From raw materials to delicious arrangement - making the composition greater than the sum of it's parts

Composition. This is the fun part of image making, yet one which is so often completely ignored! That word 'fun' nicely segues into fundamental - composition is the fundamental ingredient that makes a painting worth creating at all, or not bothering. It need not take long. Or it might take ages. Either way,  if you fail to plan your composition, then you plan to fail. 

a multitude of apples

Early in the term, I piled the studio tables with subject matter - apples, 'shiny things' and fabrics. The students then had to take some of each, and create their own arrangement. 

selection of shiny objects

a mountain of material

The fun begins! Reflective objects give so many ways to play with colour. Patterns can look like fairground mirrors, from the grotesque to the ridiculous... 

..and popping an apple into a shiny bowl changes the colour of the interior of the bowl, and creates a 'new' tone. Delicious! 

Changing the view point offers more opportunities to change the look of the creation. And zooming in closely changes the atmosphere., making it feel more intimate. 

We must never 'blame' the objects for being 'boring' - it is down to US to make the ordinary look enticing and interesting. Playing with lighting and changing the height of the arrangement is also great. In fact, all good still life set-ups should be able to offer many different possible compositional outcomes. 

Give it a try! It'll get your creative juices flowing and deliver that 'inspiration' factor that often only arrives after you begin! 

For info on upcoming classes including weekly drawing and painting classes and the April portrait workshop, please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk 

Burning the midnight oil... edit edit edit!! Notes From The Atelier, the first arrivals!

The past few months have been full on (yes, even more than usual!!). So, by September last year I'd written a book (well, MOST of it). But then I realised I needed to learn how to use InDesign, so that I could do the layouts. My degree is in Graphic Design, and (fortunately) I love layout, but I'd never done it on a computer. Indesign is HUGE... However, I got started, and learnt about it as I went along, and it became rather addictive. 

Various, early proofs, spiral boumd for convenience only. 

What was less addictive, but highly necessary, was the editing process. BIG SIGH!!! I am hugely indebted to David McKnight, who edited tirelessly, and never complained, EVER! 

Yet more (late night) editing. 

Just a slection of the printed proofs - each copy
different to the one before, and all of them edited
 and re-edited... I know, I'm repeating myself.!

As a self-published book, the thing that can be lacking is a DEADLINE! And deadlines are so focussing. Then a student mentioned that she's going to America and wanted to take a book with her as a gift - and so my deadline was born! After getting it all to the printer on time, thanks to designer Paul McNally for help with the technology side, I was glad to see an end to it!!

And now I've recieved the first batch!!Exciting! 

I admit, it does feel strange to see so many copies of it all at once!

Sneak peek at Nisa's painitng

Sneak peek at Pat, Sara and Jean's paintings. 

As you can see, it's a big book - 250 pages of Big!

Here's Paul McNally holding his copy. Thanks Paul!!
If you'd like a preview of more pages please click here:

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

The link also shows you how to order a copy if you'd like one. The price is £35 until the launch, which is on 2nd April. 

NExt up: Oils workshop 25th March. For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk