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 🎨

Upcoming Autumn Courses and Painted Gardens

Meryel working on her painting

I have just completed a four week course entitled 'Painted Gardens.' This is the first time I have taught this course for over four years.  The excitement of teaching the course once again was matched by the students truly excellent work.  During the course the students and I looked at the history of painted gardens, mixing different greens, applying texture and surface marks.  The students that attended were a mix of beginners and more experienced artists. Overall I had the pleasure to watch some of the best work emerge from blank canvases in my fifteen years of teaching. The results of which are for you to see below:

Original painting by Meryel 2017

Original painting by Gaye 2017

  

Details of Gaye's painting

Unfinished original painting by Geoff 2017

Original painting by Jean 2017

Original painting by Sue 2017 (her first painting!)

Original painting by Sue 2017

Detail of unfinished original painting by Pam 2017

Detail of unfinished painting by Pam 2017

Original painting by Helen 2017

Original painting by Lolly 2017

Original painting by Lolly 2017

Study by Tere 2017

Thank you to all the students for making the course such a overwhelming success and for allowing me to show their work on my blog.  I would also like to thank Liz whose work is not shown here. 

If you would like to join one of my classes or have one-to-one classes, please contact me using the blog contact form below. 

Here are my upcoming courses for Autumn 2017:

Upcoming Autumn Courses and Workshops 2017

4 Week Painting Course 'Cliffs, Sand & Sea' (open medium)

Starts Friday 20th October 12.30 to 3pm - All Saints' Church Hall, Ryde - £70

4 Week Painting Course 'Evening Landscapes & Night-Skies' (open medium)
Starts Thursday 28th September 10.00 to 12.30pm - Bembridge Village Hall - £70

4 Week Painting Course 'Shanklin Chine & Other Island Scenes' (open medium)
Starts Friday 22nd September 10.00 to 12.30pm - Northwood W.I. Hall - £70

Gallery Visit/Talk 'Southampton City Art Gallery' (talk approx. 1.5 hours)
Friday 3rd November, meet at 9.45am at Red Jet Ferry (to depart at 10.15am) - £40
(You will need to buy ferry tickets, but bus to gallery is free and gallery admission is free)

More one day workshops will be available as the term progresses and these will appear on my blog.  One to one sessions are still available over the summer period.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Painting Figures and Portraits - May/June 2017

Pam working on her portrait painting

On the 1st June my course on Painting Figures and Portraits came to an end.  This was a four week course with students painting with oils, acrylics and watercolours.  One student used pastels with great success.  

Overall, although the students found the course challenging, all of them rose to the challenge and created paintings that were better than their original expectations. Half the class had never painted a portrait before or even painted a figure which makes the results even more amazing!  I think the paintings speak for themselves. There are three or four highly successful ones and the rest follow closely behind.  Only one person's work is not shown by their choice although in my opinion this was one of the best.

Portrait painting by Pam 2017

Portrait painting in pastels by Mandy 2017

Portrait painting by Vicki 2017

Portrait painting by Jean 2017

Portrait painting by Liz 2017

Painting of Napoleon by John 2017

Painting by Jean 2017

Thank you to all the students who made this course a success.  If you would like to join one of my art classes or have one-to-one classes please contact me using the blog form below. 

My next course will be en plein air painting at Shanklin Chine on the 14th of July - look forward to seeing you there!  I

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Painting Night Skies - May 2017



Laraine painting her night sky composition

This was the first time I had run a course on painting night skies.  As research beforehand i took photographs of coloured pieces of card at different times on a sunny day starting at 10am and ending at 9.30pm.  The pieces of card were the primary colours of yellow, blue and red. This was to determine the effect of diminishing light on the coloured card.  Through the series of photographs it was clear to see that as the day drew to a close the coloured card became cooler in colour. Most interestingly at 9.30pm the yellow card was only just visible, the red card had completely disappeared and the even stranger was that the blue card was still visible.

On the next night I took photographs of the scene which we were going to paint in class.  I took these photographs as before at various times of the day - from 2pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm.  The results were as expected that as there was less light there was less colour. The one taken at 5pm especially had become washed out as if devoid of colour, but in contrast the one taken last of all at 9pm had taken on an atmospheric appeal of muted purples, indigo blues, highlighted by pinpricks of light from the pier.

The paintings created by the students are shown here.  These were on the whole successful and were a very good lesson in mixing extremely subtle shades and tones of the same colour.

Original painting by Laraine 2017

Original painting by Andrew 2017

Original painting by Kate 2017

Original painting by Liz 2017

Original painting by Rosemary 2017

Original painting by Peter 2017

Original painting by Doreen 2017

Original painting by Sandra 2017

Thank you to all the students who took on the challenge painting night skies and for allowing me to share their work on my blog.  This was an amazing class to teach and I am sure you will agree the paintings are very accomplished.

If you would like to join one of my courses or have one-to-one classes please contact me using the blog contact form below.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