Learning to Paint & Draw

Sometimes when I am chatting to other people, they tell me that they have an interest in painting or drawing but, often follow it up with "but I am not very good"! I firmly believe that anyone can express themselves in art at whatever level they may feel that they are at. I am also convinced that there is a painting within all of us.

However, it does requires a little practice and patience. I don’t know many people who actually produce a masterpiece on their first attempt either ;) As many people will see if they look back though my blog, I have some pretty awful examples and attempts at some things. But, it is all a learning curve and any amount of learning is valuable. As time goes on, I think most people who paint or draw find a comfort zone too.

In the past, going to college or night school was probably the easiest option. Nowadays, there are so many resources available for anyone wishing to have a go. There are huge selections of books for almost every conceivable art form. I have a great number but some of the most invaluable for me have been ones which provide small exercises or tips.

Two for watercolours that spring to mind are Collins ~ Need to know - Watercolour and I have also used Collins 30 minute Watercolours by Fiona Peart. I also have quite a number of helpful hints and tips, perhaps the most used one is by Terry Harrison.
For coloured pencil, MY most used resource is probably Coloured Pencil Painting Bible by Alyona Nickelson.
I do have an extensive library to dip into covering flowers, scenery colour, fairies and dragons which I have added to over time. I think you get the idea! These all provide some inspiration when perhaps I am lacking and I do think you learn so much along the way. There is one thing that you can guarantee, you never stop learning.

Other useful resources are the many art forums where it is easy to get feedback from other artists. For some reason I have rarely managed to settle in any of these but they still provide a whole range of resources. Two that I particularly enjoy are

Total Art Soul

Paint my Photo

So far, I have found these to be the friendliest of them all and that is quite important to me.

I love tutorials and do quite a number of them at times. The winter seem to lend itself somehow. I think it is important to find artists that you enjoy, it does help if you like their work to begin with even if it is a little different to what you may normally do. I rarely undertake tutorials of the things that I am comfortable doing, preferring instead to do landscapes which are a little outside my comfort zone.
For example, this first one was by Jeremy Ford who, I admire very much, his paintings are always so beautifully rendered. If you get the chance, do check out his flower paintings on his site (link below), they are just so lovely. On this one I had the added benefit of him providing me with some feedback too, as he is also a friend on facebook. This one is in gouache :)



This next one is also a little different for me, Matthew Palmer is quite angular compared with my style, I think it is the Northern influence. He always manages to capture wonderful skies somehow. I love the atmosphere that is created in his paintings, so it was a great exercise and I really did learn some different techniques.



This last one by Geoff Kersey was probably the most difficult as it was a 20 minute tutorial. I didn’t manage to do it in that time, I think it was closer to an hour but it did push me beyond my boundaries and made me really appreciate his deftness painting trees together with wonderful use of light.



All of the above artists hold workshops around the country, so if you fancy having a go, having listened to some of them in action at the NEC, I think it would be a lot of fun. I am almost sure that a pre-requisite of being an artist is having a sense of humour! Here is a link to their respective websites, it is worth taking a look to view their art too.


http://www.jeremyford.co.uk/

http://www.mattartist.co.uk/

http://www.geoffkersey.co.uk/

If you would like to have a go at a painting tutorial, a great resource is the Painting and Drawing channel which is on TV or can be viewed from the SAA website. There are also some online step by step guides provided on the SAA website. I spied a nice one by Matthew on the Newsletter tab.
Here is a link to both sites:

http://www.saa.co.uk/

http://www.thepaintinganddrawingchannel.co.uk/tv-anytime.html

Finally, if you feel a bit more adventurous, there are a great number of Painting Holidays available. Some of you will have seen my dialogue with Yvonne Ayoub who runs a painting retreat in Skiathos. A number of courses are suitable for experienced artists and beginners alike. I can honestly say that just being in the company of like minded people can be entirely inspirational without the addition of beautiful weather and scenery. I am sure there are a great many others but, having visited Yvonne’s lovely studio, I can vouch for this one, it is like being in an artist sweetie shop ;-)

http://paintingskiathos.wordpress.com/

Whatever you happen to have a go at, you need to have fun. I have seen people stress out because they don’t think this element is right, or that is right. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself. Treat yourself to a big bundle of paper rather than spiral bound books so that you can practice freely without worrying about the cost. Rome wasn’t built in a day and like any other hobbies, there are periods of stagnation and periods of progression.
Finally, a tip from me. As someone who frequently paints with a beverage or a glass of wine at their side, it helps if you dip your brush in the receptacle with water in it!

