3 September 2025
27 August 2025
We explored soft pastel and oil pastel today, as well as pastel papers and card. Our subject matter was vegetables. We practised with really seeing the shapes and dimensions of the vegetables, double checking that the shapes that we had drawn were the same shapes that we were really seeing with our eyes. We then looked at colour, texture, light and shadow.
We also did the ‘Thumb & Penny’ experiment, where we get back in touch with our binocular, or stereoscopic, vision; this practice really helps us to see the depth of the objects in our world, and can assist us when drawing what we see around us.
Thank you everyone, for a fun, and messy, session!
20 August 2025
We had a bracing time drawing outside with our artists’ drawing tools today. Well done, everyone! We finished off by drawing the views from inside where it was a little warmer. We learned about, and experimented with, all kinds of charcoal, compressed charcoal, graphite sticks, Conté, and graphite and carbon mixed drawings tools. We experimented with various Derwent wax based drawing pencils also.
We looked at how we create a ‘unit’ when drawing a view (or person) from observation, and using that ‘unit’ as our measuring base. Lorraine kindly offered her head for part of our demonstration, thank you, Lorraine!
13 August 2025
This week we worked from household appliances, items and gadgets using ready made pens. We made sample sheets to explore our pens and the marks that we could create from them. We then did continuous line drawings to warm up before drawing in our usual way from the objects.
There are some excellent drawings here, really very well done everyone. Drawing from items such as these really does require careful looking: taking time to look at shapes and proportions before drawing is really important, ensuring that we are really seeing what is there rather than what the brain thinks it sees. I’m really glad that someone brought in a fountain pen to draw from because I had forgotten to mention that. If any of you have fountain pens, do have a go drawing from them.
There are also some charcoal drawings where some of you continued from last week, as well as more work on the Large Picture of which we are enjoying the weekly instalments of, including this week work on the deer and fox, the idea being to make sure all the elements harmonise with each other. Again, well done all of you!
30 July 2025
A great session today. Really good work produced, well done everyone. We experimented with ways to use willow charcoal in order to achieve a range of effects. We tried out these effects on white, grey and black papers to see what the differences would be. The differing textures of the papers also contributed to the resulting studies. We then used what we had learned to draw from draped fabrics, focusing on highlight and shadow, but with added texture and detail on many of the pieces. Really excellent charcoal work today, very well done everyone.
We also have the continued work of an artist’s book, which is slowly being filled with abstracted, mixed-media, decorations, patterns and images. These studies and artworks are inspiration for standalone art pieces, one of which was finished today, and involves stitching onto watercolour paper - a wonderful, celebratory piece of artwork. Also there is a series of nature inspired works, begun in Diane’s Garden utilising mixed media and including actual plants as well as collage - very creative and imaginative artworks. Also more progress on one of the pieces from the ‘Larger Artwork” project which now has three magnificent avian characters in sublime colour. And, a fabulous larger artwork, completed, with a fantastic and dynamic composition, brought fully to life by the grande finale of glorious colour.
16 July 2025
9 July 2025
Our fourth year at Diane’s garden! A huge thank you to Diane for having us back again, we were made to feel so welcome. We had such a wonderful time, drawing, painting, and enjoying the “tranquility”. Thank you also to Alison and Linda B for being the best hosts, making much needed cups of tea, and for allowing us to traipse in and out of their lovely home to use the loo.
I will let the photos and artwork speak for themselves.
And who knows, maybe we will be super lucky and return once again to to this beautiful garden!
A great end to our book and ‘large’ project today. Some of you have finished, and some are still working on final bits. Some have already started the next project, working from observation! Do enjoy these photos everyone, bear in mind that some are not quite finished. I didn’t get photos of everyone’s work I do apologise.
A huge thank you for your participation in the project, and to those that began it way back last autumn - a HUGE thank you for staying the course, you have done so well! Do pat yourselves on the back, all of you. Good work. I have enjoyed it so much, I have learned so much too - that book binding! And the wonderful talk from artist Kate Wells also. How lucky we are.
