Art Instructions, Tips, Articles and Student Showcase.
Having trouble mixing the right color to match your photograph? We had a 1-year YouTube beginning art student ask this question not long ago. See how Darrell addresses this complex subject. Perhaps you can gain a trick or two in this video lesson. Let us know if this lesson helped you.
Just thought I’d give a bit of an update on what’s going on here …
Last night it was requested I change the name of my company.
Change from The Darrell Crow Studios to The Crows’ Studios.
The request came from my 13-year old grandson, Joshua.
He saw me making money teaching and money from being commissioned to painting two pet portraits.
Light my fire …..
This lad has been painting a fury since he found out what one can make with a brush.
Dedication…..
I hadn’t seen this kind of dedication since he was given a bowl of Oreo ice cream.
He is helping me paint these three paintings …
And he is now painting his own Bengal cat now. Did the pattern, drawing and background this week and showed me last night.
Hope you saw the article on the Wild Turkey visitors we had last evening. Crazy Wild!
I have undertaken a massive project in really learning to paint all sorts of breeds of cats, dogs and horses and birds. You Can help me. If you have a pet and would like a portrait paint with no charge, there is a way. I’m going to be producing a series by summer’s end on pet portrait painting techniques. Should you send me a good quality eye-level photo of your pet in the pose you’d like, I just may include it in the pet series. Should I do that, you’ll receive the painting I produce. Just my way of saying Thank you. Simply send a high resolution digital photo of your pet to darrell@darrellcrow.com. I’ll take care of the rest. Should yours be selected we’ll let you know in the August timeframe. I’m very excited about this project.
Our stress test has worked very well this weekend. I’ll be concluding all of our testing this weekend. In order to really test the system, I offered our DVDs and DVD Series of Techniques at a super low price. We’ve found out what we needed to do and corrected the problems we found. We thank you for your participation.
As we wind down the sale/stress testing of our payment processing system, let me just make a statement. All of our DVD series, originally were priced at $147.00, but we offered them at $99.95 for the past three years as our economy has just been flat tough.
Offering these DVD series at $59.95 is just ridiculously low.
But it was worth it to fully test our system.
This is our last time ever offering our DVD series of Techniques at any price under $99.95 plus shipping/handling.
We’ve now entered into a special agreement with PayPal that allows any purchase over $99.95 paid by PayPal to optionally be spread over six months under their Bill Me Later program.
So if you’d like to take advantage of this super last time ever offer on any of the following, now is the time to do so. And if you pay by PayPal you can now use their Bill Me Later program to purchase several sets of DVDs and painting project DVDs.
This includes any of the following DVD series which are generally priced at $99.95 plus shipping.
The Basic Techniques of Oil Painting
The Basic Techniques of Acrylic Painting
The Basic Techniques of Painting Flowers
The Basic Techniques of Painting Seascapes
The Basic Techniques of Painting Wildlife
The Basic Techniques of Painting Tall Ships
The Basic Techniques of Color Mixing
Learn To Paint From Photographs
Learn To Teach Children to Paint.
And don’t forget, All of our painting projects on http://darrellcrow.com/another-video-post/ are all available today only for $12.00, just like we did for the Cutty Sark. That’s any DVD listed on this web page.
Enjoy your Sunday, Joshua and I will be under-painting the Bengal cat today.
I sold Jude a couple of weeks ago the Basic Techniques of Oil Painting and received the following email.
dear Mr Crow,
Of course it does not look the same as yours but hey, this is my 1st one, and to add to the difficulties, I did it in acrylic, would appreciate some notes to become a better painter if you have the time, also, I do not have all your brushes, cannot find them in our art stores here in Canada. Thanks so much for your time,
Bye,
Jude
So let me get this straight,
Not all of the brushes ….
Havn’t painted before.
This is your very first painting ………..
Have only learned from the DVDs I sent you……
I must be a better instructor that I thought Jude.
You did fabulous. Enjoy this painting. I’ll critique your second painting. For right simply revel in the thought you’ve done a fine painting and you’re understanding the process of painting and loving it.
Would anybody else add anything ….?
Darrell
This evening Josh and I had finished cleaning the yard, went inside for dinner and the invasion happened. Leaping Turkeys Batman, we’re being invaded. At first, I couldn’t quite make out who the invaders were as I peered through the window screen. So I boldly took the camera, went out on the deck and began to mingle with this new family
We’ve been running all day with our new back-end payment processing center without a single hitch.
Yeah!
The marvels of technology.
Now we’d like to really stress the system this weekend. That means multiple products, multiple payment types, etc….
So here’s what we’re doing……
#1. All of our painting projects on http://darrellcrow.com/another-video-post/ are now all available for $12.00, just like we did for the Cutty Sark. That’s any DVD listed on this web page.
#2. All of our Basic Techniques of Painting series of DVDs will be reduced to $59.95 each plus shipping/handling ($11.95 US Only/$31.95 International)
This includes any of the following DVD series which are generally priced at $99.95 plus shipping.
