2020 Art Classes offered at my Lake St. Louis location, include student's choice of media - pastel painting, oil painting and charcoal/graphite drawing.  
​Here are progress photos of student's work from classes in a variety of media.
Students can choose their own subject reference in order to feel a connection with the subject. 
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Beautiful pastel paintings!

Oil painting in progress. Gorgeous color!

Here is a graphite & charcoal drawing getting some finishing touches.
Lovely!

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 Check out Marie's Art Class Info Page
​Join the Fun!




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It is common to be too tight and focused on details EARLY ON.

​Ironically being LOOSE in the beginning will actually improve the final details in your drawing. 

​You do not have to dread the blank sheet of paper in front of you. Here are some ways to help you relax and enjoy drawing. 

Be loose and very general with your beginning pencil lines, make a soft suggestion of where the eyes and face will be.

Remember that all of these soft lines will be covered up with future mark making and shading. So don't worry about messing up.

Why? Sometimes a pencil point or line can be too restrictive. Powdered graphite is easier to put down broad, loose, value shapes of darks.

Please don't be afraid to get your dark shadows in, because again future marks will go on top.

​No ... the second photo above isn't darker than the photos to the right.  You may think I lightened some of the eye area, I didn't.  

​What I did was go darker with the eyebrow, lidline, and lashline. It's just an optical illusion. Those darker marks make the values before it look lighter.

Have fun and enjoy drawing.

Are you interested in drawing tips and classes? Current Class Information here.
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I love our amazing St. Louis Art Museum! It is so beautiful!
A favorite thing is to bring my class to the museum to explore and sketch. 

We sketched from two masterwork paintings.​
Our emphasis was sketching the large shapes of the figure in the painting, creating a loose drawing in charcoal and pencil.
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​With no pressure, our sketching is done as a form of personal journaling, for each of us to explore and to become more aware of this incredible painting.  

Portrait of a Woman
by Nicolas de Largilliere
c. ​1696

We moved on to a second amazing painting by Robert Henri.
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​Again our emphasis was on sketching, and getting the overall strong direction or angle of the subject's figure. Then we moved on to creating large shapes to small shapes, with minimal detail.  

Betalo Rubino, Dramatic Dancer
by Robert Henri
1916

To reward all our lovely sketches,
​we relax and enjoy a luxurious lunch together!

What a treat!!
​A super fun fantastic day was had by all!!
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Join the Fun--
​If you are reading this and are interested in taking
Art Classes with Marie Donato,
​check out Marie's Art Class Info Page
for more information.


Have a Great Day!
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What a great class! Fantastic finished work by my Portrait Drawing Class at OA Gallery!  The focus of this portrait class was drawing the portrait on toned paper using graphite and charcoal. It's great for students to have a connection to their subject, so students are encouraged to bring their own photos. 

Demonstration Drawing where I begin by loosely laying in the large shapes of the head, face, hair and neckline and then I start the eye area. 

My art class students are working hard and making beautiful progress!

What a great job they did! I have the best students!
Thank you all for making it such a fun class!!

If you are reading this and are interested in taking
Art Classes with Marie Donato,
​check out Marie's Art Class Info Page
for more information.


Have a Great Day!

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Wow! An art lesson at the Saint Louis Art Museum was a unique opportunity and treat for my drawing students!  As an art teacher my hope is that my students have fun while learning!  So I arranged a visit to the Prints and Drawings Study Room.  Visiting the Study Room was a rare occasion to get a close look at Master work dating back to the 1700's!  From there we went on to the main galleries to create sketches from two Zorn portraits. We all had a blast!

17 works on paper were chosen from the Art Museum's collection.  Many of the works were unframed, matted only, and amazingly, not under glass.  Magnifying glasses were supplied for closer inspection of the beautiful marks and details!

St. Louis Art Museum

The Prints and Study Room
​was a pure delight to us all!
We saw works from Ingres, Renoir, Childe Hassam, Berthe Morisot and others.

