YouTube Tutorial: Chicken Stack

This class is scheduled Live on YouTube on March 3, 2023 at 7pm Central. It will be available for replay right after that. You can join live or watch later here.

This painting is done with acrylic paints and I try my best to use the paints that are easy to find. My go to for beginner lessons is craft quality paint. Here is the list of colors with  links to what I believe is the best match. I buy my paint in bulk for my brick-and-mortar and some colors can be a challenge to find in craft paints. I did my best to match the color and best price. You may be able to find better color options or prices in your local arts and crafts store.

Paints that come in tubes will need to be watered down a little. You can add up to 30% of water to this paint to create consistency of craft quality paint. Paints in tubes should last you longer if you follow that rule. 

DISCLAIMER: I am an affiliate with Amazon and if you use the links in this post to purchase materials I will be paid a small commission at no cost to you.

List of colors for Chicken Stack:

White, black, cerulean blue, phthalo blue, magenta, bright red,  phthalo green, chromium oxide green, lemon yellow, primary yellow and raw sienna. 

Here is the list of colors/paints I stick to for all my free YouTube classes.

white https://amzn.to/3wQKEni

black https://amzn.to/3jmLSno

lemon yellow https://amzn.to/3JxtAdL

primary yellow https://amzn.to/41qD2pH

magenta https://amzn.to/3Ixebb9

bright red https://amzn.to/3wQ16UV

cerulean blue https://amzn.to/3XYsFX7

phthalo blue https://amzn.to/3KDlT6c

phthalo green https://amzn.to/3KDlQaw

chromium oxide green https://amzn.to/3SxDMVR

raw sienna https://amzn.to/3KDmQvc

burnt sienna https://amzn.to/3wSnGw0

raw umber https://amzn.to/41mzncB

burnt umber https://amzn.to/3Zie9dO

Brushes:

Large flat, medium flat, medium round, small round, detail brush (round #00)

Surface:

Any canvas, board, mixed media paper, acrylic paper or watercolor paper

Other items:

Surface cover, paper towels, water for rinsing, graphite transfer paper, pencil, eraser

Patterns:

This pattern is a digital image. You are welcome to download it to your device and resize as needed. I will teach how to draw these cute chickens in class so if you feel like free handing it there is no need for the tracer.

If you are painting on a 16 by 20 canvas, feel free to download this PDF. It is already spliced for you. Simply print pages 2-5 and assemble like a puzzle.

November usually marks the time when everyone on Social Media starts sharing their daily gratitude. Some make it through the month, some don’t. I don’t. As much as I am all for expressing gratitude, this doesn’t work for me. I do not get invested enough. I do not feel the benefits, at all.

What I do feel though is the overwhelm of meeting everyone’s expectations as the holiday season arrives. Friends post essays of thankfulness as their Facebook status. Then they post their shopping. How beautiful their pumpkin collection on the porch is. How many presents they were able to fit into the room. I’m sure you get it. To-do lists and to-get lists get longer, days get shorter, tempers get shorter while coffee is the only thing that keeps me afloat…

A few years back I had an idea of combining my drawing attempts with a journal format. 

 This is how I started my first ever gratitude art journal. This was when I felt tremendous relief from stress and overwhelm. Then I invited a couple of people to join me and that’s how Gratia Partum was born.

Gratia Partum is Latin for Creative Grace. In this community we support each other’s intention to have a consistent gratitude practice through art. We share, support and encourage each other to use our creative spark daily. To focus on the things we can be grateful for, allow ourselves to grow and learn.

Consistent practice of gratitude, through art in particular,  has proved to improve people’s lives in so many areas! 

Jilda says,

“The gratitude art challenge gave me a whole new outlook at art expression. Joining up with a group of like-minded people really opened up my mind to being grateful for simple things and art.”

Tammy says,

“Experiencing the intricacies and depth of gratitude since joining the group has been incredible. I have such gratitude for gaining assurance in myself (with nearly no art experience) to fully participate in a group with no fear of judgment, but rather with acceptance and encouragement.”

Other members of the group share improvements in:

• Stress relief
• Improved mental health
• Peace found in every day
• Deeper and more relaxed breathing
• Inner calm
• So much needed me time
• Have more mental energy
• Understanding and dealing with overwhelm

Sadly, self care often gets pushed to the back burner. It seems easy to start, but hard to stay consistent. Lack of accountability and support of the community  allows us to fall through way too easy and way too soon. This is especially true when it comes to our mental self-care and growth. It is something that can ALWAYS be done later. Or can it?

Here is what other members of the group say:

Lee Ann:

“I felt that sometimes life gets overwhelming and doing the Gratitude challenge in the next class made me feel that even though life gets hard the times get tough you can always look in your heart and find people still have gratitude and good thoughts and almost everything.”

Nancy:

“Such a wonderful learning experience.

At 70 years young, I am learning more than I ever imagined. Different kinds of media art. Finally learning to draw. Finally, keeping an art journal (gratitude) is the most amazing thing.

