Membership Questions || The Social Easel

Hey everybody, I wanted to jump on really quick because we only have a few days left and I wanted to answer any questions that anybody had today. So if you are new to The Social Easel and you're not familiar with me, my name is Christie Hawkins. I'm the owner of The Social Easel and The Social Easel Online Paint Studio, and today I'm going to answer all the questions that you guys have had over the last couple days. So I'm hoping I can address all of those in this video today. And if you hop on, if you have more questions for me, just ask them down below and I will answer them. So I'm gonna grab a few more paintings really quick, but this is kind of a little bit of what you're gonna get. I'm gonna grab some more over here. Hello, Casey. As you guys are getting on, if you'll just comment and say hi, let me know where you're from, where you're watching from today. We've had people from all over, so I always love it when people comment and let me know when they're— where they're from. So, um, I wanted to show you guys what all is included. So we've had lots of questions as far as what do you get every month, and what's included when you sign up. So for those of you that are just hopping on, this is for the Social Easel online paint studio. We close the doors tomorrow at midnight. We will not open the group again until 2019. So if you're thinking about doing it and you want to learn how to paint but you don't know where to start, you want to start here. So I'm gonna walk you through everything. I'm gonna show you everything that you're gonna get and and we're going to answer any questions that you have. Hey, Miss Tinka, thank you! Hello, Janice! So, um, real quick, I kind of want to do just a little bit of a walkthrough of what is included. So when you guys join, you will immediately get an email. It will have a link to our Inner Tribe, which is our online community, so you'll get into that group. That's where all of our ladies are. That's where you're gonna share your paintings. Hey, Sharon! And that's where you're gonna get feedback. That's where you're gonna talk to me all the time, and I'm in there constantly every day. So if you guys post a painting or you post that you're struggling on something, I go in and answer your questions within there on your post. And then all— I can't say all the girls anymore because we have William in the group now. So everybody in the group will comment and cheer you on, and we let you know their feedback on your paintings too, which is the funnest part. You're not painting by yourself, so you've got a group of people who are in there, which changes the whole experience. It's so much different than painting at home and kind of just having things in your head, and you're not— you don't know if it looks good. So it's so nice to be in this group because you can post a picture and show people either your progress or your finished painting, and they are just gonna tell you what they think and cheer you on and tell you their favorite things about it, which I love, because sometimes we're so self-critical of ourselves we can't see what other people see. So this is a really, I think, essential part of the group, and the friendships that are being born in there are awesome. So you will get an email when you sign up that links you to that. There it will also put you right back to our brand new website that we had built that I'm super excited about. So all the paintings that you see here, and I couldn't even fit them all in the screen, so I'm going to show you a little bit one by one. But you— as soon as you sign up, you have access to every single one of these paintings. So that is super exciting. So for $47 a month, you jump in and you already have access to 11 full paintings that you can pick and choose what your favorite ones are and where you want to start. So we have our Tuscan Landscape, and our vase of flowers, which were some of our first two. So we talked about some base ideas of how to do some different types of flowers. And then we did some cherry blossom. And then we also incorporate like palette knife into some of the paintings that we do too. So this is a really fun abstract palette knife painting. So most of us haven't ever painted with a palette knife before. So it's really fun once you do it. And so we just experiment a little bit with that. And I walk you guys through all different techniques. So not only do you get 2 paintings per month, but you also get a week where I just show you technique up close and personal to really help you fine-tune your painting skills in that area. And then we also have guest speakers come in. Um, Casey, who's— I don't know if she's still on here, but she teaches lettering. She's come to our group as a guest speaker to teach you guys how to do hand lettering. We had a glass artist come in. We have Tamara coming next month. Hey Norma! Hey Rosette! And she's going to teach us a door hanger. So there's all kinds of fun stuff always happening and changing in the group. So these are a couple of the ones we had. A month where we focused on different types of flowers. So