Robin Holder

Robin Holder is, by his own description, a River Severn artist. Do take a look at his website http://www.robinholder.co.uk/ to see more of what he does and find out about the tuition he offers.

Kempsey Church in Snow

Today's watercolour demonstration was a view across the Severn to the church at Kempsey and was inspired by an oil painting executed in the field.

You can see from this image that his palette is limited. He used raw sienna, raw umber and cerulian blue. An advantage with using insoluble pigments is they can be lifted out and that's how the white highlights on the near river bank have been achieved.

Nature in Art

I was pleasantly surprised by today's presentation. Simon Trapnell, Director of Nature in Art, is an engaging speaker who has been involved with the museum since it was no more than an idea. Through the many images presented we gained insights into the variety of the collection and, thanks to Simon's knowledge, into the work of many of the artists.

I should perhaps explain why I was surprised. Because I'm a frequent visitor to Nature in Art and always enjoy the mix of 'old friends' and special exhibitions I didn't expect to be so stimulated by an illustrated talk. I can highly recommend inviting Simon to talk to any art group. He's not an artist but he understands art inspired by nature and communicates very effectively.

One thing I have always enjoyed on my visits is seeing the artists in residence at work. There's about 60 each year. I don't know how some of them get much work done with the constant stream of visitors questioning them but I've always found them keen to talk about their art and their methods of working.

Don't try to take in everything at once. Take a break part way through your visit and enjoy coffee and cake in the restaurant ... or stop for lunch.

Take a look at the website http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk for the programme and other details.

New Year

Why not try something new in 2013 or make some resolutions about developing your art skills? Ledbury Art Society has a varied programme of demonstrations in 2013 and there’s two workshops. Beside the LAS offerings there are plenty of people offering tuition and painting holidays.

 

I seem to have increased my output lately and aim for that to continue through the coming year. As well as working with acrylics, I’ve been enjoying trying out the Maimeri Blu water colours I was given at Christmas and I certainly intend to do a lot more with them in the coming year.

 

If you are looking for tuition close to home then our own Nigel Street is offering a range of water colour courses. Brief details below and fuller information on his website http://nigelstreet.co.uk/

 

Understanding Watercolour weekend courses on Sat/Sun 9th/10th March 2013, and 13th/14th April 2013. Limited to 6 places, all equipment provided, cost £80 with deposit on booking of £20.

Ronald Swanwick - Acrylic Abstracts



There's Always One

Ronald Swanwick brought to last Tuesday's demonstration a large collection of part finished abstract paintings which he used to illustrate something of the way he composes and executes his paintings. He confessed that he never throws anything away as it might come in useful one day. Some rather unusual things had found there way into his art.

Although his art is abstract it is not always non-representational. Cityscapes, views of Venice and birds feature in many of his paintings.

For more information on the full range of his art take a look at his website - http://www.gloucestershire-artist.co.uk/

In the later stages of the demonstration he had several people come forward and put their own paint marks onto his canvas. He then worked with these marks to develop his own abstract painting.

Acrylic Landscapes - Sue Townsend

A very enjoyable workshop today with Sue Townsend helping 16 of us interpret autumn colour in our landscape paintings. Sue brought along a selection of photos taken at Westonbirt Arboretum and encouraged participants to select one or use their own images. As the day progressed she added a little more to her demonstration painting in short bursts of activity but spent most of the time in between going from student to student offering suggestions and words of encouragement. To find out more about Sue's work and the tuition and holidays she organises visit her website http://www.suetownsendart.co.uk

The next image shows her own reference photo and then there are three at various stages of progress. After that comes a selection of images showing work in progress by workshop participants and then some where they are obviously hard at work.

Andrew Forkner Natural Art

A very well attended meeting today. As Andrew Forkner works very slowly and meticulously he doesn't demonstrate live. So for today's demonstration he used a series of projected images to take us through the process of composing and executing a pastel painting of a wolf. His inspiration had come from a visit to Canada but his reference photo had been taken at the Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford.

You can see many examples of his pictures on his website http://www.andrewforkner.co.uk/index.html Towards the foot of the home page you'll find a link that enables you to see the stages and procedures involved in producing the wolf painting.

As well as pastel paintings on velour, Andrew also works with graphite pencil and acrylic.

Tuition & Holiday Miscellany

This must be the time of year for art holidays adverts. Several have come through recently and so I'm giving links to websites in case you want to find out more about any of them>

The Florence Art Studio

Newlyn School of Art

El Molino del Conde, Spain

Paint Paleochora, Crete


Brian Steventon is offering tuition at The Wodehouse and Harvington Hall next year. Cost £30 a day. No website details but you could email briansteventon@tiscali.co.uk for details.

If you've used any of these services please add any recommendations as a comment.