Enjoying like minded people. And learning types of paint and ways to use them. The opportunity to grow here is endless. So so grateful.”

In the Gratia Partum community I will be teaching and supporting you every step of the way. I will share cute bite size tutorials you can apply in your journaling right away as well as I will share my own private gratitude journal to help you get inspired and get out of the fun of a “blank page scare.” – I get those too! 

We will share a gratitude art journaling session twice a week. Those sessions will be broadcasted Live into the Facebook group and will be available for replay. Those sessions usually spark deep conversations which is why they will not be shared anywhere else outside the private Facebook group.

Read what Katherine said:

“Life seems overwhelming at times but channeling my art through a journal has helped bring me closer to understanding why I have felt overwhelmed. Art is love to know and love yourself.”

And Diane,

“I LOVE these sessions! I’ve found and embraced art/creativity as the missing link in journaling about grief. Thank you Luba!”

I am so grateful to have created this community where everyone is welcome and everyone can find what they seek.

Sherri Lynn says,

“Art Therapy is a method of rehabilitation since I had major brain surgery in 2021. I’ve been working on Art with Luba doing pieces (although I tend to be very slow) since later the same year. When I saw the Art Gratitude Challenge come up I thought it would be another great avenue for my rehabilitation. What I’ve found though is it’s therapeutic. A safe space to share my art and my journey. An avenue to explore other mediums and see how I do with them. For me it’s more than a challenge…it has become a part of my life.”

Gratia Partum Community is open for the 2022 session! Starting August 25 we will spend 3 months immersing ourselves into the art of gratitude and creative grace. In this three months program you will learn how to keep an art journal, get exposed to multiple mix media techniques, become a part of a like minded community and, most of all, create a habitual practice of gratitude. And when Thanksgiving and Christmas arrive, we’ll be ready!

To join the community, click here…

I just can’t do anything creative nowadays. I stare at the blank page and feel nothing but frustration. Even when I manage to pull out something I end up feeling drained and empty for days afterwards.

Does this sound familiar to you? 

I hadn’t had this problem until the first week of school here. 

Our family has been homeschooling for seven years now. When the pandemic hit, we were all set for schooling from home. We had to adjust to not having our regular activities just as the rest of the world but we managed. 

This year, though, my oldest started middle school and my youngest is in the 3rd grade. These are very demanding academically and my help is required all the time. If I could assign the page and switch to something else for a bit last year, I’m required to be hands on all the time now. 

I am tired. I find it hard to do anything creative on the scale I used to before this school year. By the end of the day, I just want to shut the door and be left alone. Yet, I still have this nudge deep inside that says, no, get back to your desk. Paint something. Make something. Connect with your people. Guilt creeps in. 

As overwhelming as this can be, I find myself falling back to my planning and organizational skills from ways back. I take a deep breath and start looking for the pockets of time (and energy.)

One of my favorite pockets is weekend mornings. I discussed it with my husband and he has my back. Weekend mornings are for catching up on everything business and creativity related! 

Have you seen this diagram that represents life balance? It’s in the shape of a triangle and the angles are happy kids, perfect home, and career. It says you can only have two. Ha! In my case, I work with my kiddos most of the time and then I work on my art and business. I have a couple tiny pockets when I get groceries, cook dinners, and clean up. BUT, my home is far from perfect and I’m ok with it. 

Did you notice how this triangle has nothing to do with my mental health? Yes, I noticed it too! 

As creatives we need to have outlets for the juices to flow! Otherwise we become stagnant and nothing good comes out of us. One of my biggest energy flow outlets is belly dance. Yes, you read that right. I practice belly dancing. I take a class weekly and I rent dance studio space to have an hour of self-guided dance practice. And, you know what’s funny? That time that I have carved out just for myself helps me stay grounded, have patience for my family, and have creative energy to put even more out on weekend mornings. 

I think it is wrong trying to put balance into a triangle. I think it should be a circle. And in the middle of that circle is HEALTH. Mental, spiritual and physical. 

Then, it’s the filter that everything in our lives goes through. What goes in, goes out. What we watch, what we eat, who we listen to, who we follow, and who is in our immediate circle influences both our Trinity of Health and what we do in the world.

The outer circle may look different for you. You may need more or fewer sections, but do make sure self-care takes up a third of them. Why? – it’s only to make sure you don’t give more than you have. Draining yourself dry only does one thing. It damages our Trinity of Health and then our bodies can’t be productive and/or creative.

So yes, look at your daily life. Look for pockets of time that you can give to yourself unapologetically and regularly. Help the juices flow, check and clean your filters regularly. Man! We take better care of our coffee makers than ourselves, sometimes!

Once you start this consistent flow, you will start to notice creativity to shine through your day. I know it because this is how I do it.

Thanks for reading this article! I have a new pocket of time in my schedule and hope to write more in my blog now. Yay to drop-off children’s activities! What would you ask me if we sat down for a coffee one day?