our sunflowers and our hydrangeas. And then I love landscapes too. So we had a month that we called our European month. Hey Becky! And we did Monet's Garden. So this is taken from a picture when I actually got to go there, is what I based that on. And then we also have— oh yeah, over here we have our Eiffel Tower. So this was our European month. And then for September, this was the first one that I taught. And this one turns out so pretty. I've loved all the ones that the group has posted. Hey, Linda, thank you. So that was the first one we did this month, and then on Friday I teach my second painting for the month to the group. So that's the cool thing. As soon as you guys join, if you join today or Thursday, on Friday you already get your first painting tutorial with me. So we are doing our FolkArt tree. This is one of my originals from when I very first started the Social Easel, one of my most popular paintings. It's so fun because you can do so many different things with it. So I am teaching this, but I have a Halloween version also. So I am going to post in the group today in our Inner Tribe. I'm going to put up both options and I'm going to let the ladies choose. Majority wins which one I actually paint. Paint on Friday. The technique will stay the same. You're basically just changing your background color and then show you how to add some pumpkins and fun stuff on there. So the group is going to get to decide what we do, which is another fun thing about the Inner Tribe. It's very much, um, a give and take. So I am constantly asking you guys questions. What do you want next? You get a say in what you learn. So it's not like I have the next 6 months planned out as a creative. I just don't work that way. If I come up with an idea, then I paint it, and then I show you guys and see if you like it. So that is kind of where this one came from. I was saying last night, you know, I had to do a bunch of computer work to get ready for this, and it took me away from painting, which is my passion. So on, I believe it was Monday, I started this one, finished it yesterday. So it's backwards for you guys today, but, um, this is one of our paintings for October. So if you love this painting, this one will be taught in October, and this is all palette knife also. So very, very fun paintings. But that's kind of how I work. So I come up with an idea, I paint it, I get feedback from you guys, and we kind of go from there. I am going to scroll back and make sure I'm not missing— the darker paint next to the island, I think that was the one I just showed you, the Halloween FolkArt tree. Hey, Jennifer. Hey Laura, we got lots of trees in here. And yes, that FolkArt tree. Thank you guys. This is, um, yeah, this one's super fun. So I have painted this a handful of times locally and sold every one of my duplicates that I've painted, and all I have left is this original and then my Halloween version. So two different versions. Aren't they fun? And you can do anything you want with these. I have 3 girls, so I've even done one for Sophia with a pink background to match her room and just make it a little bit more girly. So there's lots of different things you can do with that, and that goes for really all of the paintings. So you don't have to stick with my color themes on any of these. You can completely change it up. When you go in and log in, you are going to have the picture— the video tutorial. It's going to show you everything, and you're gonna have a supply list, so it will tell you specifically the exact colors that I used in each painting, so you're not having to search and try to find on your own. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Jennifer. So what else was I going to show you guys today? So that is kind of what we've got so far. So again, the second you join the group, you get all of it. The other question I got was, what do you get when you join? So all of that's there too. 2 paintings per month, full paintings like this, 1 technique video, a live Q&A with me. We do that the last week of every month so we can talk about the paintings that we did that month or a certain technique that you're struggling with or questions about how to take care of your brushes. Hey Sarah! Um, whatever it is, you basically get to pick my brain and ask me whatever you want to regarding painting, and I help you. So, and some of the technique weeks are a little more specific. I go back to kind of taking you guys back to when I was in art school and some of the lessons that I had to learn on color theory and all that kind of stuff. It's all going to help build a base foundation for you to apply to paintings when you start to branch out and do some on your own, which so many of my members are already doing. So it's very, very exciting to see that they've built that confidence and they feel comfortable enough starting to experiment on their own. And most of these ladies I've never picked up a paintbrush before. If you missed our interview last night, I had 3 of my members on there, and we had Rosette and my 2 Beckys, and all 3 of them had never painted before. So Rosette used to draw but