JULY 2011 NEWS

July 3oth: I was absolutely delighted when an unexpected visitor called by ........ Now, thanks to his pair of helping hands, both my bikes (and Steffi's) are all up and running again. It means I can get some morning action again. I'm afraid all 3 bikes had been suffering from punctures and I haven't been able to get out on mine for a few weeks. I'd missed my early morning rides and look forward to one first thing in the morning.

July 30th: I have the weekend off - and I have some nasty jobs to do before I can enjoy it. First up, the oven needed a clean, rubber gloves on and scourers out. Second up - the pond filters needed a clean and the reed bed needed thinning out - quite a stinky job. Third up, the chickens needed a good clean out. Reluctantly I opened the door to the coop so they could run into the garden to keep them out of the way while I scrubbed and disinfected their sleeping area. My 2 side kicks, Wrinkle and Crinkle were feline sheep dogs and hearded them back into the coop after the job was done. I was really surprised and didn't expect that bit of extra help, I was quite pleased as it stopped the chickens scratching in the flower beds. When I went to the bottom of the garden to empty the waste I had another surprise waiting for me ....... my greengage tree is laden with fruit! The pear and apple trees are getting there too although I can't see any sign of fruit yet on the fig tree. With a few days worth of fresh eggs and some unexpected bounty - plus a sparkly clean oven I shall fill the house with the smells of baking and re-stock the cake tins and freezer. And then, my friends, work will be done.

July 29th: Earlier this week a student brought along a fabulous book containing beautiful photos of local landscape scenes. Among it was one photo she particularly liked with a view to painting it in a class. I think it might be do-able. It's definately achievable over 2 painting sessions but I would like to figure out a couple of things to make it do-able within the limits of a single class session. My challenge - we'll see how it pans out and hopefully it will be a new and different class subject.

July 28th: Ha !! Yesterday a student remarked that I must get through an awful lot of kitchen roll ...... Quite a timely statement after yesterday's news entry. There is an alternative to using kitchen roll, so I've been informed. An artist friend of mine uses disposable nappies. And you only need one each as it see's you through all the brush cleaning for one session. I've yet to try it myself but I'm confident it would work just fine. If any student with a baby cares to bring one along (clean of course) we can give it a go.

July 27th: A first for me ..... I'm normally well stocked up on pretty much everything. During this morning's class, we were getting low on kitchen towel. As I hunted in the various kitchen cupboards, the supplies cabinet - even the 2 outside storage areas, it dawned on me that I had run out !! Luckily we had ample for the class, but there certainly wasn't enough for the afternoon or tomorrows lessons. A quick dash to the co-op saw me right though. Thirst Pockets Jumbo size kitchen towel were on a half price special offer. So I bought the lot. Close call.

July 26th: Going back to last week's SAA show, I would like to share this picture of a chap

demonstrating the interactive acrylics. His demo was done in 2 stages, an underpainting followed by the finer details. It was painted in a very loose and contemporary way. In fact, the base painting was so loose I wondered if the finished result would even bear any resemblance to the original photo reference. Viewing the 2 pictures side by side you can see just how brilliant the whole scene was captured.

July 25th: After a long weekend of portraiture and pleasures, it's back on the wagon from today. The indulgences of a huge pizza, Rugby's chicken wrap & onion rings (glad you suggested those, Cassie), 7-up cake, home made choc chip cookies (fanks Ange), Popeye's chicken, seasoned fries and biscuit, beautiful wine and various (or should I say numerous) other snacks in between ...... my waistline is suffering. It's going to be salads, water and no carbs or fat for at least a week for me now. Thanks again ladies for a wonderful weekend, I hope your families will be really impressed by your very, very hard work. You should be well proud of yourselves.

I've been thoroughly spoiled and I have new addition to my Christmas list, if anyone feels that way inclined ..... I think it suits me, don't you?

With a week of landscape painting classes ahead of me now, it will be a nice change.

