May News

Week 21:  26th May to 31st May
Sometimes a random, half serious comment can change things - often for the better. Today's private students were enjoying a break outside on the patio. The waterfall and fountain were switched on, the fish were swimming circuits round the pond, playing follow the leader. The cat was lazing, belly-up in the sun, the garden was looking good and the sun was shining. It was a tempting atmosphere with a relaxed, almost mediterranean ambience. Des commented how nice it would be to paint outside in straw hat with brush in one hand and glass of wine in the other. We didn't quite manage the glass of wine, (although the temptation was strong,) but we did make the easy decision to switch our location from indoors to outdoors. Within minutes we were settled in the sun enjoying olives and pizza for lunch. We painted the new intermediate subject 'The Crossing' and true to form, Des added his trademark extras. You can see him here putting in a couple crossing the bridge, giving the painting it's own little story.
I've just added a couple of new products to my supplies pages . Finally I can supply excellent quality graphite paper at an affordable price. I now stock both white graphite and grey graphite. The cost is £2.25 a sheet which includes postage and packing. The size of the sheets are 18" x 36" (a bit bigger than A2 and a bit smaller than A1) I cut my sheets in half and find they are still ample. Also I've added a detail painting knife at just £3.50, which also includes postage and packing. It's a brilliant tool for mountain and tree highlights, a great little knife for mixing your paints too and it makes a lovely blended waterline. I've introduced this knife on various class painting projects and we've been having fun using it for mountains.
3 more intermediate certificates were issued in today's class at Heartlands and our first intermediate class there next month is now full. We have a second date for 'Bamburgh Castle' on Tuesday 24th June.   If you'd like to attend this painting class please give me a call on 01473 311938 or drop me a line on info@ayoubart.co.uk We'll be painting the lilac and peach version of this painting. We'll be using a panoramic canvas. The extra large canvas will be an additional £5 and the smaller deep edge canvas will be £3..............or you can bring your own.
'The Crossing' has now been adapted so that it is suitable for a painting class. For now it will be open to intermediate level only. You can see the new version in the Class Subjects Gallery . I've just completed another painting 'Play Time'. It's something I've been toying with for a little while. I had made my mind up to complete it this Bank Holiday and was even more eager to work on it after chatting to my eldest daughter. Soha has just returned from a holiday in Egypt, where she enjoyed snorkelling and diving. We both have a soft spot for colourful tropical fish and we are both even more facinated by marine fish.   She was telling me about the beautiful coloured fish and how she swam right into schoals. It took me right back to my days in Ajman, where we spent most of our days off, BBQ'ing on the beach, swimming and snorkelling.....bliss. Here's a small section of 'Play Time', you can see a larger version in My Gallery.   Actually, I quite like this sectioned area and might adapt it as a new class subject....what do you think?

Week 20:  19th May to 25th May
Not only is it a typical Bank Holiday, with rain all day Sunday.......but also we have had a 30 hour power cut, starting from late Saturday afternoon! Luckily for us our answer was on our drive in the shape of a gas stove in the camper van. As we sat in there having our afternoon cup of tea we were wondering whether to take off to a nearby beach and cook ourselves some dinner! Instead we opted for a stroll in our nearby woods and decided to take the cat, Ziggy, along with us. He was having quite an adventure sniffing every nook and cranny, hopping gazelle like through the long grass.  Our quick stroll turned into a 2 hour search for Ziggy, when he darted off into a thicket. After much name calling and trekking we eventually found him tucked well under some bushes, quite content, stalking a shrew. As one famous comedian, (and one of my latest Pop Art subjects)  often says '.........Are you 'avin' a laff?'
Sometimes my students give me special requests for painting subjects. A while back I was asked to paint a scene with a bridge in it. Mmmmmmm.............. With all my chores behind me and a clear 2 days to do nothing but paint, I feel the time has come to cross that bridge. So, today, I have sat playing around in my studio for a good 6 hours. I've broken every rule in the book and fiddled and twiddled and diddled to my heart's content. I call it 'embellishment'. I've broken my own record for the most ever colours used in a painting. I soon filled my palette and had to enlist the additional help of my huge Bob Ross perspex palette, the first time it's been used for over 3 years. When I'm on a roll, I don't even like to stop for a brush clean, I just reach for a fresh one so you can imagine the massive clean up job I have ahead of me. I feel hugely satisfied as I have accomplished my mission - here's my little bridge scene. I'll take a better shot of it when it dries off and post it to my gallery. Now, all I need to do is find a way of simplifying this so I can teach it in a 5 hour lesson!
Some students who are taking part in the Sproughton Exhibition rang me this morning to tell me about the Preview Evening. They only intended to stop an hour and ended up staying over 2 hours. They thoroughly enjoyed the evening and were excited to see their work, for the first time, hanging among the other many hundreds of entries. It's all very well seeing your paintings hanging in your lounge, hall, dining room or bedroom.............but it's quite something else to see it displayed in exhibition, very rewarding in fact.
The annual Art show, hosted by the Lion's Club, takes place this Bank Holiday Weekend. The cheese and wine preview night is on Friday 23rd from 7.30pm till 10.30pm. Tickets for this event are just £6 each. The exhibition then runs on Saturday 24th 10.00am till 6pm/Sunday 25th 1.00pm till 6.00pm/Monday 26th 10.00am till 4.00pm.   This is a great event and the preview evening really is a fun and friendly night. The venue for this exhibition is at Tithe Barn, Sproughton, Near Ipswich (just a very short stroll from the Wild Man, incase you fancied a carvery before heading over). Tickets for the Friday opening are available on the door. This year, the proceeds from this event will go towards the Eye Clinic at Ipswich Hospital.
We've had a couple of days of intense guitar excitement! As we were driving home from Saturday's class we had a phone call from Alan's son. He works in a local theatre and he just happened to get us some complimentary tickets to watch Richard Durrant in his current 'Guitar Whisperer' tour. It was a great warm up to an even bigger show the following day......Roger Waters performing Dark Side of the Moon at the Millenium Dome.  It's the 3rd time we've seen this show and it just gets better and better (and so do the venues).  I think this has to be the biggest and best venue yet so we'll be sure to keep our eyes open to see who we fancy watching there next. Here's a little snap I took of the man himself as he walked across the stage towards our side of the Arena. And HERE'S a little video footage of the show leading into one of my favourite Roger Water's songs 'Perfect Sense'