had never painted before she came to me. Becky had done tool painting several years ago, back in the '80s, she said, but completely different. and then my other Becky had done door hangers but never painted on canvas before. One of the Beckys has already sold 7 paintings since joining the group in April. The other one, her husband was laughing because when he saw this Paris one, he said, "Yeah, right, like there's no way you can paint that," and she did, and it was so good, and he was so impressed. So even if you've never painted before, and Sarah, she's on here right now, Sarah's one of my members, also had never painted before coming with me, and she has branched out so much and grown so much. So no matter what level you are, you do not have to have any experience. This is not for people who already know necessarily anything about art. Maybe you just have always desired to do something creative or artistic, but you've been scared because you have it built in your head that you're either a creative person or you're not. And I don't believe that lie. I believe everybody has something creative inside of them and you just need someone to help pull it out. So that's my job. That's what I love to do. Hey Cindy, is show you that regardless of what you've done previous to this point, every single one of you have something creative inside of you. Every single one of you is capable of doing these paintings that you see behind me. And nothing makes me happier as a teacher teacher to see women who have joined my group doubtful and maybe a little scared, and now they're like, oh my gosh, I did that. And they have all their friends saying, oh my gosh, you did that. That's awesome. Who would have thought? Um, and Becky, one of the ones who was in my interview last night, she's 70 years old. She went her whole life until 70 years old before she picked up a paintbrush, and now she's painting and she loves it. And She's like, I'm retired. This is what I can do now. I never thought I would be able to do this. So you're never too young and you're never too old to start a new adventure in your life, to give yourself, you know, that time. We're all allowed that time for ourselves. And I think most of you can relate to me knowing that I am a mom of 3. Okay, so I have 3 girls. One in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary. I love them with all my heart. They are my entire life. If you know me, you know that. But we all need a break sometimes. We can't be mom 24/7. We can't be wife 24/7, daughter, whatever it is, whatever stage you're in. You have to, you have to allow yourself time to decompress, to let the stress go, to think about something else. If it's for 30 minutes, if it's for 30 minutes. If you get a whole 2 hours, you get— that's awesome. You get 2 hours to commit to yourself, and it is gonna make you a better mom. It's gonna make you a better wife because you've given yourself that time. And we all need to just refresh and recharge instead of just go, go, go, go, go all the time, which is what, you know, this world has made us like. Take some time back for yourself. Allow yourself that freedom. Allow yourself to enjoy something again just for you, just to have your own thing. And you don't have to have a ton of time. And there's— these paintings never go anywhere. That was another question. Well, how long do we have them? As long as you're a member, you have full access to everything that we do. So you get to take it at your own pace. You— let's say you have one of these paintings and it's like an hour and a half long painting, but you've only got 30 minutes. That's the great thing about this, because you can stop and pause and rewind. You get to control this. You get to paint when you have time. You can paint in your jammies like me. I don't look like this when I'm at home normally, and I'm in pajama pants and an old t-shirt, and I'm painting. You get to decide when you get to do it though. So if you can break it into 30 minutes— well, I've got 30 minutes, I can do this before I have to go pick the kids up from school— then do it. Take 30 minutes and give that to yourself. There's no deadline. If it takes you 2 weeks to finish a painting, that's okay. So that's the beauty of this group, is that everything is at your disposal when you want it. There's no timeline. There's no pressure. There's no critiques. There is just a place full of love and encouragement. When you jump on and you show people your stuff, everyone is like, yes, that's awesome! And yeah, you took the time to do that for yourself. So don't be afraid to do that. You will benefit from it as much as your family will by you taking that time for yourself. So all, all of that is included in the group. I did want to do a little sneak peek. People are asking me, well, what's coming next? So I showed you October. This is the new one for October. The other one I don't have here. I only had— I only have one original left because I sold all the other ones, but it's the Halloween cats. So if you've seen that on my page, it's on the photo where it includes all of— thanks— where it includes all the pictures that are