Well they say genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration

too true

and at this point I have barely left watercolour...to do a good course takes ages

and just at the point where I was going to finally stop making watercolour courses and publicly launch the first acrylic painting course.....

I started developing a new course and workbook in watercolours ... and I have to do it because it is going to be the best one yet....more on that later

So where are we now....

well, I have created 5 finished courses so far in the art garden ... have been developing another 3 in acrylic...and made huge leaps forward in colour

The 'digital' aspect of each course is a little bit different in its delivery as I have searched for the ideal format

and they are all based around facebook groups

I love the interactive aspect of a Facebook group,

inside each one there are vast hours of livestreaming, and people upload their art all the time

So I kept making a new group for each course

so now when you join the Art Garden you have to join a stack of different groups to be able to see the videos

and then there is the problem that not everybody uses facebook .. and cant join the groups

AND DURING THE RESTRUCTURE - THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE

I will keep the Art Garden Group

where I will put ALL the livestreams

and create a new public group called... mandyevansartist...?

then all the other groups will be removed

one by one -

as they are replaced with self paced online classes that are available through my website

so for people who have bought just one or two of my courses - they will get the new and improved digital courses

and then only the people in the Art Garden will get access to the bevvy of livestreams from the past

which makes them special

For the past 3 years I have been making paint...almost like a job..lol

and in doing so, I have learnt HUGE amounts about colour

as an artist of 40 years I found what I didnt know really surprised me

intuitively I know how to mix colours

but when it came to breaking it down and explaining it

or recreating it, like exactly, to go in the same bowl

I was lost

so as I have made a breakthrough with my own learning I have translated the information into interactive paint cards

what has taken me months of daily work and research

is hopefully super easy to understand with the colour by numbers paint card

first it was the 'Real Colour Wheel'



which is that there are 6 primaries, not 3

and knowing this make vast differences to how you can mix bright or muted colours

then.....due to my lack of being able to mix fabulous neutrals from even this wheel....

I worked out the modern colour wheel

I took the long way round and thought for a moment I had invented it...lol

but no - its actually a thing



and this one is great - because its way closer to the truth

and has a great learning curve about colour names

but what its done for me is pushed me into a whole new journey of discovery

where Im pretty sure the truth about colour is that its actually magic

or thats what Im calling my new book when I make it .....'Colour Magic'

an interactive colour mixing book....gorgeous

but thats for later

right now the new colour card Im developing is all about harmony

and is looking something like this



but today if you buy the bundle offer into the art garden

you get sent a 36 dot paintcard which contains all of these and more

During the period of upgrading each course I will freshly livestream each of the exercises

The process is like a 'paint with me' experience

sometimes it will be with my friend Karen on a Tuesday

and sometimes it will be just me on a Wednesday

-I will also be downloading the livestreams from the other Facebook groups, and uploading them into the Art Garden

So that when I shut down the group for that course - they wont be lost

then you can watch the livestreams back at your leisure whenever you have your painting time

Whether you are inspired by the regularity of the new information each week

or save them up and have a binge watching session on a balmy or rainy Sunday every now and then

they are there for however you approach your art practice,

In order for each seperate course to be available off Facebook

there has to be a new set of videos made to be housed on my website

This has always been a bugbear for me

as I am not a filmer....I am an artist

and I find it especially difficult to film myself

So this is one of the reasons I have been so heavily reliant on livestreaming information

...and I also use a bit of photoshop - which I think really helps

so....I suppose over all this time I must have picked up some skills

I have definately picked up a stack of equiptment along the way

So - I am not going to rush myself through each exercise

because I know that making an edited video is quite a huge amount of work for me

and I definately cant do it if Im stressed or trying to rush it

So I might take a few weeks to get through some of the exercises

especially when it comes to the Big Watercolour Course

because - quite honestly - this one is AMAZING - simple yet complex -

I am really looking forward to refining and improving this course

As every separate course is upgraded the email sequences are too

As a member of the Art Garden you will recieve the seperate course emails in a web page or pdf

and also be recieving a new sequence designed specifically for Art Gardeners

Personally I feel the Art Garden email sequence is possibly one of the most important aspects of a course

and being so...I tend to freeze up with indescision when it comes to creating it

Essentially the emails shouldnt repeat too much information

and should serve as inspirational reminders to get you into the regular habit of painting

they shouldnt take too long

and definately shouldnt be a waste of your time to open

They need to be informative

and regular

and something you really look forward to

that motivates you to take out your art supplies and create

Its a lot of pressure to create such a sequence....thus the freezing indescision

In mailchimp, the most amount of emails you can put into a sequence is 100

and it takes 90 days to create a habit

if you do something, anything, for 90 days in a row....then you cant stop doing it

your addicted to it

it becomes something you NEED to do

so....I would like to create an email sequence that installs a regular habit of painting

art is healing

painting is medicine

its the best gift you could give yourself

So.....creating an art habit creating wmail sequence is one of my lofty goals during the restructuring process

and perhaps something that will take longer than this first go round at improving the art garden

but the journey of a hundred miles starts with 1 step...

So the journey of 100 emails starts with 1 email

I feel less overwhelmed already

Every course will be housed on my website behind a password protected page

after you put the password in for the course it will take you to a single page

organised with drop downs and accordions

which will house the whole of that course

this may not seem too exciting for you personally

But for me - Im seriously excited

the puzzle of coding the first template to make these webpages was BIG

so I have a lot of seretonin flooding about knowing I have conquered this

all it takes now is populating these pages with gorgeous art and the right videos

So I hope you will join me in the Art Garden for this process

It may take a few months - or it may take many

- and it is only the first restructuring

Like the layers of a painting

After Watercolour comes a series of Acrylic Painting workshops

Where we end up painting great big intuitive canvases .... SO MUCH FUN

After that, which will take ages, I will go through the whole restructuring process again

and who knows what shape the Art Garden will take then

As a lifelong artist - I dont ever want to stop

I see the Art Garden as a work of art

something that grows and changes with me .... but only ever gets better

Its my job to create something that is worthy of subscribing to

and something that I LOVE

Over the 40 years of my art career I constantly expand my skills and grow

it happens slowly - but is continuous

And ALWAYS .....SO MUCH FUN

Your welcome to join

Get all 3 books and as a bonus you also get a free years subscription into the Art Garden

Get the entire Abstract Watercolour System

3 Books - Abstract Patterns, 3 Bowls and Big Watercolour
The 2 groups - 3 Bowls and Big Watercolour
free paint
and entry into the Art Garden Group for 1 year

thats $306 seperately

check out the video below to see more