Van Gogh was born in 1853, and had a tormented life with a lot of anxiety. It is possible that he may have been a manic depressive. He only started painting aged 27 and tragically died aged only 37. However during those 10 years he produced roughly 2,100 pieces of work. His early work was … Read more
Collage was first used as early as 1910 and Picasso did some collages. Collage is a great way to add new dimensions to your paintings. The list of things you can use in collage is almost infinite, but here are some suggestions :- Natural things like – shells, stones, pieces of broken glass, seeds , … Read more
Guest instructor, Zara, introduced her favourite method of developing an acrylic painting by using many washes to slowly develop the picture. She said that this meditative process left a painting which was both translucent and in a illustrative painterly way. She used two subjects to paint at the same time so one could dry … Read more
Brushes come in various shapes including round, filbert (a semi round top and great for portraiture), fan, angular, and the flat brush. Each has it’s own uses. Caroline Marsland demonstrated the use of the flat brush at class. These brushes come in all sizes. She chose a medium and medium small to show how one … Read more
Degas was one of the forerunners in impressionism. He preferred to work in his studio, and was not impressed with his contemporaries who painted en plain air. Born 1834, he was a little older than the others. He was a trained draughtsman, who then went on to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He … Read more
Caroline Marsland lead us in a demo of a Monet painting. She pointed out the Impressionists of whom he was most famous, were into seeing colours in their environment. `Monet painted with thick oil paint later stumbling with thick paint when his eyesite become poor. He used small strokes that blend often giving a feeling … Read more
Instructor Caroline Marsland demonstrated how one could take measurements of the objects you are painting. She provided us with a simple picture of how to do it. Just using a brush or pencil, one can work around complicated objects or scenes more accurately.
Caroline’s subject this week was “fish, painted in watercolour”. The vibrancy of the medium was well suited to this subject as can be seen in her beautiful rendition of a tropical fish. First Caroline lightly outlined the fish in pencil then applied the fish scales and part of the body in a light tone. She … Read more
On April 24th instructor Lucy Parker gave a brief talk to the Wednesday Dupont class on the zorn pallet used by many artists She described the colours used as yellow ocher, cad red medium. black and white. She said that in using oils, the dark colors should be laid down first. This was a brief … Read more