Mum's 80th Birthday Painting - 'Life at 80' - July 2016

My lovely mother has recently celebrated her 80th birthday.  Although she likes traditional art, Mum's natural leaning is towards abstract art and so I decided to create a painting for her birthday.  My wife and I took the painting on a train, ferry and then three more trains before arriving at Mum's home on the mainland.  It was a hot day, but luckily the painting arrived in perfect condition and Mum was very happy with her birthday surprise!

As you go through the pictures below you will see it is a mixed media piece with an acrylic textured ground, with oil paint squares and circles, scrim and gold leaf.  The size of the canvas is 36 x 28 inches.  I chose a gold distressed frame to complement the painting. I hope you enjoy looking at the process of making the painting which now hangs proudly on the wall in my mother's home. The photo's start from the beginning with colour studies and sketches...all the way through to a photo of the painting in situ.

Life at 80 - Mixed Media Painting by Lee Papworth 2016 -  artwork & photographs copyright of the artist

If you would like to join any of my art classes please check out my last blog post with the dates and venues. 

Happy Painting!

Best wishes

Lee x

Upcoming Art Classes for 2016 to 2017

The sun is with us at last!  I hope you are enjoying the good weather.  Before we know it Autumn will be upon us and I thought I would give you a heads up on my upcoming courses!

Below is a list of my upcoming art classes for 2016 to 2017 which I am delivering for the Isle of Wight Council.  If you would like to find out further information and book a place please call 01983 817280.

Paint a Canvas for your Home    2 WEEKS	Thurs	6-9pm	16-23 Mar
Mixed Media Abstracts -              4 WEEKS	Weds	10am-1pm	9-30 Nov
Painting Poetry  WORKSHOP	Sat	10am-3pm	09-Feb
Drawing Figures from Photographs  WORKSHOP	Tues	10am-3pm	16-May
Watercolours at Quarr Abbey WORKSHOP	Sat	10am-3pm	01-Jul
Drawing Dinosaur Fossils & Shells  WORKSHOP	Sat	10am-3pm	11-Mar
Step by Step Oil Painting   4 WEEKS	Mon	10am-1pm	6-27 Mar
Drawing Skills for Beginners   4  WEEKS	Thurs	6-8.30pm	29 Sep-20 Oct
Reality to Abstract     WORKSHOP	Mon	10am-3pm	26-Sep
Painting Skyscapes  4 WEEKS	Tues	1-4pm	24 Jan-14 Feb
Expressive Painting                      4 WEEKS	Weds	10am-1pm	14 Jun-5 Jul
Still Life Collage  WORKSHOP	Sat	10am-3pm	19-Nov
Sponge Painting  WORKSHOP	Sun	10am-3pm	16-Oct
Painting a Memory WORKSHOP	Sat	10am-3pm	27-May
Soft & Oil Pastel Seascapes WORKSHOP	Mon	10am-3pm	19-Jun
Painting Wooden Coasters TASTER	Sat	10am-12pm	01-Oct
Mixed Media  TASTER	Sat	1-3pm	01-Oct
Painted Cards  TASTER	Sun	10am-12pm	04-Dec
Painted Wooden Tree Decorations  TASTER	Sun	1-3pm	04-Dec
Watercolour Miniatures TASTER	Tues	10am-12pm	29-Jan
Watercolour Landscapes TASTER	Tues	10am-12pm	04-Oct
Learn Perspective  TASTER	Tues	1-3pm	29-Jan
Paint Your Own Papier Mache Egg  TASTER	Sun	10am-12pm	26-Mar
Easter Themed Painted Jigsaw Puzzles  TASTER	Sun	1-3pm	26-Mar

The following are my private art classes for September 2016:

4 Week 'Painting Buildings in the Landscape' (Open medium)

Friday 9th September 2016, 12.30-3.00pm, All Saints Church Ryde, £65.

4 Week 'Painting Boats and Yachts' (Open medium)

Thursday 29th September 2016, 10.00am-12.45pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £70.

4 Week 'Painting Trees and Woodland Scenes' (Open medium)

Friday 30th September 2016, 10.00am-12.00pm, Northwood W.I. Hall, £65

If you would like to book onto my private courses please use the blog contact form or email me. One to one classes are still available throughout the summer holidays.

I hope you enjoy the Summer and look forward to seeing you in September.

Happy Painting!

