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Express Yourself

With Colour, Collage and Texture.

My next art workshop, on Monday 16th September is Colour, Collage and Texture in Abstract Painting. In some ways I think this workshop is all about how to become more expressive in your art. How we make use of colour, or bring in outside elements like collage and texture can have a massive impact on the look and feel of a painting. It can also help us express ourselves in ways that are more authentic and personal as we get closer and more in touch with those elements that inspire, delight or bring us satisfaction and joy in our painting.

New Techniques

I am really looking forward to this session and thought I would write something more about what I am planning to help you decide if this workshop is for you. The intention for the day is to spend most of the morning on exploring the three elements of the workshop title. People who attend will then go away with lots of new techniques and ways to use colour, collage and texture in their work.

Sketchbook Collage from the 100 Day Project

Learn About Colour

As someone who has been teaching in various different guises for over 20 years I know how important it is to have a solid foundation in the basics. We will take a brief look at the colour wheel and some simple and straightforward ways of understanding and working with colour. Lots of people find understanding colour and how to work with it a bit intimidating. I hope to demystify some of the theory for you as well as offering some simple ways to give you more confidence and knowledge about colour as well as the tools to bring more harmony to your paintings.

Next we will be making our own collaging papers. There are lots of ways we will be approaching this, from simple printing, using stencils, wax resist and different mark making tools. The last part of the morning will be to look at creating texture with paint. I will demonstrate how I do this as well as setting up some simple exercises for you to experiment and practice for yourselves.

Following lunch we will make some larger paintings and studies, by putting some of the techniques and ideas we have learnt in the morning into practice. There will be plenty of time and opportunity to complete a piece along with lots of input and coaching from me.

Places are limited and there are only a few left. Thinking this might be the next workshop you need to move your art practice on? You can book your place here via my online booking page.

Hope to see you soon.

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This Week Colour

If last week was all about value, then this week has been all about colour.

After a few months of consolidation I feel like I am in the middle of another period of development in my art practice.  I’ve been aware over the last three months or so that I’ve not been as keen to go into the studio, the work hasn’t been flowing quite as easily and I’ve been feeling slightly dissatisfied with the paintings I have been making.   Reflecting on this, it seems that I’ve not been that excited by what I have been making. It hasn’t felt that new, but more of a variation on a theme that began about a year ago.   And I haven’t quite known how to change that.

So I have been thinking, and painting and getting feedback, and painting and thinking some more.  And then I watched one of Nicholas Wilton’s short videos on Colour and something clicked.  I already had knowledge and awareness of how to de-saturate colour to reduce it’s intensity.  As we do this the colours adjacent will then be seen with greater contrast. But like many things that are part of ongoing learning and development we can come at something we think we already know and with a new context experience it differently.  We can find a different perspective and discover something new or that we hadn’t quite grasped.  Sometimes we experience a greater level of understanding and integration.  So, the video was something of a light bulb moment as several things fell into place and I understood why I’d not been liking my work.  I began to get some ideas about how to change it.

Working with Limited Palette

Firstly I had been working with limited palettes. Generally no more than three colours, with variations of light and dark.

I had also been wanting to bring in a sense of space and simplicity to the design of my work.  But because the colours were so limited, the paintings were feeling too simple. As a result I was then using lots of texture to compensate and create more interest.  Resulting in work that was beginning to feel the same or certainly very similar.

When I did use more colours, because I was working with paint that was only slightly de-saturated the work would feel garish.  And rather than think to de-saturate the colour further,  I would paint over it and go back to the limited palette. And round again.,

 

So, armed with a greater understanding  I have playing with de-saturating colour and it has felt very different. I think  I have a lot still to learn about how to do this, make it work effectively with how I paint. Design takes on a whole new set of exciting challenges.  I definitely feel a sense of lightness and space that wasn’t so easy to attain before.  And I am experimenting in new ways with new ideas.

Does this experience sound familiar to you?  Have you found something in your art practice that you revisit and gain new understanding each time?

Useful Links

See some of my work at the Chatsworth Exhibition during January and February with Peak District Artisans.

Sign up for my email challenge which has a exercises all geared to support you in boosting your artistic confidence.