All wrapped up - fabric drawings in pastel

Often used as a backdrop to a painting, cloth makes a wonderful subject in it's own right too.
I set up four options for my students - two were large white sheets wrapped around poles and secured with a knot, a tailor's mannequin with a cloth secured by rope and a shop window 'torso' wrapped in a table cloth. All needed the help of good lighting to make the shadows stronger and the highlights brighter, giving the extra contrasts needed to take a subject from bland to brilliant!

Catherine M, a lovely study in chalk pastel - and in just one session! 

While this is certainly a complicated subject, which really allows you to feel the brain cogs whirring as you try to fathom a starting place,  it's apparent lack of focal point and apparent lack of beauty means there is no distraction. It forces each artist to select a point that interests them - a particular fold, or a series of shadows, for example - and their attention to that allows the rest of the drawing to grow.

Full use of the page by Marie. This was her first session, and she plans to do more next week. 

 The results were amazing. Many students opted to continue their drawing for a second session.

Alison's work coming on well, with Paul hard at work in the background. 

My demo

Great drawing by Christine, who spent two sessions on this stufy

Lesley beside her lovely artwork

Lesley showing her maximum-pastel-holding technique!! 

Brigid's drawing, next to the subject

Brigid's drawing - a lot of work in just one session,

Chalk pastel by David, on larger paper.

Rose-Jane's lovely drawing, pastel

Christine McC - a huge amount achieved in just one session! 

Sandra's lovely drawing. You can just see which part of the arrangement she is studying, near the rope on the mannequin. 

Hilary, during her second session at the subject. Lovely use of composition. 

I feel so lucky to have such a great studio space. The hard floor makes clearing up so easy after using dusty chalks. It's much more challenging to use chalks and charcoal at home, unless you don't mind having multi coloured skirting boards..!

Upcoming workshops: portrait workshop July 22 - 26, Oil workshop August 22 - 26,
Life drawing sessions Friday 19 July 6pm,  Fri 26 (6 pm) & Sat 27th July (10 - 4pm).

For info please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Practice Makes Permanent - oil portrait sketches (time lapse)

I've been doing a lot of portrait paintings recently, around 15 in quick succession. It was an interesting experience and I'm sure that it has changed my approach, for a little while at least! I wanted to work quickly, so set deadlines of four - six hours. I was lucky that I'd already planned a week away with an arty friend, so we were cocooned in a cottage for a week, with only paints, knitting wool and a 1000 piece jig saw (and some excellent Audibles). Blissssss!! Bliss, but very tiring. I managed to produce 7 paintings in 5 days. Would I do it again? You bet! (But next time I'll factor in a spa at the end to unknot my painter-shoulder..) 

The drawing, completed enough to transfer onto canvas.

For this portrait, I decided to take time lapse photos, and I've put the results below, both of the drawing stage and then the painting itself. I much prefer to work from life, but in this case it was not possible, so I worked from a phone - which is roughtly the same 'size' as a head would be if the sitter was right in front of me. I don't zoom in, except to check measurements. The drawing was done quickly and not brought to a high level of completion - just enough to know I had the likeness and correct proportions. 

Very basic set-up!! 

Click the movies below to watch the process (each film is around 17 seconds). 

The drawing took 45 minutes, the painting took just over three hours. 

For programme information about upcoming workshops in Belfast, please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

I have an oils workshop from 22 - 27th April, a Portrait workshop 25th & 26th April and Friday Night Life Drawing sessions every second Friday. 

Portrait in colour pencil, step by step

The finished artwork.

This commission was from a student of mine, of both her grand children. I drew the grandson first (see here for the stages of that artwork http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.com/2018/03/childrens-portrait-commission-in.html), partly, I think, to put off the wooly hat! However, once I got to it, I realy enjoyed it. 

The next photo shows both the line drawing which I bagan with, and the first stages of the face. 

Apologies for the different 'white' paper colour in the photos. This is because some were taken in the evenings, some in the day. But they are close enough for you to see the process I use.)

I like to complete every colour and tone before moving on to the next area, and NOT do an all-over base layer. This is because I think the base layer approach, in coloured pencil, can make artworks look flat and 'samey'. For the strand of hair across the face, I gently apply the colour and carefully put the flesh colours right up to it. I don't remove areas with a rubber. The photos below show this a bit more clearly.

The wooly hat was jolly and colourful, but I left the details soft and suggestive. If I had made the hat sharp-focussed, it may have detracted from the face - and it wasn't a portrait of the hat! SO soft focus and generalities do the job better. 

Ths phone above shows the two portraits side by side. 

