New Art Classes for January and February 2017

Painting by Laraine during one of my classes

We are all busy at the moment getting ready for Christmas, but I wanted to let you know the about my new art classes starting in January 2017.  If you would like to book a place on any of the courses please contact me via the blog form or give me a call:

5 wk painting course ‘London Life’ (open medium) 
Friday 20th Jan – 17th Feb. 10 to 12noon, Northwood W.I Hall, Cowes, £70.
Painting all things to do with London - painting people, painting famous buildings, monuments and famous scenery, painting the busy river Thames, buses and taxis, cafés etc. 

A brief course outline - Looking at and discussing famous paintings on the subject - history and origins, better composition skills and painting structure – grids & rule of thirds, 1,2 & 3 point perspective, painting figures in the landscape as well as people in perspective.                                                    

4 wk painting course ‘London Life’ (open medium) 
Thursday 26th Jan – 16th Feb. 10 to 12.30pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £70.
Painting all things to do with London - painting people, painting famous buildings, monuments and famous scenery, painting the busy river Thames, buses and taxis, cafés etc. 

A brief course outline - Looking at and discussing famous paintings on the subject -
history and origins, better composition skills and painting structure – grids & rule of thirds,                               1,2 & 3 point perspective, painting figures in the landscape as well as people in perspective.                                                    

4 wk painting course ‘Boats, Yachts & Harbours’ (open medium) 
Friday 10th to 31st Mar. 12.30 to 3pm, All Saints’ Church Ryde, £65.
Painting graceful yachts sailing to moored boats, tranquil harbours to busy marinas.               
A brief course outline - Looking at and discussing famous paintings on the subject -
history and origins, creating movement in paintings, painting water - general tips, painting moving water and still water and do's and don’ts of painting reflections etc.                                                                                                                          

The courses below are taught by me for the Adult & Community Learning Service at Westridge near the large Tesco in Ryde.  To book a place on the courses call 817280:

Clay Sculpture (air dry clay) –Monday 23rd January – 13th Feb. 6 – 8.30pm
Basic Watercolour Seascapes (Taster) - Sunday 29th January, 10 – 12pm
Perspective for Beginners (Taster) - Sunday 29th January, 10 – 12pm
Step by Step Oil Painting (4 Week Course) – Tuesday 24th Jan – 14th Feb, 1 – 4pm (This course is brilliant if you are nervous about painting with oils and will build your confidence)
Painting Poetry (Workshop) – Thursday 9th February, 10 – 3pm
Beginners Skyscape Painting in Oils (4 Week Course) – Monday 6th – 27th March, 10 – 1pm
Simple Drawing Skills – Saturday 11th March, 10 – 3pm (This is course is perfect if you want to draw, but need to learn basic skills)

Newcomers are welcome on all my courses and if you have any questions please contact me via my blog form. One to one art classes are also available and tailor-made individual courses.

I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Best wishes

Lee 

Painting Reality to Abstraction Workshop - November 2016

Unfinished painting by Pam 2016

Recently I taught a fully booked class called Painting Reality to Abstraction.  Prior to the class I asked the artists to do some preparation work. At the beginning of the class we discussed abstract art in general and had a look at some paintings as examples including work by Joseph Turner, Emile Nolde, David Hockney and Pablo Picasso.  I gave a brief talk on what is reality which lightly touched upon quantum physics.  We then discussed ways of breaking down what we see and the way we see, such as removing all the detail from an object and changing is colour.  

The paintings  you see here were created during the workshop.  Some paintings are more abstract than others, but all are successful in grasping the concept of changing reality to abstraction to different degrees.  

Original painting by Janice 2016

Original painting by Meryel 2016

Original painting by Janet 2016

Original painting by Diana 2016

Original painting by Kevin 2016

Original painting by Vicki 2016

Original painting by Julie 2016

Original painting by Vicki 2016

Original painting by Geoff 2016

Original painting by Mandy 2016

Original painting by Liz 2016

Original painting by Linda 2016

Thank you to everyone who took part in the course and for allowing me to show the work on this blog.

Next week the blog post will be about the upcoming courses for 2017!  

Watch this space!!

Happy painting

Lee 

Landscape Paintings - September/October 2016

Original oil painting by Kate 2016

Recently across September and October I taught two landscape painting courses - both were open medium.

