Landscape, foliage and blending Oil Painting Brushes

The 1 inch and 2.5 inch Bill Alexander landscape brushes are proving a very popular tool. Most students who use them in class have purchased their own for home use. My class brushes have really been put through their paces since I introduced them into classes nearly 6 months ago. They clean up well and are as soft today as they were on day one. We've all found that we are using my soft goat hair blender brush less and the large Alexander landscape brush more as it really does a good job of removing those brush marks. It's a 'mighty' tool, as Bill would say, much too big to dip into tins of white medium. I find it easier to tip out the medium into plastic trays and pass around the class. It actually ensures you don't load too much into your brush in the first place. At just £20 (which includes postage and packing) for the two brushes, these will last you quite some time. If you look closely, you'll see Bob Ross using these exact same brushes in his first recordings of 'The Joy of Painting' programmes.

New Class Subjects.

For the last few classes, I've been taking along paintings of mine and letting the students select the subjects for future painting classes. Their input has been great and it helps me to make a decision too.

A couple of the paintings they have selected can be completed in just 4 hours, instead of the usual 5 hour session. So......we'll put these into my Saturday Classes at the Green Room in Stowmarket and we'll have a discounted rate for these shorter lessons. One of the most popular paintings 'The Lightning Tree' will be taught to complete beginners on Saturday, February 29th. The cost for the class is just £40 per person and if you book with a friend, you can take advantage of a £5 discount EACH. You can find the details, location etc here: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/17.html

The first result

I've just received the first photo of a painting made by following my DVD. THis is Lee's picture, you can see he's changed the canvas around to portrait instead of landscape and it alters the composition in a really lovely way too. The picture was taken on his mobile phone and sent by text to me. I think you'll agree, he's done a marvellous job. In his text message to me he says 'Now THIS one I like....' And for anyone who knows Lee, they will know he is his own worst critic. If anyone else wants to text in a photo - you can do so on 079500 32557Look forward to seeing some more.... and well done Lee

The First 'Learn to Paint' DVD

Last week, AyoubArt went into the DVD business. Orders from all over the world have been flying in and the first copies have been well received. 'Golden Lake' © has finally been launched. It's a 100 minute step by step oil painting DVD and will take you through an oil painting project from blank canvas to finished result. If you've painted with me before, you'll be taken on a very familiar journey. If you have never been able to attend one of my classes, this DVD will give you a chance to paint along with me and is probably the next best thing to a live class. With immediate availability I guarantee you'll receive your DVD's without delay. This has been a very exciting project for us to produce. It's been fun (and frustrating) at times, especially mastering the new equipment and programmes, but we are confident you will enjoy this first release. We are double confident you will learn some oil painting techniques, refine your skills and produce a marvellous (and saleable) work of art. So.......an exciting time all round for us here today. I'll be taking along the original painting along with a box of DVD's to my classes class, so students will have a chance to buy direct from the product table.

The reviews received so far, from beginner painters to fellow oil painting instructors, has been hugely positive. You can read the customer comments made so far on my main website here: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/page_139.html
'Golden Lake' is just the first of several DVD's in the pipeline. The second movie has already been filmed and is currently undergoing editing. If you'd like to see what all the excitement is about the link you need is here: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/page_136.html

Temptation

I chose to lay in this morning and didn't manage to get my walk in before today's workshop, nor did I have time to do it before it got dark after the class. So, out of interest, I decided to wear my pedometer for today's class. As we stopped for lunch I took a raeding and was amazed to see my steps converted to 1.4 miles! At the end of the class I had notched up another 1.4 miles. Considering I didn't leave the house, that's quite a lot of mileage. But, I may well have undone any good. Sally & Josie always bring goodies with them and today was no exception. They broke the seal on a rather sumptious box of Thornton's chocolates which I managed to resist all day long. But.......they left some remaining chocolates behind and the temptation was too much. Coffee, my favourite flavour, sat there staring at me so I popped it in my mouth without a second thought. Naughty - but nice.

Student input

When today's ladies (Sally & Josie) arrived, they commented on how lovely the countryside looked, all frosted up. I showed them the painting I made yesterday, also insipred by this current cold weather. They both gave me a bit of inspirational art advice actually. They reckoned the addition of some glitter would make the painting look frosty - and I have to agree with them. We've added glitter to our paintings before, about a year ago, giving some stars a little extra embellishment. I'm pleased they remembered this as I had completely forgotton. I shall have to finish this painting off, let it dry out and get the fine glitter dust out. Josie went on to say what a pretty Christmas card it would make too. Imagine a similar scene on a really small canvas, spots of glitter catching the light...........

What a grey day

Are you all experiencing this horrible fog we are having at the moment? It's dense and it's freezing cold and I can't see to the bottom of my garden. Despite having a warm car sat at the top of the path, I decided to carry on with my daily 4 mile walk to the village post office. I put on an extra couple of jumpers and two pairs of gloves as well. The post office is only a mile down the road and once the internet orders were posted I walked on for another mile, studying the frosty cobwebs and the frost patterns on the foliage along my way. This time I took my camera with me. You can see here, (top photo), how this heavy fog has made everything appear a dull grey and blue/white. I guess the scenes from my walk strongly influenced today's painting exercise, as you can see from the bottom photo. My painting isn't finished yet as I had to stop work to make some fresh home made soup for tomorrow's art group. I'll go back to it on Sunday and see what develops. One thing I will say, it's great painting in my new (very warm and cosy) workspace. I can just leave everything as it is and pick up/drop off whenever I choose. I also get to keep an eye on the washing, as the tumble dryer is in the same room - it doubles up as a nice big worktop area for my bits too.

