Sue Riger Studio School of Painting

Disclaimer:  I received this complimentary product through the 

The Old Schoolhouse®.

The Sue Riger Studio School of Painting offers online video tutorial courses for exploring fun and creative ways to express oneself through art. In this review I intend to focus on Sue's course Fun with Textures. This course shows simple techniques for creating DIY canvas boards that students will then learn how to layer paint to create a beautiful work of art. 

Fun With Textures

According to Sue "It's been said that a sure sign of a professional painting is the generous application of paint. You won't believe how fun and easy this is!" In Fun with Textures students will learn details about a wide variety of ready-made painting surfaces also known as substrates, how to achieve texture with acrylic paints, how to create your own canvas board, and finally techniques to make your paintings look more interesting and professional. The complete course is 40 minutes split into three main sections. 

The course begins with a section titled Get Ready for Some Fun! This section includes a list of supplies needed, an Introduction to Textures, and Here's Your Reference Photo. The first main section entitled Foundations Make a Difference: Let's Look at Substrates talks about cold-pressed and hot-pressed watercolor paper, student canvases, gallery depth canvases, and museum depth canvases and what makes them all different. Sue talks about low quality board, artist panel, clay board, gesso board, encaustic board, hardboard panel, wood panel, and float frame. In the second section titled DIY Linen and Cotton Canvas Boards: An Engaging & Fun Process she discusses the different types of materials students can use to construct their painting canvas. Sue suggests finding an 8x8" hardboard, wood panel, or cradled board. Cotton or linen fabric will be used to make the painting surface. She elaborates on various types of fabric weaves and textures. Sue gives easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions as she demonstrates the process. She explains art terminology and visually shows product pictures and brushes she uses. The third and final section is titled Building Texture with Paint: Every Layer Counts - a painting demonstration. This is where the real fun begins! Students will complete painting lessons using Sue's personal reference photographs. Sue also draws inspiration from other artists by showing her students their work and explaining their techniques. During the painting process, Sue directs the students. After the canvas has dried, Sue will guide students through the steps of creating their painting. This will include line work with chalk to texturing with a palette knife. The course costs $50. 

As we discuss cost, I'll provide a basic supply list. Sue gives details on some of the supplies but for this review I will not add those details. For Fun with Textures, you will need:

·       8x8 board

·       Cotton or linen fabric

·       Wood glue

·       Old gift card or Brayer

·       Craft knife and cutting board or cardboard

·       Sandpaper

·       Panclub brush or inexpensive brush

·       Gesso

·       Chalk, pencil, vine charcoal

·       Heavy body acrylic paint

·       Cadmium Yellow Medium

·       Cadmium Orange

·       Quinacridone Red

·       Ultramarine Blue

·       Pthalo Blue

·       Optional palette knife

·       Liner brush

·       Brushes

·       Palette

·       Water and a water bucket

·       Apron

·       Paper towels

·       Spray bottle

Fun with Textures is intended for adults but could be used by mature students with painting experience. Group discounts are available. Individuals need only purchase the course and supplies. The course is appropriate for those wanting to learn how to paint or artists wishing to improve their painting techniques. 

This 40-minute course has three sections. Section 1 is 11:37, Section 2 is 8:19, and Section 3 is 20:02 long. In each of these sections there will be times that you will have to pause the video to allow your canvas to dry. 

Sue discusses the various types of canvases. 

Sue shows various fabrics and talks about how the weave

and texture will play into your painting.  

Sue walks students step-by-step through the process of

making your own canvas. 

T he painting fun begins! 

Every Layer Counts - a painting demonstration 

I dealt with some technical issues that were not due to the Sue Riger Studio website. My lovely child somehow messed up my teachable.com account. Since the Sue Riger website utilizes teachable.com as its underlying platform, I could notaccess the courses. It was a huge mess. I tried for hours to figure out what my child did to the account. I finally contacted Sue and ask for help. I felt horrible. She emailed me back quickly and was extremely kind and helpful. She helped me get back on track and we resumed where we left off. 

Sue's teaching style is laid-back and makes her students feel at ease. Throughout the painting process, when Sue makes a mistake or doesn't like how something looks, she shows students how to erase or blend to fix the problem. She gives some excellent tips such as using a spray bottle filled with water to spritz the paint on the palette if it begins to dry out. During the painting lesson a few topics were discussed: creating shadows, highlights, light and heavy brush strokes, establishing shape, value, texture, blending, and establishing a center line. 

Fun with Textures was a fun course! I like that the course has students painting and making their own canvas! I personally have never come across another art curriculum or stand-alone course where the student learns to make their own canvas. Yes, it does require the purchase of art supplies. However, it gives "the artist" a chance to play around with and create different canvases with fabrics such as muslin, flax, linen, and cotton which all have such different textures. That in itself is art. Sue guides students through this process. At first I balked at the thought of making my own canvas. However, after starting the process, I had fun. Seeing a DIY canvas complete is amazing. 

Let's Look at Substrates. 

I am making my own canvas. 

Building Texture with Paint  - Every Layer Counts

After a lot of work making and preparing my canvas;

 let the painting begin! 

 I am pretty proud of my finished artwork! 

