Let's Talk with Cheryle a Masterclass graduate!

Hey everybody, it is Christy with The Social Easel, and I am here with Cheryl. She is one of my alumni from the 2024 Florals Masterclass that we did last year, and I wanted to invite her here today so she could share her story of the masterclass. And she did complete it and did her first original. So Cheryl, I will pass it over to you and kind of let you share a little bit more about your journey and kind of what got you to the masterclass.

Okay, thanks, Kristi. I know I've been a tribe member for 3 and a half years, and at some point on social media I found Kristi. I'm not sure how, but I enrolled in one of her 2 or 3 day classes and immediately joined the tribe. But my journey up to that point was I was always the creative type, wanted to do this and that, learn everything and anything. So I was a dabbler in acrylics. And in watercolors and anything else you can imagine. But, uh, when she offered the, um, master class, I was like, should I do this? You know, to get, to get a better knowledge of acrylics and, you know, behind the what goes into making this beautiful piece. Yeah, so I did, and I never regretted it. Um, it was Certainly a journey and so much fun. I did all the homework. I mean, I've always been one of those, I gotta do the homework, I gotta get an A. And so I'm an overachiever, but I try hard. But, you know, so I did all the color blending and everything and all the, you know, photography. I love to take pictures, had a phone full of florals already. So that wasn't a problem. I categorized and put those in albums and, looked and looked, and what do I want to do? So it, it was— it has certainly been well worth it to me to be with that.

Yeah. So, so coming from someone like— so she has been in my Tribe, which is one of my memberships, um, so she paints with me every month, um, but we do step-by-step tutorials in Tribe. So, you know, I do a painting and then I show them step by step. Um, what, um, would you say to people who are used to doing that and they're used to just following instruction, like how MasterClass is different than that, how it kind of helps you start piecing things together and how you can create your own original instead of, you know, just copying a picture of one.

Yeah, um, watching Christy and, and using her templates, you know, I won't say it's easy for me, it's not, but it's totally different than Understanding color, uh, the color wheel was one of my really, really aha moments where I learned, you know, complementary colors and everything about the color wheel and on and on. In fact, it just was going around and around in my brain. And, you know, it helps me in life and in other ways too to know about color and what the different colors may represent, like red is maybe passion or anger, but, um But doing that and taking the next step, and, um, you know, I learned— I went into Procreate and started dabbling in that and creating and, and doing things from photographs. And, um, you know, the thumbnail, it's just, it's just different. But you learn step by step by step how to get to the finish point where you're actually putting your color on canvas after, you know, a lot of, a lot of thought goes into it.

Yeah, a lot of foundation stuff. We have, you know, the first several modules are really just understanding, like she said, color theory and composition and why we do what we do, um, you know, in artwork. And also to just, you know, like she said, she's gathering that information, um, taking photos storing those on our phone. So like, you have a limitless supply of ideas, and now you know what steps to take from those ideas to fruition. Do you happen to have your painting with you? Yes, I pulled it.

It is normally in my bathroom, but when— okay, teal is also one of my favorite colors, and it is the color in my bathroom. Yeah, so, uh, I decided at some point I definitely wanted to do a gold, uh, vessel and metallic gold, and then I put some silver in it also. That's pretty. And then the background, I think that is like a pearl. But yeah, I love it, I love it. In fact, I worked on the last painting we did with the spring flowers, I think, and try to coordinate and do one horizontal to kind of mimic this.

You can create a collection and then you can hang them together, right?

Right. Have little ones and big ones and all sizes and shapes. But yeah, um, it took me a while to get to that. I mean, I went through a lot of different flowers.

Yes. So, um, deciding which— what you wanted to include in, and the color.

I knew my background, I knew my vessel, but you know, yeah, then there's a lot of thought that actually goes into choosing colors for your composition as well.

