February News

Well now, am I feeling like the cat that got the cream, or what.........! Late this afternoon I took delivery of my new custom made easel. If you slip over to my forum, Sue's Arty Party , you can read about the comical demo that Ron gave me when he delivered it. I'm thrilled to be in the company of Keith Fenwick and Terry Harrison, to name but 2 of the professional artists in the UK who own Ron's easels. I'll pop a snapshot of it on Sue's News tomorrow and I'll be putting it through it's paces in Sunday's class too.
Here's some exciting news for anyone wanting to tackle some new painting projects. Jack Kolber's DVD's are now available direct from the UK. For just £22.50, which includes postage and packing, you can receive his Series 1. Jack, of Magic Brush Art, has been an Alexander Instructor in the States since 1990. Jack actually trained under Bill Alexander himself and we've swapped a few stories of those times. The underwater scene 'Lost World', shown below, is just one of the painting subjects included in this step by step 3 DVD set. With 13 painting projects to choose from there's something for everyone. Until I build another webpage to show the different painting subjects, you can view the collection HERE . Tracings for the whales in 'Swimming Free' are included in the package. The shopping basket for this 3 DVD set can be found HERE
My olfactory senses have been well and truly tickled this morning. I popped into our local garden centre to buy some fish food. At the moment they are running a Primrose Festival, which ends on Sunday afternoon. As you walk through the door the heady scent hits you and the sea of colour is truly uplifting. I could almost eat them. The second area I have to pass through to get to the pet centre was just as pretty, with huge displays of hyacinth - you can imagine the strong smell from these. I then had to pass a variety of stalls selling crafts, arts, jewellery and books. Many stalls are raising money for charity, so it's all in a good cause. I found a bargain, 6 books for just £4 for Alan so he can top up on his reads. I finally managed to get to the fish area after giving the new-age boutique a swift body swerve! Not only did I pick up some fish food, I also purchased a couple of white goldfish for our outside pond. They seem quite at home in their new surroundings and have even enticed the 2 smaller fish from beneath the pump. As I type this they're swimming in a follow-the-leader line. Ziggy is keeping a beedy eye on them and is also trying to watch the bird table too......he'll give himself a neck ache before too long. I guess his senses are being stimulated too.
Today I've had a wonderful painting day at home. I had scheduled the day for experimentation and have been playing with some floral compositions. I often get asked about painting florals so I guess it's about time I introduced a few to the gallery. I'm the first to admit that I'm not a great lover of the floral subjects but, despite this, I really had fun developing some projects. More about these later. I also dabbled with an underwater coral reef - complete with 2 little fish. This painting 'Lost City' is from a design by the wonderful Jack Kolber , a very popular and talented Alexander Art Instructor in the US. It's such fun to do with lots of little new things to learn plus different ways to use your brushes too. Afterwards, I was tempted to take a photo of my work station, it had to be seen to be believed. When I am in painting mode, I'm totally focused. To me, why waste painting time cleaning a brush when I can just reach out and grab a fresh one? With 3 easels on the go, 3 palettes and the hugest amount of brushes and paint tubes, I had a mammoth clean up job afterwards. Still, it was all worth it, as you'll see very soon. And......tomorrow I have to do it all again but with acrylics this time.
Last night was a delightful first for me. 'Off the Wall', a Pink Floyd tribute band, were appearing locally. Finally, we witnessed a version of 'Bike' being performed live. I quite like this particular band as they feature a really sharp sax player along with, unusually, a female guitarist. Stella belted out a fabulous version of Great Gig in the Sky, enough to make the hairs on your arm stand on end. These guys will be playing locally again on Friday 29th and again in April. Sometimes you just can't get too much of a good thing. If anyone else out there are Floyd fans, you can see the band's tour dates HERE . Highly recommended.

