August

The month of the Auckfest!!!

August was fairly quiet art wise for me. I didn't have any courses to attend, holidays to go on or exhibitions to visit. So this blog will be more of what else I got up to during the month.

I am fortunate enough to know some friends who come from a very musical family and each year they put on a music festival known as 'Auckfest', whereby a bunch of professional musicians set up camp (literally) in a back garden in the quiet village of Midhurst and jam all weekend. As this is over the bank holiday weekend it starts Friday night and more often than not the last straggler leaves around the following Wednesday!!!

This year the theme for the main event was kind of Country and Western meets Jazz meets Jimi Hendrix!!! It was absolutely brilliant and the band, organised by the very talented Joe Auckland with Jerry Haglund playing lead quitar, kicked off the proceedings by playing some hillbilly music....a bit of Johnny Cash, a bit of country and western....supported by two brilliant backing singers who made their own (if very bright) dresses.

The 'dodgy' country and western shirts were 'donated' on the day by Ben on the double bass....you could tell they were all his shirts as a) he looked very at home in it and b) his was the only one which actually fit!!!

After the country and western set they then performed their true love.....blues and jazz music and the way they play effortlessly together is awesome.

After a break....bbq and beer.....(and some 'Dave and Claudine' ale left over from their wedding) the Jimi Hendrix tribute set kicked in. Jerry Hanglund is amazing and can turn his hand to playing any song.....although he plays Jimi Hendrix's music brilliantly.

The whole day was brilliant and I look forward to next year!

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On a completely different note I support the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in various ways, one of which is to sponsor a puppy. This can be as inexpensive as you wish and by making a monthly donation to the charity you can help visually impaired people gain independence which we all take for granted.

So this month I had a new Guide Dog puppy to sponsor as my last one, Rufus, had just been placed with an owner. So through my door came my latest puppy update who is called Crumble and is such a cutie and here's a pic of the little treasure.

Helen
http://www.scarletdesigns.net/



Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

Wonderful St Ives

July was the month that I had been looking forward to for ages as it was my painting Holiday in St Ives in Cornwall.

I had booked up a three day course called 'Watercolour Painting in St Ives' with the St Ives School of Painting and had chosen to stay in a little hotel called ‘The Nook’ which was absolutely wonderful.

This was the first time I had decided to book myself on a 3 day course away from home and I was really looking forward to it.

St Ives is a wonderful little town on the south coast of Cornwall and has the most extraordinary ultraviolet light which artists flock to see and to try and capture. The town itself is full of art galleries, lovely quaint shops and plenty of restaurants as well as having The Tate, St Ives overlooking Porthmeor Beach.

The course I attended was run by Hilary Gibson and it was just great. She had us trying out some paint techniques in the studio before heading out to town with our paint, pads and stools to try it out for real. We painted on the cliffs, on the pier, and in the harbour. We were able to try out various techniques and in some instances had to use just one colour and paint in various tones. For some of the exercises we were only allowed 20 mins to paint a picture. Hilary was always around to give expert advice and tips on ways to develop your painting and as there were only 8 in the class she had plenty of time to spend with us.

Each day she introduced some more techniques to us and by day three we were able to spend more time painting a single picture.

It was a brilliant course, the other students got on really well and to top it all the sun shone every single day…..which compared to the rest of England was a miracle. Mind you, we did have a two minute freaky hailstorm which not only drenched us, but also soaked our paintings if we weren’t quick enough to hide them…..although for those that didn’t have time, the effect of the hail on the pictures was quite dramatic!

Here is one sketch I did on my final day of the boats in the harbour.

Here are some of the pictures I took as I walked around the town:

St Ives School of Painting

The Tate, St Ives

I came away from St Ives with lots of lovely memories, lots of inspiration for more pictures and very sunburnt shoulders !!!!!


For more information, please find links below:

St Ives School of Painting – contact James Barry on info@stivesartschool.co.uk

Web: http://www.stivesartschool.co.uk/

Tel: 01736 797180

The Nook Hotel – contact John on http://www.nookstives.co.uk/
Lovely hotel, very friendly – thoroughly recommend it.

The Tate St Ives http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/

I started the month of June looking forward to another Art Events class called ‘Sunlight and Shadows’. This was a one day Saturday workshop tutored by Chris Forsey.

Chris started us off by looking at a white box to observe exactly what colours we could see on each of the sides. Colours such as pale yellow and blue were apparent and not the normal ‘shadow grey’ we think it ought to be. What followed was another brilliant class allowing us to experiment with our watercolours and realise that shadows are in fact all sorts of colours.

Chris is an excellent, inspiring tutor and it’s great to look at all the other peoples work at the end of the workshop…some even gave him a run for his money.

These events are really great fun and you learn so much too. I’ve already booked up for more in the coming months and if you would like to check out the website for up and coming classes, see below for more details.

You can contact Linda Bywaters from Art Events on http://www.art-events.co.uk/

Chris is available for workshops and demonstrations/talks and he can be reached at
Chris Forsey http://www.chrisforsey.com/

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I managed to put some paint on one of the pictures I had started at a previous Art Events class and decided to use just three colours….Paynes Grey, Prussian Blue and Yellow Ochre. This was an experimental picture and you can see the result below. If you look back at the blog in May you can see the ink drawing before any paint went on. It’s not the best thing I have done but I did enjoy using the various tones of the three colours to bring it to life.