included in the group. But just be sure to look back at my pictures. I'm doing a local paint night with it too, but it's one of our most popular Halloween paintings. So you get that one in October and then the pumpkins. And for October, we're actually going to do those on back-to-back weeks. So that you have the whole month of October to have those paintings hanging up in your home. We're talking about doing the same thing in November and December. So again, this is kind of a community. I ask people what they want. I can tell you for December, our Christmas paintings are all going to be on December 1st, so you can get them done as soon as you want to and then have them up for the whole month. So I did want to give you a little sneak peek. I haven't decided everything that we're doing in November and December, but I can show you the two that I know we're doing for sure, and then a couple that I'm gonna show to the group and they get to vote, or I'm gonna tell them a couple more of some other ideas that I've got going on in my head and see what people want to paint the most. But this is one of my most popular Christmas ones. So this one's called Silent Night. So this will be in either late November or December. And then my favorite little Santa. He's my FolkArt Santa. I love him. So this will be included in the group as well. So any Hanukkah? No, I don't have any Hanukkah paintings. I just— I try to keep it just basic, you know, like seasonal holiday stuff because we only get to do two month. And then this is one that I will show you guys. It's not a for sure, so everyone will kind of get to vote on it, but this was a really popular one last year. So this is— and this is on a pallet board, so we won't— I won't necessarily teach it on a pallet board, but that's the nativity scene that I did last year. So again, that's something we'll vote on and see if people want to keep it you know, more base Christmas Santa and snowmen and all that good stuff, or what we want to do. So you guys get a say in that. So here was the thing. So those of you that are on here right now and those of you that watch the replay before tonight and get your votes in tonight, I'm gonna go back on live probably around 7:30 or so, and you guys have these different paintings to choose from. Prop these two back up here too. I don't have room for everything here, so I'm gonna try to angle that. You've got Monet's Garden and the Tuscan Landscape. I'll kind of give you some of the names so you know if you're voting which one. So this is our Tuscan Landscape. This is Monet's Garden. Get that back up there. I can't handle it if it's crooked. All right, so this is our vase of flowers, our cherry blossoms. Down here on the lower, we have the FolkArt tree and our Sunset Beach and our abstract trees. Thank you, Dee. And then we have our fall ones over here. I did already do a live showing you guys part of this, so if you missed that, you can go back and watch it. So we have our Fall Creek, and then we've got our flowers— sunflowers, hydrangeas, and Paris. So what you get to vote on— I'm not going to do the whole painting tonight because that would be too long, but you guys are going to get to vote on which one you want to see me teach some techniques of. Which one do you want to see me show you how to get going? Maybe a certain technique that is involved in that, how to do the flowers, how to do landscape and blending. What is it that you want to see? So look at the paintings behind you. Let me know your votes. Comment below. Make sure if you're on here right now, right next to your comment button is a share button. Make sure you hit share. Share it with your friends. Let's get their votes. Make this a fun little contest and see how many votes we get and what painting we're gonna work on tonight. So I'm excited to see what you guys pick, and we'll come back on here tonight and and I'll show you some painting techniques, and if there are any questions left, I will answer those. Does anybody have anything else that they want to ask me about the group and how it works? I'm just gonna recap in case you guys jumped on later. So these are all the paintings that you get the day you sign up in the group. These are all in our library. You have full access to them 24/7. They come with a paint list, a photo, and then a full painting tutorial. And in addition to that, you will get our monthly content— is 2 full paintings per month. Then you get a technique week where I show you in-depth stuff, or we have a guest speaker come in. And then we have a live Q&A at the end of the month in our group where you guys get to ask me anything that you want to. And our group is my favorite part, so you're always going to hear me talk about that because we have such an awesome group of people that They're just the backbone of the paint studio. So they're, they're my people and they make it fun and that's why I love it. So, um, that is everything you get per month within our group. It's $47 a month, or you can do the annual plan for $470 and you get 2 months for free. So for those of you that are local and have painted with me before, um, you