What's NEW with The Social Easel! FREE Workshop and MORE!

Hey everybody, it's Christy with The Social Easel, and I am joining you today to let you know about everything that we have coming up in February and some things that we have going on right now that, um, you can sign up for both of them. So as you guys are joining in, let me know, um, when you're here. I want to make sure the audio is okay because I'm trying a different mic today, so I want to make sure you guys can hear me okay before I go a ton further. But, um, I'm just gonna jump in and chit-chat a little bit to make sure we're all good with audio. Um, so I'm coming from you from upstairs in my studio. You may hear a little bit of an echo because I'm right by the balcony over here. Okay, awesome, Christina, thank you, said sound is great. Um, but I just got this new little couch to put over here. Um, so when I need to take a break from painting, I'm just going to show you guys. The studio is right over here, and this is my, um, corner right when you come up the stairs. So I added this as like my little break area, but it's also just a fun place to be able to jump over and go live with you guys and just chit chat for a little bit. So that is going to be what we're doing today. So, um, obviously with the new year, um, we have a lot of big plans. I did my team retreat, um, back the first week of January, had my whole team fly down here to Missouri, and we planned an amazing year for you guys. And so we're just jumping into everything that we've got planned this year, and the first thing that we are doing this year is a brand new free workshop called Poppies and Possibilities. And I'm actually going to pull up a screen to show you a little bit more about that. But some of you may have already painted poppies with me before, um, so these are going to be pre-recorded videos where I walk you through 4 different styles, 4 different ways that you can paint poppies with me. And these 4 ways that I teach are typically the 4 ways that I teach on a regular basis. So basic acrylic paint, watercolor, impasto paint, which is more of a thick-bodied acrylic, more of this style that you see behind me, and then the last one is mixed media. So you're going to get access to all of these lessons completely free, no strings attached. And in addition to that, we have created a Facebook group to go with this free workshop. And we're really excited about that, that new aspect that we're bringing into the poppies, because we're calling this workshop Poppies and Possibilities, because not only are you going to learn these 4 different styles of poppies, but you're also going to learn how to start stretching your brain and figuring out how you can make your own compositions your own artwork inspired by maybe some of your favorite flowers. So, um, I'm gonna pull this up really quick just to show you because I actually don't have all the original poppy paintings to show you right now because, um, one is at my— actually, two are at my lake house and two more are at home. So I don't even have them here in the studio with, with me. So I'm gonna, um, share the page with you guys. Okay, let me scroll down here. So again, if you haven't already, the link is in the comments, um, like the description of this video. You can also comment if you want a link, and Nev is going to drop the link in the comments as well. But again, this is a completely free workshop. You're going to learn how to paint these poppies in these 4 different styles that you see here on the screen. As soon as you sign up for this, you get instant access to this. So what that means is you're going to get an email with a link to our hub page, and on this hub page it's going to have all the videos there for you, like a little playlist. You can select which one you want to start with. And then in addition to that, we're throwing in even more bonuses to go with this workshop. So I just wanted to show you what those look like, but in to those 4 poppies paintings that you're going to learn how to do, we're giving you 4 bonus lessons— or I'm sorry, 3 bonus lessons. And these bonus lessons, which you also have instant access to, are going to start stretching your brain a little. The first one is going to be all about finding inspiration, how I do that. I'm going to walk you step by step through that process, um, and show you how I create Pinterest boards, show you how I create inspiration from artificial flowers, fake flowers. You can make your own still life, um, and so on. The second video is going to be all about what supplies you need to get started with painting, um, kind of setting up your space. And we're going to talk a little bit more about mindset, which is actually probably more important than skill set, is mindset. Making sure that you have your mind in the right place when you sit down to create so that you can start dreaming without fear, um, and just really enjoying the process. So where your mind is at when you come into that creative space is very important. So we're going to talk about that in video number 2. And then the final bonus video is going to be all about colors. So if you've been with me a while, you know that teaching you about colors and color mixing is probably one of my favorite subject matters because I am just obsessed with color, as you can tell by my paintings that I choose and my studio space. But in this lesson, you're gonna learn how to understand a color wheel, learn how colors