Things never stay the same for long - progress is fast moving where the internet is concerned. Consequently I am now able to offer the FREE 2 hour 'Basic Technique in painting Water' film as online viewing. Since the FREE DVD offer started, over four years ago, we have delivered over 25,000 DVD's. We just shipped 300 of these DVDs over the past 2 days and we’re finding the demand rising each day. For your convenience, this film has been broken down into 19 bite sized chunks so you do not have to sit in front of your PC for the full 2 hours. If anyone would prefer to have this 2 hour lesson on DVD format it is still an option. There is a small admin charge of £2.50 for this, but this fee can be deducted from the full price of the Basic Techniques 10 DVD set, should you wish to make a purchase. Details can be found HERE

Week 8: 18th February to 24th February

Today's 'Mud' of students will not look at each other's work until their paintings are finished. (Very different from Friday's 'Mud' who were running around the table checking up on each other's progress throughout the lesson.) It's quite a good way of painting, but I don't know how they can resist the temptation to take sneeky peeks. Des really embellished his cascades and added many rocks to his painting. Katie stuck to just the one main rock and she embellished the fine details on her background and foreground trees. My camera remains in the kitchen as I really hope to catch a bouquet of pheasants one of these days. Once again, I took snaps of both paintings but only one has managed to escape the wet light glare (sorry Katie). You can see Des's almost finished work here - see what I mean about those falls?
Mystery solved, thanks to Lee, a student of mine who is an ex-Zoologist (yes, really!)  Lee informs me there are several collective terms for pheasants; a hide, a nest, a club or a bouquet. Like Lee, I prefer to think of my little bunch as a bouquet of pheasants. I never really know when Lee is pulling my leg so I set him another poser. I asked him what the collective term for a bunch of oil painters might be. Hilariously he informs me they are known as 'A Mud'. And if even that's not strictly true.............I think he's just invented a great little phrase. Thanks to Liz who has sent me several photos of her bouquets. I thought I was lucky with 5 pheasants. Liz tells me she has up to 30 in her bouquet who visit her for their breakfast!
Today's students, a father and daughter team, were great fun.  Les arrived with a large painting tucked under his arm. 'Here's one I made earlier', he said. As he turned the painting towards me my eyes widened. At that point I'd have paid HIM to teach ME.  Luckily (phew) he was joking and it was actually a seascape he picked up in his travels.  That pretty much set the tone of the class and I enjoyed listening to their humourous tales. Although we had a good chat there were times when things were very quiet as concentration is essential when paying attention to angles and pressure. That's the time a lot of students, me included, hold our breath. As the camera was close at hand I managed to take snaps of both paintings. Unfortunately Val's painting photo has some reflected light glare so I'll have to take another snap when she returns for her frame. Meanwhile you can see Les's masterpiece. They have attended just one wet on wet class previously - this is their second ever oil painting.  Hard to believe, eh?
Yesterday we had a flock of seagulls....... Today we're a little more rural. This morning when I was making tea I noticed some action at the bottom of the garden.  A rather large pheasant was strutting it's stuff. I called Alan to take a look. His eyes are better than mine and he spotted not one, but five. They were still there when Steffi emerged for breakfast, some 30 minutes later. They soon took flight when we opened the door, armed with a camera..............isn't it always the way!   Does anyone know if there's a collective term for pheasants?
Today I've been trying to work on a seascape......between phone calls and deliveries. I'm often unsettled anyway when I paint seascapes, I guess the crashing waves must have that kind of effect. With the painting 80% finished I felt I needed a break. It just so happened that my daughter was looking to join at a gym and fancies becoming a member of my local spa. Her timing was perfect, I received a phone call from her saying 'I'm at the gym, enrolling - why not come down and meet me for a swim?'. I threw my brushes into a pot, grabbed my gear and shot out the door. 90 minutes later, after 25 lengths, and some bubbling, pumelling, steaming and sauna-ing I returned home. I took one look at the painting and knew just what it needed for completion. Which is lucky, as I'm teaching it tomorrow..........! (My student's and I did have a plan B incase said seascape was not developed).  As an afterthought, I added a couple of detailed seagulls to the painting, but I would not add these in a class unless the students were exceptionally fast painters.  I can give a fact sheet to accompany this seascape to show the breakdown of the birds, ideally they would be nice to add once the painting is dry.
The feedback I've received on the abstract is, on the whole, quite positive. Here's a shot of the one I finished after Lynn's class on Sunday. Now, you readers are viewing the finished article - but - it is only I and Lynn who know what lies beneath as this has been painted directly over another painting, one which does not feature anywhere on any of my websites. Yesterday, as we cleared away at the end of the Heartland's class, I was reluctant to throw away the leftover paint, but with no way of preserving all the individual oil colours we had no choice. Whatever the thoughts on these abstracts, I do think it's an ingenious way to use the leftover paint and an even better way to make best use of old canvases with undesired painting projects on them.  There's just one thing missing from this painting......it's name. Any ideas?
If you've been reading Darrell Crow's website, you'll have seen the article on his home page. It mentions his recent heart surgery, from which he is now recovering. With just 8 weeks to go until his Spring Workshops here in the UK, we've today made a decision to postpone the workshops until October this year. Let's wish Darrell a speedy recovery and look forward to catching up with him in the Autumn.
OK, this is getting beyond a joke now...... Yesterday's student, Lynn, blurted out a big 'WOW' when she entered my dining room and saw the finished abstract drying on the wall. When I explained how it was made she couldn't believe it. I caught Lynn several times looking at it from over her easel and smiling. She told me each time she looked at it, she could see new things in it. When I finished my last stage of demonstration I grabbed another spare canvas and started to 'create' another abstract to show her how it was done. I don't think Lynn can wait to try this for herself - actually it'll be a very good exercise in loosening up before landscape painting. After Lynn left I also used up her remaining paint and even added a few extra colours to complete the second abstract. I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise and I may just put one of these into exhibition next month.....just to test the water - Here's the finished 'Any Colour U Like'.

