New Classes - New Subject

After today's 'Sunbeams' class I wasn't in too much of a hurry to clear things away. In fact, it was the perfect time to complete a little painting project I started work on a couple of weeks ago. The paints and brushes we used in 'Sunbeams' are exactly the ones I want for this project. Several weeks ago I came across a delightful photograph shown above in sepia tones. I've been wanting to create some quicker painting projects for new classes in the summer. The Green Room in Stowmarket is now available again and I've booked a couple of Saturdays in June and July. These classes will be shorter and cheaper; the paintings will be smaller too. You'll be able to paint in the morning and be done by lunchtime. 'Up', which is my version of the photograph, will be the subject for our June painting - details of times, price and date can be found on my Timetable page HERE.

Oooooo - my back

This morning, feeling energetic, I thought I'd shuffle a few bits around in my studio, making a bit more space than I had before. Too nice to go indoors I followed my shuffle up with a potter. I planted up a couple of hanging baskets with my craft fayre plants. I planted and caned up some sweet peas (I just LOVE the smell of sweet peas). Next, I potted up a very fragrant baby basil plant and found space in the greenhouse for my new hot chilli pepper plant too. At this point I wondered whether to wash my hands and go back indoors and make a start on another version of my 'Feathered Friends' painting (the original sold over the weekend and I no longer have one for display purposes). Looking at my fingers I decided while I had muck under the fingernails I might as well get all my gardening bits done and out the way. So......I do have an achey back from weeding and clearing, but I also have sown my beetroot, parsnips & carrots. My potatoes have been planted up too. I've found a nice spot for my 2 new clematis and camelia. All my forget-me-not plants are now either in pots or in the garden and everything has had a good feed and watering in. Now the potting shed is clear it must be time to get some more bits on the go! i didn't quite have the time to do the bird painting - but I did managed to paint a stack of canvas black which will come in handy for tomorrow's class and future projects.

Learn to paint by DVD

Let me tell you about Meera. Meera recently came along to a painting class at Heartlands. She drove for approx 3 hours to get to me, sat for 5 hours painting mountains, lakes, pine trees and clouds. She drove home after the class with her first ever oil painting masterpiece. And her painting was beautiful - really beautiful. She was beaming. Meera purchased a Lowell Speers DVD from me, the monochromatic seascape. Recently I received an email from Meera and attached was a photo of her painting which was made just by following the tuitional DVD. I think you'll agree she has made a fabulous version of this tonal seascape. If you'd like to have a go at this painting project you can find the details of the DVD HERE at just £9.50 delivered to your door.

Birthday Celebrations with a difference

At an oil painting painting workshop last month we had a party of 5 girls who were celebrating a 40th birthday. All of them were first timers at painting too. As the birthday cake and nibbles were being passed around they easily mastered the various techniques and produced really lovely paintings, as did the rest of the class. If only I had a pound every time someone said 'I can't believe I just made that'. And I wouldn't mind a pound everytime I heard 'No one is going to believe I painted this all by myself'. If anyone is interested in making a group booking to celebrate a special occassion, do give me a call on 079500 32557 or drop me a line so we can negotiate rates, venues and painting subjects.

Sold - to the lady with the Gondola!

During last Saturday's class, Alan brought in a total of 5 fresh eggs. They were sold to a student within minutes - probably the quickest display of manufacturing and sales I've seen so far. They are all destined for a baking session so they've been sold to a lady after my own heart. Our painting subject was the second stage of 'Venetia', the gondola sunset scene. I'm going to run this 2 day class again in April for anyone who would like to do it. (Details HERE) Although it's painted 'wet on wet' style, there are a lot of different techniques involved which gives us a much finer and detailed finish.

Ring my bell

I had a bell. That's a first. I liked it - and I might even get one as part of class equipment - (maybe). With a large group it was difficult for me to round the ladies up and get them to the front ready for stage one. One lady leant over to me and said 'There's a bell on the shelf - use it'. So I did. And it worked. I had everyone's attention. Mind you, so did Lee, my assistant. The ladies cheekily asked if he was a male model. One lady exclaimed 'Oooo, I could paint him all over'. I heard another lady refer to him as 'Young Man', in a very Harry Enfield type manner. Main thing is, he worked like a trojan, soon had the equipment out of the car and in the hall, made an excellent cuppa, cleaned the brushes so thoroughly - even made a much better job of it than I ever could. Beautiful paintings were achieved all round with huge attention to detail. One thing the ladies all remarked on; we all use the same brushes, same colours and follow the same guide, yet we all end up with amazingly different and very individual paintings.