Looking forward to the next project!
18 June 2025
Today we spent an absolutely delightful, summer’s afternoon at Beaumont Park. What a range of fabulous and differing subject matter and views to draw and paint. A really good one for sketching in. Thank you all for your bravery in drawing and painting outdoors; and you all did really lovely work as is evidenced in the photos. Well done!
11 June 2025
We have a wide variety of artwork from this afternoon’s session. We have some large floral pieces, which are giving the chance for experimentation in watercolour, exploring composition, pattern, colour and mark-making. In another larger piece we have various media being used together including watercolour and posca pen to create a more abstracted design using circles as a starting point - this piece is potentially going to be sewn onto as well.
We have a lovely watercolour study of the flowers that I brought in, looking at depth using the white of the paper and layers of watercolour - the flowers are alive on the paper. The large apple watercolour painting is now finished - very well observed pieces of apple looking at highlights and shadows, texture and colour, and with a lightly painted grass background.
We have the beginnings of a lovely composition of a floral arrangement inspired by Rennie Macintosh - watch this space for the colour. Then there are more apples, but by a different artist, and using graphite to render light and shadows as well as texture - you can almost pick the apples up off the page. Then, watercolour studies in painting chive flowers, mixing and trying out different shades and tones of violet, and a larger chive flower placed centrally on beautiful hand made watercolour paper, with a surprising amount of detail considering the textured paper.
Inspired by the idea of painting something that is very small but on a large scale, we have micro life of a pond, using mixed media, watercolour, ink and pen - the jewels colours and application of paint are very evocative.
A series of practice portraits in charcoal and graphite follow, exploring interesting face shapes, as well as having opportunity to get to know a variety of noses, eyes, mouths and chins! What great characters these portrait works have.
There is a very sensitive and lyrical portrayal of a musician, in a limited watercolour palette of flowing colours that sing from the page.
And then cat studies using pen, graphite and watercolour pencil, these were exploring ways to portray depth with different media - there is a real sense of cat-ness in these studies!
And finally, more work on the dove this afternoon, with coloured pencils using gorgeous coloured greys and beautiful mark-making.
A lovely session, thank you all so much!
28 May 2025
21 May 2025
14 May 2025
Today we started our ‘larger’ artworks. Some of the works in the photos are works-in-progress, and may be changed when you next see them! So far, we have three works that are on the large A1 paper that I brought in. One person used willow charcoal to draw a beautifully observed scene of another student at her table with curtains, bunting, and arched window behind her: large, light and flowing strokes were used; there is a lot of life in this drawing. Another student used dynamic and expressive black willow and various compressed charcoals along with red pastel / conté to draw a fittingly large oriental poppy onto her A1 paper. These two images were photographed outside (after being ‘fixed’) to give a sense of their scale.
On another sheet of A1, in pencil and using an artist’s work as a starting point, we have the beginnings of a series of human and animal faces and bodies flowing into and out of each other - very evocative. Then we have a continuation of the very worthy cat experiments, in chalk pastel, working with the pastels to create both flat and three dimensional forms of various parts of the cats, as well as studies in mixing pastel colours to create depth (as opposed to a single colour, such as instead of using the black pastel, using a variety of dark colours to create rich ‘blacks’). It is always good to spend some time on studies, we learn a lot.
A sketchbook flower study using line drawn with ink pen has been turned into a larger, more abstract and vibrantly coloured piece (not yet finished). Then, taking inspiration from Joni Mitchel’s artwork is the starting point for a very moving double self-portrait in graphite pencil. After that is a calligraphic study using a beautiful pen, and a blackbird in coloured pencil shows the workings out of an idea for a bigger piece - a beautiful example showing the power of text and image.
Finally, impressively woven papers and magazines make the background for two paintings: one, a seaside scene with houses, tiles, boats and netting; and the other, a woman holding a child, created by painting over - and sometimes incorporating the original images from - magazine papers. Truly inspirational.
