The Watercolour Class - 23 November

Experiments & discoveries

This beautiful and misty image is our actual view from the atelier - painted by Anna-Karin Fast. Even in the coldest period of autumn it is beautiful here as you can see...

(click on a picture to enlarge & enjoy the detail...)

Cathie van der Stel has not used white paint in this painting (not done in aquarelle) - the white you see is the colour of the paper. The colour of the snow: all varieties and shades of blue...

It was very cold last Tuesday (yep, it happens, even on the Côte d'Azur) but we were warm and cozy inside the Hangar - which was so highly appreciated that it led to extra creativity of some of us!

Cathie van der Stel left her usual light, poetic and precise way of working behind and embarked on a project involving sepia ink and watercolours with combined use of pen and brushes. Ink and aquarelle paint flows and bleeds in a similar way, yet ink is much less transparent and more evenly flowing. As you can see in the work in progress below, the background tells its own story. And the contrast between the two materials is very strong... I look forward to the finished picture!

Bibbi Isaksson started a very daring work of art on a beautiful heavy sheet of torchon aquarelle paper. It made me think of the first cave drawings of Lascaux, combined with moving lines of masking fluid  that give the whole a musical appearance. Not yet up for showing, but I'll keep you posted!

While Bibbi waited for her first layer (wash) to dry, she "doodled" a bit with masking fluid, payne's grey and yellow and created (in 3 minutes or so) these Electric Lemons...

Marianne van Wijngaarden has been searching for a certain way of working for some time now. She wants to express herself with a casual way of painting, not too precise, not too detailed, but spontaneous and direct. Wet-in-wet wasn't really the answer, nor was "my" wet-on-dry way of working... She searched for examples and explanations on the internet, used them and already achieved quite some progress, but now she has found a book that has it all - and describes how it is done: 

 "Loosen up your Watercolours" by Judi Whitton

Marianne van Wijngaarden has truly "loosened up" her watercolour style!

Drawing Class - Pim de Jongh

Every other Monday morning, Pim de Jongh welcomes a group of people who want to "sharpen" their drawing skills (or keep them sharp...). Last week the challenge was to make a drawing in pencil, where the main ingredient was a bottle in the foreground - and in the drawing the picture had to be seen through the bottle - but the distortion of the image had to be done from imagination...

an exciting excercise, with great results...

Anne-Françoise Gigho

SL

Betty Schep

Brigitte Jansen

Joop van der Zon

Lucia Gualtieri

Marij van Schijndel

Neville Moray

The Watercolour Class - Marina Kulik

On Tuesday afternoons from 2PM until 4.30PM, the "aquarellistas" use the atelier Le Hangar... Like all groups in the Hangar, the paricipants come from all over the world and all bring something of their own, in style and in culture - and they inspire each other that way. The pack leader is Marina Kulik (yours truly) who takes care of the materials (paper, paint, brushes), the subjects, new ideas and projects and last but not least - the tea!

'Hands' by Marina Teding van Berkhout

Some call the class "the Zen afternoon" - and it is, no stress, just fun - but nevertheless there is a lot of hard work and creativity going on on the Tuesdays!  We have just started with a couple of Christmas themes and a project - more about them in the coming weeks, yet next to that, all participants are always working on their own ideas... Here's some work in progress:

'Winter landscape' by Cathie van der Stel - halfway finished

'Wild Water' by Sandra Seymour-Dale - the yellow shiny stuff is masking fluid, that will in a later stage be the (white) foam...

Helene van der Kroft's 'little pelicans' - we all love them so much!!

Le Hangar in Chateauneuf

This is the first post in a blog that will ultimately be your extra source of news and updates and just fun information about everything that goes on in that big ole Hangar building in Chateauneuf de Grasse in the South of France... The Hangar community is a group of around 100 artists, professionals and amateurs who love art, painting and sculpting, get together on a regular basis and create all kinds of great things, develop their abilities and skills for painting and sculpting.

There are four teachers: Pim de Jongh, he teaches acrylic painting and drawing, Nelly van Hijfte who teaches oil painting, Christie Robinson who teaches sculpture and Marina Kulik (yours truly) who teaches model drawing, portrait drawing and aquarelle. All four are professional artists and you can have a look at their respective websites by clicking on their names in the comlumn on the right...

We hope to bring you reports of the classes, their artists, the teachers, cafés culture, parties, especially great lunches, exhibitions and events as well as results from classes! This blog will be open for everyone, and I welcome you to contribute...Contact me if you are interested to write posts!