July 24th: I've just finished teaching a 3 day portrait painting seminar. A busy one at that. On day one I had 2 classes. My 2 ladies from last week worked on the finer details of the portraits they started last weekend. After a pizza lunch we started on another portrait and another student joined us. We completed stage one underpainting and had a lovely dinner out. You can see the ladies hard at work here and below you can see Cassie's finished underpainting stage.

Day 2 we started working on the colours and by day 3 we were refining the finer details. It's a shame I can't show all the portrait subjects because some of them are surprise gifts, but with their permission, I can show you a couple.

You can see a very proud Krystal with her completed portrait. Originally she was painting this one as a gift for her sister, but later decided to keep it for herself with the idea to paint another Marilyn for a gift.

I just need to illustrate enough so students can grasp the principles and work from their own photo subject, mirroring the technique. Here's the demo painting I made and from it the students created their own Marilyn, Depp and a cute little daughter.

July 22nd: There was a gallery area at the SAA show. There was one painting that totally blew me away and I stood back and stared at it, totally neglecting just about everything else on display. It was giant size, probably about 4 foot square, maybe more. It's called Liberty and was painted by Paul Goodhall, a professional artist. He has been awarded Artist of the Year 2011 for this beautiful oil painting. With a price tag of £3,500 I would say it's worth every penny. Well, I would pay that to have it hanging on my wall anyway, Lottery permitting. The photo just doesn't do this piece justice.

July 21st: It's been a brilliant day at the SAA in London today with a coach full of like minded people. The time went so quickly and there was so much to see. Myself and some friends settled into seats watching a demo on the interactive acrylics. Right next door to the demo was a

workshop for the same medium and that was our next stop. Here you can see my little workshop piece, made with just 4 colours. I'm impressed with the way these acrylics work in a very similar way to oils, so that may well be something I experiment with in the future. Once again, it was lovely for me to be the student for a change. It was even lovelier (and more than a little amusing) to watch the rather stressed Colin run around and collect the dirty brushes and palettes and get them all prepped ready for our workshop.

'Move your chairs back or you won't get any supplies', he barked at us. He repeated many many times, to anyone who was listening 'You've got 5 brushes each, there's 30 of you, I have a 150 brushes to clean' and we unashamedly cracked up each time he said it. I dared my friend to ask him innocently exactly how many brushes he had to clean, just to hear him say it again. She said 'I dare you to tell him your pencil needs sharpening'. But we didn't ask him anything, we knew our place. But it was thanks to people like Colin who managed to organise a quick turnaround that made the workshops on offer run so well. I've got a few photos taken at the event so I will upload them over the next day or so. The event ended on a lovely note with the coach pick-up point being close to Starbucks - Cassie and I couldn't resist a caramel frappacino with extra whipped cream for the journey home.

July 19th: It's a day off for me today. Well, I should re-phrase that. I am not in the office nor do I have a class. So the morning has been spent getting on top of paperwork, stock check and ordering, DVD manufacturing, prepping canvases for up coming classes, answering emails. That's taken care of the best part of the morning. Next up is work on my portrait so I can catch up with the girls. I showed the portrait to a visitor and asked him if he knew who it was. 'Obviously someone very pretty', was his answer. When I told him who it was he said 'Yes, of course it is - I was thrown by her skin colour because she looks white in the painting. Well, the skin colour wasn't actually something I was going to work on. The reference photo show's Rhianna in bright light and her skin tones pretty much are the same as the photo. But it made me look at the portrait in a different way so I thought I'd play around with a tinted glaze and I really like the result, even though it's darker than the photo. You gotta have a play, it's only paint after all, that's what I tell all my students. Of course, it's meant I had to re-work the tones in the whole face again, but I do prefer this warmer version. See which one you prefer when you scroll down to the other version to compare.