Week 7: 11th February to 17th February

It took a little while for the garden birds to get used to a feeder I purchased a few months ago..... It stood for an age, fully loaded with bird treats, but untouched. Now it's a totally different story! It's costing around £6 a week in bird food alone but worth every penny. As I sit in my office I have a prime view down the garden. There is always some action going on around the feeder, the bird table and a tree where we tie bird treats. Today I discovered where the nuts are vanishing to. I've just witnessed Bobby, the squirrel scuttling down a tree, just a few feet from where Alan is working! As Alan says.......'I wish he'd leave my nuts alone!'
We have a guest in the Apollo Studio at the moment who has no interest in art or painting at all. He found the accommodation by simply searching the internet for somewhere to stay in Capel. Paul, from Lancashire, is down this way on a long sports weekend and actually used to live in Capel many years ago, so he is more than familiar with the area. He's impressed with the Studio enough to want to come back again, which is always nice to hear. I believe next time he'll be bringing his girlfriend along.........who just happens to have an art degree. So, you don't have paint or even take part in any classes to stay in our little home from home, if it's available, anyone is welcome.
My smudgy little abstract painting, made from the leftover paint, has really won a place with Stef. It's now complete and hangs in the dining room to dry. I wish I had taken a spare canvas with me to yesterday's class as I could have made a start on another - even got the students to participate perhaps! Never mind, I'll make sure I have a spare canvas on hand today so I can use the leftover's from today's private lesson.
Finally the waterfall scene is complete and we will be painting it in Capel St Mary village hall on Sunday April 6th from 12.30pm till 5.30pm. I now have a seascape or two to work on and I think I will then be caught up with painting subjects for a little while. On the back-burner, just for myself, I have a Venetian scene in it's preliminary stages. You can see here a portion of the acrylic underpainting. Hopefully this will be complete and dry in time for exhibition in the late Spring.
Charmin' I've been working hard all day long on another new painting subject. It's a waterfall scene but it's put together in a slightly different way to enhance the background detail. I'm happy with the background and the composition in general but something about it bothers me. This is my 3rd go at this scene and it's still not ticking all the boxes for me. But all is not lost........ I decided, whilst looking at Floyd song titles, to make an unusual abstract. The song title that inspired this was 'Any Colour You Like'. I thought I would use up all the left over oil paint from my painting projects to make a colourful jigsaw, all in knife work. When Steffi came home from work I heard her exclaim 'WOW'............. I immediately thought - mmmmm, perhaps the waterfall scene isn't as bad as I thought it was. But alas, she fell in love with the abstract hanging on the wall. I wouldn't mind, it's nowhere near finished yet and it took me all of 7 minutes to put together!
I often refer to our Apollo Studio Accommodation as my grown up Doll's House. I'm always adding bits and bobs to it, changing it around and thoroughly enjoy getting it ready for guests. But............I now have a new Doll's House to play with. We've just taken delivery of a lovely camper van. I am amazed how much equipment can be put into such a small space. It has a gas hob and grill, ceramic sink, shower, loo, 2 double beds and a single bed. There's curtains, blinds and fly nets, fridge, tv aerial, bike carrier, mains hook-up and storage space just about everywhere. Each time I go shopping I find myself buying a little something for the van. Hopefully, before too long, we'll be able to give it a test run - I can't wait!
Today is your last chance to take advantage of the Valentine's Special Offer. You can have just about all the roses you can handle on 4 DVD's for just £20. You'll find the shopping basket for this offer HERE just scroll down.
I've added a new painting 'Remember a day' to the Class Subjects page, and already this has been booked for a private lesson before the paint has had a chance to dry. This is more than your normal landscape and it illustrates how the addition of a couple of tiny silhouettes add that little extra something to a painting.

