Coastal Creativity at Cober Hill

Now that's what I call charcoal! No other company creates charcoal this size and of this fine quality like Nitram Charcoal from Canada do! 

I've just returned from a fabulous weeks teaching 14 enthusiastic students at the wonderful venue of Cober Hill, Cloughton near Scarborough recently on the Yorkshire East Coast.

A truly inspirational week sharing lots of quality time together getting to know one another and creating mixed media paintings together. 

Fun in the studio at Cober Hill on our mixed media art holiday together

Being receptive to new ideas the work everyone created on a regular and daily basis was an absolute joy to guide everyone through each stage to create some wonderful paintings.

Relaxing outdoors in the Autumn sunshine at Cober Hill - a well earned break for all the great mixed media paintings created in the studio!

Not only did we have some great times in the bright conservatory studio at Cober Hill, but with glorious weather all week (especially on our two painting days we went out) being kind to us, our field trips paintings and sketching outdoors was a rewarding experience for all.

On the moors overlooking Whitby sketching and painting - a great mornings work ladies!

With an acrylic moor and coast painting theme for our art week, the wonderful North York Moors National park close to Cober Hill was a real inspiration. 

Our field trips painting at Robin Hoods Bay in full sun with the tide out was fantastic. There was a painting view just about everywhere!

Crisp light and detail means using a sharp charcoal stick. Nothing better than using the Nitram sharpening block to prepare everything the night before so no time is wasted out in the field

Demonstration mixed media painting at Robin Hoods Bay. A great morning for everyone sketching in this beautiful location close to Cober Hill

Explaining why and what I'm using to help create my expressive mixed media painting to include Nitram Charcoal drawing tools and charcoal

Explaining the importance of clean water for water media techniques to include using Quink ink (black) and acrylic ink (black and white and metallic colours).

Making a start with Nitram Charcoal on Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm (140lb) 'rough' 100% rag content watercolour paper

The beautiful scenic low tide view at Robin Hoods Bay many chose to paint too

Again on another day during the week we took a trip to a vantage point overlooking the village of Sleights, the valley of Iburndale and the village of Ugglebarnby to distant Whitby to sketch and paint too.

Sketching on the moors above Whitby - a fabulous and rewarding experience for everyone!

I got the chance to demonstrate how working outdoors directly in front of the subject helps create paintings and studies full of energy, vigour and life. By choosing to work with different black and white media to include Nitram charcoal (a really superior high grade charcoal from Canada) on each occasion on Canson Moulin du roy 300gsm (140lb) not and rough 100% rag content watercolour papers, students could see the merits of choosing such versatile papers to work on for different approaches to mixed media landscape painting.

Mornings demonstration painting using mixed media to include Nitram Charcoal from Canada, Derwent XL Blocks charcoal (black and white), pastels and inks. Drawing really is good for the soul, especially with a view like this!

The week flew by but we made every minute of it by packing lots into the week to include quality studio painting time, field trips, evening demonstrations and of course evening get togethers amongst friends.

Celebrating a wonderful weeks painting together - come join the party next year!

I'm really looking forward to coming back next year to teach lots more exciting mixed media painting techniques on my two planned holidays at Cober Hill.

This time we will be using watercolour, gouache, soft pastel and acrylic inks to create some more fabulous paintings along the Heritage Coast of East Yorkshire to visit the pretty villages of Sandsend near Whitby and Staithes a little further along the coast, to name but a few.

For further details of next years painting adventures at Cober Hill along the East Coast visit
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays/march-2017-mixed-media-east-coast-art-holiday
and
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays/october-2017-mixed-media-east-coast-art-holiday

Canson Moulin du Roy 100% rag content watercolour papers and Nitram Charcoal from Canada available from https://www.jacksonsart.com/

Colourful Welsh water comes to Chester!

A truly magical day was spent demonstrating and teaching pastel techniques to members of Grosvenor Art Society in Chester on Saturday 17 September '16. 

The day began with a wonderful warm welcome from everyone at Grosvenor Art Society with an exciting mornings demonstration of an expressive pastel painting I created of a seascape 'Incoming evening tide, North Bay, Anglesey' - a beautiful wild and rocky Welsh beach and personal favourite on the Island of Anglesey in North Wales I've visited and sketched at a number of times. 

