Ready for delivery

Many of my students have been passing remark about my latest WIP that's been sat on an easel in the studio.

Today I put the final strokes on this little fella and he'll be delivered, along with another portrait, tomorrow. I have to say, I'm sad to see this one go.

Some of you might just detect an essence of recognition about those eyes . You won't have known this handsome chap at this young age, but he's a much more familiar 'Edward' to us all, now standing over 6 foot tall, aged 17 and my ever attentive assistant.

Fingers crossed his mum will love her Birthday present.

Portraits are really proving fun

I know a lot of my customers and students have given portraits (both oils and Pop Art) as Christmas gifts this year.

The feedback from the delighted recipients has been brilliant.

'I can't believe you painted that'

'You did this yourself???' '

It's beautiful, thank you so much'

'Can you do some more'

If you'd like to have a go at portraiture, do have a look at my timetable to see if there are any dates that suit.

If not, just ask.......

Just this minute a distant customer has been in touch about portrait lessons. Her friend is coming to Ipswich for a weekend. Too good an opportunity to miss, she's managed to get herself a lift and we'll be working on 2 portrait projects over the course of 2 days.

Meanwhile.......here's one that went to Mr Andre just before Christmas.

DVD Number 2 - Bamburgh Castle

I'm pleased to have been in some of your Christmas stockings this year. The Bamburgh Castle DVD, despite being a very British landmark, has proven to be as popular overseas as it is here in the UK. I haven't received any photos of finished paintings just yet, but I'm sure they will start to filter through quite soon. One customer, Irene, writes: I have just sat and watched the dvd and found it excellent, you explain everything in a way that is easy to grasp and found all your tips and method of working very informative.I have learnt loads in the 100 min. it took to view the dvd.
I am new to oil painting and have just started using water mixable oils and I am sure I will be able to follow your instructions using this other type of oils........ If you'd like to add Bamburgh Castle to your tuitional DVD collection you can find the shopping basket for it here. At just £11.75 delivered to your door you can paint this in your own time in the comfort of your own home.

Worth a look

I'd like to draw your attention to a chap from Ohio. David Steffy is an oil painting instructor, who, with some encouragement has launched an independant website. David has been sharing his work for some time on my FORUM and his input has been valuable to all. You see, David has developed a new concept with the wet on wet, incorporating biblical characters into his compositions. Recently he completed a rather large composition and showed his half way progress so we could comment. The picture in question is not only magnificent, it is also a fund raising charity painting. I'm sure you will join me in wishing David all the best with this. Do pop over and give him a visit, you won't be disappointed. CLICK HERE and if you have 5 minutes, do give his website some feedback by signing his guestbook.

An Unusual Lesson

I conducted a rather unusual lesson the other week..........my students had supplied me with a swatch of curtain material and a photo of their new settee. They wanted nothing more than to paint their own contemporary or abstract artwork to hang in their soon-to-be decorated lounge. I'd explained that this would not be a follow my lead/step by step workshop. Instead, I would give them a wide selection of brushes, a few pointers, illustrate some special effects and be on hand if they needed any assistance. The palette had already been selected, so pretty much anything they made would have gone with the decor. We started off by putting masking tape over some areas and blocking of sections of canvas and blending various tones. As the day progressed some rather pretty effects materialised. Here's one lady's almost completed piece and she's absolutely delighted with it - a pretty oriental cherry blossom theme that will compliment her home beautifully. She may be back to paint some more on different sized canvas to hang on opposite and adjacent walls. I bet that will look really nice, and will make for quite a talking point too.

Valerie Stewart Workshop in the UK - May 2010

The Valerie Stewart demo DVD at just £16 (including p&p) is proving to be a very popular item and a great introduction into oil painting portraits. Valerie and I are currently discussing a portrait workshop here in the UK - a first for both of us. We had hoped to organise a seminar for this year, but alas, our schedules are just too busy to slot this in with ample time for promotion and proper organisation. So, dates have been confirmed for 2010. The 4 day seminar will take place on 30th April, 1st, 2nd and 3rd May. We will complete 2 oil painting portraits of your choice. Further details will be released as soon as they are available and long distance students will have more than enough time to organise accommodation and travel/flights. This opportunity to paint along with Valerie will be extremely exciting and places will be limited to just 26 students. The workshops will take place in Capel St Mary and students will need to commit to the full 4 days. I'm thrilled this extremely popular and talented instructor is willing to teach here in the UK - this will be one memorable class, guaranteed.

Learn to paint Portraits in Oils - Step by Step

AyoubArt is proud to become a distributor for Valerie Stewart Studios. Both Valerie's 'Portrait Painting Technique DVD' and 6 DVD Portrait series are now available to buy direct from the UK. I've just added a new DVD to the Valerie Stewart collection: The one hour demo DVD, 'Painting The Face' (Revised Second Edition) is designed to teach you how the Valerie Stewart Portrait Painting Technique works. It will take you through each step of painting a portrait, from beginning to end. You will learn everything - from one colour under painting to the final touches necessary to paint a quality portrait. For your viewing convenience, you may skip this DVD to various sections of information. There are 8 chapters: 1) Colour mixing 2) One colour underpainting 3) Colour application 4) Painting the lips 5) Painting eyes 6) Painting Hair 7) Clothing. At just £16, which includes postage and packing to any European address - I have immediate availability on this item. The shopping cart can be found HERE - or, if you prefer, payment can be made by cheque - payable to Sue Warne and sent to Apollo House, 10 Windmill Hill, Capel St Mary, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2JF.