Week 6: 4th February to 10th February

A huge round of applause, an explosion of party poppers, a drum roll, a couple of toots on one of those blowy things that unroll as you blow, a 'woop woop woop' and a mexican wave is called for. Joan, a student of mine since just November, called by last night to collect some frames. She announced she'd made her 4th painting sale. She also remarked about the beautiful sunset she had just driven through. Joan then went on to say how she is looking at scenes and mentally breaking them down into layers so she can paint them. I really enjoy hearing students speaking like this, it shows me that they have become more aware of their surroundings and are starting to look at everyday things with an artist's eye. I don't think we've heard the last of this talented lady........
It's fast approaching that 'romantic' time of year and Alan's done it again. He arrived home today smiling and saying 'I've picked you up a couple of bottles'. Isn't that sweet? But before I got swept away, the bottles were in a B&Q carrier bag. You guessed it - 2 bottles of low odour white spirit! Who says romance is dead?
I got a little carried away today - initially I was working on my shopping basket for the Tall Ships Projects......but I've ended up totally restructuring the rest of the DVD shopping baskets. They had been chopped and changed so many times with various price changes and special offers that they really had become quite unorganised. Not so now - I hope they are much more informative and easier to navigate. Apologies to those of you who have been trying to make purchases while I've been re-shuffling. I've sent seperate paypal invoices to complete your purchases.
Although I'm not selling the Tall Ships DVD's as a set yet until all the discs are in stock, I am now able to sell what is in stock as individual discs and painting projects. The single discs are £11.50 each and the 2 disc projects are £20 for the set. I've dedicated a seperate page for these items which can be found HERE . The Mighty Clipper and Pirates Ahoy are the only two projects yet to sail into the UK harbour.
I've just updated the details on the Spring Workshops, hosted by Darrell Crow. The Tall Ships Workshop is £130 for the 2 days and the Wildlife and Floral Workshops are £55 each. Deposit details are shown HERE so if you'd like to book your space on any/all of these workshops do contact me on 01473 311938 or e-mail info@ayoubart.co.uk so I can note your provisional booking.

