Blooming lovely pastels at Ripley Castle!

Blooming lovely pastels at Ripley Castle!

At long last the sun came out and what perfect timing too! The first of my Summer workshops started in style on Monday 30 June with a fantastic days painting had by all. 

Making our way past the castle and through the grounds of this prestigious estate to the walled garden, looking over the wide terrace a wonderful pastoral scene was something to behold in the distance with cows drinking and cooling themselves in Ripley Lake. The scene reminded us all of the superb paintings by many of England’s great painters. A lovely brief respite on our way to the colourful walled gardens just a stones throw away just round the corner.

Choosing a weekday to paint we very much had the gardens to ourselves and with a quick tour showing everyone the different compositions and choices for great paintings I soon chose one myself to give a brief demonstration to get everyone in their stride.

Choosing pastels for the immediacy and ease of mark making and painting, I explained as I demonstrated a wide variety of techniques to quickly build up a painting with sumptuous colour whilst capturing the essence of the scene.

With everyone well under way soon after my demonstration and absorbed in their work, everyone created some amazing paintings throughout the day. With one to one tuition throughout it was great to see the paintings taking shape.

The hours quickly passed and it was clear to see by the results at the end of the day just how much everyone had learned on the workshop and how much they had enjoyed themselves too. 

Roll on the next Summer workshop at Newby Hall Gardens, Near Ripon, North Yorkshire on Friday 11 July 2014. We are all in for another treat!

See you there!