More space

Over the next few weeks there will be some design changes to the studio / classroom. The downstairs office is being emptied which will give a lot more room for a gallery, a few more desks and storage for art supplies. Already the door has been removed and the difference in the light is great. I think that dark door had quite an overpowering effect. It'll take a little while to get completely straight but I do love a re-vamp.

Experiment for yourselves - and save some money

Many of you know already but for those of you who don't. In all my trials and tests on oils paints I have found pretty much most popular brands are suitable for the wet on wet technique. In today's class I quite happily proved this by using a total of not 1, not 2 but 5 different brands of paint. As I'm not tied into using any specific brands I'm free to use exactly what I want. One thing I will not do is compromise on standard and if it doesn't pass the test it finds itself left on a shelf somewhere in the dark and cobwebby recesses of my studio. With all these brands of paint squirted onto the palette side by side they all looked the same in consistency. You'd never know...... It's far better to pay attention to the actual quality of your painting surface, your base medium and the brushes you use. I really hope, as a tutor, I open up the many options available to students who want to set themselves up at home. Can anyone remember the test I done about 5 years ago? I painted 2 versions of the same painting side by side using identical brushes. Painting number 1 was made with student quality paint. Painting number 2 was made with professional artist paint. To give you a paint price comparison a 37ml tube of cad red student quality paint is £1.99, a 37ml tube of cad red professional artist quality paint is £10.39. 7 colours were used for the painting subject. When the painting was completed and dried I used to take them both along to art classes, explain what I had done, and ask the students to pick out which was the 'dear' one. And not many could. In one class I had another art instructor who studied both paintings, laughed and said 'Ha, it's obvious' and picked the wrong one. So, have fun, experiment, if you like a colour but it's not your usual brand - try it, the chances are in your favour it will probably work for you and mix in with your other paints just fine.

Let the sun shine in.....

Recently influenced by the beautiful weather, I was determined to create a new painting class subject and sat browsing through some holiday photos for inspiration. I flung open the double doors of my studio and let the sun and heat stream in - I put my new CD on the player, turned up the volume. I made myself a lovely glass of cold pineapple juice. Out came the paints and off we went. It almost takes me as long to record each stage in my note book as it does to paint it. But - my notes are vital if I want to re-create it as exactly as I can. If any of you are familiar with Joyce Ortner, you'll know that's the way she works too. She even suggests keeping a 'recipe book' for al the colours that you mix, which is a great idea too. Anyways - I leave you with Cor Phew. You can see a larger version of this painting in my class subjects gallery.