Easter Projects

Have fun with these great projects for you to enjoy over Easter. So pick up your paintbrush, take inspiration from these ideas and set your creativity free.

Jo Sonja Named Living Treasure!

The National Museum of Decorative Painting has proclaimed Jo Sonja Jansen to be A LIVING TREASURE in recognition of her talents, educational contributions, and preservation of decorative painting.

She was presented a proclamation at the Creative Painting Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday, February 29, 2012.

Click Here to watch a video of the presentation:

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

A Christmas card by Anna Rosa Martin

Do you like making gifts and cards?
Here is a very easy step by step tutorial on a Christmas card design by one of Chroma's TAPP teachers, Anna Rosa Martin. After you have done this it will be easy to make variations by experimenting with different colour combinations and stencil patterns.

Magic of Mediums: Image Transfers

In recent workshops, I’ve led artists in a series of exercises exploring acrylic mediums in traditional, as well as non-traditional, ways. In the simplest terms, mediums generally are added to paint, added to the surface or applied on top of paint. Mediums enhance or alter the properties of acrylic paint, and there are many exciting ways to use them!

Revitalized Paper Craft with Lee Clements

Individually made cards bring lasting pleasure to the recipients who often treasure the article of friends or family creativity as an extension of that person. Similarly albums which celebrate memories of special times and family growth can be made so much more special by personal touches of creativity. Finding fresh ideas for scrap booking involves thinking about the occasion, content of the photos or characteristics and desires of the people involved. Once the general idea has been established the variety of scrap booking techniques are endless.

Varnishing 101

Atelier Interactive dries without a “plastic” look, with very low sheen yet high color saturation. But it is important to protect any painting with a finishing varnish and furthermore, you can choose to alter the final sheen of your Interactive painting. Chroma offers two types of varnishes – water-based and solvent based. The advantage of using water-based varnish is that it is water-based, but it is non-removable. The advantage of using a solvent-based varnish is that it is removable with mineral spirits, but there are fumes involved, which some artists chose to avoid.

NATIONAL ART SCHOOL DEGREE SHOW

During the year Chroma has supported the National Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney, in various ways. As it has done for many years, Chroma joined other businesses and patrons supporting the art world, by offering a painting prize to a graduate at the end of year Degree Show.

Hanna Paine won the Chroma Paints Award with a triptych, one of her works exploring the mystery of experience from a child’s perspective.

Creative Canvas "Sisters" by Vicki Nicholson

Vicki Nicholson sent us in this innovative "altered art" project and we liked it so much that we created a magazine ad based around it. Vicki also agreed to share the entire step by step project with the Paint Talk community. I hope that this piece inspires you all to get creative with Jo Sonja’s paints and mediums and if you follow the steps below and complete your own “creative canvas” why not add a comment with a photo of your work.

Decorative Art Gallery

Earlier this year we asked a number of decorative artists to send us images of their work to share. Ideas and inspiration come from many different areas in life and an artistic community is so important in keeping motivation going. Greater exposure to decorative art objects and images from other artists opens us up to different techniques. Here at Chroma we are attempting to create an artistic community for artists to take part in. Expression and inspiration is a constant quest for learning new things.

Using JoSonja on Glass

JoSonja Teaching Artist Betty Dowe recently submitted the following article about how she uses JoSonja on glass vases. Her work is beautiful and her techniques are fun!

I have taught Norwegian Rosemaling and stroke work for 29 years. I enjoy using Jo Sonja acrylics because I am able to add various mediums to color for glass and even fabric. After 11 years of painting with oils I had to change due to allergies