Our daily breadsticks.. Pastel drawings BARA students

I was looking through an old A6 sized sketch book recently and found a little drawing of a plaited loaf.  And I thought aha, great subject..!! The drawing was done during a class, MANY years ago. When my children were small, I dond't have time for major painting projects, and the Sketch Book became the life saver - even though the maximum time I had was around 10 minutes during a class, it was enough to help me feel connected. With myself.

Little sketch book study, Julie Douglas 

So I bought lots and LOTS of part-baked loaves and rolls - the kitchen smelled fabulous!

Baskets of bread for the studio

The 'table of choices', from patterned cloth to croissants, seeded rolls, hot cross buns, jam and knives and spoons... 

The first challenge for the students was in setting up their arrangements. It's best to start with lots of options, then narrow it down to just three or four elements. The results were lovely.  They had a choice of tinted papers to work on - it is good to not work on a white surface all the time.

Cathy's pastel study 

Two sessions of work in this chalk study by Christine McC

Pat's oil pastel drawing 

Pat treid her hand at chalk pastels AND oil pastels. The image below is the chalk study - it has a softer look to it than the oil. However, the advantage of oil is a different intensity of tonal values. Note her brave composition, with the knife pointing out towards the viewer.

Pat's start in chalk pastel 

Catherine working on her pastel drawing

Carlo's chalk drawing. Nice and jammy.

A lovely chalk study by Rose-Jane

Upcoming workshops include portrait workshop 22 - 26 July, Oils workshop 22 - 26 August

Life drawing Friday 19th July 6pm, and a weekend session on life Drawing from Friday evening 27 July -  Saturday 27th July. 

For more info plesae email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Lilies, compresed charcoal

Students hard at work, studying tonal values.

 It was great to get into the easel room in my studio for the first time, and give students a chance to work on larger subjects, with the option of standing up. It's good to vary the way we approach drawing and painting, and everyone enjoyed the new space. Each easel has it's own book case, to store materials and bags, and this will double up as excellent shelving for still life subjects in future.

Paul's drawing coming along nicely

 For this session, students drew a large cluster of lilies, working out how to tackle a complex arrangement, using tones to help define areas, and avoiding too many lines.

A lovely study by Clive

Ben adding some finishing touches

Brigid's lovely drawing, completed over two sessions

After much huffing and puffing, wonderful results were achieved - it's amazing the difference a background makes too. Students worked on a light-tone neuetral paper, and the aim was to cover the entire surface with chalk, as the colour itself wasn't particularly attractive. Getting the right tonal value behind the flower set off the subject dramatically.

Some students were having a little trouble getting onto their high stool, but luckily Mark found a baby-stool to help Sara reach her easel!

Sara's lovely drawing - worth the climb!

Pam bonding with Minnie. Every studio needs a dog!  

Margery spent two sessions developing her drawing, which was wonderful

Pow's lovely artwork 

Barbara's artwork, which ended up dramatic and powerful. 

I am having an Open Studio on Friday 15th June. Everyone is welcome.

For info on up coming workshops please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Compressed Charcoal, tonal studies of apples and onions!

Compressed charcoal is a delicious, and very flexible medium. Recently I gave my students the task of producing two drawings in one session, first on white cartridge paper, then on thicker, mid-toned grey paper.

My demo drawings, with the Compressed Charcoal box top left. 

While most of us enjoy colour (after all, we do live in a colourful world!), working in black and white really improves our abilty to see subtle variations in tones. These same tones are necessary in our colour work too but easily overlooked, giving an unsatisfactory result without depth.

Demo showing the variety of tones, using only three greys, and white.

Graphite pencil is excellent for training our eye to see subtle nuances in tones, but using compressed charcoal allows us to cover the whole area in a shorter time frame, helping us to remember to compare tones in areas all across the page (relative to each other) as well as tonal variations which are close together.

My quick demo on tinted card, with darker tones left hatched rather than blended.

After arranging the apples and onions pleasingly on cloth, the drawing was lightly mapped in, and the tonal challenge began in earnest. Unlike charcoal, the compressed sticks come in a range of 4 greys plus black and white. The challenge was to remember to change the stick as we went along - leaning more heavily or lightly doesn't alter the tone. 

Lovely artwork by Brigid

Another great study by Gavin, who enjoyed the challenge so much that he spent the full session on this artwork. 

It's a dirty business, but once we get stuck in, we become more absorbed in observing the subject than worrying about chalky fingers! We worked on white paper first, and enjoyed the differences when we moved on to the tinted grey paper.

Dawn, blending nicely 

Working on tinted paper means that the whites really sing out brightly. it is also a pleasure to add highlights, rather than realying on the white of the paper to do the job for us. It's good to vary the tone of our paper - 'white' is not our friend. It can be harsh and cold. A neutral colour is often better as a base to work upon.

Sara's atmospheric artwork, nearing completion

Nisa, who is getting lovely richness in this study.

A group of studies - not quite finished, but well on the way.

 Compressed charcoal gives a lovely, velvety texture and laying tones on top of one another creates a wider variety of shades, and the result is very painterly. A delicious exercise, and everyone enjoyed it!

A wonderful result from Joanne, with excellent tonal ranges. 

Next up in March: Colour pencil and watercolour workshop. 

Oil painting workshop. All suitable for all levels of experience. 

For information on workshops please email 

julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

For information about my book 'Notes from the Atelier', and to see a preview please click 

http://www.juliedouglas.co.uk/julies-book/notes-from-the-atelier