Filmed as I worked, the expressive pastel painting really took shape over the two hours on 'Sky Grey' Canson Mi-Teintes 'Touch’ 350gsm pastel paper.  

Making a start out lining the composition with complimentary colours with both soft and hard pastels

Building up the tones, colours and layers both drawing and painting with different brands of pastels to include Unison Colour, Rembrandt pastels, Sennelier soft pastels, and Inscribe pastels amongst others

Sharing a joke or two with everyone as I painted, teaching as I demonstrated too, it was a real pleasure to share skills with everyone for a very short 2 hours if felt.

At the end of the well received demonstration (thanks everyone) I had the honour to present two amazing painters from Grosvenor Art Society with well deserved awards for wonderful paintings entered into their Art Society open competition.

The demonstration painting created on Canson Mi-Teintes 'Touch' 350gsm pastel paper (sky grey). Just one of the 10 colours available in the Canson Mi-Teintes 'Touch' range of full sheet sizes 50 x 65cm. An  exceptional paper that inspires so many creative directions for so many different painting subjects

Presenting May Farrington with 'The Grosvenor Society Award' for best work at Grosvenor art Society Spring 2016 exhibition. A wonderful abstract painting full of expression.

Ellis Spender from Grosvenor Art Society receiving his award ‘guest speaker’s’ award for Grosvenor Art Society Spring exhibition. The guest speaker was Graham Finch of Blutulip publishing. A wonderful stylish figurative painting full of colour and glowing light and a real story within the painting that keeps you engaged.

In the afternoon the creativity continued with a seascape themed workshop for several members of Grosvenor Art Society - a fabulous opportunity for all to try out pastel techniques shown in the mornings demonstration. The finished results everyone created were really great!

A really amazing and special day for everyone. Thanks to all who bought things from me too and a special thanks to who bought an original painting from me. May it bring you years of pleasure and I'm glad it's gone to a good home!

I look forward to sharing creative painting skills with al the friendly art members of Grosvenor Art Society in the future. May that day come soon!

In the meantime here are all the art holidays for the remainder of the year to consider and those for 2017 to include the 'local one' to Chester at 'Sandpiper Studio' on The wirral organised by Julie McLean.

Here's the details for that with me in action too and the style of painting you can be taught to paint like too
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-workshops/february-2017-mixed-media-mountain-and-moorland-the-sandpiper-studio-south

For all other art workshops and art holidays for the remainder of this year and 2017 visit
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays

http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-workshops

See you again soon I hope. A real thrill to come and teach you all at Grosvenor Art Society.

All photographs taken and included by kind permission of Ron Suttonwww.ronsuttonimages.com

Safe as houses...

Well, OK, this en plein air sketch of some of the lovely cottages at Sandsend near Whitby is probably a bit safe. 

Lets face it though, there is nothing wrong with a bit of 'proper' drawing one in a while...in fact, its good for the soul and good in many other ways too showing my students from Cober Hill near Scarborough solid techniques in draftsmanship, perspective, tone and more on which to base further abstract work in the studio.

This mixed drawing has been created on Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm (140lb) not watercolour paper - a paper with a very unique surface quality unlike any other. With just the right amount of surface texture (not too heavily grained or textured nor too smooth not to adhere pastel or 'soft' drawing media to the surface) the paper once again proves how versatile it is for detailed work too.

Marker pens have been used during the creative process too. See if you can spot where they have been used.

You can try these techniques for yourself at Cober Hill with me. I have a great art holiday planned for October this year http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays/october-2016-east-coast-seascape-and-landscape-painting-holiday (just 6 places left now) and another two choices for 2017 if you cannot make the October '16 holiday.

I look forward to exploring the East Yorkshire Coast with you...and teaching you lots of painting and drawing techniques too at great locations and in the Cober Hill studio too.

For further details visit http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays

Featured drawing
'Cottages at Sandsend, near Whitby'
Mixed media black and white on Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm (140lb) 'not' watercolour paper
20 x 20 inches (51 x 51cm)

Make it a mixed media moorland!

Ahh...the good ol' Yorkshire Moors! 

I'm compelled to paint their wild beauty...except this time this was created indoors for a wonderful art group in Cheshire at the start of the week, and a good way to start it too!

