 John, Elise, Pen and Elizabeth ... and cups of tea. Lots of experimenting on day one: Brushes - what brush when. How to make your brush dance in your hand Paper - hot pressed, cold pressed and everything in between Mixing, water control and loading the brush And, and, and ..... |  John showing how it is done - using the beautiful John Hurst homemade paper. |
 Lovely Elizabeth making magic |  Elise and Pen watching how cadmium yellow reacts as we drop it into a line of water and pigment |
Irma and Megan getting the hang of making beautiful leaf shapes with a single genius stroke
A small window of opportunity ....
Two spaces available for Tuesday 29th March, Monday 4th April and Monday 11th April. Guess what we are doing on those days .....
COLOUR THEORY - all you ever needed to understand about colour
PERSPECTIVE - presented on Power Point and step by step follow along exercises to make it so so so easy.
If this appeals to you, claim the spot.
COLOUR THEORY - all you ever needed to understand about colour
PERSPECTIVE - presented on Power Point and step by step follow along exercises to make it so so so easy.
If this appeals to you, claim the spot.
Back to Basics Module 2 - reflections of DAY TWO
Module Two Day Two we learnt how to understand our colours and their properties. Transparent and Opaque, staining and non-staining and when to use a colour for the best effect.
We also took a meander into the Elements and Principles of Design - understanding how tonal gradation can create an effective painting by using just one colour or a limited palette.
We also took a meander into the Elements and Principles of Design - understanding how tonal gradation can create an effective painting by using just one colour or a limited palette.
 Up to something for sure ... Elise and Pen! |  Heads down and concentrating on being free and wild - wonderful work from Irma and Megan |
Elizabeth - so brave and adventurous - see what happens when you just let go a bit ... Using one colour and then dropping in a more dense opaque colour and wham! happiness
 Megan Stobart creating an engaging painting using just one colour |   |  Toulouse Lautrec - or should we call you John Anderson |
 Elise did some finishing off of this painting in session 3. Such beautiful work! |  |
Back to Basics Module 2 - reflections of DAY THREE
It is just silly how much happiness we can have with two colours!
In this session we looked at all the tonal gradations we can create with just two colours - lemon yellow and dioxazine violet.
These two colours are opposite on the colour wheel and vibrate with electric shock when placed together in their pure form.... but when we gently and gradually add elements of one to the other we are able to create magic blends of soft tones that give our painting a sense of life and delight.
 I love the way Megan and Irma share a table - we will need to construct a studio wing dedicated to Irma. Lovely Friends with lots of banter. |  Irma did this gorgeous little painting on sketch pad paper with the happy abandonment that we get when we stop being careful about our paper and making "mistakes".  Remember to use a clothes peg to help remove tight paint caps |
 |  Elise and Pen, create magic as they boldly experiment with colour and tonal gradations. |
 Today was our last day of painting with Elizabeth until later in the year when this swallow returns to Plett. We are all looking forward to seeing your art explode into realms of sheer happiness and creative expression dear Elizabeth - go well until we paint together again. |  John is ready with his colour wheel - fun to work out what colours work together |
Session 3 we also worked on our tree paintings from session 2 and learnt how to make these stunning trees with credit cards. Irma created this beauty!
Back to Basics Module 2 - reflections of DAY FOUR
| This was the fourth session of Module 2 - Back to Basics Workshop. The idea was to use tonal values in four similar scenes to create different atmospheric scenes. We had to puzzle through decisions about placing tonal values next to each other and at the same time look at the thumbnail sketches to decide what worked best for the composition. This is such a great way to make important decisions before applying paint. When we do this exercise we begin to train our brain to look at all the factors that will make a great end result. Eventually this becomes as simple as riding a bike but we need to activate this thinking pattern so that we can automatically tap into it when we paint. Needless to say it was a tad challenging and the brave souls survived the mental torture placed upon them. Of course, tea and numsies helped to soothe frayed nerves. |  Every time I paint the memories of painting with my Mom flood in. I have these workbooks with so many of my Mom's exercises - some of them with dear little bits of writing that say - "this is the hell!" |
 Glowing painting - such a good start by Pen  It was so great painting with my dear Friend Wendy again.  John showing the lovely beginning of his painting  Wendy's thumbnail sketches to help guide the paintings seen below - each with their own atmosphere. A great beginning to a masterpiece painting. |  Pen was experimenting with these gorgeous colours and this little painting just glowed.  Irma dropped in some cadmium orange into the front wet areas and the effect was delightful  Even though we had the same picture, each painting was so different with the style and creativity of the artist  Megan kept to one colour and created the most beautiful little painting Each exercise we have done is a foundation stone that builds up the ability to paint with more flourish and confidence. My greatest wish is that you leap past the safe and predictable and take a leap into your amazing creative resource - YOU! |
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Just two more sessions and then BACK TO BASICS boot camp is over - next week PERSPECTIVE and the last week is all about COLOUR
Back to Basics Module 2 - reflections of DAY FIVE
 Irma, Megan and Pen - mastering the concepts PERSPECTIVE |  It was lovely having Dawn and Ingrid join us for this day of learning about PERSPECTIVE. Lesson 5 in our Back to Basics Module was all about PERSPECTIVE. Rulers and erasers as we tackled how to draw from ONE POINT & TWO POINT PERSPECTIVE Such diligent workers - certainly need tea and scones for a reward. |
 Lovely Megan - star of the day! |  John and Ingrid, soaking up some of the crisp air and warm sun |  Ahhh! tea! Pen, Irma and Dawn |
Back to Basics Module 2 - reflections of DAY SIX
The last day of this module was a scorcher - HOT HOT HOT day with Berg winds. How wonderful that we could be inside playing with colour.
The last day of this module was a scorcher - HOT HOT HOT day with Berg winds. How wonderful that we could be inside playing with colour.
COLOUR theory is important for us to grasp so that we can understand why we sometimes get colour muddy and uninteresting. Michael Wilcox presents the modern approach to the science of colour. It seems a little challenging when we first try to grasp this way of interpreting colour - but it is worth the brain gym as this lesson will set you free in so many ways. It is a BIG topic so next time it will be a two day workshop.
Braving the heat for a quick pic Joy, Dawn, Irma, Megan, Pen, John, Elise.
 Yellow and blue do not always make a great green. And red and blue sometimes just cannot make a good purple .... now we know why! |  |
 Thank you John for bringing us the most delicious cheese cake from Claire's cakes in Plettenberg Bay |  |
Thank you John, Ingrid, Elizabeth, Irma, Megan, Elise, Pen, Dawn and Wendy for being part of the Back to Basics water colour art workshop. I look forward to painting with you again.
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