Featured Artist: Heather Phillips
‘Ever since I can remember I have alw
ays wanted to be able to draw and paint. But having been told at school, when I had painted what I thought was a magnificent picture of a stone cottage, “Heather, I don’t think I should bother any more if I were you, I resigned myself to doodling and drawing stickmen.
Then one day a friend was enthusiastically describing a drawing course she had been on with someone called “Filbert Splosh”. I looked at her “before and after” pictures and decided to pluck up courage and have a go myself. Gradually I became less nervous and found that I was really enjoying myself. Paul’s comments were helpful, suggesting how to improve something rather than damming what I had done! Since then I have been on several courses and am looking forward to my next one, “Painting Landscapes”, using water colours’. Heather Phillips.
Forthcoming Art Courses
January Courses
Landscapes in Watercolour at Aston on Clun village hall on 19/20 January 2008 – Course is Full
February Courses
Kandinsky Explored at Hampton Bishop village hall on 2/3 February – Using Kandinsky’s own teaching methods we explore how he developed his abstracted paintings
Intermediate Drawing (1) at Aston on Clun on 7 February – We look at ways of creating detailed observational drawings using graphite and pencil with emphasis on line and texture
Explore Pen and Ink at Storridge village hall on 17 February – we explore ways of using ink with a variety of pens, some of which you will make yourself!
Painting with Knives at Storridge village hall on 27 February – only using palette knives we look at creating some fantastic images. A great way to get to know how paint actually feels.
Intermediate Drawing (2) at Aston on Clun on 28 February – We look at ways of creating detailed observational drawings using graphite and pencil with emphasis on creating a wide tonal range.
Courses up to September 2008 are now online; new courses include Pop Art Painting, Multimedia Experience and Life Drawing for Beginners. Also 2/3 day courses take place at the new venue of Berrington Hall, a beautiful National Trust Property near Leominster
You can book courses online, for details click here
Watercolour Tips
As the landscape watercolour course later this month has proved so popular I thought I’d mention a few little pointers that might help those of you who prefer this medium to any other. One of the unique qualities of watercolour is that pigments have a tendency to separate when applied to wet paper, even if colours have been thoroughly mixed. This property can create some interesting effects, but can be detrimental when black is involved. I have mentioned before the fact that using black is not a good idea as it tends to deaden colours and the vibrancy of watercolour is then lost. The same problem happens to all colours that contain black pigment namely: Paynes Grey, Davy’s Grey (neutral tint) some of the very dark greens and even Indigo. If you need a black use Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber. Alternatively, try using complementary colours – colours opposite on the colour wheel – a little green with a purple/violet can create a dark (black) that is ideal for painting plums and other similar objects. Experiment with your colour mixing!
It is a good idea to stretch paper if using wet on wet techniques, but if the paper is good quality this may not be necessary. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to paint with your board at an angle so that water cannot form pools on the paper. Pools can have their uses, but in most cases need to be avoided.
Remember there is a great difference between pen and wash and wash and pen. Too often a watercolour is painted and the pen is used to simply outline the objects afterwards. This usually results in a tired looking piece of work. Pen and wash means the drawing is completed in pen first, drawn boldly and hopefully with panache and then tinted with watercolour. Wash and pen involves creating washes to establish the essence of a painting, perhaps the sky, middle ground hills and a foreground are established before working with the pen. Perhaps only the foreground objects are established in pen to create depth between the pen strokes and the washed hills. It might be interesting to try the different approaches.
Finally, the main problem with painting with watercolour is using the colour too strongly in the initial stages. Try to think of watercolour as painting with light, the lighter the tone the more transparent it becomes. A colour can always be overlaid with another wash to create a stronger tone.
Happy New Year
Regards
Filbert Splosh
