Art Course

 

 

6 weeks ago my art course began over at The Make It Room, Howe Green. The course was aimed at beginners but it soon became apparent that none of the students were really beginners as they had all dabbled in various types of art in the past, having been on other courses through work or workshops at other locations. What seemed to be different about my approach to an art course though was that I’d structured it with my classroom teacher head on.  I’d start with demos, artists and collected imagery, taught different techniques each week and showed how to work with each material successfully. This seemed to suit my students as they had come along wanting to learn new skills and discover more about art 🙂

Each week was centred around a different technique and theme. Week 1 was based on line drawing where we began working from observation using pencil and stick/inks. The aim was to focus on textured mark making to help objects look 3D. I particularly liked the fluffy teddy, as did Drea’s next door neighbour who offered to buy it off her 🙂

Week 2 progressed onto a still life with multiple objects and plenty of jokes about me bringing my breakfast with me! Food based still lives are a winner in my book but no boring bowls of fruit here. We had cereal, toast, pots of tea etc The brown parcel paper has an interesting texture for drawing onto and shows up the contrasting tones to good effect….as I’m sure you will have noticed 😉

Week 3 we moved onto coloured materials and began to experiment with chalks and oil pastels. Irma thought she didn’t like using oil pastels because of the feel of them but actually  discovered that she was a natural when it came to using bright colours and blending them together whereas Drea created the most stunning chalk study of an ape holding a baby, it looked so real…. I’m gutted I forgot to take a photo of it!!!

 

In week 4 Sue became ‘star baker’….yep we chatted a LOT about The Great British Bake Off!!!….well the class was on a Weds morning after GBBO on a Tues so it was a natural topic for us teehee…..anyway, I digress, Sue had previously worked with acrylic paint so after a few handy hints, tips, artist studies and experiments took to painting very quickly. That confidence in the material helped her to be free with the paint and I think you’d agree that her autumnal landscape below is gorgeous and would you guess that it was painted entirely with a glue spreader?! 

This week we looked at Leonid Afremov and David Hockney as our inspirational starting points. If you aren’t familiar with their work look it up. They are goooood.

 

Collage and mixed media was the challenge for week 5. We made our own textured papers and then raided the Argos catalogue for other colours/textures. Several of the flowers below are made from bedding and cushions! Those painting skills from last week came in handy for creating different textured marks to add into the piece to create a wow factor. The bigger challenge this wk though seemed to be NOT putting your paintbrush into your cup of tea! anyone else done that before, yep me too!!!

Reduction method lino printing was the task for the final week. In basic terms that’s print, carve, print, carve, print, carve…until you have no more lino left.

 

…and then it was all over 😦 Time flew by each week as we made art, drank tea, ate biscuits, chatted about books and GBBO and before we knew it 6 weeks of art had passed BUT (and this makes me smile ) with everyone booking to come back for course no 2 in January 😀 

In Nov this course starts all over again on Monday eves 6.30-9pm. There are still a couple of places left so if you’d like to join us get in touch 01245 401118 helen@helenroseglass.co.uk or book directly via this link with paypal  http://www.themakeitroom.co.uk/epages/587985.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/587985/Products/HS-131111-2

I’ll be running Art Course 2 from Mon 6th Jan 10-12.30 or Tues 6.30-9pm for 6weeks £105 all materials included and this time we will be going BIG…well A2 size big 🙂