July 18th: About 9 o'clock last night my 'Skype' alarm went off. I had two quite excited ladies proudly holding up their portraits in front of their web cam, showing me the progress they had made all on their own. Brilliant stuff. They had both worked hard mixing colours to complete the clothing their subjects were wearing - and the backgrounds. IF we need to make any adjustments at all, at least I know the paintings will be totally dry so we won't have the need to run into a 4th session, which can sometimes happen.

This now means I have to spend some time working on my own demo piece so I catch up with them before the next session. Plus, I can see exactly how much I need to do to be at the same stage they are.

July 17th: The ladies I taught this weekend are very competant painters indeed. They've been painting with me for quite a while now and their lessons have covered quite a few subjects. They are by no means beginners and really get the principles of the portraiture technique very, very quickly indeed. This is good news because it meant I could leave them to confidentally work on their paintings by themselves. By the time we get together again to complete the finer details, they should have already cfinished the backgrounds and the basic layer of the clothing, (maybe more, who knows). This will save quite a bit of time, making the final lesson shorter. And if they get stuck I am only an email or 'Skype' away.

It was amusing to 'meet' Sue's husband on Skype. I'm afraid my first hello was wearing pyjama's and sporting a rather attractive bed head. Sue proudly held up her portrait in front of the web cam so her husband, many miles away could see her progress. The power of the internet, where would we be without it?

July 17th: I had a rather attractive body guard looking after me at the weekend. The lovely 'Ming'. She's a Chow and a very soft and fluffy one at that. After the initial feet sniffing greeting, she soon took her position on the floor guarding us against anyone who might come through the front door. She done the same again at bedtime, perched like a lion at the top of the stairs looking down for any possible intruders. Isn't she a pretty thing?

July 17th: It may have been a miserable and wet weekend for July, and if it means you have got to be stuck inside, what better way to spend the time than to get the paints out. What originally started out to be an invite to a girly weekend turned into a 2 day portrait painting seminar. I was invited over to Lakenheath air force base by one of my lovely American friends, Sue, who is leaving in a few weeks time. We'd originally planed to get together for a couple of days, do dinner and just have a girly catch-up. We done all that and managed several hours of portraiture too (plus several bags of maltesers as well). And then another idea sprung to mind, while I'm setting up for a portraiture class, I might as well teach another student at the same time - so along came Cassie too. The beauty of portraiture is that it's so portable and requires minimal space and makes no mess at all. It can be set up in no time plus the brush cleaning and clear down time is quick also. We've got one more session to complete our projects, which we will do at a later date. Although I can't disclose what my student's are painting (well, not yet anyway), I can at least show you what I painted as a demo piece. I took along 4 painting subjects and finally settled on this lady. Oh na naa - can you guess what's her name?

July 15th: After a rather sopping wet few days, it's lovely to have the sunshine back again - let's hope it holds out for the weekend too. I'm just having my breakfast in front of the PC, with the doors and windows flung wide, the washing on the line. Chickens are fed and watered, fish are fed (and they are already watered) and all is good with the world. A picture of contentment sits right outside my office window as Wrinkle and Crinkle take up residence in their morning hot spot. Alright for some, ennit!

July 12th: Just as I was knocking off work today my Boss was telling me there's been some burglaries in the village. Thieves are breaking in through open windows, looting, and letting themselves out via the front or back doors. When I walked through my front door I felt that something was not quite as I left it. I found half a sandwich and 2 cheese topped rolls on my kitchen worktop. Immediately I thought 'Bugger, they've not only broke in, they've had lunch too!!' And then common sense set in when I realised my eldest daughter had popped round on the off-chance earlier. Der !!!!

July 10th: I had a lovely little email this morning from a couple of students of mine. They had put some of their work into an exhibition last week and between them they sold 3 paintings. Isn't that fabulous? Congratulations to Katie & Des. Having sold 2 myself this weekend, I think we're all pleased as punch. Not to mention a little bit more flush. Mine is going straight into the holiday fund.