The Basic Techniques of Acrylic Painting
The Basic Techniques of Painting Flowers
The Basic Techniques of Painting Seascapes
The Basic Techniques of Painting Wildlife
The Basic Techniques of Painting Tall Ships
The Basic Techniques of Color Mixing
Learn To Paint From Photographs
Learn To Teach Children to Paint.
This offer is only available until midnight (PST) Sunday, May 19, 2013.
Now here’s another nice feature that’s a benefit of our new back-end processing system.
Our new Back-end services are provided by PayPal. And they have a great service, Bill Me Later in which orders $99.00 and larger can be spread over six payments. What this means is all sales at Darrell Crow Studios are treated as cash. This means you will always receive our lowest discount pricing. For instance, our YouCanPaintClub Membership Lifetime Fee of $297 will now be $197.00.
And there’s even more good news. This applies to all DVDs whose price total $99.00 or greater. This means you could take advantage of our sale today, purchase two DVD series and spread the payments to PayPal over six payments.
The best thing of all is you do not have to do anything at all to take advantage of PayPal’s Bill Me Later program. Simply select the items you’d like to purchase, Go to checkout and select your payment method. Should you pay by PayPal then PayPal will give you the option of paying the total amount from your PayPal account or taking advantage of the Bill Me Later program.
The banner below should explain all about PayPal’s Bill Me Later Program.
Stress Testing begins at 6 p.m. (EST) tonight (Friday, May 17) and continues through midnight (PST) Sunday, May 19, 2013.
So go ahead
Stress us out!
Contact us at darrell@darrellcrow.com if you have any stress, questions, or need help
Just a note to thank everyone for their help in testing our new Backend Payment Processing system we installed this week.
We uncovered 3 problems which I’m happy to report have been fixed.
1. We set a bit wrong so all orders were accepted in “off-line” mode,
2. American Express payments are now working flawlessly, and
3. The YouCanPaintClub.com has been correctly integrated into our backend.
So many thanks for the help.
I think we’re ready now for a STRESS TEST.
More about that later this afternoon.
Darrell
I received a question from an English third year University art student … ” currently working on my final project at college, its based around landscapes painted from my mind, however i am finding it hard to covey my message to people. My question is, how do i get more passion and emotion into the landscapes. I am always being told i have the technique down but thats not what people want to see, its more about the content.
William,
There are many things that contribute to the success of a painting …
1. Your purpose
2. Your passion
3. Your story.
Since you’ve asked about just one success criteria, let me at least give you my opinion.
Passion is a feeling.
The job that’s being asked of you is to paint in such a manner, that your painting will cause a viewer to feel some emotions when looking at your painting whether its positive or negative.
You must, therefore; have a feeling, an emotion, a reason for why you’re painting a particular landscape scene.
Your painting is communicating with the viewer. You are personally communication with every viewer. You’re engaging in a conversation.
Its one of the primary advantages have in producing paintings over the viewer simply taking photos.
Passion is important in every aspect of human life as it shapes our existence. And if you think about it, passion fuels inspiration and opens us up to opportunities and changes around us.
So in other words, passion is enthusiasm and excitement for life.
So what contributes to and forms passion?
Energy.
I’ve heard many will tell you that true happiness or complete satisfaction in life only comes when you do what you are most passionate about. I think true satisfaction, joy and peace in is a lot more complex answer, but the point is, your goal in painting landscapes is to produce the passion that comes from an ar4tist that is truly happy and satisfied painting that landscape. So the first question I would ask you is why are you painting landscapes?
Does it excite you?
Do you like painting landscapes?
What makes landscapes your focus? Why are you painting them? What is exciting about landscapes, about being outside?
What do you want people to think when they walk away from looking at your painting.
What makes the viewers want to take the painting home?
What emotional cord do you want to strike with your landscape painting …
Awe
Desire
Anger
Love
Peace
Serenity
Vanity
Romance
……
Passion comes when your paintings reflect your authentic self and painting the types of landscapes that comes naturally to you. When what you do is in alignment with who you are, you get energy from painting. Embody this in your paintings and no one will ever question passion in your landscapes again.
Thank you for your remarkable question, William
Darrell
The off-line order processing has been rectified.
Yeah!!!
Customers who paid for their orders with Visa and Mastercards yesterday were entered off-line and I had to go in and manually process these orders. Joe quickly discovered what the problem was and rectified the settings. All day today we’ve seen Mastercard and Visa card orders processed without a problem or hitch.
Yeah!!
We’re still experiencing A problem with American Express orders and should have that remedied by tomorrow evening.
Thanks everyone.
We’ll be extending the testing through tomorrow.
Here’s our offer repeated.
Joe and I have just finished upgrading our new shopping cart back end.
That’s a technical terms.
At least that’s what Joe, my technical whizzard says.
According to Joe, backend stuff are things customers do not see, unless it doesn’t work.
Joe says its all a go now…..
So we’re going to test this.
I’ve got about 50 extra copies of the 2-Disk Tall Ship lesson, The Cutty Sark. This painting is beautiful and even if you’ve never painted before, you’ll be able to easily follow the instructions.