work together and don't work together, and you're gonna learn how to start mixing your own colors with confidence. So you're— it's, it's going to take the guesswork out of what to do with colors. You may look at a wall of paint or several paint bottles on your desk and not have a clue which colors you should mix together to make another pretty color, right? That's what I'm going to teach you in that bonus lesson. So it's going to be a quick overview of all things about color. And that's just getting started, you guys. I'm still talking about the free workshop. Okay. So you get all of that in the Poppies and Possibilities workshop. Okay. Instant access to all 7 of those videos that I just mentioned. And then the month of February, inside our private Facebook group for that Poppies, we are going to be doing weekly live lessons. So in addition to those, I'm going to do weekly lessons with you every Wednesday through the month of February where we're going to continue to start talking about those possibilities. You're learning how to paint, and now we're going to start talking about what if you want to create your own artwork. Because after teaching online and then locally for, I think now, where am I at, like 11 plus years, Um, that is one of the number one questions that I get is, well, kind of twofold: where do I find my inspiration and how do I create my own artwork? So let me know in the comments if either one of those sounds like you. Do you want to know where to find inspiration? Are you interested in learning how to create your own artwork? Um, so I'm anxious to hear what you guys have to say in the comments. Thank you guys, I'm glad you like the new shirt. So this is one of my new designs. I created some stickers with it. This is my first test shirt that I ordered, um, so these will be up on the Social Easel store also in February. February is the magic month of all, all the things coming. Um, but yeah, this is one of my new designs, uh, so let me know if you like it. And I'm going to steal a little drink of water while I'm waiting on you guys to answer. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Okay, so I'm looking really forward to it as well. So we're going to start the whole month of February really tapping in to giving you the resources to, to start thinking about creating your own artwork. Okay, because we have my florals master class. If you, uh, have been following me for a while, you may remember this from last spring, and we are opening the doors to a second session of my florals master class later this spring. But before we get to that, we're going to start with the basics, and we're going to go on this journey together, of tapping into that creative side that I know all of you have in there, and maybe you just haven't tapped into it yet. So, um, we are going to work on that in the Poppies and Possibilities workshop. Free to sign up, no cost, free Facebook group and all the support and everything that you need in there, along with an amazing community. The second thing I want to share with you guys about is this painting that you see sitting next to me. How many of you guys have seen The Dreamy Mountains painting. Um, this— and I know I say this a lot— it's one of my favorites. But this truly is— I, when I created this last year, I came into the studio one day and this image was just in my head. Now this is a rarity for me, speaking of where I come up with inspiration. Usually it is from many different resources, photos, things I see on Pinterest, real life pictures I take, um, but I was just kind of like in a funky mood and I needed to cheer myself up. And so I wanted to create a world that I wanted to be in. I wanted to create this magical, dreamy world, and this is what kind of came to fruition. This was actually my original. So the original one, this is like a 12 by 12 canvas. This was the first one I did, and then when I retaught it again inside of my tribe, I decided to do it on a much bigger canvas. Um, but it makes me smile every single time I look at this painting, and I just wish there was a place on Earth that existed like this. But until then, we have a painting to go into, right? Um, so I created this larger version, and this is what hangs in my studio as soon as you walk in the door. It's the first thing you see, and it just— it lights me up every time I see it. So, um, this is what I decided to be our February painting of the month for Painting of the Month Club. So if you aren't familiar with that, I'm going to kind of go over what Painting of the Month Club is, how you can learn how to paint this, and all the details about it. And then at the end, I'm going to open it up for questions. So, um, registration for this is open right now, but it closes on January 31st. So that is a week from today. You have 7 days left to sign up for this. And here's why this is so important, okay? If you are a Tribe sister watching, Tribe is my VIP membership. You already have access to this video, so this doesn't apply to you. You can access this right now. But for all of you who are not in my Tribe, but want to learn how to paint this, you can sign up for only $20 and learn how to paint this. We break the video down into 3 separate videos, so it's easy chunks that you can— you can do the whole painting in one session, or you can break it up in multiple sessions, whatever works with your schedule and your time, right? Um, and it's only $20 to be a member. So the first question I