Unique Tutorial, a joint drawing project, accidentally on purpose.

F, 2B on Strathmore Bristol paper, vellum surface.

I had a panic email from an excellent student, having just finished her non-art degree, about to pursue her creative path.

 'Help', she cried.

 'Come for cake', I replied. 

She was on the next train. I anticipated a tutorial/chat for an hour or so, punctuated with a bit of location drawing, purely for our health. Things didn't go quite as planned.. 

Admittedly, I was just back from New York and the jet lag was, sigh, becoming part of the family (in a  'you'd not choose it, but you gotta live with it', kinda way). First stop after picking her up from the station was the art college cafe for tea. This was 10am. 

Of course, the secret weapon of tea is the chat. Once we had a sip, the tutorial was On. Her train to Dublin left at 3.30. She just made it. The tutorial lasted 5 hours and two artworks. Two amazing and unusual artworks which are truly beautiful to behold. Did we manage any location drawing? Nope. We sat in the same chairs and didn't budge, except for more tea. 

Best tutorial I ever gave. 

How's Niamh? AWESOME.

My view

Niamh's view

Guitar Oil Pastel, Strathmore Bristol Paper, Vellum surface.

My view 

Niamh's view. If you look carefully, there's a Heart in this. In fact, there are several.

Luckily for me, we worked in my pad. So I've got the drawings. But, half of them really are Niamh's. Multidisciplanary design, co creating at ground level. Delicious. (You can't tell what it is, because it's Niamh's path.) 

Jet lag has gone now, it stayed a month, longer than any visitor really should..

Up coming courses - intensive portfolio prep over half term, childrens art class,oils workshop and weekly classes. For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk  

New York New York! A great big adventure.

I might not have mentioned this in the blog, except that I'm getting so many emails and calls from worried students and people wishing me well that I need to set the record straight.. Yesterday I was honoured to be named the first Beard Scholar at Belfast School of Art and I'll be using the scholarship to attend a course in the Grand Central Academy in new York, a school of classical realism, started by Jacob Collins. I 'discovered' GCA a couple of years ago and have wanted to visit ever since, so its is fantastic to have this opportunity and I'm very excited to be going.
However, the newspaper has said that I am going for a year - in fact, I am attending a course for a WEEK! (but I'll do my best to cram in a years-worth, honest!) It will be late in the summer, and I'll take a big empty suitcase to put all my knew knowledge in, to bring back to share.

Meantime, it's business as usual back at the ranch, and now that my term has finished for my Masters, (see http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/mistress-of-arts-college-and-portfolios.html) I'll be posting more of the artwork that's been produced in my studio recently.

And yes, I DID go on my bycicle every day to college, and YES it's quicker than driving, and YES it feels great - even in the snow.

Loving my sketch book. Water colour.

The thing about the Sketch book is - well, there are lots of Things. Every sketch book is completely unique and you can't do it wrong (unless you don't do one at all). It's a bit of a sanctuary, a safe place, a starting point. A place to be free and to try, to make a mess and not mind. Making a mess is rather rewarding. Being PREPARED to make a mess means we're less likely to. 

The sketch book is also a working-out place, as well as keeper of doodles and notes. Its brilliant for warming up or for keeping your hand/eye in. And for keeping your sanity. Perhaps that's it - it's your foot on the ground, while the rest of you floats about. What a lovely thought. 

Bunch of bananas, water colour and pencil, moleskine sketch book, Julie Douglas

 I sent the above banana painting out in a recent email to students and one reply said 'the bananas actually look happy..'

!!

Liz's beetroot, water colour in Moleskine sketchbook, Julie Douglas. Unfinished and not minding. 

Next up - Oil painting workshop, Belfast. Email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk for info

Drawing back from the edge.

Cloth in pencil, by Julie Douglas. Moleskine sketch book

Last term I started my Masters-Mistress at college
(see  http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/mistress-of-arts-college-and-portfolios.html).
Studying Multidisciplinary Design means that all students come from different disciplines, and we each carve our own individual path to our personal goals, although we attend workshops together. The advantages of this varied group of students is incredible - we have huge skills between us and are constantly helping each other with things, as it seems the easiest and most obvious way forward.
In fact, Collaboration seems to be the only way, both in the creative workplace and in any business setting where the business hopes to expand or even just to survive. Puts a whole new perspective on the phrase 'I know a man who Can'.

The work is stretching and rewarding but absorbs hours like a sponge. So to do the Masters I knew that something in my routine would have to 'give'. And that something was time at my drawing board.

Uh-Oh.

Now, to a certain degree this is FINE, particularly as I made that decision. Creativity has many forms. However, I have got so much college work done that I can now get back to the desk. Which is so much easier to say than to Do. The next discipline, then, is to actually get to the desk (and not because its covered in paper and files). The Habit has to be carefully reformed. Or perhaps less carefully and more CONSCIOUSLY.

My desk is in a sunroom at the back of the house, and at this time of year, its a fridge. So, any old table will do. The next mental hurdle (for it's all in the mind), is Time. My artworks are demanding of time and effort (What? Did you think it was easy?! There's a good reason for all those corny sayings like 'Suffer for your art'.. ) and so, like preparing for the marathon, small steps of preparation are needed. But they may not be what you expect them to be. Here's my list of kick-starter steps

1. A commitment to another person.

2. A commitment to yourself.

3. A determination to not give up (it takes a lot of self motivation to be self motivated...)

4. Forgiveness

5. Praise

6. Acknowledgement

7, 8, 9, 10. Humour.