Week 19:  12th May to 18th May
At yesterday's class we had another birthday girl, the second one this week. Bethany, just 11 years old, joined the 'Swimming Free' class, a Jack Kolber design and the first time taught in the UK. Bethany made an absolutely superb painting as you can see here. The jade and aqua colour scheme of these paintings suited the Green Room's decor perfectly and it was nice to view some of the paintings in their silver frames against the soft peppermint green walls. The Green Room, a holistic centre, is a lovely tranquil and calm venue with huge windows letting in plenty of light. If you fancy trying 'Swimming Free' for yourself, it is available on DVD format. For Jack's complete series 1, Magic Brush Art, comprising of 3 DVD's showing 13 painting projects for just £22.50 CLICK HERE
Often a long distance student/students will stop overnight. I just thought it might be worth mentioning that when I hold painting classes at Heartlands (which is always on a Tuesday) I always have room for one passenger in my car. Albeit I arrive at the venue an hour early to set up and I'll be a good hour clearing away. However, if you have time to kill, Heartlands is a lovely place to have a wander. Just up the road is a beautiful woods to explore and take photos. Alternatively you could always sit in the sun and unwind with a coffee and biscuit. Here's a snap of the nearby woods taken last May.
Some new class subjects have been added to the class timetable page. We will be painting 'Flare' in the Green Room on Saturday 7th June. At the moment the Apollo Studio is available for the weekend of this class. Due to the popularity of Pop Art as a private lesson, I will be holding my first Pop Art Class in the Green Room on Saturday 12th July. The Apollo Studio is also available for the weekend of this class. With the Pop Art Workshop I will need to know in advance who you would like to paint so if you have an idea at the time of booking it will be a great help. You do not have to find your own image, I will do this for you. You could paint a famous person, a family member (I will need a couple of photographs) or you could paint a famous landmark. If you browse through Sue's News, my Gallery and the Pop Art page you will see a few examples. Pop Art is also for complete beginners. No previous art experience is necessary. Call me on 01473 311938 or e-mail info@ayoubart.co.uk if you'd like to come to one of these classes.
Prior to my radio interview yesterday I was listening into the programme. I heard a lady talking about the weekly Thursday Coffee Morning held in the village hall. My ears pricked up when Joan said there were about 60 people who came along for coffee and biscuits. To cut a long story short, yesterday afternoon Joan and I arranged an impromptu demo and today I painted a mountain scene in front of many new faces and a few old faces. In my 3 hour time slot I had planned to paint 3 pictures.........but the audience were absolutely intrigued with what was going on and the questions and chat were soon flying. I managed just the one painting but, even better, I think I've provoked a very healthy interest in oil painting.  Thanks Joan for having me and thanks for offering me a monthly spot at your lovely friendly event. If I remember rightly, last year some ladies arrived early for a Thursday Darrell Crow Class. They were invited for coffee and had a great time with the group before we all arrived to set up for the oil painting workshop.
Due to a little re-shuffle with student's at Heartlands, I now have availability for 2 people on Tuesday's class and the class on the 27th May is now full. We will be painting a gentle, tonal snowscape which you can see HERE . If you'd like to come along please drop me an e-mail on info@ayoubart.co.uk or call me on 01473 311938.
Well............that's my bit of excitement out of the way for the day. Back to reality and washing, bread & ice cream making now. One thing I have discovered, the fear of the unknown does affect my nerves, just a little bit. I imagined there would be an interview area on the bus somewhere, a place to sit with headphones on surrounded by controls. So I was suprised when I turned up and found 2 people perched on the bars of a fence. The 2 people I instantly recognised as James and his assistant Sally. Sally came over and we had a chat, a lady came out of the bus and took some photos and I thought it was a good opportunity for me to get a snap too. The interview took place right there, out in the beautiful sunshine.....just waiting for a Paul Young number to finish. I had an idea of what I wanted to say.......and didn't say a word of it! To cut a long story short, I do believe I'll be having a BBC Radio Suffolk student in the very near future as they really didn't believe that 'anyone can oil paint'. Unexpectedly though, I've now got another name I can add to the list of people who would like to pose nude! Thanks for that James!!
For those of you who are local to Suffolk, you might already be aware of the BBC's Big Red Bus Tour. BBC Radio Suffolk are broadcasting from their Big Red Bus and are in Capel St Mary tomorrow. Not only that, they rang me a little while back and asked me if I'd pop down for an interview on the James Hazell Show. So, if you just happen to be by a radio around about 11.40am tomorrow and can tune in, you'll hear my first ever live radio interview. The station can be found on 95.5, 95.9, 103.9 and 104.6 FM. Now, when they called me I was quite excited...........but as time gets near I'm just a little nervous. Best of all, (and I can hear you men saying 'typical woman') I'm wondering what to wear!!
Today was an unusual birthday surprise for Emily. Her friend had booked her in for a secret Art Workshop. I did double check with Emily, when she arrived, to see if she really had no idea why she was coming to me. She was still completely in the dark. So I settled her and her friend outside with a cool drink and handed Emily some binoculars. I asked her to watch the bird feeding area very carefully as a wide variety of birds come to feed. All she had to do was select her favourite bird and we would paint it. Nervously she picked up the binoculars and focused onto the birds. She asked me if I was aware that she had no artistic skills whatsoever. I told her that this may be a problem as I had been lead to believe she had attended art college.   Jimi

