Upcoming Private Art Courses - January 2018

Original Oil Painting by Liz 2017

These are my upcoming courses for January 2018:

4 week painting course 'Mountains & Valleys' (open medium) 
Starting Friday 19th January 2018, 10:00 to 12:30pm, Northwood WI Hall, £70

4 week painting course 'Animals in the Landscape' - horses, donkeys, pigs, cows, Sheep and dogs etc. (open medium)
Starting Thursday 25th January 2018, 10:00 to 12:30pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £70

1 day (3hrs) Workshop 'Figure Drawing & Painting' - drawing or painting a clothed model (open medium) Friday 23rd February 2018, 12:30 to 3.30pm, All Saints' Church Ryde, £35

If you would like to join one of the above courses please use the blog contact form and I will get back to you.  One to one private classes are also available all year round.

Thank you to everyone who came to the courses in 2017 and made them a great success.  Without you there would be no art classes.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Painting! 🎄

Lee 🎨

Painting Cliffs, Sand and Sea - November 2017

Original oil painting by Sue H. 2017

I have just completed a four week painting course on painting cliffs, sand and sea.  Myself and the Learners began by looking at the various colours of cliff faces, sand and seaweed found on the Isle of Wight beaches.  

Each student mixed up their own versions of these colours which included everything from a beautiful magenta coloured seaweed from Ventnor beach to the subtle grey-blue colour of Blue Slipper clay from Lake Dunroamin beach.  

Next we discussed the influences of external elements such as sunlight, rain and wind on cliff faces, sand and sea.  The resulting paintings are excellent and were created by beginners to intermediate artists.  You can see the beautiful paintings below and I have added two paintings which were completed on a painting workshop in Northwood - as they fitted the theme nicely.

Original oil painting by Sue C. 2017

Original oil painting by Laraine 2017

Oil sketch by Meryel 2017 - see painting below

Oil painting by Meryel 2017

Original gouache painting by Jean N. 2017

Original oil painting by Simonne 2017

Original oil painting by Pam 2017

Original acrylic painting by Gaye 2017

Original painting by Sue H. 2017

Original oil painting by Meryel 2017

Original watercolour painting by Irene 2017

Original oil painting by Lolly 2017

Original oil painting by Liz 2017

Original unfinished oil painting by Diana 2017

Original oil painting by Jean 2017

Original oil painting by Simonne 2017

Thank you to everyone who made the course a success including Liz whose work is not shown above. 

Although the standard of all these paintings is high, please remember that some of these artists are beginners and all the artists are still learning.  My point is that if you wish to paint to this standard it is achievable as I will teach you the tools and techniques step by step.  Please do not be nervous or put off as you too can paint like this. You can contact me using the blog form below.

My next blog post will be about my upcoming courses in January 2018.  Private one-to-one classes are available all year round.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Painting Evening and Night Skies

Original oil painting by Jean 2017

I have just finished teaching a four week course on painting evening and night skies.  The class was packed and the atmosphere was both boisterous at times and also silent with avid concentration at other times. 

Firstly we looked at colour mixes for night skies with each student mixing up their own variations and then we moved onto to warmer and brighter evening sky mixes.  For the actual paintings themselves the students used their own photographs which I always recommend as you invest more into the subject matter. 

As always there was a mix of beginners and intermediates. The painting above is Jean's fifth painting and her very first painting in oils.  I am sure you will agree that it is a fantastic painting as are the rest of the group's wonderful work.  Please take a moment to look at their wonderful paintings below:

Original oil painting by Simonne 2017

Original oil painting by Kevin 2017

Original pastel painting by Mandy 2017

Original oil painting by Cathy 2017

Original acrylic painting by Julie 2017

Original oil painting by Diana 2017

Original pastel painting by Mandy 2017

Original oil painting by Meryel 2017

Unfinished painting by Maria 2017

Original watercolour painting by Tere 2017

Original watercolour painting by Tere 2017

Original acrylic painting by Julie 2017

Unfinished oil painting by John 2017

Original oil painting by Meryel 2017

Original oil painting by Liz 2017

Thank you to all the students who made the course successful and for allowing me to share their work on my blog.  As you can see all the paintings are very good in their own right even those that are still unfinished.  A special mention goes to Geoff whose work is not shown here.  

