Probably Peter

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Wyndham Art Society to give a workshop. They are one of my favourite groups to visit, so welcoming and ready to have fun, they are a pleasure to teach. A few emails backwards and forwards before my arrival gave me the information that they would like to have a go at a horse head portrait - no mean task for those who haven't had a go before! So I arrived at their regular meeting spot, armed with Pete, my husband's old showjumping ride, a wonderful, if not slightly temperamental Dutch Warmblood who is a handsome old goat and worth painting. I always have lots of stories to tell about Pete, mostly concerning our love/hate relationship but certainly that he is a champion and when he wants to win, there isn't much that will stop him.
I promised the lovely people at Wyndham that I would give a brief over view via this blog of what we tackled, both to remind them and to help out any members that missed the session.
Probably Peter will be going in my exhibition at Highcliffe castle at the end of March if you would like to see him all finished, but until then, I hope that this will suffice.....

1. We drew Pete out on to good quality watercolour paper, first using Tracedown from a photograph I had taken and then worked back in to our pencil drawings to give as much information as we could. Using pink Frisk masking fluid, we decided where all our highlights were going to sit and reserved them accordingly. Using sketching pens in black, brown and grey, we drew back over the masking fluid when it was dry to start to make Pete 'pop' off the page.

2. Using cold colours to complement Pete's orange/brown tones, we dropped in a vignette background and used this opportunity to add a little Brusho to the composition which would provide us with texture and movement in the final composition.

3. Using colours loosely, we applied watercolour, firstly all over Pete and then concentrating on shadows and features.

4. After removing the masking fluid, we were able to balance out the bright highlights with darker shadows and many participants went back in with ink or gouache to put the finishing touches in to their 'Petes'.

So here is Pete, looking very pleased with himself - a fitting portrait of a horse that makes me laugh and swear in equal measure. If you have any horsey portraits that you would like to share, email me at alisoncboard@gmail.com, I'd love to see them!

Cow's eyes and when to call it quits

I held a workshop at my studio yesterday for the participants to execute an animal portrait, I chose a cow from a photograph I had taken on the farm a couple of years ago. I have painted cows many times before and felt confident that this one was not going to pose any problems....mmm, funny how even a slight change in the order of a painting can throw you off. Previously, I have always used a side on view of the animal and this one was very obviously straight to camera - how much of a difference would this make? It turns out, quite a lot, so much so, that I've delayed putting out this post as I've been staring at this cow painting for the last 24 hours trying to decide if I like it or not. In fact, the jury is still out but this is a really good lesson (trust me to put a positive spin on it) in that, sometimes, you've just got to quit and move on. Read on with me and I'll explain:

 

  

1. I sketched out the cow on to Saunders Waterford paper, in a normal pencil, leaving lots of paper around the animal for a vignette.

2. I added two different mediums to the piece - Pebeo modelling paste for texture and white gesso to repel some of the colour when it's applied. You can see here that I used a palette knife to make 'sticky' marks to represent hair.

3. I added masking fluid to the hairs on the perimeter of her paying particular attention to the nose and whiskers.

 4. Using two of my favourite watercolour paints - Amethyst and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise - I popped in a soft background, wet in to wet and rag rolled it with kitchen towel to diffuse the colour.

5. I then worked on the cow 'all in one', in other words, using strong colour (Hematite) together with Cerulean and a little Quinacridone Rose in varying strengths to build up the shadows, tones and features. After removing the masking fluid with a Maskaway and stepping back from it, I started to use Inktense pencils and a little gouache to build up the parts of the study that were important.

So now you have reached my dilemma, my students all pushed their pieces much further along the road than I had taken mine and we had some excellent work produced. Some had never tackled an animal before, some hadn't explored the wonderful world of mixed media and all of us had a wonderfully fun day. Usually after class I complete a piece (I rarely do it in a class due to the participants pieces being more important than mine, I had shown them everything they needed to know to finish) but yesterday I just wasn't feeling it. Should I push through the wall? Should I make myself diligently work at it? Or should I practise what I preach and just 'step away from the cow' and leave on the easel until another day?
I've opted for the latter. I'm not a machine, I'd rather finish it at another time when it is calling to me to do so, or learn from it and try again another time. Lots of students ask me 'How do I know when a painting is finished?' and there are too many answers depending on the circumstances but this time I will pop her on the easel, turn off the lights in the studio and have a look at her another time. Happy Painting everyone...

Venice in Mixed Media and Collage

Lovely workshop at the studio today, enthusiastic students and a great buzz in the room. We worked on quite a simple project so I thought I would share it with you and give you a little insight. I have been lucky enough to visit Venice many times and often admire the windows that I see along the canals, it was these that gave us the inspiration today and I have broken down the project in to steps for you to follow but put your own spin on it, and email me if you would like to share your masterpiece!

1. Choose your subject matter and where it is going to be roughly placed on the paper. You are going to be laying down collage materials before drawing out your composition, therefore it will be helpful to have a rough idea of where things are going to sit on the page. Here is the photograph that I worked from today:

2. Today I chose to use tissue paper for my collage material, glued down securely to my Saunders Waterford paper with Bindex, a wonderful product that I have only just discovered and glues all manner of materials brilliantly. I followed that with Daniel Smith watercolour ground (one of my favourite products) to both knock back the collage and add texture to the surface, applied with a palette knife.
(Difficult to see in this photograph but I'm sure you get the gist...)

3. I drew out my composition on to the surface (once it was dry) firstly using Tracedown and then adding lots of detail freehand, making sure that the pencil element was going to provide me with a map that will guide my painting.

4. I really enjoy starting off a mixed media piece with water soluble pens to provide a type of under painting before I start with the paint. Here I used Stabilo .68 and .88 pens in black and grey, then sprayed them with water to give a diffused effect.

5. Now the best part - crack open the paints!! As the walls of Venice are riddled with texture and interesting stucco finishes, I thought that it might be fun to incorporate cling film technique so I used Daniel Smith's Italian Venetian Red (obviously) with Lunar Blue so that they would granulate under the film.

6. After removing the cling film and going back in with more paint to strengthen the colour, I worked on the shadows, the glass and the pillars with combinations of Cerulean, Cobalt Turquoise and the previous two colours.

7. Finishing off a piece is always the dangerous part for me - which techniques or materials will I use and will I get in to trouble by including too much? Here I made a few alterations by incorporating a little more pen, white gouache and a few flashes of Inktense pencil for good measure.

The photographs don't really do the piece justice as the colours are brighter and I didn't get a chance to edit them but you get the idea....
You are welcome to use the photograph as reference, I took it myself and would love to see anything you create with it. I hope this guide gives you a little inspiration and the confidence to try out some of the techniques. Happy Painting all of you, Ali