Portrait Mark Two

Well, I had to have another go, so did this one in watercolour. I do think there are signs of improvement although it still isn't quite right. However, I am going to leave it there. I confess to being bored with the subject matter, haha!



Meanwhile, I have also worked on some slightly more successful projects, this was another from a reference from Paint my Photo.



I think that will conclude my people paintings for a little while, I feel the need to move onto something a little different. I do want to practice capturing a scene a little quicker, so may do a series of sketches and quick paintings again, trying to capture the moment. For some reason, I don't seem to be in the right frame of mind for coloured pencil. This normally soothes me but, right now I find it time consuming and slightly irritating. I am definately looking forward to getting the camera out, it seems like ages............

Self Portrait

After seeing a challenge in my SAA magazine, I decided for the first time ever to have a go at a self portrait. Technically, I don't think it is too bad but, and there is a big but, it isn't me. I don't know why or which bit isn't altogether right, yet somehow I have missed the essence of myself. I was going to put in a background but, have decided to leave this one because I know that I am never going to get it right. As most of you will not know what I look like because most of my images on my blog have me behind big sunglasses or hats, this is the reference so you can see what I mean.






It has been a good learning curve because I realised that when undertaking portraits, I don't always put in what I see in the photo. They are usually people I know and so I have a little piece of them in my mind too which I think comes out in my art. Of course with myself, I don't get to see the real me and I think that could be where the problem lies. I also seem to have managed to age myself somewhat, although a bit of that could be state of mind right now! I am going to have another go but, in watercolour next time I think. This one was in coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper. I wonder if any of you have undertaken a self portrait and if it worked out?

Thoughts of Summer

I find January the dullest month of them all. There are buds beginning to form on the trees which remind me that Spring is just around the corner but despite this, I struggle with reduced daylight hours.

To combat this feeling, I painted this in watercolour, it is a scene from one of my favourite taverna's and it makes me smile to look at it.



It is also a good one to contemplate on right now as my pace of life is just a little bit too fast and this is a great reminder that it won't (hopefully) stay like that. I can conjure up the feeling of the sun on my back, a beer in my hand and see that big bowl of Greek salad.

Three years of Blogging

This is almost scary, in one way I am not sure where the time has gone. Yet, in another, so much has happened!
It is three years yesterday since I first started this blog, so I went back and reviewed a few of the highs and lows. There are some happy moments, some sad ones, some frustrating ones and also some milestones. For this slideshow, I simply took an image from each month since I started, it was quite an eye opener! It reminded me of so many memories ~ well, life really!



I would like to say at this point, thank you to all my blogging friends and also those people that know us reading quietly in the background. For those I have met and those that I haven't, without exception so many have touched my life over this period. I consider myself very lucky to have met so brilliant people :)

Musing

Unusually right now, I have taken very few photographs. The weather has been particularly overcast since the holidays and with no vibrancy outside, grey scenery does not do it for me. Instead I have turned my attention to my art and have been working on a series of work pretty much geared around character. This one was another subject that grabbed my attention on Paint my Photo and here I pulled out the coloured pencils for the first time in a little while.



I think it was the serenity that captured my imagination.
I am enjoying delving back into portraits and people for while. It does seem to be fast becoming my first project of the year, although, I am also on the lookout for some older people to compliment some of the younger ones already completed. It is quite unusual for me to be working towards a theme, I am not always very focused in that way!