Debra Huse: Impressionism

In this video, you’ll learn:

• The secret power of using the right kind of brush, the right way
• How Debra infused years of working with pastels into her work with oils
• The power of always adding this one element in your landscapes that have water
• How to sneak the warm colors into gray, blue, and green harbor scenes
• Why you must push paint into submission (sometimes)
• How to paint your state of mind right into your painting and convey emotions
• Why thick paint can be freeing
• How to take a complicated subject and simplify it with massive impact
• Using your artistic license and using a photo only as a guide
• Why using Debra’s “Theory of Thirds” will make a well-composed painting every time
• The power of painting and walking away
• Brush techniques Debra developed — that you can “steal!”
• How to avoid muddy paint
• The secret to introducing bright colors to guide the eye
• How to avoid being a slave to your subject and have more fun
• A new method to plan your design before you start painting
• How to choose an emotionally engaging focal point
• A revealing look at lighting for painting success
• And much, much more!

“Impressionism with Debra Huse” is an exclusive instruction video that is packed full of easy-to-learn skills taught by a master in a fun and entertaining step-by-step video presentation.

  “When I see the boats, they make me happy. They are so full of life and color and pageantry.”                                     — Debra Huse

Sometimes, you know your paintings just don’t have the “X-factor” that makes people stop and take notice of your work.

Every artist goes through times when their skills are lacking something … and they don’t always know what it is!

By studying with Debra Huse, you’re going to discover how to break things down into components, which will help you advance your art by looking at everything step-by-step rather than attempting to achieve a certain end-look and falling short.

Meet Debra Huse

When her mom saw Debra’s natural talent, she strongly encouraged it. She was able to get Debra into professional lessons at age 10. Then, Debra was taking college courses at age 12.

Debra attended Indiana University and studied graphic design. Upon graduation, she got a painting job with the now-famous C.W. Mundy. She then moved to California, where she pursued a career as an art director.

After her workdays were done, she would paint! Every night from 8 p.m. until about 11 p.m., she would paint and work on her skills.

Does this sound familiar? Do you paint every chance you get? Or when you have some unexpected time in your day, do you wish you could be painting?

There is something relaxing AND invigorating about getting your paints out and creating that world on the canvas where you are in total control.

If you’re like most artists, you’ve had that frustration set in when your painting doesn’t match what you WANT it to look like! That’s when you realize that you need to bring your skills UP!

That’s where Debra comes in!

Debra also had a desire to become better. So she started to reach out to mentors she respected. She began working with them. 

You’ll discover that as you learn from Debra in this video, the authority and talents of these greats will flow through her to you! They include: 

• C.W. Mundy
• Ken Auster
• Edgar Payne
• Armin Hansen
• Charles Movalli

Debra became so accomplished that she won the Charles Movalli Award at a plein air event.

The mentor’s secret revealed
In this video, Debra will reveal a technique she personally learned from one of her mentors that completely changed the way she painted. 

Following his example, she developed a discipline to do this with every painting, and it works. When she started doing this, people noticed her paintings more. Collectors began seeking her paintings out more. 

The same can happen for you once you understand and put this in place when you are painting.

The gallery of her dreams

On beautiful Balboa Island, Debra was able to open her own gallery. That became her base of operations as she showed and sold her own art and that of other talented artists. 

Plus, the water is a huge inspiration for her. She loves watching the colorful sailboats racing on the water.

The water is calling

Living and working on Balboa Island, Debra and her husband have a boat that allows them to explore the surroundings and paint gorgeous scenes that not many people can experience. 

She immerses herself in the environment and shares what she looks for and how she captures every detail. And now, through her paintings, people can feel like they are there with her.

“I want to portray how I feel about the boats in my paintings”
                                                                     — Debra Huse

Debra’s attention to the texture of each color and to her application technique is amazing to watch. She also explains in an easy, step-by-step way how you can do this in your paintings.

Each brush performs a different job. The quality of the brush and the way you use it must be in perfect harmony. Only then will you get the effect that will amaze!

CHAPTER OUTLINE: 
INTRODUCTION

• Who I am and why I am here , what I have to offer to you
• What I am teaching in this video and how it will benefit you.
• Briefly review the goals and objectives for this video
• Briefly review the subject we are going to paint and how we will SIMPLIFY what is a complicated scene--a sailboat race on the open water
• Encourage students to follow and participate to paint this Regatta scene of old-fashioned wooden sailboats racing across the water on a sunny day

CHAPTER 2 TITLE: Materials and Tools

Review Materials to be used in video

WHY she uses the materials she does, which is helpful: 

• Bouncy brushes, not too stiff
• What color paints and why / what those get used for
• Why the specific easel (she does the demo in her gallery space on her plein air easel)
• She has her own line of Brushes and Paints

CHAPTER 3 TITLE: Design for Success

Goal for segment:  Focal point discussion and overall design of painting

• Tint Canvas
• Mark Thirds
• Decide on focal point and horizon
• Focal Point what where and why

CHAPTER 4 TITLE: Scrub in the Dark Values

• Short Flats and how to use them
• Why darks first–can’t put dark on top of light, so gotta get them in right away
• Scrubbing and Scumbling brush techniques
• Debra equates scrubbing as the motion you make when you are “getting something off the refrigerator”
• Why you should ALWAYS have reflections on water, and at what KEY MOMENT they need added to the painting, it’s earlier than you would think!
• When seen from afar, ALL people’s skin tone in sun has some orange glow–no matter what their ethnicity

CHAPTER 5 TITLE: Fill in the Big Shapes

• brush techniques
• How to paint SHIMMERING water
• GO-to SKY colors
• How to DESIGN CLOUDS to lead the eye to the focal point
• How to avoid “dabbing” and “swiping” –put your paint down and leave it alone so your clouds have vibrance and liveliness
• You’ll even get some BAD WEATHER tips – An avid boater herself, Debra knows what  clouds will tell you if there's an approaching storm!
• What type of brushstroke to avoid in the sky–You should NEVER put the sky in with horizontal strokes
• HOW TO AVOID overworked or muddy-looking paintings

CHAPTER 6 TITLE: Deconstruct Shapes

• Deconstruct edges of big shapes for flow and to portray motion
• Why there should be NO SHARP EDGES in a sailboat painting

CHAPTER 7 TITLE: Pulling It All Together

• What to add and what to leave to the viewer imagination
• rigger brush and uses
• Edges
• Paint the Figures
• How to keep the boats SITTING DOWN  in the water
• KEYS to painting realistic regatta sailboats (lettering on sails on both sides will be visible when sun shines thru a sail, how the stitches on sails lend a graphic element to the painting, how the boaters and their boat usually have matching colors, boat terminology, etc.)
• THE ONE COLOR you need for glowing sails
• When it’s OK to outline an object so that it stands out more, and how to do it so no one notices
• How to make DISTANT Land and Boats that STAY in the distance
• How to FIX mistakes–wipe out a boat in under a minute without anyone knowing it was there
• Debra’s MORSE CODE–little dots and dashes to represent distant objects

CHAPTER 8 TITLE: Final Adjustments

• Step away before finishing.
• Add more SPARKLE to the water

VIDEO EXTRAS

• An intimate tour of Debra’s art studio
• Insights from the Artist
• Exhibit of Works — set to music
• High-speed View of demo painting — always a fan favorite!