Workshop workout
June 22, 2016
From ‘An adventure in observational painting and drawing’ workshop run by Oliver Lovley.
1. Played around with colours produced by cooked red and white onion, beetroot, blueberry, grass, tea, turmeric and soot, adding gum arabic and egg tempura.
2. Made an ‘ingredients list’ for the photo we’d be working from.
3. Let loose choosing different textures and marks for different materials.
4. Did it all again, but for a self portrait.
Plenty to take away and think about.
Cool way to create openly and with flair!
It was really good Mary and he’s a lovely chap
Creative and interesting.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a workshop. So good to get new ideas and fresh perspectives!
Yes, it’s always good to get new and fresh ideas.
Interesting workshop on multiple levels.
Yes. Will look out for anymore he does in future. He kept making us cups of tea
Getting creative on any level is great…..but reading that you got lots of tea…has to tempt you back for more 😉
When I got in the room there was a long table set out beautifully – fruit, currant bread, pats of butter all symmetrically placed. I thought it was for a still life! But no – refreshments for our arduous journey
Wow!! An edible artistic display~ it just gets better and better 😉
Those portraits are great! (K)
Thank you. We also used a pipette to apply paint on a tilted board. It was a very freeing thing to do.
Very nice! I especially love the 3rd and 4th paintings. Also, your post made me hungry. 🙂
Yes, serious will power needed to not lick the paper as you paint!
I liked the self portraits and some of the textural work at the bottom of the 4th image – and, if you cant frame ’em you can eat ’em.
Seems a lot of hard work like going back to the middle ages – maybe you’ll need an assistant if you develop this further.
Yes, not all of them colour fast too, but they did lend themselves to layering and working over in pencil. Perhaps using new materials encourages you to try new approaches? I’ve just remembered we used clove, in the tempura I think. I don’t like the smell and it reminded me of toothache. But I do like beetroot and forced myself not to eat it.
Great! I’m an admirer of these works. Thanks so much and congrats!
Thank you SU!
You’re welcome. The merit is yours. I’m pleased ❤
I pressed send, then realised I’d called you Su! It does stand for SketchUniverse!
Oh dear, don’t worry, everything is alright.
The header of your blog is wonderful, your works are great, but sometimes when I see the look of your gravatar… I forget the peel with the real fruit. Thanks for comment ❤
I really like the first portrait. The eyes seem to want to say something and the colours around make for a very striking picture. So nice to hear you went to another workshop les by Oliver, too.
Thank you. Are you on Oliver’s mailing list? Would be good to see you at another.
I’m on the mailing list as well! I’ll look out for other events 🙂
Hi
Great colours and nice way to work them. Will you explain how you proceeded to make the colours?
The grass, turmeric, beetroot and egg were just put/rubbed on as is. The onion skins were cooked/boied before hand by the workshop leader, but don’t think there was anything special to it. I must find these and see if the colours have faded or disappeared yet.
Hi,
Thanks for the details. Still interested in this. What is it like now?
Will try and dig out tonight
I’ve only be able to find pictures 2, 3 & 5. They’ve not had any light on them – they’ve been in a pile of other stuff, and they haven’t noticeable faded. I will leave them out and have another look in a couple of months. Remind me!
I followed your link to Oliver Lovley’s site. His artwork is compelling, and your workshop looks like a resounding success. I love seeing how you incorporate all these things into your own work. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you Sunny. I’ve re-read the other comments and glad to see how enthusiastic I was after the workshop. I try to do a workshop once a year now. Oliver also performs, so I last saw him at a gig. That was very surprising, but enjoyable. I can’t remember what he calls himself now.
It is so beautifully dramatic and unique. I really enjoyed seeing what you created with those techniques. Have a great weekend! 🙂
You too 😊