Week 5: 1st February to 3rd February

It was really nice to see some old faces in today's class - and always lovely to see some new faces too. Poor Matilda, our youngster, had to go home halfway through the class as she had a bit of a headache. Matilda is part of the trampoline group, who have the hall before us - so to spend 5 hours painting after a few hours bouncing is quite a tall order. She doesn't know it yet, but I'll be sending her a DVD oil painting project. A great big thanks to Lee and Babbs who always help with the clearing up - I reckon they save us a good 30 minutes, which means we can get away a bit earlier.  With several bookings for next month, frame and product sales we hardly had any time to take snaps. I managed to get a quick one done while folk were deciding where to place some of their foreground trees. I'm looking forward to next time we're all 'Painting Along'. PS: Cynthia - I missed out on my salmon sandwich today : (
Today's student enjoyed a day of indulgence in her new hobby. She's already dabbled in watercolours and had the urge to learn to paint in oils. We painted 'Peach Dawn' together and had a lot of fun doing so. What a small world........it turns out that Suzanne moved to this area about the same time we did. Not only that, she used to live and work in Stowmarket, which is where we moved from. She'll be able to share her work of art with her children straight away, but her husband is going to have to wait a week as he's currently indulging in his hobby too - skiing in France. We'll be seeing Suzanne in the 2nd March Capel Class , if she can wait that long, - Suzanne is very excited about the pretty effects we've achieved using the wet on wet technique and will be practising at home straight away. If you'd also like to book a space on the 'Golden Brown' Oil Painting class, seen here on the left, please contact me on 01473 311938.
If you'd like to give your eyes a treat you might want to give Lesley Lord's website a visit. Lesley is a professional artist, she's also the sister of Katie, one of my students. Katie has worked hard putting together a showcase which displays Lesley's work beautifully. What a team........
I've been having fun with another Pop Art painting, a Special Tribute project. Yesterday my day was pleasantly rescheduled for me and I didn't really have the full time needed to get stuck into an oil painting. Painting with acrylics is the ideal next best thing as the equiment needed is minimal - a canvas, a couple of brushes, a pot of water and some paint. No need even for an easel. I set to work on the basic image and managed to get most of it complete in around 4 and a half hours. Today was different, today I toyed around with oils and completed the painting that I wanted to do yesterday. With a few hours left before calling it a day I decided to finish the Pop Art.  2 and a half hours later and this too was completed. I hung the painting so I could stand well back and see how accurate the likeness was - I smiled at it with a huge sense of achievement, not just with the finished portrait but with my career and life in general - this lovely warm face smiled right back at me, knowingly. Bob Ross, one of Bill Alexander's most noted students - I wonder just how many people these men between them have inspired to pick up a paint brush....... They've certainly changed the direction of my life.
I'm going round the bend with 'Round the Bend'. I don't think I've ever had to turn so many students down for a class, both in Capel and at Heartlands. This particular painting subject must really strike a chord with you. We're booking another date on the 4th March for the overspill at Heartlands and I will probably book an extra date for this popular painting subject some time later in the year at Capel, it won't be before the end of April though. As it's tones are warm umbers and siennas I might run this in the Autumn. You can see why your deposits are so important to secure your place. When I receive a booking, whether by phone or e-mail, I reserve your space for 7 days pending receipt of your £20 deposit (unless you are a voucher holder).   Now, if only I can design another couple like this.......
With Valentine's Day on the horizon we're offering you a unique way to give a Rose to your loved one, straight from the heart directly to the canvas. You can make your own roses with Darrell Crow - He'll guide you step by step with these 4 exciting DVD's: Roses, Roses, Roses, a 2 disc set showing how to paint roses, Two Roses & a Poppy, a pretty floral posy composition and Romance of the Rose, a single yellow stem rose on a black background. You can claim this Valentine's package for just £20 including postage and packing to any European address. These projects are normally £11.50 each - giving you a saving of £14.50. Now wouldn't that be a unique gesture? All DVD's are in stock and will be posted next day. CLICK HERE for the shopping basket.