Three in One!

Three paintings from different areas of UK! One from inland Wales, one from Norfolk coast and one from the Lake District. The first one is from the small parish of St Margaret Newton in Wales very near Hay on Wye, I liked the Church so much I was inspired to do it again, a second time. Just changed the style a bit as well as the angle.

The second one is from one of the West Norfolk coasts. It is a simple  and uncomplicated coastal scene, with everything crisp about it.

The third one is from a scene on the way to Wastwater, Cumbria in Lake District. Very exciting scene with lots of things going on all over, water, bridge, buildings, walls, gate, sky, trees and mountain and fields. Started with some under painting which helped in maintaining the harmony in  a painting where each element is fighting for the viewer's attention.

Thanks for viewing, comments welcome!

It's All About Art!

Three days full of painting demonstrations and workshops, in all media(I missed one though!) at Islington, London from 22 to 24th July, 2010. Great opportunity to see famous art teachers at work through out the day and to learn their tricks and techniques.Terry Harrison, Geoff Kersey, Matt Palmer, Fiona Peart, Vic Bearcroft - just to name a few I liked. I enjoyed spending two full days there. It was fun to do workshops and I tried soft pastels which were good for portraits.

 This was Geoff Kersey demonstrating a winter scene.

This was Terry Harrison demonstrating a summer scene.
Here are my versions. The last two are done  with pastels:

Thanks for viewing, comments welcome! Have a nice day!

Putting Punch into Watercolour

Just returned from a grinding 3 day painting course 'Putting Punch into Watercolour' by famous painter and author Tony Paul in  a picturesque village - Castle Rising in West Norfolk, close to Kings Lynn. He taught us a new technique developed by him and for 3 days we were trying to put that to work in our paintings. We did all our paintings 'pleine aire'  and under difficult weather conditions. Especially the second day when we went to Old Hunstantion beach where it was very windy and blistery. I enjoyed the whole trip thoroughly and the experience of painting outdoors, the course was finished off with the teacher's analysis and  evaluation of all our paintings. Though I understood his concept, I could not bring that out in my paintings because of various reasons, but I plan to redo all of them to see if I can master the technique he taught us. Here are some of the pictures from the course:

 

The West Norfolk Arts Centre

 

Our teacher giving tips

 

The subject of our teacher's demo

The result of the teacher's demo

My effort, after spending a good 3 hours!

My effort of the afternoon, had tough time with my greens!

Subject of my Sunday morning painting, Old Hunstantion beach.

My painting done in typical coastal windy conditions. My easel was blown up twice and my palette was full of sand!

Our well earned lunch, at the Ancient Mariner.

We moved into the village of Old Hunstantion to paint in less hostile conditions. I chose this subject for my painting.

After 3 hours, I produced this.

After the class, I managed to do some sightseeing, this lavender farm was fascinating!

I chose this view for my subject on the third day.

My painting of it.

I was not sure if we understood what we were taught well enough, so we requested for another demo, which Tony Paul kindly agreed to.

 

His version of the same scene. All in all it was a very demanding 3 days and every moment of it was enlightening. Lots to think over and lots to put into practice! Thanks for sharing my experience! Have a nice day! Looking forward to the big event in London coming week, 'Art for All' by Society for All Artists in Islington Business Design Centre!

The Orangery-Kensington Palace, London

This building is adjacent to the Kensington Palace and is called 'Orangery', housing a restaurant among other things. It was  an early winter evening and the light was rather diffused. The highlights of the building and the parasols providing the right contrast, I painted rather loosely taking care to preserve the whites in this moody composition. Arches 300lbs NOT 34cm x 24cm. Comments welcome! Thanks for viewing! Have a nice weekend!nice weekend!

 

On Her Majesty's Service

Close on the heels of my previous portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, comes this one, totally unplanned, unprepared! There were other projects waiting to be started, some waiting to be finished, but why did I embark on doing the Queen again? Of course I am not obsessed with the Royalty, except that on two different occasions, I chanced to meet them, the Queen and Prince Phillip,(Queen's Garden Party and Cambridge Hon'y Degree Convocation) recently. This is from a photo while she was on a visit to Canada recently. The earlier one was when she was at the Wimbledon this year.

(P.S: 1. Just a thought, on both these occasions, is she wearing the same dress? Is it due to the Squeeze?

2. At this rate, will I end up doing Merkel? Time only will tell.) Thanks for viewing! Comments welcome.