I met the delightful Seven Oaks Art Group and we did some hands on charcoal and chalk figure drawings.  They seemed a bit surprised that I didn’t do the “traditional” approach of using a standing figure and measuring it using the head - boring! I need to work from photos that inspire me so i used figures jumping and leaping, and although they started hesitantly - JUST LOOK AT THE RESULTS!  BRILLIANT!!

I did a demonstration for the Fairford art group, near Cirencester, and drew with an oil pastel.  It does not rub out when you work, with oil, watercolour or acrylics on top, which can be a great help.  I then put soft pastels over the drawing, mixing and diluting them with a damp brush to get interesting effects.

I have recently returned from doing a “reccie” for the two Italian art holidays taking place in May and September this year.  I hired a car in rome, drove to Umbria and spent two days exploring this beautiful area, selecting good painting locations.  Then i drove down to the Amalphi coast, staying in Sorrento and exploring again for good painting locations - spoilt for choice.  I am looking forward to standing in the warm Italian sun, sipping good wine, having good company and painting - perfect!

Barabara, one of my regular Friday morning art students recently visitied Australia and here are some paintings she did on her return from photos she took

I did a portrait demo for the Bromley Art Society, using hard and soft pastels.  First a quick drawing of Malcolm, no details just getting his head shape and the big areas down.  I concentrated on TONES, using any colour that came to hand, greens, blues - it doesn’t matter, so long as the tones match the area you are looking at.  I use the “one thirds” rule i.e. measure one third from the chin to under the nose, one third from under the nose to the eyebrows then one third from the eyebrows to the hairline.  It is a universal measurement, given to me by Daniel Greene ,when I spent four days studying with him.

I gave Malcolm the painting - he seemed to like it!

Yesterday I spent a delighful few hours with the Bexleyheath art club, teaching them how to paint with Acrylic inks.  I first wet a page of Acrylic paper - made it very wet, then dropped yellow and red inks on it, tilting the paper so that the inks ran into each other. Using a hairdryer to dry the paint, I then used watersoluable pencils and watercolour paints on top, to create a field of poppies. Negative space painting is what is important when doing the grass under the poppies.

It was an early start to be on the 1030 ferry, and of course the weather didn’t help – fog is not pleasant to drive in. I landed at 1130 and I struggled to find the entrance to the Hall.  There was a digger in the way, digging up pipes, so I parked on the entrance platform and rushed inside to register in Reception, as directed.  A man stopped me to tell me that I would be clamped – nice start! The receptionist was very helpful and eventually I got parked. I strolled into Newport, as I had two hours to kill and discovered some lovely old fashioned high street shops; it is such a pleasure to meander from one small shop to another, looking at the local wares.

I rushed back to meet Kate at the hall and we went for lunch – lovely tomato soup.  Then back to the hall where we set up.  They had a huge easel with lights and camera – so I put out samples of my work and got ready.  I was demonstrating Acrylic Mediums and had brought samples for everyone to take home.

There must have been 60 or more people in the audience, and I showed them the different ways to use acrylic mediums (see lesson Get your Acrylics out under the Acrylic button). It is sometimes hard to judge whether the audience can understand my message or not.  Using these mediums frees you up, and as an artist, it helps you to express your creativity.  You no longer need to think “like a watercolourist” or as an “acrylic/oil painter”.  There are no restrictions. The mediums allow you to use any pigment from any selection of paints and merely paint in “watercolour painting mode” i.e. thin washes of paint whether you are using watercolour or acrylics, then by thickening up the paint (watercolour or acrylic) you can move into “oil painting mode” – and do all of this on the same painting.

It was lovely meeting the Isle of Wight artists and I hope I have challenged them to have a go, and explore the different techniques you can achieve with acrylics, by using the mediums. I did the attached painting

The thing that makes watercolour amazing - to look at and to paint with, is it’s transparency….i.e. use only transparent colours. Yellow ochre is not transparent, Raw Sienna is. 

Why use is this important? - because in watercolour, you DO NOT use white!

You allow the white of the paper to shine through the colours. So you need to buy transparent colours , then do some exercises.   I have painted an oriental pot, starting with a wash of yellow, then allowed it to dry. Then a wash of orange, using yellow and red, and then a wash of blue. Allow each wash to dry below putting down the next one. This way I am using the transparency of the colours and you achieve that glow that watercolour is famous for.

 Requests for critiques from all over the 

world. Today I recieved several photos of an artist in Taiwan,

who is unable to find an art tutor locally.  This is why I created

vir2l-artstudent; to be a place for artists to come to for help.This

locust is very well drawn, and painted. By using inks, the artist

will capture the brilliance of the creature. Shadows - make them out of browns and purples 

and make them exciting to look at.

An artist at the Women’s Institute Auditions

Last September  I applied to audition to get into the WI’s little yellow book of speakers, then got busy and forgot about it, until this August I received a “confirmation of attendance at an audition”. My topic was “Is art/drawing/painting relevant to me?”

The day had arrived.  I set off, using my satnav.  I got through the early morning traffic and found the hall. I met the organiser and also, a member of The Federation of Women’s Institute, who had travelled down for the auditions – I felt like doing a curtsey – she was very regal.

I was the first speaker out of 10 auditions.  The hall had row upon row of chairs set out. I set up my easel, while 70 ladies greeted each other, were given forms with boxes to tick and  cups of tea to sip. The Chairperson arrived, and I felt the urge to curtsey again – what is it with these women? They had a new microphone and I asked if there was a panel pin mike. No one knew how to work it, as it was still in it’s bag, so I unpacked it, inserted a battery and got it working, while chatting to the Federation Member – she was lovely – quite a character, under all that royal presence.

The Chairperson put me in the Green Room, and yes it was painted green, while she did a Welcome speech and instructions on how to judge my performance…..my nerves were getting the better of me!  I would have liked to see what was written on that form!

I was called forward and stood, like a school girl before the assembly of 70 stern women who had their arms folded, while she read out an introduction taken from my website.  I felt like hanging my head in shame but stood instead with a fixed grin on my face.

I am used to talking to crowds so I introduced myself, and spoke a bit about what it was like growing up in Africa – woollen winter school uniforms with awful woollen knickers, which brought nods of agreement and hoots of laughter when I described how dreadful they were to wear – especially in the heat of Africa. 

Then I got going and I handed out paper, charcoal and got 10 “lucky” people to draw along with me.  I had asked for a show of hands as to who thought that they could not draw or paint?  Almost every hand went up, and then I challenged their attitude and told them that I could prove that art was technique driven, and that anyone could succeed at it.

I drew a vase, and they drew along with me, and I showed them how to achieve symmetry.  I had loosened up as a speaker and was enjoying it – I got them to laugh at their attempts and to clap at their results….even the lopsided ones, but all too soon I had run out of the 15 minutes that I had been allocated.  I got everyone who had drawn along with me to hold up their drawings – there were some good results! We got a big round of applause.

I thanked them and Mrs Chairperson, who was seated behind me, stop watch in hand.  I had to pack up in a flurry, collect the charcoal up and leave.   I was escorted back into the Green Room, where the next speaker was waiting.

I hope they enjoyed it, I did. The WI Yellow book for 2012….a letter will arrive one day in the post with my results in it.