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

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.

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.

I'm stuck............till tomorrow anyway!

Today, after pretty much another full day of painting, I decided I still had a little bit of creativity left in the brushes. I prepped a fresh canvas and just squirted a small amount of black, white and grey oil paint onto a fresh palette. I didn't know what I was going to paint, I just made a start to see what would flow. It was an exercise to unwind and 'get loose' more than anything else.

I stopped when I reached this point as I was tired. I was very tempted to just push in some foreground bushes and throw in a large 'bravery test' tree.......but I didn't. It's not always wise to paint when you're tired. I think I'd rather leave this one until tomorrow to see what to add to finish this painting off. If you've any suggestions please drop me a line on info@ayoubart.co.uk

Alan thinks the painting should stay as it is...... so I'll consider that option also.

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.

A new painting subject

We have another oil painting of a waterfall scene to add to the portfolio. Free Falling is a warm landscape with several shades of soft yellows and warm orange-browns. This is suitable for beginners and is available immediately as a private class option.

We learn new things all the time

My local art group often have guest artists to give demonstrations of their specific media or style. I, myself was a guest demonstrator, showing the wet on wet oil painting technique, over a year ago. I loved the group so much that I joined.

Today we had an artist giving a talk and demonstration on composition, shade and colour using acrylics and pastels. The demonstration was concluded with a short step by step workshop.

You can see here a wide range of landscapes completed by some of the members. It's great to put our finished results in a line so we can see the difference in styles amongst ourselves.

Mood, pressure, type of brush and variety of colour mixes ensures that even though we follow the same guide, all paintings, whilst they have their similarities, will look different. So today, I've learned a few more tips about both art and teaching whilst enjoying the company of friends and colleagues who put together a rather tasty buffet.

Some New Work

This week I've scheduled my agenda so that I have some time to spend in my studio. With nothing but a wide open vista and my free-range chickens pecking around me, I'm in my element. I've completed some new paintings which will be suitable for classes aimed at beginners, no previous art skill required (YES REALLY). You'll find the new subjects here: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/15.html

On top of that, I've also found time to indulge myself in creating some artwork just for me. With an exhibition coming up in July I really wanted to submit something a little different.

With just one more day of painting indulgence to go, I have no idea what I will paint or where my mood will take me.

The painting shown here 'The Peaceful Evening' started out with nothing more than a colour selection. I had no pre-set ideas with this, I just shook the painting right out of my brush.

Lap work

Today I really wanted to have another day in my studio but unfortunately the very wet weather and a severe power cut put paid to that idea. But all was not lost...............I have several Pop Art projects on the go at the moment. With half finished celebrity faces laying all around the house, they are a great thing to pick up and work on in fits and starts. As these portraits are made using acrylics, I can work on my lap. So, although I wanted to work on a rather special oil painting project, instead I've completed 2 Pop Arts. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll be able to work in oils tomorrow, while the creative mood is still with me.

Incidentally..........................I am able to teach these Pop Art Portraits to beginners. If you're interested in painting your own idol's portrait this way please contact me on 01473 311938 for details. Alternatively you can view other student's work on my website HERE

The Crossing

This Bank Holiday weekend has been spent painting. On Saturday I enjoyed the day in my studio and worked on this bridge scene 'The Crossing'. I got quite carried away with this and took a lot of time tickling in some really fine details. It's put me in good stead for including a bridge in future painting projects, which was the main aim of the exercise. Now I need to develop a painting, with this stone bridge, that can be taught in an oil painting class in the 5 hour time slot.

Spring's Here........

This week I had set aside some time to complete some new class painting subjects. I have several scenes that are in development and they really do need finalising and fine tuning. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the weather has been so glorious that it seems a shame to be indoors painting. I managed to find a happy medium (pardon the pun) and split my time between working in the garden and working on some paintings.

Here's a couple of new additions to the Class Subjects' Gallery that you might like.

'Flare' - a rather different mountain scene

and

'Spring's Here' - a pretty and colourful floral composition

We'll be painting 'Spring's Here' at Heartlands in July.

For details of my classes please view http://ayoubart.co.uk/17.html

For details of the painting subjects available to beginners please view http://ayoubart.co.uk/15.html

- or you could make enquiries to Sue Warne of Ayoubart on 01473 311938

Easter Offer

As you're all no doubt aware, I am the European Distributor for Darrell Crow Studios. Darrell produces a variety of tuitional DVD's showing extremely detailed, step by step demonstrations in wet on wet technique oil painting. We are currently offering a massive £30 saving on his Basic Techniques in Oil Painting Flowers, currently on sale at just £53. The offer closes on April 1st, when the 13 DVD set returns to £83. The price includes postage and packing. If you'd like to take advantage of this offer Click Here: http://www.ayoubart.co.uk/116.html and you'll be taken to the shopping basket. You will receive approx 26 hours of expert tuition which you can follow at your leisure at home.