AMAZING work, everyone, I am so impressed, what a fantastic session!
30 April 2025
Today we continued working on our ideas for our larger piece of work. Also, it was absolutely beautiful at the hall, and so how could at least one of you not go outside?! It was glorious and it is good to take advantage of the weather whenever possible. You are always welcome to draw and paint outside at anytime, regardless of what project we might be working on; the result is a sensitively drawn landscape in graphite pencil, with focus on differing textures of the wall, gate, tree, filed, sky, path and vegetation: very good markmaking.
There was also experimentation with a set of new waterproof inks, using flower motifs to try out different techniques to see what results happen. Also glorious experimentation in colour with burnt orange wallflowers, using watercolour. Another image shows exploration of creating depth in very dark purple-brown hellebores, a challenge that is working really well.
Then we have some compelling portrait studies in differing media on light brown paper to see how each media behaves. Another student tried out chalk pastels for the fist time in her ongoing exploration of different media using cats as the subject matter, with some lovely and creative results in the use of colour.
And then we have someone who did watercolour explorations from a live flower, as well as tackling one of Rosie Sanders watercolour artworks, creating a careful and beautiful study of one of her watercolour pitcher plants (from one of the books that I brought in).
Thank you, everyone, and I will see you on Wed 14 May.
23 April 2025
During this session, more artwork was made in the “circles sketchbook” using a variety of mixed media including watercolour paint, posca pens and tissue! Someone else took the opportunity to test out their new coloured pencils, looking particularly at the three primaries (red, yellow and blue) and having two of each, a ‘warm’ and a ‘cool’; they then played with mixing them (by overlaying the pencils marks over each other) to see what happens.
We have some beautiful waterlily leaves in the “leaf sketchbook” which I believe is now completed! Another sketchbook shows some studies looking into light, pale colour ideas as well as experimentation with a multi-view picture composition. And a watercolour test (there were more) of flowers, trying out different techniques and compositions in preparation for the larger work.
Well done, everyone, such fantastic and wonderful ideas!
9 April 2025
Here are some photos from today’s session, the start of our preparatory work in our sketchbooks, for a large piece.
These are all studies and works in progress and some changed even after I took the photos (apologies, I didn’t get photos of everyone’s work). Ideas for the prep sessions were studying flowers, looking at other artists’ work, creating a mix of images to create a narrative, experimenting with different watercolour techniques, trying out techniques for drawing sheep (I missed off some other great sheep drawings here), exploring coloured tiles using woven newspaper and magazines, exploring allotments, and exploring washing on a line.
All wonderful topics to be playing with. For some, these first ideas will morph and change. A wonderful session, thank you for your participation!
26 March 2025
We continued in our hand made sketchbooks today, including wonderfully energetic, mixed media red and purple circles, creating a vibrant composition across a long landscape format. A limited colour palette of water soluble pencils were used to create green leaves that come alive from the page. Yellow violas were used as a way of testing a brand new watercolour set, and the watercolours and skill have brought out the sweetness of these minute flowers. More exploration on the moors theme continued with testing out chalk pastel and water soluble pencils, as well as experimenting with adding depth to the original watercolour from last week. A damaged sketchbook was the inspiration for trying out a series of abstracted designs that are energetic and full or movement and even music!
A cat silently walks in exotic water-soluble floral undergrowth. With a nod to the next project, we have studies across sketchbook pages of hands, faces and whisky tumblers: what a characterful hand. A chalk pencil cat washed itself in front of our eyes and we can sense it is about to turn around and stare at us. Chalk pastel pencils are positively glowing against black paper, whilst gouache daffodils invite quiet and calm within their serene gaze. Pencil cats studies from another artists’ work have been drawn with care and consideration to the subject matter, making the drawn lines speak to us of soft fur, twitching ears, and sensitive whiskers. Finally, a visual poem story that takes us on a journey over each individual, beautiful page. A great session, thank you, everyone.
