I wanted to paint skies and after looking at Constables at the Ashmolean, I turned to Edward Seago. Edward Seago (1910 – 1974) Seago had no formal training, and joined a circus at 18, later serving in the army. His style was roughly post impressionism and he was immensely popular in Britain. The Queen Mother was an avid collector of his work. Prince Philip invited him on an expedition to the Antarctic and some of the resulting paintings are at Balmoral. I copied one of these … [Read more...]
My Sketchbook 2015
I was fascinated by the concept of Urban Sketching, so I decided to draw every day while on a two month trip to Singapore and Australia in 2015. And I did. I discovered after the first drawing of the V&A just before I left, that I get caught up in detail and this limits me. So 'Loosen Up', (But how?) There is nothing quite like a monsoon to 'loosen one up'. I sheltered in a kiosk with the wind blowing the plants to bits and rain driving in from behind, wetting my back and these lovely … [Read more...]
Kurt Jackson’s Sketchbooks
In the previous post I chatted about Caroline Chappell's method of making working sketches and visual notes. Kurt Jackson's sketchbooks are an end in themselves and function as independent artworks. Sketching is one of the things that we all believe in but seem to find it really hard to do. I mean, how hard is it to draw for ten minutes a day? And anyway, why would we want to? This is a must-read! I can't show examples of his work other than the cover of his book - but I'll give you … [Read more...]
Caroline Chappell – Abstracting the Landscape- part 2
This is part of the series 'My journey with the Masters' The workshop description: Caroline Chappell: Abstracting the Landscape: A mixed media painting workshop designed for people who would like to work in a more expressive way or want to ‘loosen up’. I will show how to make quick visual ‘notes’ while experiencing the landscape, then help to develop them into abstract landscape compositions. Day Two Regardless of the weather which was miserably cold and misty, but not … [Read more...]
Why sketch if you have a camera?
If I want to paint a still life, I set it up very carefully, photograph and crop it, perhaps move the objects or fiddle with the lighting and then photograph it again until I am satisfied. This will take place of the 'thumbnail' or planning sketch. I start drawing with the paintbrush on the canvas, only referring to the photo to get the composition right, but working from the actual still-life. I put the camera away and continue painting. I will hardly refer back to the photo unless I … [Read more...]
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