know what a steal that is because a typical paint night with me for one session is anywhere from $40 to $50. So for $47 a month, you get 2 full paintings, a technique week, live Q&A, Facebook group, your own personal login to our website to where you can access anything that you want 24/7. So, yeah, so you can do the payment plan, or you can do a year at a time if you know you're just going to want to keep painting. We've had several people just choose the annual plan because it saves you a little. So you got two options, and, um, thanks Cindy, and we're gonna have lots of fun, but the doors are closing. So you have today and you have tomorrow until midnight, and then I close cart. And we do not accept— I mean, right at midnight tomorrow night I shut it down. If you email me on Friday morning and say, hey, I need to get in, I didn't get in, I'll put you on a wait list. We have to close the group so that I can focus on my group and give 100% of myself to them, to give them everything that they want in this and to make it worth every penny that they spend. So because of that, I closed the group so that I'm not on here talking to you guys and trying to get new members in. It's just all about them. I will not open the group again until 2019. So again, if you're thinking about it, if you know you want to get in before the holidays and you want to paint all these fun fall and Christmas and seasonal paintings, this is your chance to get in. So just make sure you know it ends tomorrow at midnight and then it's cut off and, and then we're ready to just jump into painting and having fun. So Jana said, if you purchase a monthly subscription, will it automatically be renewed? So this is how it works. You can cancel at any time, but it is an automatic deduction every month. So whatever day you sign up, so tomorrow What is the— is tomorrow Thursday? Yeah, tomorrow's Thursday. Um, tomorrow's the 17th, so if you sign up tomorrow on the 17th, every 17th of the month it will take it out of your account, whatever card you put that on. But again, you can cancel at any time. There's no contracts with it. So that's how that works. It's just an automatic deduction out of your bank account. So let me know if you guys have any other questions. I'm still waiting for some votes. What do you guys want to see me paint tonight? So I'm gonna back up and let you guys kind of get another peek there, make sure I'm not forgetting. Let's see, the only one you can't see right now is— I needed more space. So we have Monet's Garden. And then we have the Eiffel Tower. So those, those are your choices. So I'm hoping to get lots of feedback from you guys. And the pumpkins— I'm seeing a couple pumpkins come up. I just broke one of my favorite vases. I'm so sad. 3 canvases is too many to prop up against it. So I'm seeing a lot of pumpkins, the FolkArt tree, Tuscan landscape. So you guys just keep the votes coming in. Make sure you hit that share button. Let's get your friends in here, get their votes. I'm hoping for a big audience tonight. I want to paint with a bunch of people and see what you guys think. And tonight when I teach, It will be just like it would be in our group. So instead of watching me from behind or looking at me head on tonight, you're just going to see my hands. You're going to get an aerial view. You're going to get a sneak peek into exactly what it's like to paint with me inside our group and get the same view that they get inside of there. And I tell my people all the time, I've been teaching local paint nights for 5 years. The online group is getting— well, one, you're getting the best deal for sure, but you are also getting the best perspective. Because even when you're teaching painting, even if you're 5, 6, 7 feet away, you can't see those close-up details when I'm teaching in a class. And you guys are getting to see that up close and personal. You're getting to see each brush stroke, how lightly I put pressure on my brush, how much paint I have on my brush, and I make sure to show you all those things up close so that you can take it and apply it to what you're doing. So I think that's it. When you join, if you're worried about supplies and what you have to get, nothing fancy, no expensive canvases. You can go— the best deal, honestly, go to Hobby Lobby. They have value packs for $9.99. You get, if you want to do 16x20s, which is what these are, you get 5 of them for $9.99. So that's $2 a canvas. But when you sign up that first email that you get has the full supply list, and it has all my favorite colors, all the colors that I've used in the paintings up to this point. So you will have everything you need. You don't have to get all the paint colors at once, but you can get some of your favorites. And you can even look at— if you know there's specific paintings you want to do, you can click on the painting and then underneath it, it'll tell you the colors that are used in that painting. So that way you can go pick out your favorites if you want to. So I hope that answers all your questions. Keep the votes coming. Coming, and I will see you guys this evening. So talk to you later. Bye!