teaching – scribblah

Let The Water Do The Work.

Here’s another little watercolour from my adult teaching session this week. I’ve been emphasising that the important thing about watercolours is actually the water, letting the image develop as it dries. We flooded the stretched Bockingford paper with clean water then using a very wet brush, “dropped” the wet pigment onto the paper without overworkingContinue reading “Let The Water Do The Work.”

Teaching Watercolours – The Reveal

Today was a fun day. Last week’s adult education group prepared some samples of different watercolour effects but they were still wet when they left (below), so today we had the big reveal! It’s always exciting and these techniques often have that WOW factor! We used Winsor & Newton Cotman half pans onto Bockingford watercolourContinue reading “Teaching Watercolours – The Reveal”

Teaching Watercolour Basics

I did some more adult teaching this week, I’m running a short course in watercolour basics, covering a range of simple and accessible techniques. The group started with stretching some watercolour paper with paper gumstrip (learnt last week), sectioning it up with masking tape and producing 4 samples of different techniques. This is the demonstrationContinue reading “Teaching Watercolour Basics”

Teaching, Drawing, Painting.

Last week I taught an introductory adult education session at GS Artists, one of Swansea’s finest. I borrowed a selection of decoupaged bottles for the still life and set them on a plinth in the middle of the group. I chose these instead of clear bottles so we didn’t have to cope with reflections andContinue reading “Teaching, Drawing, Painting.”

Splatter!

I work part-time for a national homelessness charity, just a few hours a week where I run fine art courses for people who use the service. Today I started an acrylics painting course. I like to jump straight in with something practical so I did a group abstract painting exercise. After a quick explanation ofContinue reading “Splatter!”

Letting People Play

I’m working for a charity that supports very vulnerable people, running arts and craft sessions. I work in different venues across the city and I tailor the sessions to suit them and their clients. This evening was about letting people play. It wasn’t a formal session aiming to teach fine arts or enabling people toContinue reading “Letting People Play”

Testing Testing One Two Three

I tried out a new printmaking technique today, gel printing with a commercial Gelli plate. It’s part of the equipment I’ve been given for my part-time job running art sessions with people who are homeless and insecurely housed. The instructions just said to use paper and acrylic paint but were no more specific than thatContinue reading “Testing Testing One Two Three”

I Love It

I work part time for a charity that works with vulnerable people, I run arts and craft sessions. I love it. I really love it. People come in, have a cuppa and some biscuits and do some arty stuff for a couple of hours in a warm, safe place. We do all sortsContinue reading “I Love It”

Getting Physical

I normally scribble on my own but today I was facilitating an art session and started off with a physical art exercise to warm us up. A lot of people don’t realise how physical art can be. I think that’s maybe because a lot of people do art as a hobby and perhaps don’t goContinue reading “Getting Physical”

Quick Little Pastel

Today I was giving someone some tips for using pastels, so I thought the best way was to have a bit of a scribble myself. It’s so nice to work onto proper pastel paper; the darker tone of the paper and the toothed texture make a huge difference. That’s half the battle with art, usingContinue reading “Quick Little Pastel”