Summer Day Workshop

sorry I'm late getting the blog done--but better late than never! We had 9 first timers in the Summer Day workshop--all of whom were all convinced as usual they would not be able to create anything worthy of hanging up on a wall! Lots of nervous laughs all round as I explained the first stage of  using the bashing brush followed by the tickling brush!!  Several of them stood there brush in hand for several minutes before starting to bash--then it was hard to stop some of them!! Here you can see Kathryn who was one of the nervous ones! What a great job she made of her painting!

Margaret adding the finishing touches to her poppies--I met the two of them several years running at Burwarton Show and they kept saying they wanted to come--both are happy they finally did! You would never know they were first timers would you?

Jill was another first timer..she had a happy accident and used the 'wrong' green when doing the water-it turned out just beautiful and I will be nicking the idea next time myself! Well done Jill...lovely end results!

Hannah was another first timer...and again great results!

Sara  and her mum Margaret were painting with me for the 4th time--both seemed to find this one quite easy and got on really quickly with each stage--its amazing how quickly people get their confidence when painting..and make decisions really quick on their own..I love to watch the progress...

Some of my photos are a bit blurry for some reason....grrrrr...    here you can just about see Margaret putting in her poppies..

Annette was another first timer--she left a pathway through her grasses and used purple paint for her flowers which worked well..a lovely finished result--well done!

Janie was  quite scared to be fair when she first arrived ! She came along with John and Eileen who had been once before and painted the Birches..But once she got going she was fine..and is looking forward to coming back again--as are all the other students! Had a lovely email from her today saying how much she enjoyed herself!

John had some lovely waves--the paint created a shadow underneath which made the water very realistic.

Eileen nearly finished here--she had a good eye for the sizes of the poppies--a good mix and great perspective..

I think Sue was one of the most nervous students of the day,,we are friends on face book , and I have been winding her up a bit calling the students 'victims' etc! Her friend Angela had bought her a gift voucher for her birthday--Angela also came along to paint with her-and was also a bit nervous..both did so well....and we had lots of laughs during the class.it just shows though even if you are nervous--everyone is capable of creating a beautiful painting first time just by following my simple-one step instructions.

Angela -nearly finished-lovely bright painting--look forward to seeing you and Sue again !

Jenny is an old hand now having more than 20 paintings under her belt--she has done this painting 3 times now-and each one is completely different!

Jane's 3rd time-- she comes with Tony and Carrie-they have done the Waterfall -oils on black canvas--the Birches--acrylic and today oils on a white canvas--so have tried most of the different options I teach...they all do really well and follow my instructions easily!

I'm friends with Carrie on FB and she shows me what she paints at home--its very interesting to see how she adapts my techniques to the materials she has at home--she did the birches onto a cabinet after attending the workshop and it looked stunning! She tried using water based oils to recreate Summer Day today--and while the end result was good I don't think it was as easy as using my techniques..but if you don't try you will never know!

Tony is nearly finished here--he was really good at using the knife to do the waves--I only showed him once and he had the angle and pressure on the knife just perfect!

Its a good job the room at St Peters is so big--we can accommodate 16 or 17 students in there with ease...

beautiful results everyone--they all look quite impressive!

John, Eileen and Janie with their lovely results!

Carrie, Jane and Tony with their beautiful Summer Day pictures

Sara and Margaret with their bright cheerful Summer Days..

Annette, Angela, Jenny and Sue-well done girls!

Margaret, Kathryn and Hannah--beautiful results girls!

155 brushes were used during the workshop...

Bill was a star and cleaned they off using odourless turps as we had used Liquin and also brown oil paint--which does tend to dry really quickly on the brushes....a glass of white wine helped !!!

Today we finished the cleaning process --after the brushes have been cleaned of the oil paint using the turps, they have to be soaped and rinsed-twice.. then they have to be wrapped in kitchen towel to keep their shape--all in all a long drawn out process --but worth it--I'm still using some of the original brushes I started out with 10 years ago--

so its well worth looking after your brushes-if you do they will last you for years! I'm looking forward to seeing all of today's students again in the future--I loved every minute of it!!!