Monday, 17 December 2012

Aquarelle Tuesdays 2 - 4.30pm with Marina Kulik

 
Last week the aquarellistas didn't get together. We helped bring the late dear Brigitte Jansen to her last resting place and had memorial lunch afterwards. It was sad and beautiful. We will miss her so much and never forget her.
 
Ornaments
 
Yet the week before we all worked very hard on all kinds of ornaments... Below some of the results.
Agnès created a tongue in cheek 'welcome to Oxford' by funny (but also quite threatening) gargoyles
 
Cathie finished an impressive piece of monument...

Cathy worked on a very complicated pattern and did such an excellent job combining masking fluid with Payne's and Davy's grey! (and water)

Liz Douglas' Bacchus in stone - the ultimate ornament, so well done...

Sandra's interesting and complicated gold-ornamented pillars, seen through an intricate construction... A couple of hour's work to look forward to - but already intriguing...

Sunday, 9 December 2012

In Memoriam Brigitte Jansen


On Tuesday 3 December, just before Watercolour class, Brigitte Jansen left this world. Her beautiful heart stopped beating. We, her classmates, fellow artists and teachers are without exception shocked and very sad that Brigitte is no longer around. We will miss her sunny disposition and original mind, her knowledge and wisdom and 'the twinkle in her eye'. We all loved her presence: 'Brigitte's' corner at the table will be so empty now.

Our thoughts go out to her husband and family.

If you would like to pay your respects it is possible to come to the cremation service.
This will take place on Tuesday 11 December 2012, 11.30am
in the
CREMATORIUM DE LA VILLE DE CANNES
Chemin de la Plaine de Laval
06150 CANNES LA BOCCA


Monday, 3 December 2012

Aquarelle - Tuesdays 2 - 4.30 with Marina

Brigitte finished her colourful autumn fruit.
An amazing still life that took her 3 afternoons and it has been Worth It, what a great result!
 
Last Tuesday there were a couple of other projects going on , but the sujet du jour was...
 
ORNAMENTS!
 
Below some previews, I expect I'll be able to present the final results in the next post - but they are already worthwhile!
'Bacchus' an ornament in progress by Liz, she is using bright colours and achieves a lively image, while keeping the sculpture-like impression...
 
Mieke's painting is definitely going somewhere! It's clearly a light stone and there's already something ornamental...Watch this space to see the result...
 
This painting of 10 different gargoyles in comic book style by Agnès is (as we by now expect from her) painted with humor. Expect a funny tagline and click the picture to enlarge it and appreciate it even more 

Sandra, original as always, has started a cathedral like  construction - seen through something... What that something is? Can't wait to see the next stage (will be shown in the next post) ☻ Very promising!

 
As often, Cathie is working on several projects, also on ornaments, but this is so gorgeous in its warm red rusty colour... It is inspired by a kind of vague purple printout! The shiny bits are masking fluid...
 
Starter Wendy worked on the 'Layering' exercise... The sea is not yet finished, but the rest looks so good! Although in this exercise you have to work according to strict rules, the image is your own fantasy - and in this one the stars are amazing, and the buildings are so futuristic, I wonder, is this actually on our planet??

Last but not least Jim's misantropic guy, I cut the picture so that you can see his try-out paper, cleverly punaised to the painting!
By no means finished, this one, but getting more and more interesting! As you can see the the white (not painted) parts on the face begin to get meaning, because of the darker background. To be continued!



Wednesday, 28 November 2012

DRAWING - Monday morning with Pim

Pim, hiding behind his still life...
 
Last Monday it was Pim's turn to give the drawing class, and he announced that the group was going to work on 'Volume and Perspective'. An interesting and certainly challenging subject! As always the still life was very much on topic and after a theoretical introduction everyone was ready to draw... Here are the results! Perspective checks out, as does the volume, suggested by dark shadows and light surfaces!
 
Betty Schep
 
Anita Frenkel made two versions, here's number 1...
 
...and version 2...
 
Brigitte Jansen

Gaby Berendsen


Lucia Gualtieri

Neville Moray


Monday, 26 November 2012

Aquarelle - Tuesday afternoons 2pm with Marina

Sunsets & Vitamins
...in all possible styles, by the Aquarellistas!
 
Agnès's Amazing African sundown... a passionate painting with brush and knife
 
Subtle Sunset by Anna-Karin
 
Rhoda Seymour-Dale visits France from time to time and then passes by to paint with us.
She painted two beautiful aquarelles, the one up here and the one below...
 
Sandra's Sunset, another completely different impression! Sandra used the typical watercolour 'cauliflowers' to create a snowy landscape. Very fragile, misty and cold!

Both starters Jim and Cathy created wonderful sunset landscapes, inspired by the same pictures. They both worked out fine, and for both I had a remark to improve their work. Because I like photoshop so much, I changed the pictures to show what I meant...
The horizon in Jim's aquarelle was not a straight line...
In the version on the right I have straightened the horizon for an even better image!
 