11. A mantra to say in your head.. Mine is 'stay in your chair, stay in your chair..' - if I get up, the spell is broken.


So, here comes the sketch book, oh joy.

Mushroom on tinted card, colour pencil & pastel pencil, Julie Douglas

its also important NOT to be Tidy (if tidying is a way of avoiding sitting to work). Draw amidst the chaos and Order will appear.

The best way to stop myself knitting was to draw it.... 

Cable pattern, pen, by Julie Douglas

Pen is a good idea too, as rubbing out isn't an option - Draw on regardless.

Sometimes, a doodle turns into a drawing - usually, as in the case below, on the back of something else..

Although this is rough, each drawing is leading into the next, until the finger-tips drawing, which begins to look more confident. Tip - don't judge your work, just draw ON.

And soon, a new Habit emerges...

Drawing on location, Giant Deer, Belfast

I took one of my classes to the Ulster Museum this week to do some drawing. The aim was to tackle a subject which was much larger than usual - so what better than the giant deer, with its incredibly long antlers..?

A3 cartridge paper, 2B and 4B pencil,  by Julie Douglas

After doing the bulk of the drawing I decided that I really had to continue over onto the other page - only later to realise it was actually the front cover of the pad. Never mind! It really does have a great impact on the composition, using the wide format to extend the drawing.

Opening the pad, doubling the width.

When doing a demonstration, there's always that moment where you wonder if everything will turn out ok, as working with an audience is a rather different affair. But, nothing like a bit of pressure to keep ones focus! As you can see, the antlers are REALLY BIG!

 Quote of the day from Hilary... I'd given her some suggestions as to what to look for in her drawing, and shortly afterwards she gave a big sigh and started rubbing out. She looked at me and said, 'You're not always right, but you're never wrong'!  That'll do!

Next up - Portrait Workshop with lovely Mama Kaz modelling (who won't be quite as static as the deer) (and her antlers are much smaller as well).

Portfolio, water colour and presentation. (student work)

Recently my dear friend and long-loyal student Gennie mentioned that all her artwork was lying loose in a folder, looking a bit neglected. So I offered to assemble it all nicely in a portfolio to both preserve it, and make it easier to view. (The 'portfolio' in this case was a folder with clear sleeves bound together like a large book.)
There are so many good reasons to do this. Firstly, changing the setting of the artwork means that you, the artist, see it freshly. Your memory of it as a work in progress fades, compared to the more arms-length view you will have now - this means you see it more the way others see it. (ie without the emotion or pain of the production!)

Secondly, the way artwork is arranged in relation to other images impacts how we read it. Often, seemingly disparate subjects now appear to have a connection. The appparently radom become neatly flowing. Its not so much improving what you have made, but giving it a context, and a clear, clean way in which to look at it. 

Also, the personality of the artist begins to emerge, in a new and sometimes surprising way. Perhaps the strongest compositions were of subjects that particularly apealed to the artist. Perhaps a painting that was not liked so much at the time of painting will now take on a new resonance.

And any device which does that, as well as preserving it cleanly, has got to be a good thing. 

For students applying to college, presentation can actually make or break the work, harsh as that may seem. There is an art in producing, and another in presenting. Putting artwork together like this can take from two hours to a whole day. 

(Apologies for the poor photographs of such lovely work - these were taken in fading light, on my on-the-blink camera. Tomorrow, new camera!) 

Up coming workshop: Portrait workshop, Belfast.

The art of traveling, Chocolate Tiffin & Portfolio Course

The world is defintely getting smaller. When I lived in the west of Ireland, the locals thought that no one would be interested in ART... But by the time students started coming for courses, you'd have thought it was the neighbours idea in the first place that I do something arty -  they treated me with a warm indulgence, a sideways tilted head, a smile, and a 'Would you believe it...?' and eventually, 'Why wouldn't they come for The Art?'.

Well, yes! I began traveling myself a few years ago to teach around the country, on the basis that those who lived further away were always saying they wished they could do courses more often. But I discovered that if I did a course in Dublin, it was as likley to be attended by students from Mullingar as Dublin. I held one in Co Leitrim in the spring, and one of the students came up from Dublin...! And another in Dublin, where a student flew over from Kerry..!

Autumn light, Strangford Lough

Now it is so easy to get around, the roads are amazing. But so, indeed, are the flights. I have students regularly popping over from the UK.

Last year I had a boy from Switzerland on a portfolio course, and a girl from China, and this year another from France. So, now that I am back at college myself studying for my Masters, I am doing a little less traveling, based on the knowledge that the venue is NOT important, but the teaching and the course IS. And, as anyone who has been to a weekend workshop when I'm at home knows, I do a good lunch too!

I'm doing a Portfolio Course during the half term break, and am delighted that it will be at home. Its so easy to get here.  If I teach at home, my props supply is endless. If I travel, there's only so much I can get in the car. I am including drawing on location, and illustration elements as well as sketch book studies and all the usual course content. AND... I'm making chocolate tiffiin, to help concentrate the mind! (Hard work deserves chocloate rewards). Students are well looked after, with full tuition, from breakfast to bed! Phew!

Prep for chocolate tiffin... mmmm

For info, email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Next up Water colour workshop, Belfast