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SUE'S NEWS - 2011 December 28th: Today's the day for some 'me' painting time. I have the house to myself for a few hours so it's an ideal opportunity to escape to the studio and have a little paint up. There's been a project I wanted to play with ever since Joyce Ortner was here in 2010. Her 'Anatomy of a wave' DVD has been sat on my shelf, still in it's wrapping. Time to break the seal on it and revise my seascape techniques. It's always a good exercise for me to be the student again, even if it is only by following DVD. It helps me to appreciate how you guys feel - and I always learn some new techniques along the way. I picked the 'Anatomy of a wave' project as it was short, simple and something that I could try and finish in a single day. On Joyce's DVD, she actually puts this composition together over 2 days so the paint can dry between stages, a bit like the portraits. However, if you are careful with the medium and have a light touch, it can be done in one session.  Anyways ...... I'll share my finished result with you here. It's been great to paint along with Joyce again today, a brilliant way to loosen up too. I have a few more of these DVD's in stock @ just £30 including delivery (Click Here), if you'd like to give this project a try. Her commentary is so informative and you'll learn the actual whys and wherefore's from the master herself.
December 27th: I'll just take a short break during the mid-seasonal festivities to update my news page (or 'S'news' as Ben likes to call it, cheeky sod!) Earlier this year, if I hadn't updated my news page, I know many of you wondered if I was OK. The latter part of the year however, if I have been slack updating the news it's because I'm too busy having a good time doing other stuff. So, to fill you in - Our celebrations started on Christmas Eve afternoon. All Xmas prep had been done, the last strokes painted on a portrait commission (phew, close call that one, but it was dry and delivered to customer so they could present it on Christmas day). We could relax with a wonderful dinner, courtesy of my Boss, Mark, and the surprise mammoth meat hamper he delivered to me. We enjoyed a few drinks and laughs with our neighbours in the evening. Christmas morning, despite a late night, we were up at 5am, like a pair of excited kids. We managed to delay opening our presents while we had a cuppa, a ciggie (nasty habit that will be kicked into touch in the New Year) and Ben downloaded some Christmas tunes to complete the ambience. By 9am we set off for a stroll in our local woods. So peaceful and quiet, not a soul to be seen.  Shortly after we left to visit family for our Christmas dinner ............. and more presents. The dinner had to be seen to be believed, served on platters instead of plates. I ate my fill and my plate looked like it hadn't been touched. Just a couple managed to clear their plates, mentioning no names! A brilliant day all in all and just about the most perfect Christmas ever. Boxing day we were at home and entertaining, with family dropping by mid morning. Steff, my daughter, and her boyfriend joined us for an awesome dinner (once again courtesy of my meat hamper) ........... and even more presents! I couldn't resist trying out Stef's new Ray Bans for size whilst arguing as to who they suited the most (me). Ben got in on the act by modelling his 'Blade' style Bolle's too.This morning we watched some painting DVD's. Not quite wet on wet stuff, but a few magical techniques that can bring something new to my oil painting classes. .......and that sparked of loads of inspiration for new compositions, bouncing ideas off each other. But - for the time being, the studio is closed, even to us, so we can fully chill and take time off. We look forward to getting stuck in to new and exciting projects in 2012 - with a few surprises along the way. Watch this space - next year is gonna be a good 'un .  December 20th: Can I just say a very big thankyou for all your lovely Christmas Cards and messages. They are very much appreciated. I'd just like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you the bestest Christmas ever and may all your dreams come true in the New Year. Your support and kind thoughts earlier this year was overwhelming and unexpected and I really thank those people who helped pull me through a horrendous ordeal.Very unexpectedly my life took a twist for the better and I am looking forward to spending one of the best Christmases ever with the warmth and love of my family and partner. Life is good. Better than good. However, one member of my family will be missed on 'The Day'. Eldest daughter, SOha, is legging it to hotter climes for a week. Her and her partner have decided to totally forget Christmas, have placed an embargo on presents and cards and are escaping the fuss (and stress). Although she will be taking along some project work so she can work whilst sunbathing on the beach. I can't say I blame her one bit. She is currently working and studying Interior Arcitecture & Design for the 2nd year at University. Her workload is horrendous and her projects are massive. Having said that, she has her own version of the 12 Days of Christmas, applicable to her this year and I'd like to share this alternative version (and