Family Heirloom

Yesterday, Anne, one of the students, brought along some beautiful framed art works. Anne calls these pieces 'painting with a needle' as they are very fine cross stitch compositions. We started with a beautiful spring posy of daffodils against a dark background on an upright panoramic portrait frame. So many shades of yellow in those daffodil heads. Many moons ago I used to fiddle with cross stitch myself and I really can appreciate how difficult it can be to select the correct colour thread when they are all so close in tones - and don't even get me started on the amount of time it can take to complete a square inch. Anne showed us all several completed cross stitch 'paintings', all so neat, flat, clean and fresh. But, the piece that has us all in awe was the beautiful full portrait of Santa, with angels, by a fully decorated Christmas Tree. Started some 6 years ago and finished recently in Canada, this work is an absolute family heirloom. Costing well over £100 to frame alone it was simply stunning, decorated with beads and gold thread. I knew Anne had a photo of this lovely work on her facebook profile and I am sure she won't mind me sharing it with you all. The photo doesn't do the work justice - but you get the idea.

I ♥ my pedometer

Here's a little bit of (useless) trivia for you. This morning I was getting all my bits and bobs ready for a private class near Diss. It took me almost 2 hours to get all the sundry items counted out, boxed up & loaded into the car. As you can imagine, there's a lot of stuff - probably more in sundry items than actual painting equipment. What's more, according to my pedometer, I managed to walk almost 2 miles in the many trips from my studio outside, to my car. Tomorrow I shall wear the pedometer again and see just how far I walk during a class. Both yesterday's students and Pop Art customer remarked I had lost even more weight. I'm not so sure, but I certainly am clocking up the miles on foot.

Senile moment!

What a plonker. Yesterday on my 30 minute drive to Heartlands I enjoyed listening to the Chris Moyles show on Radio 1. As I was driving along, through several miles of roadworks, I could hear the feint noise of police sirens. I was scanning my wing and rear view mirrors to see what the fuss was about. I couldn't see a thing and the sirens mysteriously stopped. 3 times this happened before I realised it was background effects in Timbaland's song 'If we ever meet again'. Is this a sign of old age? Thank heavens Chris wasn't playing the 23 minute, 6 piece suite, Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd. I'd have probably took cover from bombs, avoiding the wild horses.

When it's Spring again....

I mentioned Spring.........and this morning I got the distinct impression it really was just around the corner. As I drove to Heartlands the sun was bright and streaming through the window (must get my windscreen washed!). Had there been a touch more greenery on the trees it could have passed for a fresh March morning. Interestingly, in today's class were students who had been painting with me for over 2 years. There was also Marlene, a complete beginner. I asked Marlene if she was nervous bering in mind the other students' experience. She was. But, within 20 minutes after the class started she realised that a complete beginner can slot in very easily indeed. In fact, if you had pulled a complete stranger off the street and asked them to pick out who was the novice, who were the regulars and who was the teacher, they'd be hard pushed to make that decision. Don't believe me? maybe you should give it a go - it's a money back guarantee to all first time students and I've not had to give a refund to any of my students yet. I've added more Heartland's dates to the Class timetable HEREif anyone would like topaint in this idyllic rural setting.

Little Venice - literally !

I saved the leftover paint from class on Friday, scraped it up and set it out on a clean palette. I'd prepared a tiny canvas earlier in the week as I'd planned to make a mini version after the class. Alas, other events cropped up and by the time I had some free time, it was a bit too late to make a start. But today, I finished my tasks earlier than anticipated - so I was able to dedicate the afternoon to fussing over 'Little Venice'. This tidler will be framed and will also be entered into exhibition later this year.

Venetia - a 2 day painting project

I needed to refresh my memory on a little area on the 'Venetia' painting. I'm teaching the second stage of it later this week. I've actually ended up painting the whole thing again, partly to increase my speed and partly to double check the bit I wasn't 100% sure about. (You can see I don't leave anything to chance when it comes to a painting class!) What I'm left with is a completely different colour tone - which just illustrates how colour mixes can change a painting. Probably mood has a big influence too. A bold and fearless student will paint a completely different painting to a quiet and timid person. If you scroll down you'll see the much richer and deeper earlier version of the same composition.

Change of date

I have rescheduled tomorrow's class 'Woodland's End' to Saturday 6th February. In fairness, I only advertised this class on the website a week ago, which was a little ambitious on my part and very short notice for students too. Details and images of the up coming painting subjects and dates can be found HERE.

One for the kids (and the grown ups) this summer holiday

Swimming Free - that lovely whale scene which was designed by Jack Kolber, a fellow ACI in the States, is a painting that is absolutely ideal for children. Its always nice to have children along in a class and us adults learn a lot from their sheer bravado. I think it's time to make this a painting subject for the school summer holidays so any children who are budding artists can come along. For those of you with children, it's the ideal painting subject for mum/dad and son/daughter to paint along together (plus you'll receive a £5 discount each on your class fee too.) I'll be having 2 'Swimming Free' workshops in August. One in Capel (in Suffolk near Ipswich) at a weekend and another one in East Bergholt (in Essex near Colchester) on a week day. This link will take you to the CLASS TIMETABLE so you can check on the dates and other painting subjects currently available. If you're interested in these classes, just give me a call on 01473 311938 or drop me a line on info@ayoubart.co.uk to book your seat. Everything is supplied for you - all you need to do is turn up with a smile and a desire to learn something new.