July 9th: I've always maintained you never stop learning - there's always new ways to do things out there. Today, one of my students, Ben, wanted to adjust the composition of his Pop Art subject. The image he had selected was rectangular, by cropping it to fit a square canvas meant we lost a significant part of the background. That's pretty much easily solved, as we could have painted it on a ractangular canvas so everything fitted in. But Ben preferred the square canvas. So we had a problem, or so I thought ........

Ben knew his way around the photo editing programme and just took what he needed and placed it where he wanted - presto, quick as a flash.

And watching that has taught me something I didn't know, which has given me much more scope to work with in future projects. So thanks for that Ben, I do love it when a student comes along and they teach me something :)

July 9th: This morning's oil portrait student brought along something I hadn't enjoyed since my days in Dubai. A pot of 'Tang'. My mum used to make huge jugs of this refreshing and tasty drink so it was always there, cooled in the fridge. We got through gallons of the stuff on the very hot days in the Middle East, which was pretty much every day. Now I can let my kids enjoy one of my little pleasures. I bet some smart alec will now email me and tell me it's been readily available in Sainsburys all along. It's my little treasure and I'm enjoying a glass and reminiscing as I type. Easily pleased, aren't I?

July 8th: Well here's some news many of you have been waiting for. Finally all the I's have been crossed and the T's have been drunk and I am pleased to say I am now taking bookings and deposits for the Valerie Stewart Portrait Seminar scheduled for May 2012. You can find all the details about this very exciting event HERE. Places will go on a first come first served basis so I would advise booking early to avoid disappointment. Me ..... I just can't wait. Here's one of Valerie's classic portraits to whet your appetite. Remember, the choice of 2 painting subjects each is yours.

July 7th: I'm behind the game !! One of my recent portrait students, Debbee, was telling me about a portrait subject she wanted to do. And I was telling her about a subject I wanted to do too - so we've been egging each other on.

Today she's dropped me a line telling me she's nearly done hers. As for me ........... well, I haven't even started mine. Bad, isn't it :) I better get my finger out and crack on.

July 6th: I had a lovely surprise when I came home from my day in the office. I had lovely green lines. The grass on the back lawn had been cut for me. I'd been planning to spend some time in the garden anyway after today's portrait lesson had finished. This now means I can spend my time titivating in the flower beds instead, which is what I like to do most. Weather permitting, of course. So far it's a very wet morning, but as I've sat here updating my class timetable, the sunshine is now trying it's hardest to break through the clouds. Am I the only one who gets great delight from a freshly cut lawn?

July 5th: Yesterday panned out OK in the end. After painting a seascape all weekend it was good to spend the rest of the day at the beach. Bikini on, sundress on, sun tan lotion packed, picnic packed - off we set. I know this is a boring photo, but this was my view as I lay back on the beach with nothing but the gentle sound of the sea and the occassional sea spray drifting on my face. I did have a panic moment when I found the sun too bright, even with my eyes shut. I had an Inspector Gadget moment when I decided that 2 stones from the beach placed over my eyes would block out the rays. It worked a treat. I even fell asleep. But, once I removed the stones, it took a good 15 minutes for my eyesight to re-focus. Not a pleasant experience, with totally blurred vision and not knowing how long it would take to correct. Funny though.

July 4th: This morning hasn't started off as best it could ..... but it has been an amusing adventure, and it's only just gone 8am !! My cycling buddy, Pauline, and I had arranged to do an early morning session. I sent her a text at 6.30am to say I'd meet her up the road in 15 minutes. Great. However, after a frantic hunt to find the key to the bike padlock I discovered I had not one, but 2 completely flat tyres! Pauline wasn't answering her mobile so I started to walk to her house. I met her along the road as she was on her bike heading towards me. So, we decided to go for an early morning walk instead. This meant removing my cycling helmet, which I was reluctant to do as I hadn't fixed my hair, safe in the knowledge that the helmet covered my spiky and wayward bedhead.