So……….
Ten bucks.
We want to give this a real tryout.
So, the next 50 customers can have this beautiful, 2 DVD set shipped right to your home for just ten dollars ($10.00) and another 2 dollars (2.00) for shipping (anywhere). That’s a total of $12.00
You can order here. http://darrellcrow.com/ts100-series
If this link doesn’t work, go to our website at http://darrellcrow.com, select store on the drop down menu, select “Learn To Paint”, Select “Tall Ships.” Scroll down until you see the Cutty Sark photo with the $12.00 price.
Any questions or difficulties email us at darrell@darrellcrow.com
I chose to paint the Cutty Sark because of its importance, its fame, the fact that today you can see the chip berthed in England. It carries a rich history.
The Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis shipping line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion. The fastes clipper ship recorded is the US made Flying Cloud. This ship broke the world speed record twice from New York to San Francisco with a female navigator.
The opening of the Suez Canal (also in 1869) meant that steam ships now had a much shorter route to China, so Cutty Sark spent only a few years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in wool from Australia, where she held the record time to Britain for ten years. Improvements in steam technology meant that gradually steamships also came to dominate the longer sailing route to Australia and the ship was sold to the Portuguese company Ferreira and Co. in 1895, and renamed Ferreira. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman in 1922, who used her as a training ship operating from Falmouth, Cornwall. After his death she was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester. By 1954 she had ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London on public display.
Enjoy
Darrell answers 3 critical questions from youtube on signing your name, improving your skills and working with multiple canvas paintings. Join with Darrell to see how you can take advantage of these tips. http://www.darrellcrow.com/videos. Do you have a question? Send questions to darrell@darrellcrow.com and receive a free art lesson you can download.
Yesterday we launched our new shopping cart back-end.
We’ve had tons of positive results, but we must continue testing (extending our special low price offer) today and tomorrow.
Here’s why…
The new back-end will centralize all of our payment processing to one company. As it stands now, I use four payment processing companies which means four monthly fees.
However in the last year, PayPal has expanded its Merchant Services program into accepting credit cards, echecks and virtual terminals.
This is really good news for merchants.
Joe has worked very hard to build the software, gateway and web pages as well as ‘setting’ up all of those IT parameters we need to support centralized payment processing. This is called back-end integration as customers do not see anything different.
We do though.
And we’re beyond delighted with the results.
But We have uncovered two problems.
One deals with processing of American Express payments. We’ve made a fix, but it’ll take another day for this fix to be working. Those who ordered by American Express will receive their DVDs without delay, but you won’t see a payment processed on your account until our settings are fixed.
The other problem is smaller and should be fixed and operational this evening.
We still need to continue with the testing for another 48 hours. So we’re extending our special offer for the Cutty Sark DVD, normally priced at $39.95 to $12.00 which includes shipping for the 2-DVDs set. We appreciate everyone’s orders to help us test this system thoroughly.
Here’s our offer repeated.
Joe and I have just finished upgrading our new shopping cart back end.
That’s a technical terms.
At least that’s what Joe, my technical whizzard says.
According to Joe, backend stuff are things customers do not see, unless it doesn’t work.
Joe says its all a go now…..
So we’re going to test this.
I’ve got about 50 extra copies of the 2-Disk Tall Ship lesson, The Cutty Sark. This painting is beautiful and even if you’ve never painted before, you’ll be able to easily follow the instructions.
So……….
Ten bucks.
We want to give this a real tryout.
So, the next 50 customers can have this beautiful, 2 DVD set shipped right to your home for just ten dollars ($10.00) and another 2 dollars (2.00) for shipping (anywhere). That’s a total of $12.00
You can order here. http://darrellcrow.com/ts100-series
If this link doesn’t work, go to our website at http://darrellcrow.com, select store on the drop down menu, select “Learn To Paint”, Select “Tall Ships.” Scroll down until you see the Cutty Sark photo with the $12.00 price.
Any questions or difficulties email us at darrell@darrellcrow.com
I chose to paint the Cutty Sark because of its importance, its fame, the fact that today you can see the chip berthed in England. It carries a rich history.
The Cutty Sark is a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis shipping line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period of design development which halted as sailing ships gave way to steam propulsion. The fastes clipper ship recorded is the US made Flying Cloud. This ship broke the world speed record twice from New York to San Francisco with a female navigator.
The opening of the Suez Canal (also in 1869) meant that steam ships now had a much shorter route to China, so Cutty Sark spent only a few years on the tea trade before turning to the trade in wool from Australia, where she held the record time to Britain for ten years. Improvements in steam technology meant that gradually steamships also came to dominate the longer sailing route to Australia and the ship was sold to the Portuguese company Ferreira and Co. in 1895, and renamed Ferreira. She continued as a cargo ship until purchased by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman in 1922, who used her as a training ship operating from Falmouth, Cornwall. After his death she was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester. By 1954 she had ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London on public display.
Enjoy