Each had a slightly different emphasis:- The course at Ryde predominantly leant towards buildings in the landscape whilst the course held at Northwood dealt with trees in the landscape.  Many successful paintings were created during the classes and some are unfinished works in progress.    Please enjoy looking at the work created at these enjoyable classes...

Original oil painting by Kate 2016

Study by Gaye 2016

Original acrylic painting by Gaye 2016

Unfinished oil painting by Andrew 2016

Original oil painting by Rosemary 2016

Original oil painting by Liz 2016

Original pen and wash painting by Julie 2016

Original pen and wash painting by Julie 2016

Original oil painting by Laraine 2016

Underpainting by Farzeen 2016

Unfinished oil painting by Farzeen 2016

Unfinished watercolour painting by Geoff 2016

Unfinished acrylic painting by Liz C. 2016

Original oil painting by Peter 2016

Original oil painting by Lolly 2016

Original oil painting by Sandra 2016

Original oil painting by Sandra 2016

Thank you to all the students who allowed their work to be shown  here and also a big thank you to those whose work is not shown here.  The classes wouldn't be a success without you fantastic students!

The dates for January and February courses will be  revealed in the next blog post.

If you would like to take part in one of my future classes or have one to one lessons please use the blog contact form.

Happy Painting!

Lee xxx

Painting Boats, Yachts and Harbours - October 2016

Original pastel painting by Mandy 2016

The theme for the latest four week course at Bembridge Village Hall was boats, yachts and harbours.  This was a subject close to many of the artists hearts.  It was an open medium course and the artists used pastels, acrylics, watercolours or traditional oils.  There was a usual mix of beginners and the more experienced artists. 

All of the paintings are very successful and many of them are finished although there are some that are still unfinished, but as you can see from the photographs even the unfinished works are very accomplished at capturing the mood and atmosphere of the subject.

Original oil painting by Lolly 2016

Watercolour study by Julie 2016

Original watercolour painting by Julie 2016

Unfinished oil painting by Diana 2016

Original painting by Maria 2016

Original oil painting (water mixable) by Meryel 2016

Original oil painting by Simonne 2016

Original acrylic painting by Janice 2016

Original pastel painting by Vicki 2016

Detail of unfinished painting by Linda 2016

Original oil painting by Simonne 2016

Many thanks to all the artists for attending the course and sharing their work on my blog.  Everyone achieved their own goals during the course and learned a lot throughout the four weeks including the lovely Sue and Cathy whose work is not shown here. 

If you would like to book a place on one of my courses or have one-to-one classes please use the blog contact form.

Happy Painting!

Lee xxx

Clouds and Upcoming Workshops in November 2016

Cloud study in charcoal by Janice 2016

The following photographs are work produced from a two and a half hour drawing workshop with Seaview Art Group.  Many thanks to the fantastic learners that attended! It was a busy morning with everyone working hard and building on their drawing skills.

Firstly, we looked at drawing trees. We focused on tree structure and shape, then looked at adding tone (light to medium and medium to dark textural tones).  The next hour was spent very successfully on drawing clouds where the students used a range of pencils, graphite sticks and charcoal. The results are below:

Cloud study by Helen 2016

Cloud study by Cathy 2016

Cloud study by Jenny 2016

Cloud study by Alen 2016

Cloud study by Vicki 2016

Cloud study by John 2016

Cloud study by Maria 2016

Cloud study by Tisha 2016

All the students enjoyed the workshop and felt they had gained new skills.  Following the success of this workshop I have decided to do two more in November.  The details are as follows:

Drawing Skills
1 Day (3 hours), 12.30 - 3.30pm, Friday 18th November, All Saints' Church, Ryde, £25.
Learn to depict form, gain better control of contrast and master 1 & 2 point perspective.
Please feel free to bring along drawing you may need help with improving.

Reality to Abstraction (open medium - Oils, Acrylics, Gouache and Watercolour)

1 Day (5 hours), 10.00 - 3.00pm, Thursday 24th November, Bembridge Village Hall, £40.

Ideal for anyone wishing to free up their work and become less precious, try a different approach, begin to see in a different way.  Gain a better understanding of abstract art - get the creative mind racing. Taking inspiration from reality learn how to compose and create unique abstract art pieces.

If you would like to book a place on these courses please use the contact form below. 

Happy Painting!

Lee