Learning to watercolour

I received two great DVD's in the post yesterday. Watercolouring by Charles Reid and Alvaro Castagnet. I have watched the Charles Reid film and found it really inspiring, so hopefully you will see a big improvement in my watercolouring very soon! It would be nice to go on a watercolour course with these guys but I could not afford it. I recommend these tutorials to anyone who is interested in improving their skills. Not recommended for beginners. Go here if you would like to see more tutorial videos from APV.

Rural France came through the door

I received my "Rural France In Watercolour" DVD by Joseph Zbukiv yesterday. I look forward to watching it. I'm off to Paimpol, Brittany, Northern France in June and I plan to paint as must as possible while there. Click here if you'd like to see the trailer that inspired me to buy the video.

Joseph Zbukic DVD

Charles Reid paints with primary colours

I tried this technique last night at my life drawing class, after two hours I created a colourful but scary result. Charles has been doing it a while, I guess I can't expect to emulate his style on the first attempt!

Improve Your Buildings in Watercolour with Geoff Kersey

This Geoff Kersey tutorial is very good, I've only looked at 2 parts so far, I'm hooked!

Sean Cheetham: Portrait painter

I found this artist, Sean Cheetham while I was surfing on my lunch break, his portrait painting skills are good and the music track to the video is enjoyable too! His blog: http://seancheetham.blogspot.com

Watercolour on Location: Joseph Zbukvic

Herman Pekel: His vision of watercolour

Water color by Direk Kingnok

Shop on the street by Direk Kingnok. His style is similar to Alvaro Castagnet I think. I had no time myself to do any water colouring this week, I am busy at work so it might be a while before I have some free time on my hands.

Alla Prima Portrait Demo

This clip shows several minutes segments from the dvd by painter Robert Liberace. More info at www.robertliberace.com.

How to make flesh colors

This is a very informative video on mixing flesh tones by Ben Lustenhouwer. http://www.lustenhouwer.com/en/home

How to paint trees with watercolours

A nice nice video that offers tips on how to paint trees with watercolours.
See also: Terry Harrison demonstrates his top tips for watercolour artists from Terry's dvd available from www.terryharrison.com

Water colour by Direk kingnok

Oh, I like this artist's technique too! I'll have to check out more of his work later, he seems to be very good.

More Alvaro Castagnet

Another Alvaro Castagnet video for my blog.

I've started painting again after a break for 25 years!
Well, if I think about it I have never really learned to paint, and therefore have never actually really painted.  I am older now and hopefully a little wiser, I can see that I have shyed away from painting because it was too difficult and that one actually has to make an effort to learn the skill, much like learning to play a musical instrument. It wasn't within me, I did not have the desire, but now I do and I want to learn the art.

So, at the moment I am using water colours and I have used acrylics last weekend, both demand different skills and I am enjoying the challenge of learning to express myself in these mediums. I find Alvaro Castagnet's confident style appealing, I like his fearless, cocky approach to painting in water colours.

Alvaro Castagnet Water colourist with Spanish flare.

I found Alvaro's technique very compelling when I stumbled upon it yesterday on YouTube. He has boundless self-confidence which is probably the most important lesson of all when learning to paint: to be daring and not being scared to make mistakes.
Visit his website here.

Life drawing at the Museum of Dance - Stockholm

http://www.dansmuseet.nu

There is life drawing at the Museum of Dance in Stockholm this term. I have never been but I intend to give it a try. It must be great fun drawing dancers in classic poses or even trying to catch them while in motion. I have copied the information from their website and placed it below.

DANSMUSEET - STOCKHOLM
KROKI – TECKNA MODELL I RÖRELSE
ONSDAGAR KL. 17.30

Teckna modell som med kroppens positioner stimulerar
den kreativa processen. Modellteckning med modell
i rörelse på Dansmuseet är en annorlunda upplevelse
som väckt stor respons.

1, 8, 15, 22, 29 februari, 7, 14, 21, 28 mars kl 17.30 – 19.30
Café de Maré är öppet i pausen.
Biljetter: 80 kr

Portrait drawing demo by Zimou Tan

Duffy Sheridan, Portrait painting videos

Duffy Sheridan has a YouTube channel where he shows us how to paint a portrait, he seems to be very talented so I'll be visiting this a lot over the next couple of weeks.

Speed painting, portrait of Carol by Louis Smith

Art Renewal Center

The Art Renewal Center, in an attempt to become a self-sustaining organization and to continue to provide an important art resource to the world.
Although this website is aesthetically lacking and ulta-conservative, it seems to have many interesting treasures hidden within it's bad design and short-sightedness.

More Kroki / life drawing classes in Stockholm.

http://masterolofsgarden.se/kurser/oppen-kroki
Mäster Olofsgården

I was pleased to learn that it is possible to do Life Drawing (Kroki) on Monday evening and well as Wednesday afternoon in The Old Town (Gamla Stan), here in Stockholm.

Information in Swedish: Vi erbjuder öppen kroki måndag kl. 19:00-21:15 och onsdag 13:30-15:45 i Stora Salen. Ingen föranmälan behövs. Kostnad 60 kronor per gång.
Contact info:

Besöksadress: Svartmangatan 6, Gamla stan | Postadress: 103 11 Stockholm
Tel: 08-10 20 19 (vx) | Fax: 08-24 76 16 | E-post: info@masterolofsgarden.se