A lovely bit of homework! Student water colours.

I don't actually set work for my students to complete at home, but sometimes - particularly if they have missed a session - someone will put in a bit of time at their own drawing board. It is very rewarding for me to see the results.

Brigid's painting - amazing!!

The painting above, by Brigid, was started during a class,  and she took the leaf home and finished it. I think it's totally beautiful.

Lovely colours and composition by Liz 

Notice how the colour-restrictions were noted on the side of the page - it's always worth doing exercises with a restricted number of colours. Not only does it give the painting a lovely unified feeling, it also helps you understand the range of colours at your disposal.

Another lovely design by Pauline

A lovely spread of studies by Dawn. They look real! 

Notice lots of colour 'tiles' on the left page of Dawn's lovely book (above), testing the mixes before putting them onto the drawing. The dark red leaf on the left page is the actual leaf, but all the others are Dawn's paintings.

 The painting above and below is by Sara, who worked in this at home. The photo above shows that Sara did a wonderful job of getting the leaves just about same-size as the original (the real leaf is on the paper at the top). This photo shows the first layer, a 'wash' of lemon yellow.

Sara's lovely artwork

 Above - the finished artwork, totally delicious. Below, the leaf itself didn't last so long!!!

My book, Notes from The Atelier, has now got over 40 five-star reviews on Amazon! Available on Amazon, or directly from me (a bit cheaper!).

www.juliedouglas.co.uk

email:  julie@juliedouglas.co.uk 

Two-colour tonal exercises, Water Colour, and an Oils workshop, Belfast

Here is Susan, who came over from Wales as part of my distance learning programme, for an Oils workshop. In this pic she is demonstrating how to squint through the little hole in the paper, to see what colour the white ball REALLY is...! Well, it's yellow, no its pink, no no it's blue, purple..ORANGE.!

Squinting...

Susan's first oil paintings. 

Tonal Value Studies -
I was very surprised, when I looked for imagery on line to show in demonstration to my students, that nothing came up under Two Colour Tonal. This is not a good sign.

From my sketch book

Painting using one or two 'colours' (or one colour, or 3)  is so important in helping to understand balance without the distraction of actual colour. The darks, lights and mid-tones are more important the the colours themselves. The painting above was done during a class, and I was very relaxed about it - it is not a Finished painting, it is an Observation of tonal balance. I'm not saying that it is correct either, but it's not far off. I used Payne's Gray and Yellow Ochre, which together give an interesting and complex array of greens. Mixing two colours doesn't equal three colours, it equals a hundred possibilities...

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

Summer in the city.. Student colour pencil work

I have taught the most amazing students on my Distance Learning courses, from all over the world. I am wondering if it's about time I started visiting them at home... South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.. Here are some summery examples of two students work, showing the wonderful detail possible with coloured pencils..

'Beach Chairs', and 'Rook'  by T. Moss, Colour Pencil

'Freesias' and 'Bananas', By N. Hall, Colour pencil

You know when it's exam season, for the weather gets blisteringly hot.. So my trick is to get up early and paint before the sun reaches my studio turning it into a sauna, then go out and play on the swings and see-saws before the kiddies get there, then home - to sauna. Perfect really!

 Todays tip is that truly, the way to get your paintings done, is to attend to them FIRST, before all the other jobs that need doing. Then your fun feels REALLY fun!

I am painting onions at the moment and will post them here as soon as they are done.

Up coming - Portfolio Course Killaloe
Oil painting Workshop Belfast.

Email for info to julie@juliedouglas.co.uk