Summer workshops in Belfast 2018

This summer Belfast Academy of Realist Art is holding a variety of workshops with artists from around the world. The programme is designed to include workshops to suit all levels of experience - if you are unsure of your level, please just get in touch to be guided in the right direction. 

July 1st-5th: Intensive drawing and oil painting workshop with Julie Douglas. This popular workshop takes you through the full process of making a painting - from planning your arrangements, drawing it, transferring onto canvas, colour mixing and painting. You will produce several studies during the week, in black and white as well as full colour. A lovely intensive hands-on workshop, fully tutored which will improve your confidence and provide you with new skills. We will work using still life subjects and include looking at flesh tones if time permits. Cost £575 which includes all materials and lovely home-made lunch. 10am-5pm. 

Mixing and matching

Some of Tess's studies

July 21st-22nd: Drawing and watercolour workshop. A lovely weekend to improve your watercolour skills. We will look at location drawing, pen and wash and the best way to approach a painting when you're on holiday. Cost £260 which includes all materials and lovely lunch. 


July 28th: Portrait drawing workshop, with model. How to measure the face and use tones to create the likeness. Cost £130 which includes all materials and lovely lunch. 

Tess painting her oils

lovely student studies

 August 13th-17th: Drawing, composition and colour mixing: your foundation to successful painting with Julie Douglas. This workshop is designed to help your drawing skills in order to improve your paintings. Many people have doubts about their drawing skills, and prefer to go straight to paint. This doesn't pay off in the long run; students quickly find that their lack of drawing is holding them back. When we paint, we use our 'drawing eyes' regarding placement, proportion, relative values, composition, gesture, and balance. When we paint, we need to have our attention on the colour and mixing; if we can't draw, our attention is seriously diverted, so painting becomes more frustrating and seemingly mysterious!

This is the perfect lead into Mr Angel's workshop (see below), or any world-class atelier-based masterclass. Cost: £500 which includes some materials. A list will be provided upon booking. 

Examples of techniques,  work in progress (on the left, Mark is doing a bit of face-painting! oops!) 

August 19th-27th: PAINTING  FROM VERMEER, AND OTHERS: from underpainting to glazes, with maestro Michael John Angel, from The Angel Academy of art, Florence. I am delighted to be welcoming Mr Angel to Belfast where he will deliver a newly designed workshop, perfect for understanding the oil painting process, including colour studies and glazes. Cost £1280.00  Please book using julie@juliedouglas.co.uk  For details please click here (or copy and paste): http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/michael-john-angel-masterclass-belfast.html

Maestro Michael John Angel in Belfast

Maestro Michael John Angel in Belfast

August 30th & 31st: The Munsell Colour System, with Paul Foxton. Paul is well known for his blog, Learning to See' and has an international following. I am delighted to welcome him to deliver this workshop. Cost: £250 which includes lunch and some materials. 

The excellent Paul Foxton 

Discount offers: If you wish to attend two or more AUGUST workshops, you will recieve a 10% discount for bookings made before 1st June. HURRY! 

September, Date TBC: five day drawing and oils with Julie Douglas and PJ Lynch. PJ and Julie have designed this workshop together, so that students get the best of both tutor's experience. We will cover life drawing, portrait drawing, portrait and still life using charcoal, pencils and oils. A full-on roller-coaster with the emphasis on learning in an enjoyable environment. 

PJ Lynch portrait demo in Belfast. Photo by David Bell. 

For information on any of these workshops please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Nature sketch book exchange project, Holywood stones.

And so, the sketch books are still going around the world, with each one taking on it's own character as we fill the pages, slowly slowly. 

So far, I have been doing things which grow, but I do so love stones. And they ARE natural..

Unfinished ring of stones, 18cm x 16cm showing the process involved. Julie Douglas 

 Some subjects really lend themselves to water colour, and stones - in spite of their solidity, which seems so at odds with the wateriness of water colour -  certainly work well.

More stones, 17cm x 13 cm, water colour, Julie Douglas

There's something about the blobby quality of working wet into wet, the unexpected random happenings of the paint as it moves before drying is very like the uneven patterns on stones. The difference between the first two photos, above, is that the top one is unfinished (so you can see how it is started), the bottom one has had more layers added once the wet-on-wet has dried, giving a crisper edge. The next images were for the sketch book project. 

 I went for a walk on the shore to find stones for painting. Beaches all have their own characteristic stones - some beaches turn up smooth rounded stones, some, like East Sussex have stones with enormous holes in the middle. Holywood stones are characteristically small and nobbly, like chunks of nougat (see above). So it takes a good bit of staring and patience to find vareity and interest. But, once you find one, there's another, and ooh - there's another. Pretty soon my pockets were full, and the coat was too heavy to wear!

A variety of shapes and sizes.. Julie Douglas

When I worked in the first couple of sketch books, ones which belong to other artists, I stuck a piece of my preferred water colour paper onto the pages, as I don't like the paper of the book itself. But this time, I just got stuck in, using the book itself. I had to use a lot more water than usual as the paper is so smooth and wants to absorb the pigment. I did the paintings while my students painted their own stones beside me. I have to admit, some of them were shapeless blobs for a good while (the stones, not my students!!), but when it's someone else's book, you have to just keep on working till it begins to look better.. Shadows vary according to the time of day I did each stone. 

I was happy to include one little heart-stone from my mammoth collection... 

Upcoming courses: Portrait drawing, intensive portfolio preparation, oils workshops. 

Later this summer - 23rd August, BIG DRAWING DAY at The Drawing Office, Titanic Quarter Belfast

Draw In - drawing symposium with some amazing visiting artists including PJ Lynch, Paul Foxton, Katherine Tyrrell and Colleen Barry (NY). www.draw-in.co.uk

For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk