Altered Book Art Children's Project

I have just finished a project with the North Hampshire Home Education Group.  The children were challenged to design and create two altered book artworks, using a variety of media and techniques.  The artworks have all been based on a narrative. The stories chosen have included a favourite book, stories written by the students and non-fiction events.

The first book made use of wire modelling and paper mâché giving the impression that the story was exploding or growing out from the book.

The second book was altered by cutting into it, collaging, deconstructing, drawing, painting, weaving, sewing, felting or folding.

The children aged between 7 and 14 have interpreted the brief in different ways to produce a wide variety of outcomes.  On The last week the children held an exhibition of their work for family and friends.  Everyone was impressed by the children’s work and achievements. 

 

 

Autumn Term Art Classes

 Drawing and Painting for Beginners

A fun weekly class in Drawing and Painting with one-to-one tuition from practicing artist and tutor Bethany Milam. Suitable for beginners and intermediates. Explore different skills and techniques working at your own pace. Bring your own projects or work from a still life/photos provided by the tutor. Tea / Coffee Included.

• Drawing and Sketching

• Composition, Perspective, Tone and Colour

• Watercolour, Acrylic, Oils, Pen and Ink, Charcoal, Pastels

• Still Life, Landscape, Portrait

• and more...

Monday 2pm - 4pm

9th September - 16th Dec 2013

(No class 28th October)

14 lessons for £84.00

Kingsclere Village Club

35 George Street

Kingsclere

Hampshire

Postcode

RG20 5NH

For more information or to book a place contact:

Helen on 07796 083042 (between 5pm and 8pm) or email kvc.education@yahoo.co.uk

Painting With Mixed Media

BCOT Adult Education Partnership

Course Length: 8 wks

Venue: Cranbourne Business & Enterprise College

Day / Time: Thursday 7pm – 9pm

Start Date: 3rd October

  

This is an exciting course which will introduce you to different media and painting techniques. You will learn how to use a range of different processes and techniques, both traditional and experimental. You will create a range of studies, experimental trials and finished works. You will work from subjects including still life and self portraits to be discussed with the tutor.

Course Content

Over the course of 8 wks you will look at:

• The formal elements; line, mark-making, tone, form, composition and colour theory?

• Brushes, tools and supports

• Painting with watercolour – wash techniques, wet into wet, overlaying, creating texture, using masking fluid, sanding, spattering and sponging

• Painting with acrylics – transparent techniques; washes and glazes; opaque techniques; Impasto, painting with the palette knife, and other tools, s’graffito, texture paste and adding texture.

• Painting with egg tempera – making your own paint, under-painting, hatching and glazing.

• Combining techniques?

• You will produce a range of drawings, compositional studies and sketches and you will be able to discuss progress with the group in order to develop self- evaluation techniques.?

Equipment

Handouts will be provided and the tutor will advise you on any further reading that might be useful and/or of interest to you. A basic tool kit will be required - see below. A material fee has been included with the tuition fee for other materials and equipment to be used in class.

2/3 sheets A3 Cartridge paper (per session)

Pencils – 6H - 4B

Soft Rubber

A range of bristle/synthetic brushes, Pallet knives and sponges - to be advised by tutor on first session

Optional materials to be advised by tutor

Contact Details

adulteducation@bcot.ac.uk

Tel: 01256 306355/306347

To enrol: 01256 306484

Developing Your Creative Drawing Skills

BCOT Adult Education Partnership

Course Length: 8 wks

Venue: Cranbourne Business & Enterprise College

Day / Time: Monday 7pm – 9pm

Start Date: 30th September

This is an exciting course which will help you to develop your drawing skills. There is an emphasis on experimenting with different techniques and media. Students will create a range of experimental sketches and finished works.

Course Content

Over the course of 8 wks you will look at:

* use of lines with different qualities; using negative space; right/left brain drawing

* use of measuring techniques to draw proportions accurately; finding angles; Compostion

* use of a range of media and experimental mark-making techniques;

* perspective and foreshortening;

* Tone and Form; silhouettes and use of charcoal;

* Hatching & cross-hatching to create tone & form;

* Experiment with mixed media; drawing with pastels, graphite, charcoal inks, chalk, paint, using

various sorts of paper

* Basic colour theory

You will produce a range of drawings, compositional studies and sketches and you will be able to discuss progress with the group in order to develop self-evaluation techniques.

  

Contact Details

adulteducation@bcot.ac.uk

Tel: 01256 306355/306347

To enrol: 01256 306484

Equipment

Handouts will be provided and the tutor will advise you on any further reading that might be useful and/or of interest to you. A basic tool kit will be required - see below. A material fee has been included with the tuition fee for other materials and equipment to be used in class.

2-3 sheets A1 Cartridge paper (per session)

Black Quink Ink (1 bottle)

Pencils - 2B, 4B, 6B (1-2 of each)

2 Rubbers

1 Palette

Water pots

Upcoming Exhibition: Not The Royal Academy

Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition

I am pleased to announce that my work ‘Helping to Make a Difference (Portrait of the Artist’s Mother)’ has been selected for this years SWA exhibition.  

The Society of Women Artists
152nd Annual Exhibition 2013
The Mall Galleries
The Mall, London, SW1

Thursday 27th June to Saturday 6th July
10am to 5pm daily (Closing 3pm on 6th July)

The exhibition will show a rich mix of media and styles and will be opened by the society’s patron HRH Princess Michael of Kent.

www.society-women-artists.org.uk

At the exhibition preview.

The model views her portrait at the gallery.

Quick Tips: How to use a viewfinder for observational drawing and painting

The Basics

Always hold the viewfinder the same distance from yourself and your subject (at arm's length, keeping your elbow locked), so that you get a consistent view through the viewfinder.  Before you begin to draw make a note of two or three key points where objects appear to meet the edge of your viewfinder, this will allow you to accurately line up your viewfinder later while making your drawing. Keep the viewfinder straight both vertically and horizontally, the tendency to tilt towards the scene should be avoided as this will create distortions.

1) Use your viewfinder to focus in on an area of the subject. 

Looking at a whole landscape or still life can be daunting so use your viewfinder to select one view to concentrate on. Think about what would make the most interesting composition.

2) The picture plane

The easiest way to understand the term ‘picture plane’ is to place a piece of acetate on a window, and to draw what you can see, as if tracing from life. The acetate on the window is your picture plane.

Drawing from life rather than copying a photograph is something that beginners often struggle with as it involves converting a 3-D object into a 2-D drawing on their paper. Drawing with a viewfinder helps by framing the subject and giving the impression of a flattened picture plane.

3) How to use negative shapes to improve your observational drawings

Negative space is the space around and between subjects in an image. Too often when we draw something, we stop observing and start drawing from memory. Instead of drawing what is in front of us, we draw what we know and remember about the subject. So, for example, when drawing a mug, we start thinking "I know what a mug looks like" and don't observe the precise angles of that particular mug. By changing your focus away from the mug and to the negative spaces – such as the space between the handle and the mug, and the space underneath the handle and the surface the mug is sitting on – you have to concentrate on what's in front of you and can't work on 'autopilot'.  Often by working from the negative spaces rather than focusing on the object, you end up with a much more accurate drawing.

Frame an object (such as a chair) with your viewfinder making sure the object appears to touch at least 2 sides of the viewfinder rectangle. This forms a border around the object and enables you to see the negative space between the chair and the borders as ‘trapped’ shapes. It might take you a while to get used to seeing the negative spaces as shapes, so be patient.  Draw a border on your paper the same rectangle ratio as your viewfinder.  By noting where the object appears to touch the border of your viewfinder, you should be able to recreate the negative shapes on your paper. Observe both the positive and negative shapes; start with the biggest shapes first, leaving detail until the end.  