19 March 2025
To start off, we have a sketchbook made from a single folded sheet of A4 paper, (so like a card) creating 4 pages with four different continuous line drawings (trying out ideas for abstracted drawings of buildings). Someone else (who loves trees) worked across a double page of their sketchbook creating a tree skyline in ink pen - experiments in ink pen has been the focus of this sketchbook. A colour wash may be added over the top of the ink.
The ‘leaf’ themed book was continued with, experimenting with drawing very dried and curled holly leaves in various media and in differing techniques, and all within interlocking circles (another theme of the book). Another person drew from seashells that they brought in, and then created differing compositional ideas using shape and colour inspired by the shells to create a variety of effects using pen and watercolour wash.
Someone else did a landscape experiment in their handmade watercolour sketchbook, from images that they had come across linked to the same theme and colours found in Kate Well’s heather moors artwork - the watercolour has been used very sensitively with regard to its innate qualities, rendering the differing parts of the scene, allowing the paint to be loose and free. And the experiments in cats continued with pen and wash, experimenting with putting cats in different environments, including one in a beach sunset scene, rendered lightly and thoughtfully, and again, allowing the watercolour to be expressive. Well done, everyone!
12 March 2025
Today we had the pleasure of welcoming artist Kate Wells to our lovely art studio space. Kate very kindly brought lots of sketchbooks and artwork to show us, and gave us the most beautiful talk about her work.
Kate began by talking about the paper in sketchbook and how she feels an affinity with certain types of paper. She explained how she likes a firm sketchbook as it keeps all her work safe. She related that a “sketchbook is how you live”: sometimes organised, sometimes not. She expressed how a sketchbook is a very personal thing, and we all will have our differing preferences. She showed us her latest small sketchbook (Moleskine), that goes with her wherever she goes and is always at hand, together with a small selection of drawing and painting media. She even demonstrated how she might use a sketchbook outside, firstly with pen which she smudged with spit, and then with a travel watercolour set and water pen. She carries with her a piece of elastic to keep her pages from blowing about outside.
She described how she leaves the first pages of a sketchbook free to write inspirational words on. The quotes that she read out were from people “who all knew about the sacredness of art and how it feeds your spirit.” She spoke about the “aliveness of line” and how the drawing tool that you use becomes part of your hand, your body: “a live living line that communicates”. She said that what she draws in her sketchbook might find its way through to the sewing machine [and this could be any method that we use to create art]; “there is a language and an aliveness that comes through to what I might play with in the studio.”
She showed us the process that she went through to create a stole that featured children’s colourful hand shapes at the base and flowing rainbow colours sweeping up the stole. She revealed how she began to keep ‘themed’ sketchbooks that she termed “working books” that contained her “working thoughts” and would enable her to keep similar studies, samples, experiments, etc, for a piece of work or series of works, in one sketchbook. These books are labeled. She shared with us a book in which she created studies of moorland heather, and where she had used gouache paint as opposed to water-colour, because it is thicker and it can be scratched into. She had also used candle wax over acrylic paint to portray dried plant stems. She observed that the studies in her sketchbooks are “never formulaic, it is always trail and error”, and she often finds herself looking to see what she can salvage. She had a book printed featuring studies from a sketchbook that she used whilst researching for a landscape commission based in North Norfolk. The printed book showed her progress towards the final and finished stitched artwork.
Her bigger books are Seawhite of Brighton (you can get them in Calder Graphics in Huddersfield, as well as online art shops). She has also created studies on paper and fabric that were too big to go into a sketchbook and so she made ‘sketchbooks’ from portfolios using plastic sleeves
Kate finished by saying that “…creating art is a form of praise because this world is beautiful.” Kate’s website is here: https://www.katewellsartist.co.uk/
A huge thank you to Kate for giving us a very special talk that we will always remember. And thank you everyone, for your enthusiasm during the session. We will be inspired for a long time to come!