I use Bristol paper (but not 'extra smooth' as it is plasticy and slippery) and mostly Carna d'Ache pencils. 

For portrait workshops, and workshops in oil painting, life drawing and water colour please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk for programme information. Classes are held at Belfast Academy of Realist Art, and there is a life drawing class two Friday evenings a month. 

Autumn term delights

I try to put off collecting leaves for my students to paint because the season lasts quite a few weeks, and there could always be someting more... However, the wonderful Rheus tree outside my window was so magnificent with yellows, greens and oranges  early in Autumn, that I couldn't resist.

Dramatic colour on the front... 

Delicious even on the back! 

The simplicity of the shapes also made it a great subject as we wouldn't have to spend a great deal of time on the drawing aspect, allowing plenty of time to 'draw with our brushes' instead.

Roisin at work

 With water colour, it is important to identify the palest colour first, and lay a wash down as a good base for all other colours to rest on. Effectively, we are painting with stained water, and the darker colours go on last. With these leaves, we used Lemon Yellow as the base colour. you can see this in Roisin's painting (above) and Tony's painting (below).

Tony's lovely study - this was his first ever water colour painting!

Once the initial 'wash' is down, the job of choosing additional layers begins. I restricted the palette to just Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Permanent Sap green and, for much further down the line, Permanent Rose.

Carolyn's study

 Restricting the palette is a wonderful way of beginning to understand the colours you are using, and help you realise that mixing a small number of different colours in a variety of quantities, gives you enormous scope and a wide range of options.

Jim's painting

Ben, who used water soluble coloured pencil, on a branch of Virginia Creeper

 I introduce 'red' late in the process because the red pigments not olny stain the water we paint wih, but they also quickly stain the paper too. This means that it is often impossible to change your mind and remove it. (One of the myths about water colour is that it is 'fixed'. This isn't true - adding more water to your paper and hitting it with kitchen paper will remove any colour if you have changed your mind - apart from the reds. Undertnading this simply means that we use reds with more caution, and always have the kitchen paper handy!)

Liz, a wonderful first painting

Upcoming workshops: Portrait drawing, Oils weekend, Children's half term workshop. For info please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Notes from the Atelier - Julie's drawing and painting manual is available in local book shops and on her website
http://www.juliedouglas.co.uk/julies-book/notes-from-the-atelier

It is also on on Amazon Prime - check out the reviews! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1527205932?pf_rd_p=9daa0afc-fa5f-4673-9ff4-e926d27e7d1b&pf_rd_r=K3SF2NCDNAQZRAS89749)

Notes from the Atelier.. at The Engine Room Gallery, Belfast April 2017

2nd April was A Very Big Day. With a lot of help from some friends, I set up a display of artworks by around 50 students in The Engine Room gallery, to give their lovely drawings and paintings a public viewing of works in progress. 

My students are a modest bunch, but every few years it is very good to allow their progress to be seen and appreciated, and it was fantastic for me to share their day to launch my book,  Notes from The Atelier.

David McKnight, my editor, allowing me to show off his photo at the back of the book!
(page 255, for your  reference!) 

 The Engine Room Gallery is a huge space, with a stunning view of Belfast City Hall. We had the use of two rooms, which gave us enough space to put up 35 tables. We covered these in folders containing paintings and drawings that students had done during classes.

Around half the illustrations in my book were made by my students, so some of those were mounted and displayed on long tables under the windows.

A broad sweep of one of the rooms in the gallery, before everyone arrived

All set up, raring to go...! 

Some student artworks, which were used to illustrate the book - by Sara Colhoun, Jayne McClenaghan, Ciara Clearn and Nisa Viney. 

More student artworks as in the book - Hilary Johnston, Sarah Bruce, Fernando Perez, Pat Pinlay, Nisa Viney, Alan Leacock. 

And from the book, artwork by Sara Colhoun, Alan Leacock, Sara Bruce and Emma McWilliams. 

It's one thing organising an event, but quite another not knowing how many people will turn up. I needn't have worried! The doors opened at 3, and the first visitors arrived a bit before that... 

Lisa doing a wonderful job with refreshments! In the background, Judith who made the lovely food. 

...and they kept arriving, and arriving and arriving, until the place was absolutely FULL!  I had past students who'd travelled from County Clare and Dublin, others from Ardee and Derry and my brother from London. People stayed for a long while, carefully looking through every folder, meeting students, and students meeting other students!  Gennie, from County Clare, said 'it was like meeting family'.

Fernando (centre), June (left) and Maeve (right, who came from London)

Dawn, Gennie (who travelled from County Clare!), Colin, Margery, Claire, Judith... 