Happy drawing!

Quick Tips: How to make a viewfinder

Whether you are sketching in the countryside or are looking at a still life in class it is often hard to know what to draw and what to leave out!  This can often lead to disappointing compositions.  A viewfinder is a simple tool used for first finding an interesting composition and then judging the positions of objects while drawing.  First you need to make your viewfinder; there are many different ways to do this; make sure you choose one that will suit your purpose. 

Example 1

1) Use a sturdy piece of card that won't bend when it is picked up.
2) Draw two diagonal lines from corner to corner that cross in the middle

 
3) Measure across the diagonal lines to draw the rectangular window, make sure your lines are straight, use a right angle ruler or set square if necessary. 

4) If you are drawing on ‘A’ series paper, draw the rectangular window to measure; 105 x 74mm, 74 x 52mm, 52 x 37mm or 37 x 26mm.  The rectangle in the middle should now have the same proportions as your drawing paper so that the edges of the viewfinder’s window represent the edges of your paper.

5) Carefully cut out the viewfinder window with a scalpel and metal ruler.

Example 2

1. Use a pencil and ruler to draw two corner shapes on thick card; they should be the same size. The corners should be around 50mm wide so they stay rigid when held up.
2. The length of the corners depends on the size of your card and how large you will need your viewfinder to be. Around 200mm should be sufficient.
3. Cut out the corners.
4. Place the one corner over the other so they overlap, forming a frame.
5. By moving the two corners, you can change the size and proportions of the window, adapting it to relate to any paper or canvas proportions.
6. Use two paper clips to keep your corners in place.

 

Example 3

An old slide frame can make a very useful small viewfinder.  With the added advantage of being able to draw different compositional devices on blank slides and swap them over.

 Empty slide and slide with the rule of thirds.

Example 4

You could also use a sheet of acetate combined with a card border to divide your window into thirds, the golden rectangle etc.

Golden rectangle and Fibonacci spiral on acetate

Example 5

There are also many different types of viewfinders that you can buy but why spend out on something that is so easy to make?

In part two we will look at how to use your viewfinder...

Pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain and Millais' Christ In The House Of His Parents

“Led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) rebelled against the art establishment of the mid-nineteenth century, taking inspiration from early Renaissance painting. The exhibition establishes the PRB as an early example of the avant-garde: painters who self-consciously overturned orthodoxy and established a new benchmark for modern painting and design. It will include many famous Pre-Raphaelite works, and will also re-introduce some rarely seen masterpieces.” - Tate Website

Last week, I finally got to Tate Britain to see the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde.  The PRB are a favourite of mine and it was great to see so many of their paintings all together (along with predecessors’ and followers’ works).  Many of the paintings had been borrowed from other collections, some of which, I was finally seeing in the flesh for the first time.  It was also great to see paintings that I see every time I visit the Tate, given their own breathing space (rather than crammed in and too high up to see properly).  Viewing these works in this context surrounded by other PRB paintings was very interesting; Hunt’s The Finding Of The Saviour In The Temple had been placed side by side with Millais’ Christ In The House Of His Parents, as well as being of a similar size and looking very impressive next to each other the curator is cleverly inviting us to compare these two approaches to depicting the childhood of Jesus.  Millais' Christ In The House Of His Parents is one of my favourite paintings and in this post I have attempted to examine this work and its appeal.

 

John Everett Millais, Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter's Shop), 1849-50, Oil on Canvas, 86.4x139.7cm

When first exhibited, this controversial painting was not well received because of its use of realistic figures and environment, (the interior was painted from a real carpenter's workshop).  One critic described it as ‘pictorial blasphemy’ and the well known author Charles Dickens was particularly vehement in his criticism of the depiction of Mary calling her "horrible in her ugliness".  Viewing the painting today, from a 21st century perspective, I don’t see ugliness, I see ordinary people with dirty fingernails, wrinkles, even a receding a hair line, in Joseph’s case.  The idea of the holy family as real working class people rather than idealised figures incensed the critics of the day but this is exactly what draws me to this work.   

