My beloved row of Bearded Collies
Work in Progress
This week my April 2012 workshops are taking place in Hampshire,UK.. As always I am meeting the most wonderful of artists in each session. There is a fabulous lady from South Africa who has flown to England just for my watercolour workshops. Another artist is here from Spain. Four friends drove here from Norfolk, two friends came from Devon. In fact nearly everyone this week has made quite a trip to get here.
The venue has been " Dressed" for each new day with the appropriate resources for the individual themes with many spring flowers adding to the inspirational subject matter.
I opened the week with my favourite "Watercolours With Life" which is a brilliant day for anyone who has never been to me before. I cover all of my techniques and latest colour options so this as an introduction to my style and a very full session. It was a really busy day with a truly enthusiastic group and flew by far too quickly.
Yesterday was " Animal Madness". A workshop totally devoted to painting animals. It is funny how some days turn out to be so magical purely by the way they flow or the laughter that just happens at points in a demonstration. At the closing section of the workshop I demonstrated techniques and tips on several paintings of a variety of subjects. I stood at my easel to complete my row of Beardies, then added sheep to another interesting composition to dicuss tips that had arisen during the afternoon. The group wanted to see how I painted elephants so I very quickly placed a texture wash on a large piece of paper and used cling film for the body wrinkles. Water was literally flying from my large brush so that anyone behind or near me had to be careful not to get an unexpected shower. Within seconds the shape and outline of the mother elephant and soft space for her baby was there including her trunk and ear. Next placement of bold pigment on the nose of a dog highlighted the need for courage in detail. I was surrounded by wonderfully eager and enthusiastic artists and at one point made a joke that I felt as though I was being sucked backwards by the energy they were creating, absorbed by their taking in every single brushstroke or addition of colour I made. That is a magical feeling. When everyone leaves on a high you know you have had a successful day.
I do know my workshops are hard to get on to. I do know sometimes it is a case of waiting and booking in advance. And I am so sorry I haven't the time to hold more sessions than I can but my career as an exhibiting artist would suffer if I did. And without exhibiting I wouldn't be fulfilling my own challenges in personal growth.
But what I do aim for is to put my all into every single workshop so that everyone gains as much knowledge as they can from them to leave feeling nspired and more importantly race to paint when they return home or to their studios.
This week has been brilliant and I have one more workshop to go. Today the theme is Spring Flowers and I am raring to go!
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I love this- tt's already superb as it is! You manage to portray so much with the minimum of brush strokes.
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