Let's talk with Lori tonight!

Okay. Hey, everybody. Kristi with The Social Easel here, and I am live with Lori. She is one of my students from the 2024 Florals Masterclass. So welcome, Lori. I am going to pass the baton over to her and let Lori kind of introduce herself, share a little bit about her painting journey and how she came to be a part of the masterclass last year. So, Lori, welcome. And I'll let you take it from here.

Okay. Oh, thank you. I'm Lori Bolu and I am from Duluth, Minnesota. And I have always liked art. I've done a lot of drawing. And in the last maybe 3, 5 years, I've kind of branched out a little bit. I started out with ceramics, which I really, really enjoyed. And then I did more into the drawing avenue, and then our painting started kind of coming across my, you know, your feed. Yeah.

Yeah.

And so I actually, I saw one of your feeds, and I've kind of been following you a little bit. I would sit with my grandson and we would watch you paint together. But you know, that didn't make it work for me. Like you say, no, you have to do it. So yeah, I, um, jumped in last year. I think actually I'd followed and did your— the girl Do Not Be Afraid painting. Yes, that was the first one I did.

Workshop. Yeah, that's a fun one.

And then you advertised for the masterclass last year, and it was really a game changer for me. Just really the confidence and to grow in, especially the support of the Facebook group. You know, you can just like, help on this part, or what do you think? And it was just so encouraging. From that perspective, and your teaching is so slow.

I love it.

I can follow and then, of course, replay when need be. And you're very clear in your instructions, and you're just so encouraging. It's like you can't go wrong. There's nothing you can do wrong. It's just play, have fun, and it'll turn out.

Yes, I love that. So this was your first— so you did the, um, the Spirit Not a Fear painting workshop with me, and then had you painted on your own also in addition to that, or were you kind of coming into the master class with just that experience and then picking everything else up there?

Pretty much that experience. I played around a little bit and really, you know, mixed some pretty ugly colors and things.

But now you know, right? Like, you learned what colors not to mix together, right?

So the master class was kind of pretty much my first.

Yeah, that's awesome though, because I think a lot of people who are watching right now, um, would think that they would have had to have, you know, maybe painted with me for a long time or like had some kind of previous experience to be able to take the master class. So I like hearing like you came in pretty fresh, pretty brand new to painting, and Do you mind sharing with everyone your original, um, that you completed in the class?

Oops, sorry for the squeak.

I love this. So, um, Lori did her tulips, um, and Lori, I'm gonna pull up your— I found your posts in the Facebook group so I could kind of share your process with the ladies too, but So Lori took this idea from a photograph, correct?

Yes.

And, and did you take that, or did you find a photograph that you like?

No, I, I found the photograph.

Okay. Awesome. Okay, so I'm gonna pull— okay, I've got this pulled up. Let me get back over here. So this is always really cool to see. And, Lori, you can put that down if you don't want to keep holding it. I just wanted to make sure. I just wanted to make sure they saw your pretty finished piece. So this was her inspiration photo, and I always love sharing these when I have you guys on here, because everyone— so I teach multiple methods inside the masterclass of how you can make your own original, and then you as the individual get to decide which kind of path you want to follow. So it could be from a photograph or a still life, or a bunch of different inspiration pieces that you kind of piece together on your own. So Lori did hers from a photograph, and you can see the original here. And then some of her prep work— I'm going to get out of this because I saw this is— is this a different version?

Yeah, that's the multimedia one. And so the leaves are like, um, tissue paper, um, and the gold strip on the side is paper.

I love this one. I remember this, the texture on the leaves are the like those little lines. That's the texture of the paper that you used.

Yes.

Yeah, that looks really cool. So I love that you did multiple versions of it, too. And then this is— so she started with her photograph, and then this kind of shows how she broke down the different segments of the photograph into shapes. So if you guys can notice how she's got these little lines and different shapes on here. And part of what I teach inside the masterclass is when we're, we're looking at inspiration, or if you're painting from a photo, is you start to train your brain to look at the shapes you see instead of your brain saying, I'm painting a tulip. Because if you tell your brain that, it's going to try to like figure it out on its own instead of just like looking at the individual shapes, if that makes any sense.

Was that part actually very helpful?

Yeah, I was just going to say, was that part helpful for you?

