Teaching By Faking!

I work part-time for a national charity, teaching art to adults. I love it, it brings me such joy. One of the techniques I use occasionally in my painting class is copying great paintings, encouraging my students to understand how the great artists worked and how they achieved their effects. This latest one (it’s myContinue reading “Teaching By Faking!”

Checking My Tones

I’ve spent the past couple of hours on the second part of Ed Sumner’s Zoom tutorial, painting Edouard Manet’s “Bar At The Folies Bergere”. Ed suggested using the wonders of modern technology to take a digital photo in black and white to check the tones of our paintings and compare with the original (he providedContinue reading “Checking My Tones”

Pushing Me Hard

I did some more work on my copy of Impressionist artist Edouard Manet’s “Bar at the Folies Bergere” today, getting the figure blocked in and making some adjustments to the size and shape of the bottles in the foreground. At the moment there’s very little colour in it, black, white and warm greys, but thereContinue reading “Pushing Me Hard”

Layering

I’ve been carrying on painting, I don’t normally paint but this is for a special someone. I don’t really know how to approach paint so I’ve come at it from the point of view of the printmaker that I am and I’m adapting a technique I use for monotypes, where I layer translucent glazes ofContinue reading “Layering”

Ghost. Cake.

Yesterday I posted about the new monotype I made, based on a drawing from my travel sketchbook. The monotype process produces an unique piece in full colour, but it’s possible to put a second piece of paper (BFK Rives 250 gsm) through the press and take a secondary ‘ghost’ print which is much paler andContinue reading “Ghost. Cake.”

And Now, The Ghost

  Following on from yesterday’s post about my latest reduction monotype, this is the ‘ghost’ image that is formed by putting a second piece of paper through the press after the first image is taken off the perspex plate. This gives a paler, ethereal monotype, where the pigment has broken up into little grains, ratherContinue reading “And Now, The Ghost”

Total Artgeek – Soft Pastels: Portrait of an Elder Man

  I don’t often do portraits, preferring nudes and cats, but I’ve been trying harder to get a likeness over the past year because it’s good discipline and forces me to be not only very observant but also very accurate, which feeds into my professional development. This is John, a life model I often workContinue reading “Total Artgeek – Soft Pastels: Portrait of an Elder Man”