Never mind. We were soon out of the village and trekking along the pretty footpaths. All was going well until we came to a field of bulls. Should we, shouldn't we? We gingerly decided to chance our luck and kept to the dark shaded edges of the field. I was so intent on keeping an eye on the bulls that I didn't look where I was stepping and trod full on in a rather fresh cow pat! Never mind, the wet grass pretty much got my trainers clean again. As we ventured further into the field, the bulls were keeping an eye on us and started to move in our direction so we done a swift about turn (watching where I was walking this time) and managed to slip through a hedge into the next field. I don't think we'd have made it to the next style if things had turned nasty.

Once home, I put the kettle on and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I couldn't have been fully awake as I realised I'd poured myself a bowl of cat food! Good job I didn't put milk on it. Well, they say things come in 3's and I'm glad to have my 3 setbacks out of the way quite early so I can enjoy the rest of the day.

July 3rd: It's been a totally wonderful weekend and it's been great painting along with like minded folk under the expert guidance of Roy Lang. I have to admit, I did begin to flag a bit after another superb lunch and could have done with a reclining chair in the sun and a nap. As you can see from the photo above, our lunch was served in a beautiful setting in the sunshine. All home made with produce fresh from the garden in good company with great banter. But, we dragged ourselves away and pressed on and worked really hard to get the painting practically finished in time. I say practically, because there is always just a few extra finishing touches to add, isn't there?

Below is my painting after 10 hours work over the 2 days. I feel I have learned quite a bit from Roy and hopefully can introduce some of these techniques to some new designs so I can pass the info onto my own students. Plus, as an added bonus, Roy personalised and signed my book for me. We're looking forward to seeing him at the SAA 'All About Art' show in London later this month. Plus, I still get to put my feet up on a reclining chair in the sun as I catch the last of the rays, albeit on my own patio.

July 2nd: Today another artist and I are having a rather lovely time with the brilliant Roy Lang. I've admired Roy's seascape work for ages and couldn't believe he was teaching a class so close to home, too good an opportunity to miss. This morning we've learned quite a bit about mixing colours and we've reached this stage at the end of day 1. Some of his techniques are very similar to Joyce Ortner's and some are hugely different to any other way I've painted before. With a really jolly communal lunch we enjoyed an hour's break in a very sunny conservatory. I'm thoroughly looking forward to completing this seascape tomorrow - and learnbing even more. It's been good to be the student instead of the teacher for a change.

July 1st: I have a couple of students who are taking portrait classes with me at the moment. Both are painting surprise gifts for very special occassions. Because of this, both students are leaving their portraits here in my studio. The portrait works-in-progress are propped up on easels on the studio kitchen table. When I have a class, invariably students wander into the kitchen for a coffee, or pass the portraits on the way to spend a penny. Upon seeing the new portraits they remark as to who I am painting ..... They are really surprised when I tell them it's actually not my work at all. I show them the original photos of the subjects and they have been giving hugely favourable feedback - which of course I pass on when my portrait students next visit.

It also helps a student to realise that portraiture is totally achievable to ANYONE as the evidence sits there for all to see.

I have one student who has painted 2 portraits with me in classes - she's gone onto paint many more at home and is gradually working her way through her family members so they are all captured in oils. It's an easy way to paint once you have learned the principles and technique. You only need 5 brushes, 6 tubes of paint, some medium and a few spare hours here and there.

The thing with portraiture, which is particularly appealing, you can paint in short bursts of just 15 mins at a time - or you can spend a whole morning or afternoon on a project. It's a clean way of painting, you don't need a lot of space or paint. Your palette can be the size of a saucer - but best of all - it's VERY VERY rewarding.

Have I persuaded you to have a go yet ?

Here's one of my latest projects, one more session to complete the final details and he will be done. Mind you, over half the portraits in the gallery need 'one more session' :)