her humour) with you. On the twelfth day of Christmas my nasty tutor sent to me: Twelve technical drawings looming, Eleven rooms of model still need making, Ten slides for presentation, Nine (hundred) words for advanced production, ... Eight boards of pure frustration Seven (thousand) points to be tendered, Six pictures-a-rendered, Five -- structural -- things, Four points I’ve no doubt misheard, Three dress sizes gained, Two weeks of lots of work, And all whilst on hoooooliday! (Soha Ayoub - December 2011) December 20th: 5 days to go, and very excited here at Apollo House. Just to let you know, business closes from 22nd December to 3rd January inclusive. And boy, do I need to get cracking this Thursday and Friday. I have 2 more portrait commissions to complete, a pop art commission to varnish and another couple of classes to fit in. The price one pays when you take 4 days off, I guess. All internet orders are up to date and despatched though. December 17th: I tell ya, fate can sometimes be weird and more than a little spooky at times. Quite a while back I had one of the most delightful students, Mikey, book a private lesson with me. He was an artist by profession. He initially wanted to learn how to paint 'Tall Ships' and the 'Lion' portrait - and those specific subjects were for a good reason too. As it's intermediate level, he had to take a normal oil painting class or two first.  Anyway - here's where the twist comes into play: Mikey performed his unique artwork as an early Christmas present for Ben. One student working on another. You see, Mikey is the owner of 'Adorn Tattoo & Piercing' in nearby Hadleigh High Street and today's artwork was something Ben had been wanting done. So it was a great experience for me to spend two and a half hours in Mikey's studio, watching him excel at his trade, with lots of tea, (thanks to Mikey's partner Naomi), several sweets and some great banter. I've been wanting a tattoo myself since I was young but always too afraid incase it hurt too much. I'm not very good with needles at the best of times. But now I'm wondering ...... mmmmmm ..... maybe just a little one? We'll see. Anyway, according to Ben, who has several tat's, Mikey is the best tattoo artist he has ever been to and highly recommends him to anyone who might be considering some body artwork. If you are on facebook, you will have seen images of Ben's cheeky artwork, but a more discreet photo is called for here I think :)  December 16th: The reason for London .............. we'd gone to see the brilliant 'Kasabian' on their Velociraptor tour at the O2.I love this band hugely and had only ever seen them perform a short 45 min set when I saw them at Wembley the year before. Turned out it was Sergio's birthday and Tom had the whole audience singing 'Happy Birthday to you' at him. He was telling the audience how they had a power cut mid gig in Liverpool. The audience came to the rescue when they all switched on their mobile phones and shone them towards the stage. He had the stadium lights dimmed so we could all re-enact it. It looked like a million twinkling stars in the sky. Brilliant. But ...... one funny surprise was to for the band to sing 'Jingle Bells'. Awesome stuff !!  December 16th: Do you know, art may be my main career and a big part of my life, but it doesn't necessarily mean I appreciate all things arty. Yesterday Ben and I spent a brilliant day in London. We had a day of pure first class indulgence. When I first met Ben we had a conversation about the Tate Modern ...... and it's contents. And basically, it wasn't complimentary. So, to prove a point and as Ben had never been before, we slipped in. We done the whole of Level 3 in under 10 minutes, decided not to bother with any of the other levels and basically just used the facility to visit the loos and sit and eat some of our Baclava !! Maybe it's just me - but what the above exhibit (a massive pile of seeds) was about was lost on me - it totally filled a room. Basically, my opinion - the Tate: useful for getting out of the cold, eating your snacks and having a wee ! (Unless of course you can locate the Warhol and Dali exhibits) December 9th: As for my portrait demo piece ....... well, I have several characters I (we) want to paint for a wall in our bedroom. The wall will probably take about 25 portraits. It will be our little gallery of our most favourite and very powerful actors and characters.  We do love a cosy night in with a good action film. Anything with De Niro, Jean Reno, Wesley Snipes etc. Plus we have a penchant for the Marvel films too. Batman, Spiderman, The Punisher, Iron Man etc.  Well, Iron Man has been started already (as those of you on facebook will have already seen). So for my demo piece yesterday the choice was easy - it had to be my all time favourite - Leon. A brilliant film we watched just recently.We find we're viewing these films with a view to painting the main characters. Looking out for the best possible pose, the best light. You'll find that once you get into portraits, you just look at faces quite differently. Same with landscapes, once you've painted a few trees and clouds you view the countryside quite different, observing the different colours, different layers, noticing the pockets of dark. It's eye opening looking at any subject with a view to painting it, I think you'll all agree. December 9th: My partner, Ben, has been wanting to tackle portraits for months. Finally we made time last night. After dinner we shut ourselves away in the studio with some tunes, some coffee and some nasty cigarettes (we'll be giving up in the New Year). It took some deliberation as to who his 'first' subject should be and he eventually settled on quite a classic character. My demo piece ...... well I already have a mental list of all the portraits I want to make for my own personal gallery.  