Blooming marvelous.....

One of my learners in the watercolour class had a request from a family member to paint flowers in glass which as you can imagine is a hard subject matter. 

So I found and produced some easier examples for them to follow with these 2 images......

  

And for anyone who wanted a harder challenge I photographed some flowers and painted this one. It doesn't quite show in the picture but this one was quite a long and detailed picture.

 

Here is what they produced which are amazing. I particularly love seeing their own styles starting to come through.....

Some then chose to attempt the harder challenge at home so I'm glad I didn't put them off : )

Joy of art....

I've always loved art and the more I teach it the more I see the benefits it has on people and no where more so than in this great location. Every Thursday morning I've been teaching a drawing class at Ingrebourne Valley Visitors Centre at South Hornchurch Country Park (yes that very same one that was on the news for the weasel riding woodpecker). These are the views from our windows.....

 

which creates a flood of great natural lighting in the room.

We can often hear and see the blue tits and great tits right outside the window. This week we even had a heard of cows running along! I'm pleased to say that I'm going to be teaching there next September introducing a little colour with a pastels and paint class (as soon as I know all the details I'll add them on). 

What more could you want...creating in such an inspiring location.

Proud mother hen.....watercolour portraits

I've been feeling like a proud mother hen lately from the learners in my art classes. I love seeing their work develop and progress over the weeks especially from people who haven't picked up a pencil or paintbrush since leaving school. Plus every week never feels like work!

These are some of the portraits the learners made.....

 

I have to confess that some did use carbon paper. I always show the learners how to draw the subject matter so in this case I showed them how to break down the face. But as the lessons are so short some chose to spend their time concentrating on painting the face. 

For such a hard subject matter I think they're brilliant.

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.