Yeah, it's kind of like eliminating the brain from taking in a whole picture and kind of makes it easier to focus, I think.

Yeah, definitely. I think because when we— and these are all great, like you can see her, her progress and her work through this, like with different sketches. And then turning the photo black and white, um, is also really helpful because it helps you see the value changes, um, and it helps you see the shapes even better in there. So she just did a fabulous job. So I love getting to show that off. What was probably like your favorite part of the masterclass? What did you enjoy the most out of it?

Um, I enjoyed the fellowship and I enjoyed the encouragement. That was very valuable to me. And then there was just— I mean, I can't even begin to like I just learned so much. Yeah, I mean, it's just amazing. It's home— like, I mean, you've probably said this, but it's like at least a year of classwork in a week, right?

Yeah, I was gonna say it, you know. Um, so for those of you watching and you're like, I don't even understand how this works, is Christy teaching these live? Do we have to be there all the time? They're all pre-recorded and they're broken down into mini sessions, so like mini videos inside of modules, and we drop a new module on Mondays throughout the— this, this year we're doing it again and we're doing it over 10 weeks. So it gives people more implementation time and we have more time to do our Zoom calls and critiques and stuff. But so you get a module on a Monday and then you have like a full week to kind of work through that. And of course you have lifetime access to it, so you can go back as many times as you want to. But that's kind of how we do it. And then I give you guys homework, and then we move on to like each module from there. But we kind of build the foundation and kind of build like what she said, almost like a year's worth of like if you were to go to art school or go to a college class. It's kind of taking several different classes and combining them into one course that you're able to take in your own pace online. So What else was I getting ready to ask you? I just— it just left me.

Well, I do have to say that, like, even now, almost a year later, it's still like this, like, I painted that. That's me.

I love that though. Have you done any more on your own since then?

Yeah, I have.

Good.

Yeah, I am. My last one is my mom's gonna turn 90. And so I did a painting for her.

Wonderful. And I love that you said the, you know, the community and the fellowship was a big part for you because I think that's really important for people to know that they're not gonna go through it alone. And like you said, there's always like, you can share your work in the group, ask questions, and you're not just taking an online class and then don't have anyone to talk to about like your questions throughout the process. Right. Right. That community part, I think, is really huge and beneficial as well.

And then another aspect that I just started now this year is, well, the last past year has been like life all over the place. Um, but now this year I actually have Thursdays, which I do my painting, or I also quilt. So I do that too. So I actually have in my mind, I know I'm going to get to paint.

Yeah, that's awesome. And I think so important to— I talk about this a lot, like in my workshops too, because it's easy for life to get in the way all the time. And, but if we set that time aside, and I always say like, make a date with yourself, like Thursdays are your date with yourself for you to be creative and do those fun things. But it's so important. And even if you can only carve out, you know, 30 minutes or a couple hours a week, that continual, you know, consistency with that is really going to build your skills along the way too. Yeah, awesome. Well, what are your, um, do you have any hopes or, um, ideas that you want to do in the future with painting, or are you just kind of seeing where it all leads?

Oh, I guess I'm kind of seeing where it all leads. I, every once in a while, think it would be kind of fun to try and do, do a paint class, like paint with people. I did meet up with my one sister and we did some painting together, and that was fun. But I think it would be fun to paint with people.

Yeah, it is the energy of like being together, you know. Yeah, and a little bit different. It's fun to do. Well, thank you so much for jumping on the call with me. Do you have, um, any, um, advice or last-minute things you want to share with anyone watching who's maybe debating on taking the masterclass and wondering if it would be a good fit for them?

Yeah, don't be afraid. Just step in and it's like finding yourself to a certain degree. And don't be afraid of just do it.

Yeah.

You'll be surprised.

Yeah, that's awesome advice. I love it. Just step into it and like you said, you just gotta do it. Watching only gets so far, right? Right. Well, thank you so much for joining me, and I feel like my audio is cutting out a little bit. So I'm frozen now. I'm not sure what happened.

Yeah, your hand is up.

My hand is up. But thank you so much, Lori, for jumping on with me. And now I'm back. But I'll go ahead and end this, and you guys have a great rest of the day, and hopefully we'll see you in the masterclass.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye.

Bye.