Beautiful pastel by Mary Cassatt

Pastel painting created in 1753 by Maurice Quentin de la Tour

Etching by Anders Zorn

Questions answered by the Study Room Manager, Heather Hughes, were so helpful!  

Great information! 

From the Study Room we sketched from the Anders Zorn portraits.

 We divided up between the Zorn portraits, Lucy Turner Joy and Halsey Cooley Ives.  Mr Ives was the first director of the St. Louis Art Museum.

Sketching Lucy Turner Joy by Anders Zorn
Great fun!

To top it off we gathered for a delicious relaxing lunch at the Museum's Panorama Restaurant!
​What a perfect day!

As an art instructor, it is my hope to share my excitement for drawing and to create fun learning experiences for my students.  

We definitely will be visiting the museum again! 
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Join Marie's Fall Drawing Class and learn the techniques and tips she has acquired over the years, and discover the joy of just creating!
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Thought I'd share with you a little bit about how I approach my oil painting for a portrait. I like to start at the focal point, which for a portrait, is always the eyes.

Just as I approach my drawing by shapes, I tell my drawing students to notice shapes and to draw the shapes. In painting I do the same and attack the focal point the same way, looking for the color shapes.        
(Please excuse the phone pics)

Apply the color shapes one next to the other.  Where the color shapes meet, blend softly.

I paint wet-into-wet one section at a time.

It is helpful to lay in some color in the background that can be used to softly create "soft" or blurred edges while the paint is wet.  Some edges should fade or gently blend into the value of the background.

Glazes are added to brighten the color of the cheeks, nose and ears.  The middle part of the face has more color in it than the top or bottom the face.

The white of the eye is never white, only the highlight will be white.

All done!

For Marie Donato's Oil Painting Classes offered - click below.

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​A constant love of mine, and an almost lost love, is oil painting, but I am happy to share with you now, that OIL is back in my repertoire and I am loving it!

This portrait commission painting was the catalyst to get my can in gear.  Such an adorable face was my challenge!  I was so taken by the quality of her soft, young, porcelain-like skin.  I knew that achievement would be the goal as well as captivating those beautiful blue eyes.

You may be wondering why oil painting seemed almost lost. Well...when I started my professional painting career my art studio was directly off my bedroom. The problem was a practical one, using oils and turpentine or mineral spirits then - was quite smelly. There are much improved products available now.

So I went the watercolor route for my career, then followed by adding pastel painting.   I have enjoyed teaching and sharing what I've learned in both watercolor and pastel. 

If you are interested in commissioning a portrait, call Marie, 314-409-7740.  For more information on Marie's portraits check out the FAQ page below.

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Sign up for ​Marie's Art Class information for future classes offered.

Students of my pastel and watercolor classes joined me for a fun inspirational field trip to the St. Louis Art Museum's Degas' Exhibit! 

Edgar Degas, "The Millinery Shop", 1879, oil on canvas

Edgar Degas, "​Little Milliners", 1882, Pastel on paper

Luxurious lunch at the museum's beautiful Panorama Restaurant.

We couldn't help but be inspired for our next painting project. We were all so taken by the amazing exhibit...Shall we choose a still-life for our next  painting?... Better yet, I asked, how about painting a still-life with HATS inspired by Degas? 

So, yes, "The Millinery Shop" by Degas, was chosen for the inspirational painting and Degas was to be our mentor....Being influenced by the best! 

We brought in our hats, hatstands, scarves and ribbons to make our still life display.

I asked the class to choose a part of the display that was pleasing to them to start their paintings, isolating a few favorite hats for their composition. 

 Look at the great progress!  

Continued great progress!
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Stay tuned for the final pastel and watercolor paintings.  


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Thank you to the St. Louis Art Museum for bringing together this exceptional exhibit,
"Degas, Impressionism & the Paris Millinery Trade".