The painting combines real models and emotions with layers of symbolism and slightly stylised poses; reminiscent of early renaissance masterpieces, along with keenly observed detail that brings to mind the work of Dutch baroque masters, with their intricately detailed subjects caught in a luminous stillness.  All this creates a mystical, otherworldly feel that is prevalent in the work of the PRB.  Although some critics dislike the combination of these elements, feeling that the works are oddly dislocated. I feel that this painting has a romanticised, reverential and thought provoking atmosphere.    

The painting shows an imagined scenario not described in scripture.  It was unusual but not unheard of to depict an event not specifically mentioned in the Bible and meant that Millais had the advantage of being released from many of the set rules associated with familiar biblical depictions.   Furthermore in the Bible there is very little information on Jesus' childhood and so the artist is free to imagine what the child Christ's life could have been like.  The exhibition includes an earlier version of this subject by John Rogers Herbert. Although we can see hints of Pre-Raphaelite leanings Herbert’s painting has a soft approach to the modelling of forms, his use of colour is more harmonious and muted while the use of typical old master garments and softened idealised faces contrasts with Millais radical realism.  

John Rogers Herbert, Our Saviour, Subject to His Parents at Nazareth (The Youth of Our Lord), 1847-56, Oil on Canvas, 81.3x129.5cm

The family dynamics also take on more emphasis in the Millais as the characters interact and create a narrative that is easily read. The painting also contains much symbolism to aid the narrative.  

Jesus has cut his hand on a nail in Joseph’s workshop his mother has come to comfort him but appears more distressed than Jesus, who offers her a comforting kiss. Mary's forehead is wrinkled as she lifts her brows in an expression that conveys more than just love and worry, to a fervent devotion. Perhaps her distress is a sign of her recognition of her son’s future death, which is prefigured by the cut on Christ’s palm and drop of blood on his foot.  The carpentry tools in the background are further symbols of the crucifixion while the ladder suggests the building of a cross rather than the door currently being constructed.  Joseph examines the cut, moving Jesus’ hand into a gesture of benediction as he does so, while young John the Baptist brings water to clean the wound.  John carrying the bowl of water and the dove in the background brings to mind the later event of Jesus’ baptism especially the work of Piero Della Francesca, an early renaissance artist.

Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ, c.1450, Egg Tempera on Poplar, 167 x 116 cm

The Holy Trinity is symbolised by the carpenter's triangle on the wall, above Christ's head.  St Ann is seen removing the offending nail from the door.  The last figure, described as an assistant carpenter, balances the composition and many regard this as the reason for his inclusion, I find him an interesting addition and a reminder that the Holy family lived and worked in a community and did not exist in an isolated ‘alternate reality’, which many old master works would seem to suggest.  Across the gallery is hung Hunt’s Light of the world in which Jesus stands at a door and knocks, the door here symbolises the door to the soul described in Revelation 3:20 and I wonder whether it was coincidence that Millais’ depicted the holy family at work around a door or was it a deliberate symbolic inclusion? 

William Holman Hunt, The light of the World, 1851-2, Oil and Gold Leaf on Canvas, 122x60.5cm 

Years after I first viewed Millais' Christ In The House Of His Parents I still find it captivating and continue to see more and more within it, I hope that my musings inspire you to delve under the surface of other familiar works. 

Overall this was a fascinating and inspiring exhibition, which was well worth the visit. You can find out more about the PRB by following the links below.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/pre-raphaelites-victorian-avant-garde

http://pinterest.com/tategallery/pre-raphaelites/

http://www.pre-raphaelitesociety.org/

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/sir-john-everett-millais-christ-in-the-house-of-his-parents.html

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/group/prb.htm