always get is But what if I don't want to join the club and I just want to paint this painting? Good news, you can do that, but you still have to sign up through the link to be a Painting of the Month Club member. But you can cancel at any time. Here is the perk of being in Painting of the Month Club. It's the only way that you get to paint these paintings with me. So these are exclusive, meaning unless you're a Tribe Sister, you don't have access to these lessons. Okay, what I do for Painting of the Month Club is take pre-recorded lessons from my tribe from the previous year, and I pick my most popular ones from that year, the ones the tribe sisters loved the most, the ones I loved the most. In fact, my team was here with me earlier this month, and I had the first like 6 for the year picked out, and they helped me finish out the season. So it's a really It's a fun way for us to pick my most popular tutorials to give to you guys in Painting of the Month Club. So these are the best of the best, um, and they're what everyone loved from last year. And it's your only chance to paint them for $20 because I don't offer individual lessons to these in any other way. So doors close on January 31st, and then your opportunity to paint this painting goes away with that door closing also. So you have 7 days left. You can sign up to learn how to paint it for only $20. So here is, um, and again, if I left anything out or didn't answer your questions, please just drop them in the comments and I will answer them for you. So one of, um, I'm gonna hold this up just closer so you guys can see. One of the questions I get when I pick a painting like this, and some of you let me know in the comments what you think to. Some of you may look at this and think it's intimidating, or there's no way I can paint that. So let me know if you're feeling that way in the comments. But I would also love my tribe sisters— excuse me— who have painted this to also jump in the comments and share with them that yes, they can. So one of the things that I say when you learn to paint with me is whether you are a beginner or whether you're a seasoned painter, it doesn't matter where you're at in your journey. I have for over 11 years been teaching all kinds of people how to paint, whether they've never picked up a paintbrush before or whether they've been painting for a long time. Okay, so you may have zero experience and you may look at a painting like this and think, Christy, there is no way I can paint that. And I'm here to tell you that you can, um, because that is just the way that I teach. I break everything down into easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. And the great thing about these videos is because they pre-recorded. They go into a member library. You can pause them, stop them, rewind, go back, rewatch a section if you missed a step. So, um, everything is accessible for you and broken down into easy-to-follow steps. Um, the other thing I want to mention is this is done with palette knives. So I know for some of you, even that may scare you a little bit, but the palette knives are what I use to create this painting. And if that makes you nervous, number one, that's okay. New things sometimes make us nervous, right? But again, I'm going to show you how to use a palette knife, how to get that technique down. But I also don't want that to be a deciding factor for you, that like, I really want to do that painting, but I have— I don't want to do it with palette knife. And what if I only have paintbrushes and that's what I want to do? You can do this painting, you can do this composition with a paintbrush. As well if you don't want to do palette knife. So, um, it's going to have a little bit different texture to it because palette knife just creates this look, this texture that you see on the canvas. But you can definitely still do this painting and this composition with paintbrushes as well. Okay, so don't let that intimidate you. Again, I'm going to show you everything on how to do it. And here's what I'll tell you, myself along with other Tribe Sisters will say Um, I did not use a palette knife back when I was in college for art. That was not one of the techniques that we learned. That ended up being something self-taught that I learned, uh, in my late 30s. And then once I started playing with palette knife, I was like, why have I— why did I not know about this? I love painting with palette knife, and now it's one of my favorite ways, um, to paint. So I just want to share that with you because I know sometimes that, that mindset, or like looking at a painting and assuming that you're not going to be able to do that, I just want to say that's not true, um, and that you can definitely learn how to do this just like the members in my group. And when you go to the Painting of the Month page to sign up, you'll see we have pictures of the Tribe Sisters and their beautiful recreations of this painting. And most of them will tell you it was also one of their favorite paintings of 2024. So, um, Super excited to share this with you guys. And then obviously you can see these are on different size canvases. So another thing to remember, um, with any of the paintings that I teach or lessons that I do, you can do them on any size that you want to. If the big one intimidates you, start with a smaller canvas like I did. I felt like this was a more comfortable way for me to start out and kind of play with this idea that I had in my head. And