Yes. I'm gonna pull up here, um, because I love showing kind of like the progress, you know. Well, I guess I should say it is progress, but the steps that you took to get to that final choice. So I'm gonna pull up your, um, post in our, um, Master Class Facebook group to kind of show them, um, that it wasn't just, you know, she didn't just sit down at a canvas and just magic, and you know what I mean? It didn't just come together. There's some planning that goes um, into that. So this is, um, Cheryl's post. I'm gonna see if I can make this, um, bigger. So I love— and look, your sketch is so pretty. So she, she had— this is, um, like the inspiration piece, I'm guessing, Cheryl, one of them. And then she started kind of sketching. And, you know, one of the things, like, um, if you don't mind me just sharing a little bit about this, one of the things that, like, we teach is, like, You can be inspired by things that you see on Pinterest or things you see in the store around you, but then you start making them your own. And so like, you can kind of even see how like she's added in— it's not identical to this, that's her inspiration piece— but she's added in her own unique flowers, started sketching and, you know, adding different greenery coming down in the front. And then she did it in colored pencil. And so then you start kind of like feeling your way through picking those colors for your artwork. And these are what we call thumbnails, if you've never made a thumbnail before. But this is, you know, in the master class module, one of the ones that I teach is like how to start sketching and planning your ideas out, um, in your mixed media pad or your sketchbook. And then by the time you do take it to canvas, you've already started some of— you know what I mean? You have your planning process already figured out, you know what colors, um, you're going to work on too. So these are some other thumbnails that she's working on and just kind of playing around with different things. So, um, it's kind of like— I would say, um, don't you think the master class is a lot of like experimentation? Like you're playing, you're testing new things, and you start kind of figuring it out on your own, right?

Right. Yeah, I, I didn't really have a plan when I, you know, first started, and then, you know, going in, I pulled tons of pictures from Pinterest, as you saw, and made my inspiration board. So, you know, it— that all helped. It all helped greatly. So, um, yeah, that's wonderful.

So do you feel like after going through the master class, like, did it help you, um, feel more sure or more confident about making your artwork, even when you're, you know, doing tribe paintings or painting on your own? Did you feel like now you have that, like, understanding of, like, choices that you're making?

I think every, every painting— and like I said, it's been 3 and a half years— everything I do, and that certainly was a jump start into creating my own, um, I learned— I'm trying to learn not to compare mine to others. And but, uh, but yes, definitely, you know, I've got my own thoughts and own flares I want to put on it, you know, when I'm following you. But I also wanted to mention one of the really one of the even bigger things for me in the, um, going through this class was the support. And it wasn't just support from you, but from everyone that was in that class. I mean, I would— you could post, like you saw, I post a lot. And, you know, I wanted feedback. I wanted people to, to help me along and encourage and, you know, to uplift. And I got all of that from this. I mean, it's not like you're on this journey alone.

You've got—

yeah, what— I don't know how many people, but you've got a lot of other people on Facebook that totally 100% support you.

Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because I think it's a huge part of, um, of learning. I mean, my, my goal was to create like an art school in an online environment, and I was talking about this with one of the other ladies, but it is— it's like these are your classmates. And so you guys are all working through the same— you're working on the same module and you're, you're coming up with your ideas, and then you get to share them and you talk about them and you get that feedback. From the other women who are going through the same thing you are. And it's such a cool process to watch because we do— we get ideas from other people in the group. Or like, you'll see them post their thumbnails or maybe like an idea, and you're like, oh my gosh, that's so cute. Like, I could see how I could work that into mine, you know what I mean?

Right, right. Absolutely.

Yeah, it's so fun to be able to see that. And then we have, um, the Zoom calls that we do in the master class too Um, I think you even did a critique.

I, I think you critiqued one of mine, and that was very, very helpful when I asked for a critique of my piece, and you, um, kind of gave me feedback. Yeah, gave me feedback.

Yeah, the word scares people sometimes, and it doesn't mean I'm gonna come in and be like, this is wrong, like not at all, but it's more of like, you know, like if Cheryl's saying, what could I do here, or, you know, what is your opinion about this, and then just me giving some suggestions and feedback of, you know, um, how you could push it and, and make it better. Um, and I think that's what helps us grow as artists, is to have that insight from outside people too, because sometimes we get in our own head, you know, like when you're creating and it's just you in your space and you're having all these thoughts, and sometimes you just need to bounce your ideas off of other people, um, and get their feedback too.

