The Process of a Painting - The Lighthouse (New Beginnings) by Lee Papworth

Original oil painting 'The Lighthouse (New Beginnings) by Lee Papworth 2018

This post is all about the process of creating a painting. In this case I am using oil paints.  The finished painting above was created to coincide with a painting course entitled 'Painting Lighthouses.' I started with an idea of what to paint and researched my subject.  Then I purchased the correct size of canvas for this painting.  DO NOT treat this part of the process lightly as it is vitally important to choose the right size support (canvas/canvas board) for your work and not try to fit your work into the wrong size/shape of canvas.  I produced numerous sketches from my research and a few are shown below:

From the sketches I worked up the watercolour sketch seen below:

My next step was to prepare my canvas.  I put the stretchers in the corners of the canvas using a hammer (when buying a canvas you must make sure that it comes with stretchers which are small triangular pieces of wood).  The stretchers keep your canvas taut and increase the longevity of your work.  

 Next was to put a ground on the canvas (a base colour to work from).  A ground can be any colour - traditionally they would have been earth colours such as burnt umber and raw umber.  I say they can be any colour, but please bear in mind that whatever colour you use will influence the colour of the paint you directly apply on top of the ground and thus effect the harmony of the overall painting.  With my ground I chose to use yellow ochre which I liberally applied and then used a technique called 'tonking' to remove excess paint and leave behind a mottled surface. The photographs below show how I used newspaper to remove the excess paint (tonking):

I then started blocking in the final composition onto the canvas:

Next I started the actual painting by adding the sky.  Note how the warm ground influences and complements the blues of the sky:

At this point (session two) I decided to roughly paint in the main colours and forms.  

I then started building the painting by adding details.  See the photographs below to watch how the painting develops into its final state:

The last photo is my finished painting 'The Lighthouse (New Beginnings).'  It took eight sessions - roughly ten hours work - to complete.  I also took a photo of my palette to show you my process of colour mixing and that you should always mix up your paint using a palette knife rather than your brushes as this will save damaging your expensive brushes.  

If you would like to join one of my art courses or have one-to-one tuition please contact me using the blog contact form.  The next two courses are in May and June.

Happy Painting!

Lee Papworth 🎨

All photographs and images copyright of the artist Lee Papworth 2018

More Painting Mountains and Valleys....plus Upcoming Art Courses!

Maria working on her painting

After the success of the first course Painting Mountains and Valleys, I decided to teach it to a different group.  Just as with the first group the challenge was met very successfully with a range of wonderful paintings that encompass methodical realism, Impressionism and a painting from the imagination.  When you look at the paintings below I think you will agree they are all very successful!

Original acrylic painting by Maria 2018

Original oil painting by Liz 2018

Original oil painting by Meryel 2018

Original oil painting by Meryel 2018

Original acrylic painting by Trudie 2018

Original oil painting by Brian 2018

Original oil painting by Gordon 2018

Thank you to all the students who took part and made the course a success including two students work which is not shown above - Geoff and Jean.

Upcoming Painting Course: 'Scenes from Abroad'

My next course at Bembridge Village Hall is another four week open medium painting course called  'Scenes from Abroad.'  This starts on Thursday 10th May, 10-12.30, Bembridge Village Hall, £70.

It can be a scene from (any country) France, Spain, Italy, America, Egypt or the Channel Islands if you like - the world is your oyster.

Whether it's a painting of a famous building or monument, a busy market place, local people in cafes or it can be a portrait of one person, a stunning landscape, a seascape or a cityscape. The choice is yours.

So get rooting through those old or new photos of holiday trips abroad or perhaps you once lived abroad and have lots of wonderful photographs from there.

One to one classes are available in all mediums and all subjects.  

To join any of my courses please contact me using the blog form below.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Upcoming Art Course - Painting Lighthouses

Original Watercolour Sketch by Lee Papworth 2018

My next art course is called 'Painting Lighthouses.'  This is a chance to paint a lighthouse as a focal point of your painting - whether it be on land, on a peninsula or out at sea. It can be set at night or daytime, in stormy weather or brilliant sunshine - the choice is yours!

4 week painting course 'Painting Lighthouses'

(open medium - oils, acrylics, watercolour, gouache & pastels)

Starting Friday 20th April, 10:00 to 12:30pm, Northwood W.I.Hall, £70 cash.

Some of the topics covered - Looking at famous lighthouse paintings and artists, creating a sense of scale and proportion, aspects of perspective (3 point) and the basics of mixing sea and sky colours.

If you would like to join this exciting course please use the blog contact form.  The course is also available as a one-to-one course.  More art courses will follow in May including classes at Bembridge.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Painting Animals in the Landscape - February 2018

Original acrylic painting by Helen 2018

I recently finished teaching a new and exciting course 'Animals in the Landscape'.  The students had a choice of picking domestic pets, farm animals or more exotic wild animals.  Nearly all the students had never tackled the subject before.  Given this fact I feel that the following paintings are very successful and some are even outstanding.

Original acrylic painting by Maria 2018

Original oil painting by Jean 2018

Original oil painting by Simonne 2018

Original unfinished acrylic painting by Geoff 2018

Original pencil study and unfinished acrylic painting by Helen 2018

Original oil painting by Meryel 2018

Original acrylic painting by Vicki 2018

Original oil painting by Simonne 2018

Detail of original unfinished acrylic painting by Kevin 2018

Original oil painting by Jean 2018

Thank you to all the students who gave permission for their work to be shared on the blog and to all the students for making the course such a success!

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

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Painting Mountains and Valleys - February 2018

Kate working on her original oil painting

I have just completed teaching the course 'Painting Mountains and Valleys' at Northwood WI Hall.  The twelve students and I studied and discussed different artists' work in the past on the subject.  As there were a few new students I decided to do a recap of composition skills, atmospheric perspective as well as defined and soft edges.  We then spent a good proportion of time looking at how to paint snow including creating warm and cool snow mixes.  This gave every student a good base to create their own mountain or valley painting. 

Their beautiful paintings are shown here and I am proud that each student's painting portrays their own individual style - including 1930s poster art to Expressionist art.

Original oil painting by Kate 2018

Original oil painting by Laraine 2018

Original oil painting by Sandra 2018

Original acrylic painting by Caroline 2018

Original oil painting by Andrew 2018

Original oil painting by Peter 2018

Original acrylic painting by Liz 2018

Original oil painting by Pam 2018

Thank you to all the students who attended this course and made it such a success!  Not all the students work is shown here and I would like to thank Susan, Anne, Rosemary and Brian for also attending the course.  

If you would like to attend one of my classes or have one-to-one lessons please use the contact form on this blog.  There is another 'Mountains and Valleys' course coming up shortly at Bembridge Village Hall starting Thursday 1st of March 2018 10:00-12:30 (open medium) course fee £70.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

Upcoming Isle of Wight Art Classes for February and March 2018

Original watercolour sketch by Lee Papworth 2018

1 day (4hrs) Workshop 'Basic Oil Painting' - learn how to use oil paints, different mediums and learn various oil painting techniques.  Tuesday 13th February 2018, 10:30 to 2.30pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £38

4 week painting course 'Mountains & Valleys' (open medium) 

Starting Thursday 1st March 2018, 10:00 to 12:30pm, Bembridge Village Hall, £70

4 week painting course 'Lighthouses' (open medium) 

Starting Friday 20th April 2018, 10:00 to 12:30pm, Northwood W.I. Hall, £70

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.

Happy Painting!

Lee 🎨

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 🎨