And here are some screenshots from Sue's Fun with Textures

painting lesson.Sue is explaining textures used, the outline of the pear,

the added thick texture, reflected light, use of light...

This is a painting by Gina Brown

Some of Sue's lesson screenshots. 

 

While I am not talented in the arts, I still love creating art. Both my teen daughter and I enjoyed working on this course. I naturally have trouble with worry and stress. While working on this course I found myself focusing so intensely that I forgot everything else. That is HUGE for me. I just wish it was as effortless and natural as it was for talented ARTISTS! For the win, I will concentrate on art's therapeutic aspect. I would highly recommend anyone taking this course find a table to dedicate solely to Fun with Textures for at least four days or more. With my unpredictable schedule due to health issues, homeschooling my children, and the everyday demands of life it took me over a week to complete this course. This is one of the reasons I love online self-paced courses. 

Simply Glass

Sue has two other courses on her website both intended for adults or mature students. The first is Simply Glass. In the Simply Glass course students will learn techniques for drawing and painting glass that simplify the subject. Sue says painting glass is easier than one might think. In this course students will also learn Sue's simplified way of creating her popular painted hydrangeas. Sue will also teach students the art of painting to make your work come alive with light. The course is 1 1/2 hours long and broken down into seven sessions. Sue is efficient with her time while still packing in techniques and learning. I want to clarify that students draw and paint glass vases and bottles on sketch paper and artcanvases. Students are not painting on glass. Course objectives include mastery of perspective and an ellipse, colorharmony, understanding how water distorts objects, and exploring light sources. 

Supply List

• Acrylic paints
• Sketch paper
• Gesso canvas or board and size
• Vine charcoal or charcoal pencil
• Small round brush (more info given)
• Chalk
• Drawing pencil
• White eraser 
• Various sizes of flat brushes (Sue gives examples)
• Palette (Sue gives examples)
• Spritz bottle (more info given)
• List of optional items

Of the three courses Fun with Textures, Simply Glass, and The Painted Pear Sue recommends taking Simply Glass first because it has lessons on drawing. The course offers concise instructions but also packs painting tips. 

We did not get around to starting this course during this school year. 

I did have the opportunity to listen to the lessons and am very excited

to work through this course over the summer with my children.  

The Painted Pear

The third course The Painted Pear explores fun ways to create paintings. In this course Sue draws inspiration from twenty-five master painters' works. The course is 7 hours, 38 minutes long and broken down into eight units. By exploring beyond the basic color wheel, students learn to play with color schemes. They choose colors strategically, experiment with triads, and split complementary themes. The course uses a file of 75 reference photos compiled by Sue. The photos are of pears of all different shapes, colors, and sizes next to various vases, cups, pitchers, and backgrounds. Each unit students will create a different art piece with pears being the theme. 

In one unit entitled Loose Pears - stand back and be amazed, Sue has you tape your paint brush to a long stick to paint your canvas. Students then complete their artwork by drawing or painting the pear in. In another unit titled Adding Texture, Color, and Pattern with Collage she shows students fun ways to make collages with texture, color, and pattern. Using National Geographic Magazines and citrasolv, Sue demonstrated an extremely fascinating technique to create collage paper. This technique creates the best collage paper I have ever seen! After working with the palette knife in Fun with Textures the unit in The Painted Pear entitled The Power of a Palette Knife sounded fun! Who knew you could have so much fun making art with pears? 

My pears  

Getting ready to paint! 

Here are my pears after my free painting.  

The pear outlines are non existent but I can

kind of see some semblance of pear shapes.  

Here are my two finished pears. 

Here are a few snapshots of the Unit on Loose Pears.

1.2 Permission to Paint Freely 

1.3 More Painting Freely 

1.4 Final Touches on Loose Pears 

My children and I intend to work through the other seven 

units over the summer. We had a crazy and quite difficult 

homeschool year that prevented us from completing this course. 

Sue hopes to eventually add a course on abstract painting in the future. I am always curious about what motivates an individual or company to begin. I searched the website and couldn't find the answer so I reached out to Sue to ask. The response she gave was, "Covid confined us all. Teaching online was a way to reach people and to help others. It broke through the boundaries of sheltering at home. I met so many wonderful people who are still friends with me now. Some have even visited me from out of state!" Simply Glass and The Painted Pear even have private Facebook groups for support and free critiques. WOW, if that isn't a wonderful beginning story I don't know what is.

For those who are reading and wondering if Sue has courses for young children. Draw Near Track 1 is designed for kindergarten through middle school and offers multiple levels of difficulty for each unit. Coloring pages are included for preschoolers, so they don’t get left out. Draw Near, Track 2 is designed for mature middle school students through high school. Sue has homeschooled for eighteen years so truly understands homeschoolers' needs. https://sue-riger-studio.teachable.com/p/draw-near

Final Thoughts

I would highly recommend The Sue Riger Studio School of Painting Fun with Textures as well as the other two courses Simply Glass and The Painted Pear. These courses bundled together would be a great way for a high school student to earn art credit towards graduation. Whether you are sixteen, sixty-six, or ninety-six Sue will teach, encourage, and ensure you have fun along the way.