Grafton Workshop April 2018

I spent the most enjoyable week in Grafton teaching a group of lovely ladies how to paint their chosen subject. The workshop was Plants & Pollinators: the Birds and the Bees.

There are several reasons I do this and not have every student paint the same subject.

• They can paint a subject they are passionate about
• They are not forced to paint a subject with no relevance to their preferences
• They receive absolute individual tuition so all necessary techniques and methods are clearly understood and demonstrated
• They gain confidence as to how to complete their own paintings once they return home
• They understand the workshop is not about producing a finished painting, but learning HOW to correctly complete a finished painting

Here are a few photos from the workshop of some of the student's paintings. 

Krysia's  painting

Felicity's eucalyptus - nearly finished

Grace's finished Strelitzia reginae - Bird of Paradise

The class enjoying morning tea. I am third from bottom left.

Hilary's painting of an Eastern Spinebill bird on a banksia. Almost finished

Janet painting her New Holland Honeyeater on a banksia. 

Jenny's first washes finished. 

The Coldstream Gallery at Ulmarra held a tutors exhibition during the week. There was wonderful response from the locals as well as tutors and students. A great opening night.

I am second from left, with Hilary, Jude and Janet.

I will be back in Grafton in 2020, and look forward to another rewarding week.

More banksias

Have just finished another banksia painting. I adore these flowers - they are so earthy and unique yet can be so colourful and exciting. Detail is my thing - so nothing more enjoyable than to sit for hours (with short breaks) and work on the fine detail. It is all about Observation.

 

 

Finished painting
Banksia menzieseii and Banksia prionotes



Detailed drawing and first washes

 

 

 Am now anxious to get started on another few paintings as I have personal deadlines for "before Christmas" . Things will be really hectic from then on. Starting work very early (up at 4.30am today) gives me more hours in the day.

 

 

Banksia Workshop in Canberra

I have just returned from teaching a Banksia workshop in Canberra, a place I always love visiting. This very successful workshop kept me on my toes, with 15 motivated and talented participants.

 

"It is all about the process" I kept reminding them. When tackling a subject that at first appears to be complicated and intricate, just take it one step at a time, rather than feel it is beyond your capabilities.

 

The subject I chose was originally Banksia prionotes, which is a banksia I have recently painted and I felt it was absolutely achievable. The banksias that arrived for the workshop were Banksia hookeriana, which although similar in construction, are smaller and have thinner leaves.

 

 

Banksia hookeriana
 

The hardest part of any botanical work is the drawing. If this isnt right, nothing else will be right. So the first morning was spent working very hard at getting the drawing correct by working with the Fibonacci Spiral.

 

One of the student's drawing of the Fibonacci Spiral of the B.hookeriana

 

Pay close attention to the "information" on the plant. Work out the Fibonacci sequence. Draw what you see.

 

The next step was to do a colour match, and a colour study. This ensures there are no mistakes when beginning the final painting. All the various components of the subject are practised and perfected before the painting.

 

The above student's  work shows the colour study and confirmation that the Fibonacci Spiral works. It is very easy to "see" the spiral formation on the subject.

All of the class began their final painting on Day 2. They were all feeling confident and were all very happy with what they had achieved over the 2 day workshop.

I continue to get an enormous amount of satisfaction out of sharing my skills and knowledge with others, and to take them on the journey of creating a wonderful botanical painting.