Talks, Guest Speaker, Live Demonstrations and Art Groups

I'm having an office day today. It started with a trip to the stationers to buy new files, binders, a couple of diaries (you don't even want to know how many diaries I have on the go!) and other bits and bobs. It feels great to get on top of the paperwork, having it all processed and filed away. I've been scheduling my demonstrations too. I give talks and live demonstrations to all manner of groups and societies, not necessary art orientated. If you'd like a quote on a 90 minute demonstration for your group or society, my prices start at just £45 for a 10 mile radius. I also give painting workshops to Art Groups. this evening I've booked in my first one for the year. As the group are covering the cost of the venue and the refreshments and can guarantee a minimum number of students, we can negotiate a mutual discount. I can teach up to 15 people, ensuring all students receive adequate individual attention. Feel free to contact me on 01473 311938 or info@ayoubart.co.uk if you think this might be something of interest to you/your group.

Underwater Inspiration

Here's Jazarah. He's the bright orange starfish I bought for my daughter's marine aquarium. I was asked to name him, his name means 'carrot' in Arabic. He actually looks like 6 little carrots. Here you can see him moving up the front of her tank (I say him, but it could be a she for all we know). The top of him is a vivid orange, almost luminous, hence the name. We also picked up a sea anenome in a brilliant bright white with pink tips on the tentacles, a burgundy feather duster tubeworm and a hermit crab with bright blue legs. These keep her fish and dancing shrimps company. An expensive hobby, but..........whenever I go to visit her we both sit in front of the tank for ages watching all the creatures. One of the first items she brought for her tank was several kilos of live rock. In a few months, this rock has produced all manner of organisms. The harder you study it the more you see. I have an old hand held magnifying glass in my office and I'll be giving that to her next time I visit. It'll help us get a much closer look at what's occurring.

Looking at Soha's aquarium has got me all inspired. Quite a few months ago I worked on an oil painting of a couple of 'Nemo' fish, just for fun really. I think I might like to re-design the painting and change the composition a little. It's amazing how we can look back on our work and think of what we would like to change - especially when we have learned new techniques since the original painting.

Self Contained accommodation for long distance students

The Apollo Studio Accommodation is having a new heating unit fitted today, ready for our first guests of the year. The preliminary work was completed several months ago when the outdoor unit was fitted to a wall. While the studio is empty it's an ideal time to get cracking with the job. The new heating is a remote controlled air conditioning unit and it's very energy efficient. We had similar units fitted into our kitchen, dining room and lounge back in August, well before the cold weather hit us and they've been a godsend. We've noticed the difference on our heating bills too. For each kilowatt of electricity used you get back 3 kilowatts of heat, so that can't be bad. This means I can remove the floor standing electric woodburner-type heater, giving a little more floor space. Once installed we gave it a little test run; it turned from chilly ice-box to cosy toastie in under 5 minutes. Of course, the other bonus is the units double up as coolers. If ever it gets too hot for you (I wish!!!), a flick of the switch will have it blowing cool air into the room. I have used the cooler in the kitchen - you can imagine when I'm having a baking session how hot it can get - ideal for keeping chef (and pastry) at a moderate temperature.

Pop Art Portrait - Kings Of Leon

I forgot to take a photo of one of the Pop Art paintings I made for my eldest daughter's Christmas present. I managed to rectify this today by popping over to her house and seeing the painting hung in situ. With a spotlight by the side of it, hung on a plain wall, it really looks fab. Apparently everyone who has seen it has passed a favourable comment on it and one friend wants to book a Pop Art class with me so she can paint it for herself. For those of you who are wondering who this fab four are - it's the King's Of Leon. A few months ago my daughter was singing the band's praises to me. I told her I didn't know what all the fuss was about as I could take them or leave them (preferably leave them). Her reply was 'Mum, not liking the Kings of Leon is the ONLY un-cool thing about you. Well, things have changed since then and their latest CD is permanently in my car, with another copy of the same CD in the dining room (thanks to a generous Santa). They are now my baking background music and it's one of my most played CD's. Hopefully, that now makes me a cool mum........ I've put a larger version of this painting in my gallery HERE so you can view a more detailed image. It is gallery wrapped (which means it's painted right around the canvas edges) and measures 20 x 8 inches. This 4 person Pop Art portrait is for sale for £85 (includes postage and packing to UK mainland), should anyone want one.......or, for a £65 private class fee you could paint your own - or any other celebrity you care to name.

New Year - New Products

Lets kick of the New Year with some new products. I'm introducing a couple of soft haired brushes. The first is the round brush (pictured at the bottom). It's a bit more substantial than the liner brush and I've been using it in classes for a little while now. Ideal in landscape painting for those bulkier limbs and branches on your trees, great tool also for foreground fences. As it's soft, it can be used in both floral and wildlife projects too. It's fast becoming quite a little work horse of mine and now joins my other landscape brushes in my own pot of tools. The second item is the half inch flat angled brush (pictured at the top). This is just the most perfect brush for making leaves, it holds the paint well, you'll get the tightest of chiselled edges. This too is brilliant for wildlife projects too. Both brushes are synthetic bristles, both brushes are £4.50 each (including postage and packing) and both brushes have been tried and tested by myself. You can find the shopping baskets for these items on this link: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/21.html