Updated New Art Courses - September/October & November 2018

Original Oil Painting by Lee Papworth

I'm really looking forward to teaching the upcoming art courses!  All courses are open medium, so feel free to use any medium - oils, acrylics, watercolour, pastels and pencils etc.

See the list below for September, October and November's courses: 

4 week 'Cliffs, Sand & Sea' (open medium) Starts Friday 21st September 10 to 12.30pm at Northwood W.I. Hall (village hall), Northwood/Cowes, £70

4 week 'Lighthouses & Seascapes' (open medium) Starts Thursday 27th September, 

10 to 12.30pm at Bembridge Village Hall, Bembridge £70

1 Day 'Still life - Limited Palette' (open medium) Friday 2nd November 10.00 to 1.00pm at Northwood Village Hall (W.I. Hall), Northwood/Cowes, £35

4 week 'Painting Expressive Autumn Scenes' Starts Friday 9th November 12.30 to 3pm at Ryde All Saints' Church Hall, Ryde, £70

(Further courses and workshops to be announced)

If you would like to join any of the above art courses or would like further information please contact me via the blog form.  Beginners welcome. One-to-One classes/courses are also available.

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🎨

Painting Skyscapes Course - February 2016

Last Thursday the class Painting Skyscapes concluded.  Firstly we looked at and discussed various  famous artists work.  We also discussed what is a skyscape and as a group we decided that there has to be at least 75 to 80% sky with 20 to 25% land or sea.  We then looked at various ways of painting clouds using techniques such as stippling and dry brush. 

Following on from this we looked at sky and cloud colour mixes - where learners created their own colour swatches with my guidance.  We then spent three enjoyable weeks working on the paintings some of which can be seen below:



Original skyscape painting by Malai 2016



Detail of above painting by Malai

Original painting by Malai 2016

Detail of above painting by Malai

Original oil painting by Meryel 2016

Detail of above painting by Meryel

Original pastel painting by Vicki 2016

Original pastel painting by Vicki 2016

Original watercolour painting by Jan 2016

Original watercolour sketch by Jan 2016

Detail of above watercolour sketch by Jan

Original watercolour painting by Linda 2016

Detail of above painting by Linda

Unfinished oil painting by Janet 2016

Detail of above painting by Janet

Thank you to all the learners who shared their work on this blog and to Cathy who sent me a picture which I unfortunately could not upload. 

Meryel completed the painting below which I wanted to share today with you all:

Original oil painting by Meryel 2016

If you would like to attend one of my art courses or have one to one lessons please message me using the blog contact form.

Happy Painting!

Best wishes

Lee

Isle of Wight Art Classes - January & February 2016

These are my upcoming private art classes for January and February next year:

(2 Week) Drawing & Painting Skills/Techniques

Friday 8^th January, 10 to 1pm, Northwood W.I.Hall, Northwood/Cowes, £40.

(4 Week) Impressionist Land & Seascapes (Open Medium)

Friday 22^nd January, 12.30 to 3pm, Ryde Rowing Club, Ryde, £65.

(4 Week) Learn to Paint Skyscapes (Open Medium)

Thursday 28^th January, 10.00 to 12.45pm, Bembridge Village Hall, Bembridge, £69

If you would like to book a place please contact me via the contact form at the bottom of my blog.  You can also contact me if you would like further information or want to book one to one tuition.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!

Lee

Valle dei Templi - Sicily - September 2015

Last week I had the pleasure to visit the Valle dei Templi (Valley of Temples) in Agrigento, Sicily. A wonderful afternoon was spent walking around the ancient remains which include eight temples.  Of these my favourite and I think the most impressive is Concordia.  

The Temple of Concordia is one of the best preserved ancient temples in the world.  It was built in the 5th Century BC.

The beautiful view across the countryside from the Temple of Concordia.  If you get a chance to go to Sicily I recommend taking a day trip to Agrigento to the Valle Dei Templi.  Take a camera and sketchbook! 

Another great place to visit is the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Palermo which is one of my favourite art galleries.

Best wishes

Lee

Creating a Successful Landscape or Seascape

Luccombe to Culver - an original painting by Lee Papworth 2015

Here are a few ideas to assist you in creating successful landscapes and seascapes:

Choose the correct size and shape support (Canvas, board, paper etc.) for your intended painting

Armatures, plan and organise the direction and flow of the composition

(5 best ones – S, L, Diagonal, Triangle and Radiating Lines)

Think in terms of abstract shapes (masses) forget detail at the start

Be dynamic with your composition, crop for drama

Create an entrance

Choose a point of view (low, high or normal)

Have a focal poiint

Think foreground, middle ground and background when choosing

a composition

Don’t be afraid to modify/edit a composition to make it visually stronger

Remember in the western world we read text left to right (this also applies to reading art) have something of interest on the left hand side

Try to lead the eye into and around a landscape painting, try to avoid too many horizontals or objects in the centre blocking your progress into the painting also avoid awkward edges

Have a strong sense of perspective (both aerial and linear) make sure your painting gives the illusion of depth, make it recede

Detail and definition get less towards the background (choose cool colours in the background to achieve this)

Choose an interesting subject (use a view finder/L shapes - ‘en plein air’)

Do prep work – pencil sketches, colour sketches in paint

Commence painting fully prepared 

Paint the details last

And most importantly - Enjoy!!

Best wishes

Lee

Walking to Shanklin - an original painting by Lee Papworth 2015