Showing posts with label Pencil Drawing: Color and Shading. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

New Year, New Classes!

Here's the schedule of my latest classes. You don't need any art experience to join me and find joy, self-expression and community in my art classes. I offer in-person classes, and talk you through every step of the creative process.

I hope you'll join me for one of these upcoming continuing education classes at the Community College of Beaver County!

You can register here: https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/category/arts

Beginner's Pencil Drawing

Mondays, Feb. 16, 23, March 2 & 9, 2026 from 6-9 PM

$109

Make a fresh start in 2026 with this versatile & portable art form. Instructor Betsy Bangley will lead you through a series of activities designed to help you learn how to capture the world around you with a pencil on paper. We’ll start by playing with our materials to find out how to make a variety of marks, lines and shading types, move on to sketching everyday objects, and build up to exploring perspective and textures. Discover a new way to express yourself, and embark on an art adventure!

Register here:https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/category/arts

Or by phone: 724-480-3575

Pencil Drawing: Color and Shading

March 16, 23,30 & April 6, 2026, 6-9 PM

$109

This is an extension of our 4-week Beginner’s Pencil Drawing class, and is open to all. Would you like to advance your drawing skills? Perhaps you’re a beginner who would like guided practice. Jump into drawing fruit with colored pencils, creating portraits, and exploring more exciting drawing projects with Betsy Bangley. Whatever your skill level, you will gain drawing ability through working in this supportive group and practicing weekly.

Register here:https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/category/arts

Or by phone: 724-480-3575

Watercolor Leaves and Florals (Botanicals)

April 4,11,18 & 25, 2025 10 AM to 1 PM

$109

Join Betsy Bangley for a relaxing course in watercolor florals. Paint away your stress, and learn brush strokes, color mixing and layout ideas to create beautiful flowers and leaves. Use your new skills to decorate journal pages, stationary, and framed art, or simply create for the joy of painting.

All materials are provided.

I hope to see you in one of these classes!

You can register here:https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/category/arts

Or by phone: 724-480-3575

Friday, November 21, 2025

Using Color in Your Compositions

A fruit bowl is the classic still life study, something familiar and easy to begin drawing.

I created this demonstration for my Pencil Drawing: Colors and Shading class the other day as I ate breakfast at the kitchen counter.

I used Strathmore Toned Tan Mixed Media paper, and started with a light sketch using colored pencil, slowly correcting mistakes and building up areas of color and tone. You can still see the lines in blue on the bottom of the bowl where I tried to erase but couldn't quite lift the marks.

We've been talking about the color wheel in Pencil Drawing class, and about how boldly color opposites, or complimentary colors, contrast and catch your eye. Violet and yellow, green and red, blue and orange all are color compliments, and they seem to brighten each other when placed side-by-side in your art.

For instance in this sketch, I find the contrast of yellow-green and pink invigorating.

I used purple shadows in the bananas to contrast with the yellow. The purple shadows seem to make the bananas brighter and more vibrant.

We've also been playing with layering one color over top of another. I laid in a warm red over the cool red of the apple in the center.

Color can seem daunting at first with so many options, but playing with complementary colors in your drawings can be a fun place to begin gaining experience and confidence in working in color, and a still life is a great place to play with color.