Ben, as a youngster, just like me, loved to pencil sketch. He especially liked to create shades and tones, making things look 3 dimensional. These are quite essential qualities to have if you want to make good portraits. But if you don't have them, they can be learned. I pretty much left Ben to his own devices after demo'ing a few techniques. Basically he caught the gist of it pretty quickly and went off on his own tangent, treating the whole basic stage as a pencil sketch. He certainly got soft with the colour a lot quicker than I ever did on my first portrait. See what you think of his first ever go ...... and he pretty much flew solo for the best part of this painting.  December 9th: Yesterday's private student opted to paint 'Remember a day' but without the people. Janet was attracted to the painting by the clouds and she made a really excellent job, once the penny dropped and she absorbed the difference the angles can make when holding the brush to the canvas. We made several changes to the whole composition and palette throughout the lesson. To finish off, we had a touch of irony. Janet is a Dentist, you see. I thought I would show her a neat trick to complete her snowscene, with delicate falling snow all over. So - we used a toothbrush to create that. These little extra's in private classes are optional, but I like to show students as many possibilities as I can in one lesson. Another neat touch we added right at the end - a very delicate and well placed touch of powder white holographic glitter to some of the snow that had collected on the branches of the trees. You can barely notice it - until you move and tiny little sparkles appear on the snow. Janet fell in love with this effect and it really made her painting quite magical and Christmassy. Needless to say, I actually prefer this composition to the original, and now we have a new painting subject open to all students. Janet has named it 'First Snow'. You can see a much larger version HERE, sadly the glitter hasn't picked up in the photo.
December 9th: On Wednesday I had a lovely surprise when my portrait student walked through the studio door. 'Merry Christmas', he said, and handed me a box of Ferrero Rocher. Awwwww how sweet. James is only a young 'un and he's working his way through painting his family members. So far the box has remained unopened in the fridge ....... but I don't think they'll stay that way for the next 2 weeks somehow.  December 6th: Just a quick note to remind you there is still spaces available on the Valerie Stewart 4 day portrait seminar next May. Each student can paint 2 portrait subjects of their choice, whether it's a celebrity or a family member/friend. As I often tell my portrait students, these seminars are a phenominal way of learning much more than just the portraits you will be painting. Valerie often cqalls the class over when she is showing students how to perfect all range of details, from jewellery, spectacles, aged subjects, young subjects, various clothing detail and many other features. In fact, its pretty similar to owning the full 6 DVD box set, but in real life. For details of this exciting painting experience, pleaseCLICK HERE
December 6th: I've updated my class timetable to take us into the new year. There's a couple of Sunday classes with Ben too. If you'd like to have a look at what's coming up for January and early February just CLICK HERE  December 1st: Another portrait completed and signed. A fair bit of refining work was done on this one today. The nose has been worked over, the dark shadows have been deepened further, more details to the eyes and the cigarette re-painted. Unfortunately, in the last session when I added the hair on the arms, I lost the delicate edges when I painted the background in, so they were re-worked too. Also the hair has been darkened extensively. And a few more bits and bobs that probably no one will notice apart from me. I guess you could say I spent a good 3 hours fussing and tickling about on this one, but it was worth it as it's one for the house. Pleased to say this week I'm finally getting to finish a few portraits. I have to be disciplined as I would rather start a new portrait than finish an exisiting one ............ does anyone else feel that too? I've added some more portraits to my gallery page, which will give you a larger image to view by clicking HERE. 
December 1st: Well ....... the Christmas Countdown begins. Although I may have had my trees up in October, it doesn't necessarily mean I am ahead of myself. In fact, I haven't bought a single Christmas present so far. Tsk Tsk. |
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Copyright © 2003-2011 Susan Warne. Twitter / Facebook / Blogspot
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