Aquarelle, Tuesdays 2 - 4.30pm with Marina

 

Working like Shirley Trevena:

Breaking the Rules... Part III

 

Liz's perfect composition

with lots of candle wax and watercolour crayon

 

And here are the aquarelles we finished during the third and final 'Working like Shirley Trevena' painting session. Where we usually work pretty 'neat', we changed that completely these last 3 weeks. We used a still life as inspiration for a composition on the paper, we used watercolour brushes but also tooth-and nail brushes, as well as sponges, kitchenpaper, plumes, feathers, our nails and more... and apart from a diversity of watercolour paints, there were candles, crayons, watercolourpencils (also in combination with sanding paper, to give very interesting stains!)...

I can write for hours about this, because it was such fun - and we learnt so much!! You can probably see that from the paintings in this post...

 

Cathie created an incredible depth in her composition

Christiane's painting has become incredibly warm and happy 

Edith's excellent composition 

 Anna-Karin's almost-finished version with stunning tulips

 

 Sue, who's new to our group did an amazing job!

Note the background and the use of warm and cold colours

This fantastic composition was created by Sandra

Agnès - who introduced Shirley to us, missed the previous 2 sessions and decided she would go 'realistic' and she did!! A very sunny still life with great shadows

 

As you can see, everyone worked way out of their comfort zone, yet the personal styles are still recognisable!

Marina's - unfinished, but already lots of pleasure have gone into this, and my hands have never been dirtier...

 

 

HANGAR PAINTING TRIP 2013

Breaking News 

 

 

 We have the dates: 14 May - 17 May

 We took an option on a hotel at ~5 minutes from all interesting sites!

Count on approximately 350€ in total for hotel, materials and teachers (based on double room)
For subscription, email Marina Kulik or put your name on the list in the Hangar!!!

 

Subscribers will get plenty of info

 More updates will follow!

 Pim & Marina

Aquarelle, Tuesdays from 2 - 4.30pm with Marina

Working like Shirley Trevena:

Breaking the Rules... Part II

Last Tuesday the Aquarellistas we watched the second part of the great DVD about Shirley Trevena. This time she finished a watercolour painting that she created before, and finishing she did - in her exciting unconventional style, 'destroying' some beautiful parts, making them even more beautiful, in a perfectly balanced composition. 

We continued working on the existing paintings (and I had put those behind closed doors so that everyone had some distance after a week) and added a fresh bunch of tulips!

 

In Shirley-style this is absolutely possible, because it's all about composition and daring to do out-of-the-ordinary things...

 

This Tuesday we are going to finish our compositions...

 

...and we're going to view the last part of the video this Tuesday...

...but as you can see from the cutouts...

 

...the paintings are quite interesting already!

 

 

These are not all paintings but you get the point! Next week the full report on the results of this fun project that we learned so much from!!

Abstract project: Squares

Our current project is producing an abstract using squares in very few colours. The squares could be freely interpreted (as can be seen below) - as could the interpretation of few. Not many finished the project - so work will continue for at least another session - maybe even two. It's interesting to see how a project like this can give such different results.

Anne Marie at work - and the results at the end of the evening.

Carina at work on her squares - but this is only the beginning

Elkie hard at work

Karen is also just at the beginning and has a long way to go yet

Lotta is new to the class. Here Pim is demonstrating how to give depth to her squares.

Tatiana and Barbara at work

Sue worked quickly and finished her painting.

The results of Imme, Celina and Marie Helen - they all have a lot more to do before their works are finished.

Aquarelle Tuesdays 2 - 4.30pm

Working like Shirley Trevena:

Breaking the Rules...

Last Tuesday the Aquarellistas started with the first part of a DVD that Agnès kindly lent us. A film in which we see the lovely Shirley Trevena set up a watercolour painting, in her own, breathtaking and unconventional style.  

Part of the still life we used

After the first chapters of the film (we'll see the other part next time) we set out working in the same, free style, meaning that we skipped 'drawing first', as well as the idea that everything needs to be neat, or planned...



 ...we sprinkled paint and water on things, we combed, brushed and sponged our work, we used plumes instead of brushes, we dabbed with kitchenpaper, we scratched with watercolourpencils over sanding paper, on our work...

...well, I can't remeber it all, but we got dirty and clearly we all had a great time experimenting and purposely messing around with the materials!

Also, we concentrated on composition, in the Shirley-way: we didn't care about perspective, but made our composition work for us, using colours, contrasts and shapes from a still life as our leading principle...

The first results (but, like Shirley we will work long hours on this project to get everything out of it) are exciting!

 

 We have not taken the work home like we usually do, to finish it there, no we left it in the Hangar and will go on nex time.

We'll see the rest of the movie - which deals with finishing your painting, finishing the composition by 'destroying' parts and more...

The pictures shown here are just parts of the paintings that have been created

As you can see they are all interesting and full of contrast and spontaneous shapes.

And still very different from each other!

They will change completely in the coming weeks...

 

 

 

Portrait Workshop - Thursdays 10 - 12

Starting Thursday, March 21st, 10am

The Hangar organizes another Portrait Drawing Workshop

   
The Portrait Drawing Workshop will take 5 Thursday mornings – and then some.

Classes will be given by teachers Marina Kulik and Cathie van der Stel.

Cathie and Marina use an unconventional method that guarantees a LOT OF FUN & a sensational improvement in your drawing skills!

 

In five mornings you will learn all there is to know about proportions, contrast, outlines, empty spaces, composition, dark, light, shadow, expression and details like hair, glasses, teeth etc.
The first five mornings are crammed with theory and drawing exercises (often with live model).

For the theory class we take a maximum of 10 attendees! First come first served, so subscribe quickly if you are interested.

The cost:  20€ per session, including all materials and models.
NB: The first 5 theory sessions (100€) need to be paid up front.
After these 5 introductory theory lessons, we will organize another five (or more depending on success) sessions with live models, the best practice and consolidation of everything you have learned. During these we accept more than 10 students!

This class is recommended for starters – yet it has proved to be fun, hard work and an eye opener for advanced portraitists too!

 Interested? Contact Marina Kulik to subscribe or for more information

 

Time: 10 – 12 am
Dates Theory : Thursday mornings from 21 March – 18 April
Dates Live Model: Thursday mornings from 25 April
Location: Hangar, 310 Chemin du Ranch, 06740 Chateauneuf de Grasse
NB: The workshop and its handouts will be in English

Monday Abstract Class with Pim

The Monday evening class had a session with music this week. We had prepared a playlist with varied music - Vangelis, Vivaldi, Abba, Beach Boys, Kate Bush, Boney M, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and more. We put paint on our long brushes and touched the canvas with strokes to the music.

Take a look at our video to see how much fun we were having:  http://youtu.be/FBgDsgGMqjY

The results were amazing.

Celina's first abstract

Carina's abstract

Barbara's second abstract

Imme's abstract

Celina's second abstract

Michele's seciond abstract

Lotta's abstract

Marie Helene's abstract

Sylvia's abstract

Michele's first abstract

Tatiana's second abstract

Tatiana's first abstract