then once I did it small, I was like, all right, now I want to do a big version of it. You can even do these paintings in a mixed media pad. So, um, the whole point of Painting of the Month Club is for you to have easy access at a low cost of only $20 a month, so way less than a dollar a day. And you're getting to have me as your instructor every single month teaching you how to paint, and you're learning new techniques each month that you're in Painting of the Month Club. So we purposely select the paintings that we do to give a huge variety throughout the year. And another benefit of being a Painting of the Month Club member is that you get early access to knowing what the future month is going to be. So before your next payment comes out for Painting of the Month Club, you're going to get an email from us showing you what that painting is. By the way, you're definitely going to want to do March, I can already tell you that. But you're going to get a preview of that painting as a member Um, and that's a bonus that you get too, and a courtesy that we give you so that you can see what the painting is before, um, you can decide whether you want to stay in the club or maybe you want to cancel at that time. So the great thing is there's no commitment, um, when you join Painting of the Month Club, and you can cancel at any time. So, um, I think that is all I was going to share with you. Yes, thank you, Nev said, um, I forgot these are on sale right now. So if you don't already have your own set of palette knives, I have my custom design set in the store. They're on sale for only $15 right now, and it's a 5-piece palette knife set. And this is what I use for all my palette knife painting. And of course they have the custom teal handle because that's my signature color for the brand. Um, yes, March is so good. You guys are going to be so excited about it. But we've still got February. We, we have so much fun planned for February, and I can't wait to paint with you guys. So, um, I'm gonna open it up for questions. Let me know if you have any, um, and then otherwise I'm gonna hop off for the day and go ahead and start my weekend. Regina said, quit torturing us. What? We, we've announced the things, Regina. So, so you have the Poppies and Possibilities workshop is free workshop, and this is the Painting of the Month Club that is coming in February. So this is what I was announcing, um, today are these two possibilities, um, that you have, two opportunities that you have to paint with us this coming February. Thank you. Bees in Bloom said, so excited for this one, it is beautiful. Let me make sure I didn't miss any other comments. Awesome. Linda said, I'm really excited to learn to paint with palette knives, something I have not done. And here's the thing, I think there's a little bit of a learning curve to it. And again, we have to, we have to practice, we have to try new things. You have to make mistakes. That's part of the process. So we're really working on in 2025 being intentional with our choices, but also giving ourselves grace when we're learning new things. So don't expect perfection out of yourself. One of the new sayings that I've been saying a lot inside of our tribe is it's Progress, not perfection. We're trying to break that habit of being a perfectionist, especially in our artwork, and focusing more on the progress that we're making and the skills that we're learning, because those are buildable. Just like any new thing that you do in your life, you start right fresh, no skill set, no knowledge, and the more you do something, the more you're going to learn. So I think you guys are going to really enjoy, um, playing with the palette knife if you have never done it before. Thank you guys. I just got my hair done this week. That's why it's looking fresh and blonde right now. Yay, Kelly signed up! So excited. We are so excited to have you. Um, if you did— so, um, someone is saying they did poppies a while back and it's not in your library. This is a free workshop, so it's It's actually not in a member library. The member library is only for purchased things. So you can just go to this hub page and it will have all the videos there for you. So you would have been— if you signed up for that before, you could go back through your emails and find that link. But you can also just sign up again and then it will give you the link to that hub page where you can access all those videos. All right, yes, so I will work on getting this design up in the store for you guys. I have a couple other designs but I just have to have time to get everything updated into the store. So we will, um, we will definitely be updating the store soon. And if you love this shirt, we'll have these available as well and probably do them in a couple different colors so you can choose some different color options as well. So thank you guys for joining me today. I'm gonna jump off and not take any more of your time, but if you have any questions, drop them in the comments. You can ask for a link to either the free workshop for Poppies or for Dreamy Mountains, which is $20. You only have until January 31st to sign up for the Dreamy Mountains, so don't miss your chance on that. Mark it on your calendar if you're not joining today to not forget to sign up. And, um, that's it. So looking forward to a great last week of January where I'm going to be prepping for all the fun we have in February for you. I will talk to you guys soon. Bye!