Gennie and Alan catching up! 

I spy Liz, Jackie, Ainnien, Sara, Ciara, Margey, Erin, Emma, Alison...

Avril and Claire!

Christine, left, David McKnight (editor) and Barbara. 

A selection box of students at the drawing board

 David and I were kept busy manning the book stack, as many people had pre ordered and came to collect their copies. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces - it was buzzing and happy.

Meanwhile, Judith Cowan was mingling with the crowd sharing the delicious nibbles she'd made, and Lisa and Nuala were washing and rewashing glasses to keep everyone refreshed!

Chad with Julie

Visitors taking their time to enjoy every folder - with the colourng-in table in the foreground! 

Display of Julie's paintings and drawings

Preparatory drawing next to finished painting, Julie Douglas

 For me, a very important aspect of painting is the process itself, and the preparation involved in creating something new. To this end, I displayed my sketch books as well as preparatory drawings and colour studies alongside some finished artwork - from an educational standpoint, sharing the stages of the process is almost more important than displaying the end result.  I believe also that it was the not-always-finished aspects of the students folders which everyone found so attractive. There is an honesty in the learning process which is not often celebrated. The display celebrated the act of observation in itself, and provided a platform for others to appreciate the effort and progress that each student has made.

Julie's table

You can see from these photos that I was 'saying a few words', and took the opportunity to ask everyone to play the Elephant game... 

I gave everyone a small piece of paper, which they held behind their back, then all together we ripped it into the shape of an elephant!!! Well, the looks on their faces... No cheating, no peeping, just ripping...

The serious expressions as everyone ripped out an elephant behind their back! 

This is a great (and FUN) way of getting everyone to join in, doing something creative with a surprising outcome. It involves visual memory, spacial awareness and is more tricky than you'd think!!

The concentration of ripping elephants... 

The elephant used in my book! An original ripping by Claire Bruce!

No two elephants are ever the same. Some have a hint of a camel about them, others have lost their trunk - but they are all authentic and charming and unique. I used Claire's rather wonderful elephant (above) throughout  my book.

Elephant shortbread, made by Judith Cowan

Paper elephants hanging along the window

The most tremendous Elephant Cake, made by Maria Wylie - delicious! It broke my heart to have to cut into this, but I shared it in classes the week after the opening, and it was really yummy!

Queen's Guitar Quartet, featuring my son Rory on the left

We were serenaded throughout the afternoon, with music from the lovely Queen's Guitar Quartet, and also from Manus Maguire, playing traditional Irish Fiddle. I'm so grateful.

Holywood Culture Club representatives on the left, Dermot and Tim!

 I can truly say that I have never felt so supported in all my life. The atmosphere was so loving, warm  and generous. The good feeling was tangible. Thank you everyone - to all who came, and to all who leant their artwork, thank you for making it a wonderful event. I admit that it was, at times, a little overwhelming to see SO many people - there were hundreds of you! As I look through the photographs, I see that there are so many that I didn't have a chance to speak to. Your presence was much appreciated. I hope these photos show the flavour of the afternoon, and remind you of the buzz.

David's inauguration to the Ali Cat's Motorcycle Club (for girls). 

I was really delighted that my friends in the Ali Cat's Motrocycle Club arrived for a look around just before we cleared up. A vision in pink! Kate, Ducati-rider extraordinare, in pigtails in the front row, has a painting in the book! Thanks for coming ladies, and no one got lost!

A special thanks to all who helped me. From David McKnight at my side (correcting my spelling when I signed books) and Margaret McKnight who took lots of photographs, to Nuala and Michael McCavanagh, Lisa McCausland, Ciara Clearn and Rory Douglas-Smith who helped transport all those tables, folders, props, easels, books and bottles up the lift, for hanging up the elephants and helping with the display, I am so grateful.  You made an enormous task completely manageable and seamless. To Merlynne Knott for tidying up all the bits of ripped elephant from the floor, thanks! To Maeve Huttly and Gregor Douglas, Nuala and Michael and Rory, for helping take everything back down again, to Michael for helping me park the hired van (no laughing, it was a challenge!) and for getting it out again without even a tut, to Judith Cowan for making all those lovely nibbles, Maria for the cake, and for Clifford at the gallery for being so welcoming, I thank you whole heartedly.

I really look forward to doing it again!

Photos: Margaret McKnight, Michael McCavanagh, John McDonald and Joyce McWilliam.

Julie's book, Notes from the Atelier can be found here

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

For workshops and weekly classes email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Next up: drawing and watercolour workshop, portrait workshop and oils.