Monday 28 July 2008

Painting Vacation in the USA


Are you looking for a quite and beautiful place to paint for a week or two? Then why not look at this property sent to me by a course member, which is available as a house swap. Its at Jamestown, Rhode Island, USA and is a New England seaside hideaway. If you are an artist, a writer, a globe trotter, or just an escapee from any big city you will find inspiration and enjoy island living in this shingle-style, seaside cottage. For more information, go to http://www.homeexchange.com Listing ID 95348

Friday 25 July 2008

Summer sketches make winter paintings

Summer is such a good time to get out and about with your paints and sketchbook. We get so locked indoors in the winter months because of the weather, and it’s good to use the warmer and drier summer months to go outside and collect material to use in the winter days. If you sketch as well as take photographs, you will soon build up a wonderful resource that will spark off ideas from which to paint.

So my advice this month is this – take a small pad and a pencil with you wherever you go, and sketch anything that you see of interest. If you can manage it, keep a small watercolour paint box and a couple of brushes in the car so that you are always ready to paint a quick scene. It doesn’t have to take more than a few minutes to capture the essence of a building, a landscape, a group of children playing, or whatever it is that has caught your attention. And who knows what masterpieces these sketches will inspire in the winter months to come!

Saturday 19 July 2008

Credit Crunch

The downturn in the economy in the USA and in Britain is hitting us all hard. I've certainly noticed a big decrease in the number of people singing up for my online courses, and this is very unusual in the 31/2 years I've been running them. Money is just getting tight, and I suppose that art courses are one of those non-essential expenses that go first when folks tighten their belts.

However I've always tried to keep the courses at a reasonable price (there are some very expensive courses out there!), and I hope that this will continue to attract people to sign up for them. I've even now reduced the price of the watercolour course for anyone signing up for news and info. So, even though times are tough, let's not let it get us down, and let's cheer ourselves up by getting out those pencils and paints and enjoying our art.