Drawing and Oils workshop, summer 2018

It's amazing what can be acheived in five days. In the summer I held a five day oils workshop, and wished I'd made it ten! With students from a mixture of backgrounds, from nervous novice to experienced-but-tentative and others who were working on previously-started paintings, my challenge was to stretch each individual and ensure that they left with much more knowledge and understanding than they had when they arrived. And it was such fun! 

Christine's set-up

Some students voice apprehension about a five day workshop, worrying if they will be too tired. In my experience, students ARE tired, but in the most satisfying and rewarding way, with many reporting incredibly deep sleep each night allowing an enthusiasm to get back to work again the next morning. 

Christine, working on the study drawing in prep for her painting)

We got so much work done - looking back, I am so proud of how hard the students worked. They began by selecting from a range of objects I'd provided and setting up an arrangement - and learning just how to DO that - then spent the day learning how to draw it. 

Judy's first-day drawing study

Over the next couple of days we moved on to charcoal, some grey chalks, an afternoon of portrait drawing with a model, then students choose another set of objects to create an arrangement to paint in oils. 

Judy's portrait study

Claire, modelling her fabulous chalk study of a torso

And even though the plan was to paint, student had to draw their arrangement first, lovingly and with sincere conviction. The more infomation we can 'draw' from the subject in pencil/charcoal before we get the paints out, the more familiar it will be, the better we understand the forms, nuances and light, and the more we can concentrate on the actual paint when we move on to canvas.

Judy's prep for her final painting

Judy's charcoal study

Christine and Judy, working back-to-back!

Christine's work in  progress - great drawing, great oil painting!

Claire's set up, her delicious drawing in prep for her final painting 

Claire's painting in progress

Claire's painting

Judy at work

Judy's finished painting

The only thing we didn't get to was working in colour. While this had been my original plan, in conversations with students as the week went on, we decided together that more drawing and more time spent perfecting the black and white painting was going to empower students more than rushing through an even greater number of works. Student learning is paramount. So next year, I'll make the workshop longer, so we can really get more done!

Judy, very happy with her painting

You can see in the photo above that each student's work space includes a black shelving unit. This is one of the most efficient pieces of equipment in the studio - lots of personal storage as well as a variety of height-options for arranging a still life subject. Putting bags in the bottom is less of a trip hazard and fewer items get lost! 

I got this lovely letter from one of the students after this workshop:

Thank you for a fabulous week of drawing and painting - I enjoyed it so so much and  have to confess  that on the first day when I found out that two others were art teachers I panicked a little but they were both so lovely that very quickly I felt we were all there learning together  and I didn't feel in any way inferior.   I learned more in one week with you than I ever learned at school art classes or the many and various evening classes I've been to over the years.  You made everything so clear and made me realise that slow and steady is so much more enjoyable and rewarding than racing to get to the finished piece.  Thankyou for your patience, humour, support and encouragement .  Thankyou for the wonderful hospitality, delicious lunches and for keeping us well topped up with tea and biscuits!! C. McC. 

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

Dappled light, Tree Number 1, Oil on Board 8in x 10in

I have a huge affinity with woods and feel comfortable and right when surrounded by trees, particularly when they are beside water. Trees are awesome and magnificent. Walking through leafy tunnels with sunlight streaming through the branches casting ever changing rays and shadows and pools of light sliding over the bark and the paths can be a moving experience. It is a feast, and one that should be indulged in daily. (There's a big hill going into my nearest wood, and sometimes I go on my bike, just for the thrill of the hill. ahem. Then have to go back later with the dog for a walk...)

So I have always known that I would have to paint trees. Here goes. Daunting when its a subject you respect so much. Here is my first attempt at portraying light in the wood. What I am interested in acheiving is not a highly finished image, so I consider this, and the next few that I try, to be Drawings. I'm working something out...

 ...I want to Explain the shapes of the trees by using the dappled light. But at the same time, I want the visual complicatedness, the confusion caused in the way the light licks over the tree, to remain. Those two aims are a contradiction - explain and confuse. As an illustrator, it is my instinct to visually unravel confusion and present an image in a clearer form.  I am trying not to do that.

I wanted to leave the foliage in the background loose. But couldn't bring myself to leave it alone, I had to keep fiddling. TSK. We'll see how I go with the next drawing...

Sometimes I stand watching the dapples move, like a private movie being screened just for me, a light performance. It's an amazing sight, sometimes it moves gently and carefully, other times quickly, like the light is liquid, running around the branches and trunk in a caress. It might last only seconds before diffusing and disappearing, so well worth stopping, or glancing up from your Teddy Bear Picnic.

Next up Portrait Drawing Workshop, Monthly Monday and weekly classes kicks off. The next Portfolio Course is at Half Term.

For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

NOTE: Please do not copy this work. (don't even assume this is the Way To Do It - this is just the way I did it, this time) There are loads of wonderful trees out there, this one is mine. Part of your creative process is... finding your own tree.