I led her back into the house and asked her to please excuse the Hendrix music, which was blasting fairly....she smiled and expressed her approval. Emily is in a band; she plays guitar, piano and she sings - Jimi Hendrix just happens to be her favourite guitarist and I actually already knew he was her hero. When we entered the studio area, I switched on the light to expose our painting project for the day - a Jimi Hendrix Pop Art. I should have taken a snap of the relief on her face. I think you'll agree, she has done a brilliant job, you can see Emily's painting here on the left. I'm sure when friends visit her house they'll be amazed that she painted this herself. Plus.............what's a birthday if you don't have ice cream? I managed to slip out to the greengrocers to by their freshly picked strawberries. At lunchtime these went into the ice cream maker and we had delicious home made strawberry ice cream for dessert. I think the dessert made up for my little wind-up. Sorry Emily, but I couldn't resist. Happy Birthday and looking forward to receiving some tadpoles really soon.
Well......I say this a lot and it is true, 'you learn something new everyday'. Today's student woke up early this morning, made herself a cup of tea and sat reading the art magazines I had left at her bedside. And in reading those magazines she changed the course of today's oil painting workshop. Rosemary had selected 'New Day' as her painting subject. This painting contains a lot of black. Rosemary had read that many artists do not use black from the tube, instead they mix their own. Apparently Van Dyke Brown and Paynes Grey (or Olive Green) will make a beautiful black. So we gave it a try. The first attempt, using the brown and grey, didn't work......so we added the green to the mix. To my eyes the mixture just looked dark brown. I added a flash of white to it to patch test a small area and we had a lovely grey colour. We started to use the colour in an inconspicuos area, just to see how it performed and it was absolutely great. So - for those fashion experts out there, I think I can definately say that Brown, Green and Grey are this year's new Black.

Week 18:  5th May to 11th May
I'm delighted this beautiful weather continues and it's almost a crime to be inside. So......thanks to wireless connection and a laptop I'm able to do some of my 'indoor' work outside. This means my Sue's News update today comes from our warm, sunny garden and we're just about to enjoy a bowl of home made ice cream to cool us off ! You see that willow tree, just above my head, towards the bottom of the garden? That's where we'll be spending our 2nd consecutive evening, in front of a fire. The other side of that tree is a large table and chairs, 4 speakers are dotted around and there is a variety of lights. The greenhouse has a remote controlled stereo inside, we sit cosily nestled under the tree with a bottle of wine and the sounds of a few nice CD's. We're often joined by the cats and more often than not any occupants of the Apollo Studio will join us. It's our little paradise and an inspirational place to be. We've had many a glass of scotch with our buddy Darrell Crow down there too.
Today I should have been painting.........and, even though it's been glorious again, I did get some painting done. One of my floral projects 'Spring's Here' is finalised and I'll be teaching this at Capel on Sunday 1st June and at Heartlands on Tuesday the 15th July. At Heartlands we have provisionally booked a second date for the overspill class where we will be painting the same subject again on the 22nd July. The overspill class will only go ahead once the 15th July class is filled. Having said that, for the last 3 months we've been having a full capacity at Heartlands for both the original class and the overspill class. If you'd like a look at the new painting subject you can find it in the Class Subject's Gallery . This is available immediately as a private tuition. If you'd like to book a space at either Capel or Heartlands do call me on 01473 311938 or e-mail me on info@ayoubart.co.uk
Just a really quick reminder to let you know that the price of the Darrell Crow Studios/Valerie Stewart Pet Portrait 10 DVD set will go up to £83 this Sunday. This is your last chance to grab these at the launch price of only £67.50.