More work from Marsham and Holt.....

SOME HELPFUL TIPS FOR OUTDOOR WORKING.....

HELPFUL TIPS FOR OUTDOOR WORKING  2016

get comfortable, don’t carry more stuff than you need, but make sure you have the essentials. I find a chair much more comfy than a stool.

Wear a hat if the sun is bright as sunglasses will alter colour and tone. Be aware that the sun shining on your white paper can give you a headache because it can be so bright, so consider your position.

Have a drink of water with you, I use one bottle and drink from it as well as using it for my water colours, (in another container!)

Don’t rush to get started, time spent just looking and imagining potential images is not wasted. 

Look for strong shapes, so that you can build strong composition in to your image, regardless of whether they are trees, telegraph poles, cows, clumps of rushes or parked cars!

Look for the obvious and then LOOK TO THE SIDE OR BEHIND YOU for a less obvious or cliched image.

Seek out shapes and colours which you find interesting. You cannot do everything you see!

Thumb nail sketches, just an inch or two square, will help you assess the potential of any image and will therefore save you TIME, thereby helping you get the best out of the ‘plein air’ experience.

Don’t walk for miles!

If you take an easel try putting it up in the garden first!

Think about where the light is coming from, to help you to be consistent with shade and shadows.

If you feel shy and there are people about position yourself in a corner or in front of nettles so that no one can stand behind you!

Have faith in your choices of subject matter.

Remember that something in the foreground will make the distance appear more distant. The Norwich School of watercolorists often used a clump of dock leaves for this.

Look away from your work every now and again to rest your eyes and to help you review your work  objectively. 

Take a digital camera, it can help you assess a view, and if you want to finish something off at home then you can do so.

Quick sketches are just as important and telling about the vision you have as a longer term piece of work, and remember that a series of pieces, drawings or sketches or paintings, can be a useful way of describing your experiences. I find that there is often too much to ‘say’ in just one painting. HOW can you describe everything you can see in just one image?

remember your hot water bottle and thermal underwear, rain coat, sun cream, insect repellent perhaps an umbrella, spare jumper!

Its ok, in fact a good idea to do several versions of your chosen view, Constable did!

Enjoy your day,     and remember look round when you clear up to check for dropped items……

One More Week of Classes......

Our Last Week will start on Monday, but if you have missed any lessons you are very welcome to make up time by coming to Cawston on Monday 20th June, as there is an extra week there because of Monday classes missing a day for the Early May Bank Holiday.
Next Term will Start on the 19th September, and here is some more work to see....you  might have seen some of these before, but they have been added to.......

Micro worlds.....

OPEN GARDENS AT LAMMAS.....

on Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th June you can visit Open Gardens at Lammas, near Buxton. You are welcome to go and paint if you want. There will be live music, of course refreshments, Pimms, Tea and Cake. A Gn Gn Gnome competition! and Brocante!
The event will be well signposted, and parking will be in the churchyard. It is all in aid of the Church.

LANDSCAPE.....Gouache

If you are coming on one (or both!) of the Landscape painting Summer Schools please start looking around at contemporary landscape painting. You don't have to like it all, but notice the many different approaches. JUNE 11 - JULY 6 at the Bircham Gallery in Holt there will be work exhibited by Richard Tuff, very lovely paintings( I think), in Gouache, with strong composition, and interesting drawings which help you to see how he looks at landscape, and interesting for us too because much of the subject matter is familiar to us living in this area.

drawing by Richard Tuff

Pastel by Keith Roper

Gouache by Richard Tuff

There is also Pastel landscape work by Keith Roper.

Another Exhibition to see.....

Printmakers Wildlife Exhibition, Glandford, on till July 3rd. Work from 30 printmakers. Well worth a visit, and don't forget to visit Open Studios as you travel round the county!