Hardest thing for years....

I have to admit I've never been a great model maker but when the girls got a Winnie the Pooh model book I thought even I could do that. Oh how wrong was I? Just to put this into perspective as to how long it took me to make....this was a Christmas present. But this week end I finally finished it after a lot of sweat, muttering under my breath and deep breaths. 
Is this what most parents go through??

They absolutely love it. I'm not sure what they love the most.... being able to say poo a lot without being told off or making little shows : )

So to any other parents out there currently making a model for their child..... keep at it, it feels so good when you finally finish and their little faces make it even more worth while.

Inspiring talk......

A few weeks ago I went along to hear Lesley Morgan, from Committed to Cloth, talk about her work. She often paints and prints onto fabric then turns them into beautiful wall hangings and quilts. 

I first met her at the Knit and Stitch show where she was demonstrating her work with thermofax screens. These are amazing as you can send off to get your artwork turned into screens to print with which I have used for several of my mixed media pieces. 

She really was inspiring and here are a few things I learnt which I want to share with you....

Get inspired by music.....

This was a piece she created called Little Bird inspired by the Annie Lennox song. Although I'm not a big fan the lyrics are amazing: 

I look up to the little bird
That glides across the sky
He sings the clearest melody
It makes me want to cry
It makes me want to sit right down
and cry cry cry
I walk along the city streets
So dark with rage and fear
And I...
I wish that I could be that bird
And fly away from here
I wish I had the wings to fly away from here....

It was also painted using a credit card which is another inspiration; make marks with whatever you have, experiment and explore because the effects can be beautiful.

Carry a camera with you and photograph anything you find inspiring.....

You can clearly see in Lesley's photographs the influence they have on her pieces. These can also be a vital reference later on when you're working in your sketch book.
 

Still some places on this one too....

If you want to come along to draw and paint in a wide range of mediums then this is the class for you. I break down everything we do, showing you how to build up an image with specific techniques and mediums.

Another finale....

this week was my watercolour class. Again although it's always sad when a course ends I'm also really looking forward to the next one which starts next Tuesday. I'll be seeing most of the learners again plus a few new ones. Again to watch the students progress is amazing especially when it's a new found passion. 

Here is what we got up to for the second half of the course.......

This was the negative painting which was really hard to get your brain to think in reverse to how you would usually paint. This is a great one for those that love to paint flowers, landscapes and foliage.

Although Still Life can leave people with dread it was really fun, the colours and shapes the students achieved from a wide range of fruit and flowers was amazing. Plums and pears were great for their colours and textures. 

This was the River Beam near Chase Lakes, it's like a little hidden sanctuary down there that my girls love to explore. This was taken from a photo from one of our walks. I love the tree that looks like upside down legs!

Again if you fancy joining, it's a lovely, relaxed art class on a Tuesday morning at Havering Adult College at Bower Park. I break down all images showing you how to build them up slowly including any techniques and brush strokes. It's also really nice to see students being incredibly supportive of each other's work and I love seeing what everyone has been up to at home. 

So if you fancy it then click here for more details to join, Tuesday mornings 10am-12.30pm at Bower Park Centre at the Adult College. 

There's still some places....

 if you fancy coming along to get creative.....

It was a bit sad this week...

as it was my last session of a 10 week Painting and Drawing class. We had loads of fun and maybe a few hard moments where I pushed them to be creative but the outcomes were amazing. Here are a few pictures of the things we covered. Next term I'm going to take pictures of their amazing work too, if they'll let me : )

One of my most favourite sessions was using ink. We tried a variety of media from coffee stirrers to feathers and dip pens. The marks you can achieve with Ink is very satisfying and free.

Portraits are always hard but the students did amazingly, again I wish I had taken photos of their final pieces! This is my daughter, drawing someone you love is very hard as you become extra critical, but apart from looking like she's wearing lippy and mascara I was really pleased with it. I just need to do my other daughter now!

Then we moved onto painting with acrylic in a traditional style, then onto mixed media with gel medium and finally onto oil paints.

I painted this for my friend who has just moved into a new house. Again I had great fun with a squeegee, roller and finally using a palette knife to paint with. We're going to cover palette knife painting on the next course partly because it was requested but mainly because it's so enjoyable.

We start the new 10 week course next Wednesday and I am really looking forward to it. It's great that most of the learners are carrying on especially as their work continues to grow and improve (I feel like a proud mother hen!) so I cant wait to see what they create next. It's amazing when students start the course declaring that they can't draw or paint and end up finishing with works of art that I would love to have on my wall! 

So if you're interested in coming along it's a lovely, fun and relaxed afternoon at Havering Adult College, Bower Park every Wednesday from 12-2.30pm. Click here for full details if you fancy joining onto our next course.