Today was a real fun day here at Plaid, our long time friend and working business partner, Donna Dewberry, came to Plaid’s corporate offices for meetings and while she was here, we were able to schedule her as a guest teacher who presented a Lunch n Learn One Stroke demonstration and project for us. Donna Dewberry has been working with Plaid for 18 ½ years and is an original! She created the One Stroke painting technique, has authored many books and created many videos on the subject, created several One Stroke products over the years and has taught thousands around the world! Today, Donna has certified over 12,000 One Stroke Instructors, amazing isn’t it?
Donna began our Lunch n Learn session today with a quick One Stroke demonstration. You see, it is a technique that is easily taught and with practice can be mastered. Learning how to properly load your brush, how to create a few basic brush strokes and knowing how much pressure to use is key to One Stroke techniques along with dedicated practice.
As always, Donna “wowed” everyone! With a few simple brush strokes in just a matter of minutes, she had painted a vine, leaves, a hummingbird, rosebuds and scrollwork. To everyone’s amazement, she promised that they too could learn to One Stroke!
So let’s get started … Donna has always been a HUGE fan of FolkArt Acrylics, but lately she is totally enjoying the beautiful “satin” sheen of new FolkArt Multi-Surface Paints.
So we gathered our supplies: foam plate for our palette, Lemon Custard, Magenta, Light Blue, Wicker White, Thicket, and Floating Medium. We also used a No. 12 Flat brush and a No. 1 Script Liner brush, brush basin and some paper towels.
Our surface was a wood canvas panel which had been basecoated FolkArt Italian Sage and sanded smooth. And as you can see, Donna taught us basic One Stroke leaves, rosebuds, daisies, curlicues and a butterfly in flight!
Donna even prepared for us a special painting worksheet guide so that we could all practice our brush strokes before painting on our project surface!
The 6” x 6” wood canvas panel was a “blank” canvas until we began painting rosebuds using Magenta and Wicker White double loaded on our No. 12 flat brushes! Donna taught us how to position our rosebuds in a simple triangle shape allowing space between the buds.
Next, she taught the group how to double load the same flat brush with Thicket on one side and Lemon Custard on the other side. She even told us that we could add a touch of Wicker White to the yellow side of brush. We were preparing our brushes to learn how to add leaves to our cluster of rosebuds! Looks like fun, doesn’t it?
One Stroke Basic Leaves …. Yeah!
One Stroke daisies really brought our painting to life! Who knew daisies were so easy to paint? Everyone in the classroom did an awesome job painting Wicker White daisies!
What One Stroke floral painting would be complete without a painted insect? I say, NONE!! Donna showed everyone how the same basic leaf stroke could create simple Light Blue and Wicker White butterfly wings.
Using our No. 1 script liner brush loaded with thinned Thicket, we added the butterfly body and antennae.
To complete our beginner One Stroke painting, we added Lemon Custard dots using our brush handle to the daisy centers. We painted Thicket curlicues and a border edge of Wicker White accented with Light Blue checkerboard.
Here’s a quick shot of some very happy Plaid folks who enjoyed their One Stroke Lunch n Learn session with Donna Dewberry! Donna, we so LOVED our time spent with you, thank you so very much for sharing your talents and love of painting with all of us!