The reflection of the hill in the water needed a bit of tweaking, in the picture on the right I added a bit of reflection (not sure if it really improved things
 
In the meantime starter Wendy did a GREAT job on the 'Volume' exercise, very well done on that!
 
And then on to the volume of healthy, vitamine rich fruit!
Here for example the juicy apples and pears by Liz...

Almost finished: Brigitte's Atmospheric Autumn still life
 
And last but not least, Cathie's unbelievable fruity fruit!!
 
 
 

Sunday, 25 November 2012

One theme - and different results

The Abstract class has been worked with mixed media paintings using corrugated cardboard. Some worked quickly and finished after 2 sessions - others have been working (and some struggling) to complete the assignment.

Below you can see some of the artwork in progress.







And the really difficult part is to decide when the piece is finished.

Saturday Acrylics Class with Pim

On Saturdays a "gang of regulars" meet up at the Hangar to do acrylics with Pim.  Sometimes there is a special project - but most Saturdays, participants choose there own subject. As you can see from a small selection of this weeks paintings in progress - there is a mix of abstract and figurative art.




And here you have some of the artists at work.



On Saturdays there is the opportunity to participate in the shared lunch - and this Saturday it certainly did look yummy - snacks, smoked salmon etc. and of course a glass of wine.

The class is open to all members of the Hangar - beginners and experienced artists, French and English speakers. You can come for the morning or the afternoon or the full day.

Monday, 19 November 2012

Aquarelle Tuesdays 2pm - 4.30pm with Marina Kulik

'Evaluation'

Usually we end our aquarelle session around 4.30pm, then we line up the work of the afternoon and we talk about it. If the group is big, this may take some time and last week the participants were saved by the Hangar Board meeting that started 4.30! I promised everyone that I would say my piece in this blog - so here it is:
"One of today's leading themes was 'Colourful & Vitamin-rich'! Anna-Karin Fast, who was working in her usual loose, 'one big brush'- style, has added a bit more contrast lately, well visible here in this still life with apples and pears. It was still wet when I took this picture (see top right) that's the hurry we were in! But luckily it didn't drip. Great, interesting work in beautiful technique that does the spontaneous character of our fav medium justice!!"
 

"Another excellent, still wet and no way finished example of a Vitamin-rich still life by Brigitte Jansen. She used autumn fruit and red leaves - is already very nice-looking right now and can only get better with the contrasting dark background that is planned!"

"Anna-Karin's pinguin, that was already gorgeous last week is now even better - stronger, better grounded and more character... Just by adding a little bit of colour in the eyes and under the feet... What a excellent picture this is. Love it"
 
"Normally I wouldn't show work in this stage but on the other hand it is explanatory - and of course very well done, what else would you expect from Cathie van der Stel! As you can see, the drawing is simple, just a few lines, but each little berry (blue-, black-, rasp-, and straw-) that has colour, is so very well done and the light reflects exactly right on all those different types  of surface (velvety in the blueberries, shiny in the blackberries etc)... A bit of an experiment going on with masking fluid on the strawberries...can't wait to see it finished!"

Agnès McLaughlin as always worked spontaneously and experimental - although this time there is no funny caption. I especially like the blackberries, I think they work very well here. The more I look at it the more I see a hard wind and a big fire in the background. Very serious actually. Agnès also brought two versions of 'the guy with the cigar'. I'll post about them and other versions later..."
  
"Edith Alborni worked on her dancing girl. She added a dark background, in Payne's Grey, with drops of crimson and cerulean and a lot of salt. It is very expressive, especially the top part, and the light is amazing too! Well done you!"

"Wendy Boyer is a brand new aquarellista, with experience in other painting techniques but none in watercolours, but she is enthousiastic and picks it up amazingly fast! She did the 'washing' part of this exercise with energy and curiosity and as you can see already understands about 'creating volume! There is plenty 3D in this pinting - and more to come!!"
 
"Another fruity still life, this time from Liz Douglas - and you can almost taste the vitamins, that's how bright they are! Liz used grey masking fluid to protect the white spaces, and they shine because of the flash... but that actually gives a good impression of what it will look like when it is finished: then everything else will be darker than the white of the paper and that white will be very bright!
"And last but not least the third painting by Anna-Karin! Is she on a roll or what? This  is a new one of the 'Ikea Bowl' series where she places different objects in the same bowl, this time 'apples'. The picture's come out a bit brighter than the real painting, which is actually a bit better balanced, but you get the overall impression, with yet again good contrast and especially in this one, good transparency. Chapeau Anna-Karin!"
 
Apart from the above there were a couple of 'Guy with Cigar' pictures, which I will write about next week in the Aquarellista blog...