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For those who are looking for cheap art supplies…..(painting can be so expensive)….I have found a site called http://www.greatart.co.uk/ which sells all sort of materials at very reasonable prices. They also have some good sale offers too, so they are worth a look.

Well that sums up June….I wanted to get outside and do some painting but the weather has been pretty miserable so it’s been studio work. Next month I am on a painting holiday in St Ives so hopefully the weather will be kinder then!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments!

Cheers

Helen

www.scarletdesigns.net

Well May has come and gone and overall it has been a great month.

I have continued with my life drawing class and am thoroughly enjoying it. Fran Elliott the tutor has really helped me develop in this hard subject and each week I see a slight improvement. Below is one picture which Fran said I should be proud of…and you know what….I am. Victoria was a pleasure to draw and with inspiration from Fran, I decided to use pastels instead of just charcoal and I am pleased with the overall effect.

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One of the students in the class, Michael Gage, had his first exhibition with a fellow artist Sheri Gee in Greenstede Gallery, Chequer Mead Community Centre, East Grinstead. Between them they had some excellent paintings and drawings and not all of them were life drawings. I am pleased to say they both sold quite a few and I would recommend checking out their websites. If I could paint and draw as well as they can I would be very happy…

Michael Gage - http://www.michaelgage.co.uk/
Sheri Gee - http://www.sherigee.com/

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On a different note, a good friend of mine, Shaun Hodge, had his photo published in the critic’s section of the Amateur Photographer magazine. This can be quite daunting as the critics can pull your work apart and tell you where you have gone wrong and I am pleased to say he received high praise for his motocross action shot.

Shaun seems to have an eye for sporting events and has taken pictures of boat races, motocross, international rugby matches and was fortunate enough to have a press pass for the London Marathon this year.

Please have a look at his site which is http://www.hodgeimages.co.uk/

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Lastly I stumbled across the work of Adam Lazowski who is lucky enough to travel to some interesting places as part of his job. With his camera at the ready he has taken some amazing and atmospheric pictures which capture the essence of the cities.

His website is http://www.adamlazowski.com/ and I would recommend a visit, if only to find inspiration of places to visit.

Welcome to the first of many...

Hello! Welcome to my blog - well the first of many anyway. I thought this would be a great way to keep everyone updated on what is happening in the world of Scarlet Designs!!

So what has been happening....

Well April was a very exciting month for me as I started two very different art courses.

The first was an afternoon class in Pen and Ink for three weeks with a brilliant and inspiring tutor called Chris Forsey. I had so much fun experimenting with this medium as it has been one which I have wanted to dabble in for ages.

Chris started us off drawing very traditionally using the method of line drawing and crosshatching to produce work that was precise and 'contained' and some of the work the other students produced were amazing. Here is my attempt (and seeing as this is the first time I have done this since school, I was quite amazed it came out as it did!)



The second lesson we were able to really explore our creative side and used all sorts of implements to draw with...a dip pen, a quill pen, twigs and bamboo pens to name a few. I decided to paint using a quill pen and the odd twig in violet watercolur ink and then use a brush soften the edges. It's no masterpiece but it did teach me to just be free with my drawing...and when you are painting/drawing in ink there is no going back!!! Mind you, the tutor did wonder if I'd taken some happy pills as it was a bit bright!!! I also had a few accidents with the ink (in typical me fashion) so there are quite a few splodges which all add to the character of the picture.


In the final lesson we could pretty much do as we pleased so I attempted a very intricate line drawing of a boat scene which unfortunately I was unable to finish. However, when I get time I will most certaintly give it a wash of colour and who know's I may even post it here!


The course was run by Linda Bywaters at Art-Events and I would thoroughly recommend joining their classes. They are friendly, fun and great value for money! (Based in Reigate, Surrey)

Contact Linda on www.art-events.co.uk

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My second art class for the month was a life drawing one and again, this has always been something I have wanted to try.

When I arrived at the East Grinstead Parish Hall where it was being held I was totally unsure what to expect. Painting and drawing the human form is one of the best ways of learning to draw as you have to totally concentrate on every single curve and muscle. You have to draw what you see not what you expect to see - we all have our idea of what the body looks like, but drawing it is a totally different matter.

I had a great time even though this class is somewhat more 'serious' than my other Pen and Ink class. The people were really friendly and I learned a lot in three and a half hours. Fran Elliott, the tutor, was so patient in teaching me the basics and making me feel at ease.

Incase you are wondering it did take me a while to get used to a naked person being in one position for a long while, allowing us to look at every detail on their body, but once I got over my initial embarrassment (and it was only mine) I found my charcoal drawing relaxed and my line strokes became more confident.

If you are interested in this course then please contact Babette Adrian on www.sculpture-painting.co.uk

Below you will find the picture I drew on my first evening which unfortunately includes some additions from my cat who decided to sit on it and sharpen her claws on the paper the minute I got it home!!!

Well that about sums up this entry for April....wonder what May will bring!

Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me at my website below if you have any comments!

Helen
www.scarletdesigns.net