUT it is also awesome and amazing to have mentors and teachers along the way to help you make less mistakes and to help you understand your potential and get to the place where your work matches what’s in your head without so much of the angst.

THAT is my job and I feel so blessed for the opportunity to help you dive into Story Painting and take your painting to a whole other level!!

What's Included?

Lessons are yours forever...

Enjoy access 24/7 to all the tutorials. You even have the option to download the videos for offline access.

18 full length tutorials...

With over 18 different lessons, Story Painting will surely have you thriving in your art studio for much longer than 8 weeks!

Bonus content...

Joining this class grants you access to extra content in our FB group, archived live streams with Tracy and personalized feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

What supplies do I need?

Substrates:

One A4 sketchbook (any brand will do)
140lb watercolor paper pad (I’m using 9x12" and 11x15” sheets)

Paints:

Acrylic paints in a variety of colors across the color wheel
Acryla goauche (optional if you have acrylic paints)
Heavy bodied acrylics (titanium white is a must have)
Acrylic inks (white and paynes grey are personal must haves!)
Fluid acrylics

Brushes:

A round detail brush (size 0-4)
One slightly bigger (size 6-8)
One small to medium flat brush
Small foam brush or 1 inch flat brush
Any old assorted brushes for mark making
Piece of string
Bamboo skewer

Mark makers:

Small set of water colour pencils (including a dark blue)
Black stabilo pencil or dark watercolor pencil
Sketching pencil (2B is a good all rounder)
Thin tip Artline black marker (.4mm or similar)
Felt markers, one thicker tip, one thin (brand not important)
Various gel pens: gold, white, black etc.
Small packet of oil pastels including white
Piece of willow charcoal
Eraser

Miscellaneous:

Patterned napkins (source online, dollar stores, Etsy etc.)
Any brand of matte medium for collage (If you don’t have matte medium, PVA glue will work!)
Old books and magazines from the thrift store
Black tissue paper
Leaves for rubbings
Favorite stencil (I get mine from stencil girl)
Isopropyl alcohol (high strength)
Printer for reference photos
Baby wipes and/or paper towels
Masking tape
Scissors and/or craft knife

Tracy's favorite colors

Golden fluids;
- Nickel azo gold, quinachridone magenta, green gold, phthalo turquoise & teal.
Daler Rowney acrylic inks;
- White, paynes grey, flame orange, antelope brown, marine blue, indigo & waterfall green.
Holbein Acryla gouache;
- Ice green, opera, mint green, orange yellow, rose violet, misty green, olive, red coral & deep yellow.

How long do I have access to this course?

Once purchased, all lessons will be yours forever! The videos are downloadable for offline browsing or you can stream via our class website.

Are there captions/subtitles?

Yes! The videos in this online course currently have English captions and Spanish subtitles.

We suggest using Chrome to view these videos if you wish to view captions or translate them into another language. There are live caption and live translation settings automatically built into Chrome.

For a full tutorial on how to do this, here's a video!

Is this course suitable for any level?

Absolutely!! I have been teaching my in person and online classes around the world for the past nine years! Both beginners and more experienced painters have enjoyed epiphanies in creative process, shifted perspectives and enjoyed learning new techniques. Mostly though I have come to realize that what I am teaching is about how to see the creative possibilities inherent in every moment and then to learn ways to process and translate those moments in our own artistic voice….AND to FREE UP and not be STUCK!!

Is this course different to your in person workshop and/or the projects in your book?

All content in the Story Painting E-Course is fresh and new. I like to keep things moving and get bored easily so this means I’m always changing things up and finding new inspiration and new ways to create. I hope I can pass that on to you!

Can I exhibit or sell the work I create in this workshop?

One of the main intentions in my courses is to help you find ways to connect with a style all of your own. So, with this in mind, I’m happy for you to show and sell original, innovative work created. If, however, you feel that you want to follow along more closely and produce pieces very similar to those within the projects that is all good, but I would ask that you don’t put those pieces out to exhibit or sell if they are close copies of my work. I trust that your heart will tell you what is too close. We also ask that you understand that these are Tracy's copyrighted techniques and may not be taught or packaged as a class by any individual other than Tracy without express consent. ♥

Can I get a refund?

We're happy to offer a 7 day change of mind policy if you have not yet logged into your account. Login details for this class are sent automatically after purchase. As all the lessons are downloadable, we are unable to offer refunds on purchases if you have already logged into your account. Please ensure this class is for you before purchase, any questions before committing can be directed to [email protected] 🙂

During our time together in Story Painting we’ll be exploring how to:

Learn how to use your sketchbook to explore ideas and begin to work towards a series of compelling meaningful work of your own (especially if you feel you haven’t yet found your own voice). ⁣
Unleash your imagination (even if you don’t think you have one).⁣
Translate emotion through color and mark into our work.
Gain the confidence and skill to tell the story that is unique to YOU! (Even if you don’t think you have a very special one. You do ♥)
Look at creating a painted story through the use of elements that come from separate parts of our memory and experience, bringing them together to create new stories and possibilities.

Join in today & unleash YOUR story!

FULL

$397*

*Billed in USD.

I'm ready to PAINT! >

“Taking your courses really opened me up. I had hit a wall and needed to let go of my ocd and open up. I love adding little bits of flair and collage to my work now. Funny thing, those are the paintings that sell first now. Thanks again for sharing your talent!”

- Sharon Trickett

Example student works~