Yeah, I mean, like, if I get stuck in something, you know, and I'm like, what should I do from here, you know, their support was always there to get me over that hurdle.

Right.

And also another thing that I had— I was sitting here thinking how you broke the sessions down, or how you broke it down, that we had the modules, and then under the modules we had the sessions, and then lessons, which were little little pieces, right? They were like less than 15 minutes. You could easily do that. I mean, I'm, I'm, uh, so I mean, I'm fully employed, uh, on my own business, and I'm working this in between, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, for me, uh, the way your style of— not only your style of teaching, but the way that you presented and you organized and presented this information to us It made it easy, and, and it's there for the rest of my life. You know, I can go back and have gone back, uh, to some of the areas like I need a refresher in this or something, you know. So it's always there. So yeah, absolutely no-brainer, you gotta do it.

Yeah. So, um, and I love that too, getting to— for me, you know, obviously it was my first large course that I ever created But I mean, there was a lot of time spent in, in the order that I presented things to you guys. And the goal of like the master class and releasing it in modules that come to you each Monday, so you work on a specific thing for that week. You don't have to catch up with live videos, and they're not like long 2-hour sessions. They're like she said, broken down into like doable segments. And our goal is to make it consumable so that you can start seeing progress faster. And so like, especially someone busy like you who wants to do this but you have a full-time job and you're busy, you still manage to fit it in and you can take those little— learn a little bit at a time, you know what I mean?

Right, and that's the, the best way to do it. And I took— I take tons of notes. I'm a note taker, so I can look back at my notes. I mean, this is my folder of, of various things. Yeah, yeah. Lots of notes, lots of, you know, a lot of things that's not in my, um, sketchbook. But, um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Um, jump off. Is there anything else you want to share with, um, maybe some of the ladies who are watching and they're, they're thinking about it and they're, they're not quite sure?

Well, it's well worth it, and I am signing up again because, um It never hurts to have everything refreshed. Plus, I know there's going to be some new stuff that I probably need to know about. Plus, too, in the end, uh, I didn't go through opening your business yet because obviously I own my business, so I don't want to go through that. But I mean, you know, you should tell how to sell your art. I mean, there's— it goes beyond the final piece. Then you help us learn this, you know, what, how to sell it, how to price it. So, uh, definitely, definitely, it's so well worth it. I can sit here and say it all day. I mean, I'm thrilled. I'm signing up again. So what does that tell you?

Yeah, I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And I am— I haven't even told my, my team this yet, but I mean, so there are going to be 4 new modules that are basically me walking, um, you know, this session of the master class step by step through 4 new paintings that I'm going to create from the different ways that I tell you guys to do it. So those are going to be the 4 new modules, um, or sessions I should say, in module 4. And then, um, you know, in the past year, obviously, as a business owner and an artist, I've learned new skills and found out new ways we can do different things. So I'm going to be dropping in some new sessions throughout all the modules. Um, I mean, I just learned about this new canvas paper and how we can create our own art print. Like, there's, you know, fun stuff like that. Like, so even if you don't want to do it as a business, like she said, um, I think that's important for people to know. This is not just for people who you know, have a desire to sell their art. This is for if it's a hobby for you, if it is just you love to paint but you want to understand it more. So you can do whatever you want to, you know, with your, with your final piece. And if that means hanging it on your wall and being proud and saying, I did that, then that's worth it, right? And then, but we have the information there that if you do want to make some money with it and you want some of my ideas and how I built my business, I include that in the final module as well. So it's exciting to see your progress, and I'm excited to see you back in there again.

Yes.

All right, go ahead.

Have you, have you announced when you're starting it?

Sorry, um, the first module drops on March 31st.

Oh, oh, right around the corner. Okay, I am ready.

Yeah.

Do it.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining us. Y'all have a good day. Bye.

Thanks. Bye.