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Ever wanted to start being an artist but you’re not sure how? There are a ton of ways to get started. Here are a few tips for how to get started painting.

1. Set A Goal: What kind of pieces do you want to make? Do you want to paint landscapes? People? Abstract representations? These questions can lead to answers about what kind of supplies you might need, what kind of a workspace you’ll need, and maybe how much time you’ll need.
2. Try Watercolor Paint: Watercolors are a great way to start getting into painting. They’re a cheap alternative to other paints because you can get a lot of colors for not a lot of money. You may need to get special paper that can handle the water and the thin translucent layers of color.
3. Choose Your Brushes: The two main things to pay attention to when choosing brushes are the shape of the bristles, and what they’re made of. The shape is wither round, flat, or filbert. The bristles can be constructed of many different things. For beginners, shape may be more important than bristle material.
4. Familiarize Yourself With The Color Wheel: As shown above, the color wheel is a map of colors that shows how new colors can be created. This is important for mixing colors if you’re not using water colors, and it’s a good at to understand how touching colors could end up looking.
5. Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Things: The best part about painting is that there’s no right or wrong. There’s always a chance to try something new, listen to your heart, and put any color anywhere. Who says a banana is yellow! In your painting, it’s your world.

The hardest part about painting is getting started. Once you get over your fear of failure, nothing can stop you from creating a masterpiece! Like we said, your painting is your world and there’s no right or wrong.

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 

Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 

Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 

for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!

 

First off, what is the East Austin Studio Tour? It’s a huge art festival happening all over East Austin. This free annual art festival kicks off soon on the east side of I-35. Over 150 studios, exhibition spaces, and galleries will be opening their doors to the public. from November 11 and 12 from 11AM-6PM.

Along with a great opening from Art From The Streets at 2832 E Martin Luter King Jr Blvd, there are countless other artists to see. Here are a few of our favorites:

You can see art inspired by the patterns of analog video feedback and the geometrical symmetry that comes out through it. There are turning patters and mathematical hallucinations painted into large pieces by the talented Paul Baker. You can see his art at the library at 4725 Loyola Ln.

Art represents life, and Augustine Chavez takes that very seriously. She depicts construction workers doing what society depends on, with a focus on race and work in our communities. None of the pieces show faces, to depict their anonymity yet their importance in our society. These pieces are on display at the Cepeda Branch Library.

Interested in woodworking? See Terry and Sarah Snow’s mixed media pieces at Chaos Woods Studio. Their pieces are unique wood sculptures, bowls, boxes, furniture and toys that explore the possibilities of what wood can be.

Want to wear the art? We’re loving the pieces by Emily Spykman Clementine & co Jewelry. They’re all based on the idea that jewelry should work with your body and be personally symbolic. The artist considers them to be like physical medicine in that the earth is supporting us.

Anywhere in East Austin you’re sure to find something great at this festival. Make sure you get out there this weekend!

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 

Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 

Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 

for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!

 

Art From the Streets, a non-profit that provides a free art studio for Austin’s homeless citizens, will host their 25^th Annual Homeless Art Show and Sell on Dec. 2-3^rd at the Austin Convention Center from 11am - 5pm.

For the past 25 years, Art From the Streets has offered a safe space for homeless people to express their creativity and grow through painting and drawing within a supportive community.

“We’re very excited to have this 25^th anniversary show. We have 2,000 pieces of new artwork, thousands of pieces of artwork that we stored for the artists over a period of time, and we have about 35 artists that will have booths that are participating. But over 150 artists have worked in our program over this year,” executive director of Art From the Streets, Kelley Worden, said.

(Executive Director, Kelley Worden)

This non-profit has grown immensely over the past 25 years from 70 pieces of artwork to the now thousands that are expected at this upcoming show. The program started off with a few founders hosting in a small room at The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless or ARCH for short.

“One of our founders got together with some friends and decided that they wanted to go to The ARCH and maybe create a sandwich, some lunch maybe - just find something interactive to do with people that are living on the streets. One day they brought in pencils and paper and just wanted to do some interactions versus just sitting around and doing nothing all day and they came up with these amazing pieces of artwork,” Worden said.

(Open studio time)

The art studio is now hosted within the Trinity Center, a resource for the homeless population provided by St. David’s Episcopal Church in downtown Austin. Up until five years ago the Annual Show and Sell art show was also held within St. David’s but has since moved to the Austin Convention Center to allow room for growth.

“So about five years ago we became a 501 (c)(3). So twenty years of just friends of friends of friends making it happen and completely volunteer run. Ten years ago we started receiving funds from the city through the Cultural Arts Division which we still do. A lot of our funding comes from them,” Worden said.

While the building Art From the Streets is hosted in, the size of the program and the location of the art shows have changed, the overall goal has not.

“Success in our world is way different than success with a homeless person or someone who is at risk. Their successes are completely different than what our world perceives as success. You know, are you the CEO of something? Are you the executive director of something? Are you making millions of dollars? Are you donating millions of dollars? Success could be a day to day kind of thing. I successfully made it to art class this week,” Worden said.

(Donations to Art From the Streets)

Art From the Streets isn’t slowing down any time soon. Future goals include moving into their own space so that they can further serve the homeless population in Austin. They also hope to offer art classes and other mediums including sculpting and 3-D design.

*Eye See You Now is a proud supporter of Art From the Streets and the author of this article.

Art From the Streets rely on generous donations of people like YOU! 

Purchasing artwork supports the artists directly. 

Donating to our program helps us to offer a free Open Studio 

for the homeless and at risk. THANK YOU!