Money Saving Art Supplies

As I pulled off the dual carriageway this morning, heading towards Stowmarket, I was delighted to see the Tesco's roundabout filled with pretty yellow daffodils. In the brilliant sunshine they were a treat and a sure sign that Spring is only just around the corner. The warm sun stayed with us for the best part of the day, and it allowed my students to take their paintings into the courtyard at The Green Room so their black acrylic base coats could dry off rapidly. I had a huge amount of questions at the end of class regarding wet-on-wet oil painting supplies. I'm lucky in that I am not tied in with any particular Company and can pass on details of the many various brands that I personally recommend for this particular technique - all tried and tested and guaranteed to do the job and give brilliant value for money. I was delighted with one particular comment I received from Rob; 'You've saved me £15 already on the thinners alone!'. It's no secret in saying it's my mission to get as many people oil painting as possible - plus - I can show you how you can set yourself up without having to spend a small fortune. In this current economic crisis, the £15 that Rob has saved will easily buy him a couple of brushes, a tube or two of paint and a canvas.

A new acrylic workshop

Quite often, when painting 'Sunbeams', (the painting at the top) we take our break just before laying on the oil colour wash. When this painting is in it's black and white form, it is quite a dramatic piece. From this, several other compositions have been born from diptych to triptych to letterbox style canvas. Sometimes we've colour washed them, sometimes we've left them and given them a clear wash before adding in white flares and light beams.

This has proved to be quite a popular painting and so I have decided to run a short class, lasting just under 3 hours. We'll be making this black and white acrylic painting 'Wanderings' on Saturday September 6th at the Green Room in Stowmarket. The class fee is only £30 and includes all equipment, refreshments and your 20 x 8 inch letterbox canvas. The painting can be gallery wrapped (which means we can easily paint around the sides of the canvas). There will be no need to frame it and it will be dry within minutes. As there is no use of colour, it can actually hang in most homes and will make an ideal present.