If you would like to join one of my art classes please use the contact form on this blog and I will get back to you asap.  New courses coming up will be starting in January/February 2018! I will post the details of upcoming courses next month.

Happy Painting!!

Lee 🎨

Painting Shanklin Chine and Other Island Scenes

Liz working on her original acrylic painting

I have just completed a four week open medium course on painting Shanklin Chine and Other Island Scenes.  As discussed with the students, if they were to take on the challenge of painting the Chine they would have to differentiate between the various layers of green foliage (we jokingly called it 'the wall of green').  Each layer of foliage from the foreground to the middle ground to the background would not only have to diminish in texture and size of leaf, but it would also to diminish in colour. 

Therefore we spent some time recapping and going over cool colours and warm colours to make sure that everyone understood that cool colours would be needed for the background i.e. cool yellows mixed with cool blues to make cool greens for the background and warm greens in the foreground so that they come forward.  This was only part of the colour mixing challenge as each student would have to mix up slightly varying greens for each individual plant. 

The results of this very intriguing and inspiring course can be found below and I think you will agree that they are very successful, even though some may be unfinished works.

Original acrylic painting by Liz 2017

Original oil painting by Lolly 2017

Original oil painting by Peter 2017

Original oil painting by Kate 2017

Detail of Kate's oil painting when in progress

Original oil painting by Rosemary 2017

Unfinished oil painting by Andrew 2017

Pam working on her original oil painting

Original Oil Painting by Pam 2017

Original oil painting by Michelle 2017

Original watercolour painting by Tere 2017

Original oil painting by Sandra 2017

Thank you to all the students who have shared their work on the blog and an honourable mention to Laraine who was unable to attend the last lesson.  Without you it would not have been a successful course with your paintings rising to the challenge that I set.

If you would like to join one of my future courses please use the contact form on the blog. My next course is in Bembridge on the 23rd November 2017 'Painting still life with painting knives.' The details can be seen on my previous blog post.

Happy Painting!

Lee🎨

Upcoming course - Still Life with Painting Knives

1 Day Course ‘Still Life with Painting Knives’

Thursday 23^rd November, 10 to 3pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £40

Some of the Topics Covered:- How to Use Painting Knives and How to Apply and Mix Paints Properly, Different Painting Knives – Different Purposes, Mark Making with Knives, Texturing and Scraping Back, ‘Still Life’ Basics and Composition.

If you would like to join this one day course please contact me via the blog contact form at the bottom of this page.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

En Plein Air Paintings 2017

Original watercolour sketch of Shanklin Chine by Lee Papworth 2017

En Plein Air Tastic!

A few weeks ago a group of students and myself visited the Shanklin Chine to do some sketches and watercolour studies.  The course was well attended and very successful.  All students enjoyed the experience of drawing and painting outside.  They enjoyed visiting the Chine (some for the first time).

I personally did some watercolour sketches as well as teaching, helping and guiding the students create their own work.  You can see my sketches below.  For those of you thinking about doing watercolour sketching make sure that no sketch lasts more than ten minutes, if possible try to limit yourself to five to six minutes on each sketch.  This will keep your sketches fresh and not overworked.  Remember these are sketches are not meant to be finished works.  Happy sketching!

   

Original watercolour sketches of Shanklin Chine by Lee Papworth 2017

On sunny days during the spring and summer I often go en plein air painting on the Island.    I take my oil paints, white spirit, brushes and prepared canvas. My first painting was of the War Memorial on Sandown Esplanade with Culver in the distance and the next was of a ramshackled old hut on Lake Beach with the cliffs towering behind.

Unfinished original oil painting of Sandown War Memorial by Lee Papworth 2017

This is me in action!!! (taken by a very helpful holidaymaker)

Unfinished original oil painting of Lake Beach by Lee Papworth 2017

Both of these paintings are unfinished even though I spent just over two hours on both of them.  The main reason is that it is very tiring working in the blazing sunshine or when it rains.  You also use a lot of physical energy and it is mentally tiring because of the quickness of decisions that need to be made plus you are constantly having to converse with the general public who are interested in what you are doing.  

All of these factors add to the enjoyment and excitement of painting outside.  I recommend that everyone paints directly from the source, as observation is king!

In my next blog post I will let you know further details of forthcoming courses in September.  If you wish to know the dates and course details I am delivering please look at the last post.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