A wonderful workshop teaching an Maple Lodge Art Group lots and lots of mixed media techniques using Acrylic Inks (to include metallics), combining Watercolour, Gouache and Pastel all in the same painting. 

Here are some close ups to show all those wonderful layering techniques on Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm (140lb) 100% rag content watercolour paper - such a fab responsive paper that everyone just took too!

A great day had by all with great work created by all who came...I even made a good start myself!

Hope to be back again in the future. Thanks again Maple Lodge!

Finally finished...

At long last I've managed to find a gap amongst all my art endeavours for some real 'creative space' and finish this one off.

Started as a demo pastel painting using Unison colour pastels on the Canson stand at Patchings Art Centre near Nottingham earlier in the year (more about that by following this link http://rdcreative.co.uk/news/2016/06/popular-canson-paper-at-patchings), it felt great to put those finishing marks to the pastel painting and present it for sale.

If you like it and want it then get in touch! offered at a great price of £300 mounted.
(We can sort out the delivery between us - the easy and usual way I do things for you).

Interested? Contact me on 0113 2252381 (studio) or email rdcreative@ntlworld.com

I look forward to hearing from you!


Featured painting
'The Gannets are back!'
Bempton cliffs, East Yorkshire Coast
Pastel on Canson Mi-Tientes 'Touch' 350gsm pastel paper
Painting: 21.5 X 18.5 inches (55cm x 47cm)

Original pastel painting mounted - £300 VAT inclusive 

A breath of creative fresh air...

A sketch at a favourite location of mine high above Grosmont in the North York Moors National Park.

Took my students there from Cober Hill whilst on a weeks residential sketching and painting holiday last year near Scarborough before dropping down to the lovely 'steam train' village for a nice cup of tea and a cake with everyone! 

I love the speed and simplicity of using marker pens with a dash of watercolour - you can quickly visually interpret so much in rapid time in a really relaxing way with no added pressure and just enjoy the physicality of drawing in colour directly in the landscape - fab!

To be featured in 'The Artist' magazine (December '16) issue with a focussed article all about the joys of using marker pens in a bold and direct way to improve your colour awareness and drawing skills.

Come and join me for the next art holiday at Cober Hill sketching along the Yorkshire Heritage Coast - it's going to be fab!

Further details here:
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays/october-2016-east-coast-seascape-and-landscape-painting-holiday

(6 places now only remaining!)
Featured sketch
Autumn Landscape above Grosmont, North York Moors.
Marker pen, Gouache and Watercolour on Arches 300gsm 140lb 'not' watercolour paper hardback sketching album. (Bought from The Royal Academy with a nice ribbon fastener too!)

'In action' at Art in Action

New audiences and new work. That's what it's all about isn't it? Well it is for me so it was a real thrill to be entertaining the crowds as it were at 'Art in action' near Oxford recently from 13 - 15 July.

Although this wonderful art event went on for another 2 days until Sunday 17 July, I could not disappoint a full class of students waiting for me at Higham Hall in The Lake District the day after wanting to learn what I was showing in Oxford for themselves.

For the 3 days I was there it was great to be working with the Canson team. Such amazing people and such amazing and versatile papers. Such a thrill!

Canson papers never fail me. They just about take anything. They need to do so -  especially when I get my screwdriver, hacksaw blade out and Amsterdam Acrylic spray paints out and start my mixed media paintings pushing the paper and myself in new and exciting directions!

It's a real thrill to pass on everything I discover with new media to continually enthusiastic audiences everywhere to include the wonderful receptive art enthusiasts at Oxford.

Browsers at Art in action - spotting a bargain when they see one! (Several sold too).

The Canson stand at Art in action - all set up for another day to promote the quality and versatility of these amazing papers helping creatives of every discipline discover new and exciting ways of working on their unique painting and drawing surfaces

It was an absolute joy to meet lots of different art societies, artists, leaned individuals, see familiar and respected art businesses (to include Pip Seymour Fine Art Products, Derwent, Pro Arte and so many more), at this fantastic art event and exchange ideas as well as business cards and contact details.

Really looking forward to seeing you all again some time in the future for more creative thrills wherever that may be!

For more details how to get involved, 'loosen up', be more free with your work and learn some amazing art techniques and discover for yourself why Canson papers are so good visit http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays

See you soon!