Lee

Painting Workshops - 2016

I recently taught two painting workshops.  I asked students to bring along any paintings that they needed help and guidance with or they had the choice to start a new painting.  The attendance of the workshops was very good and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.   Not everyone finished their paintings, but the ones that did are shown below:

Original painting by Laraine 2016

Original painting by Gill 2016

Original painting by Maria 2016

Detail of original painting by Maria 2016

Original painting by Pam 2016

Detail of painting by Pam 2016

Original painting by Liz 2016

Original painting by Barbara 2016

Original painting by Kate 2016

Original watercolour study by Vicki 2016

Original painting by Maria 2016

Thank you to everyone who took part and made the workshops possible.  A big thank you to all the lovely folk who attended my classes throughout 2015/16!

In my next blog post I will tell you about my upcoming courses for September.  If you would like to know more about my classes or arrange a private class please us the blog contact form.

Happy Painting & Have a Wonderful Summer!

Best wishes

Lee x

My Latest En Plein Air Paintings

Original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2015

These are my latest en plein air paintings.  The first one was painted at Smuggler's Haven near Ventnor in July last year.   It was a sunny day. My wife and I took a picnic along with us and both set up our easels to paint in a secluded spot.  We spent a great afternoon painting and enjoying the atmosphere. A few curious ramblers passed by and struck up conversation.  You often find that people will stop and ask you about your painting, but that's ok and it's a pleasure to talk about art to anyone. 

The next painting was painted on a sunny April morning on the revetment between Sandown and Shanklin. It took about an hour and twenty minutes.  Dog walkers stopped to chat and their dogs sniffed the oil paints with curiosity.  

The last painting was painted on a gloriously hot May morning looking down Lake Slipway towards Shanklin.  I sat on the bench at the top of the slipway with my bottle of water and easel.  It was a blazing sunny day and I wished I had taken a hat (note to all en plein air painters - please remember a hat!) One interested passerby said hello as I sat down to paint and two hours later he said hello again... I realised I had been in the sunshine for over two hours!

I used oils for all three paintings.  I did not make any adjustments to the paintings afterwards as this takes the spontaneity and life away from en plein air artworks.  I used a painting knife for all three paintings.  This saves the difficulty of cleaning brushes outside or carrying them back home.  I love the immediateness of en plein air painting and I am looking forward to painting on the (hopefully) warm summer days ahead!  If you see me out there please stop and say hello.

Original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2015

Detail of original oil painting showing the red ground - copyright Lee Papworth 2015

Original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2016

Detail of original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2016

Original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2016

Detail of original oil painting - copyright Lee Papworth 2016

If you would like to join one of my art classes please use the contact form on this blog.  

My next blog post will give the details of upcoming courses.

Happy Painting!

Best wishes

Lee

Sponge and Painting Knife Paintings - May 2016

Original Sponge Acrylic Painting by Kevin 2016

Continuing from my last blog post on Intuitive Painting over the following two weeks we did sponge paintings and then painting knife.  Although the sponge paintings took longer than the finger-paintings the results of the sponge paintings were excellent.  All of us agreed the reason why the paintings took longer was because there was such a wide range of sponges to use.  

The wealth of different types of sponge included - natural sea sponges (coarse and silk) and man-made including cellulose sponges, make up sponges (eye make up sponges were especially good), bath sponges, washing up sponges etc.  

During the last week of the course many of the students tackled painting knife and the results were equally as successful as the finger and sponge paintings.  Thank you to everyone who took part in this course and made it possible! Please check out their fantastic paintings below:

 

Original Sponge Oil Painting by Pam 2016

Sponge Oil Study by Pam 2016

Original Oil Sponge Painting by Simonne 2016

Original Gouache Painting by Julie 2016

Original Acrylic Sponge Painting by Maria 2016

Original Oil Painting Knife Painting by Pam 2016

Original Oil Painting Knife Painting by Simonne 2016

Original Acrylic Painting Knife Painting by Vicki 2016

Original Acrylic Painting Knife Painting by Vicki 2016

Original Gouache Painting Knife Painting by Julie 2016

Original Acrylic Painting Knife Painting by Maria 2016

Thank you to all the students that have shared their work and also thank you to Cathy whose painting is still in progress.  Over the next few weeks I shall running an open themed workshop in Northwood.  In my next blog post I will share details of my upcoming private classes and my council courses.  If you would like to join a class or have private classes please use the contact form on this blog.

Happy Painting!

Lee