Hi folks

After our week off it was good to give those drawing skills a good work out with some timed drawings.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 had meerkats as their subject and produced a series of lively sketches in pencil and pen.  The Beginners Birds Drawing Course did some similar timed exercises but with blue tits as the subject, using soft pastel.  These quick, spontaneous drawings are good practice if you intend to draw from life.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 used inktense blocks and experimented with colour mixing to create these dramatic portraits.  Great work everyone.

Don’t forget, the courses have another week off next week and classes will resume in the week commencing Monday 13th May.  In the meantime, I’ll see some of you on the Gustav Klimt Pattern Workshop on Monday 6th May – looking forward to it!

See you all soon.

Wendy

Hi everyone

The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 used soft pastel to draw this lovely, mucky pig this week.  Pastel is a messy business and difficult to control but you all did really well with it.  In the Beginners Birds Drawing Course we used oil pastels to create the gorgeous, vibrant colours of bullfinches.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 used fineliner pen and a cross hatching technique to show tone in these fantastic portraits.  Brilliant work everyone!

I’m pleased to announce a brand new 1 day pattern workshop based on the work of Gustav Klimt on Monday 6th May 2019 10.00am – 2.30pm.  For full details please go to the Courses for 2019 page or click here.  Places are filling up fast so get in touch if you would like to book a place.   Tel: 07788 871286 or email leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk or use our “Contact” page.

Don’t forget there are no classes next week as we have a break for Easter but we are back in class from Monday 29th April.

Have a great Easter weekend and I’ll see you all soon.

Wendy

Hi folks

This week the Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 produced some fantastic watercolour paintings of giraffes. The Beginners Birds Drawing Course created herons using collage and the Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 had a couple of life models (thanks Shuchita and Harry) to practice what we have covered so far.  Lots of different challenges for the different groups but all produced brilliant work.  Keep it up!

See you next week.

Wendy

Hi everyone

It was elephant week this week for the Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1.  I love this lesson as it always produces such great work.  We had a fabulous parade of charcoal elephants by the end of the lesson. In the Beginners Birds Drawing Course we created colourful drawings of Kingfishers using soft pastels.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 continued to look at tone and the contours of the face by producing these black and white paintings.  Well done everyone!  I’ve really enjoyed this week’s lessons, hope you have too.

See you all next week.

Wendy

Welcome back!

Our first week back and plenty of challenges faced already.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 started with this pencil drawing of a dog – focusing on tone and proportion.  The Beginners Birds Drawing Course did some great scaperboard drawings of Starlings.  Sorry, but I forgot to take photos.  You’ll just have to take my word for it that they were fab!  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 jumped in at the deep end by starting with self-portraits in charcoal.  It’s always exciting to see what everyone produces in the very first lesson and I can’t wait to see what else you can do.

Looking forward to next week.

Wendy

That’s all folks!

Yes, we have finally come to the end of the course and what a finish!  The Beginners Birds Drawing Course created these beautiful drawings of goldfinches using water soluble ink blocks.  In the Beginners Pastel Drawing Course we had a life drawing lesson and practised the proportions of the figure as well as using a more sketching style of working.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 1 also had life models and used all those skills they have been practising in previous week but this time on the real thing!  Great work everyone and big thanks to our models Isidoro, Shuchita and Josh.

You’ve been such lovely classes to teach this term and I hope you have all enjoyed it.  The good news is that you don’t have to wait long until we are back in class again.  New courses start on Monday 25th March and full details can be found on the Courses for 2019 page by clicking here.  If you have any questions about the courses or would like to book a place or if you would like to be added to my mailing list then please get in touch either by email at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk, telephone 07788 871286 or via the Contact page.

See you soon and well done on all your fab work this term.

Wendy

Hi folks

This week the Beginners Birds Drawing Course shone the spotlight on the humble house sparrow, showing it can be just as beautiful as any of the more colourful birds in our gardens.  We used watercolour pencils for these drawings and experimented with colour mixing to create lots of varied browns.   In the Beginners Pastel Drawing Course we had the daunting task of self-portraits!  We worked through this step by step to produce some fantastic drawings.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 1 finally had chance to put all the pieces together in a full portrait this week.  Another week of fantastic drawings everyone – you always deliver!  One more week of this term to go.

The course dates for next term have now been announced and full course details can be viewed on the Courses for 2019 page by clicking here.  If you have any questions about the courses or would like to book a place or if you would like to be added to my mailing list then please get in touch either by email at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk, telephone 07788 871286 or via the Contact page.

See you soon.

Wendy

Hi everyone

In the Beginners Birds Drawing Course this week, we produced a series of timed drawings using soft pastels.  By reducing the time allowed with each drawing we were able to practise making quick sketches that would be helpful if wanting to draw from real life.  The Beginners Pastel Drawing Course used all the skills they have learned so far to create delicious looking drawings of cupcakes (which made us all very hungry by the end of the lesson). The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 1 had twice the work this week as we focused on ears and hair. Great to see you all back in class after our break and beautiful pictures this week.

The course dates for next term have now been announced and full course details can be viewed on the Courses for 2019 page by clicking here.  If you have any questions about the courses or would like to book a place or if you would like to be added to my mailing list then please get in touch either by email at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk, telephone 07788 871286 or via the Contact page.

See you next week

Wendy

Hi folks

We had a gorgeous, colourful Bullfinch to draw this week in the Beginners Birds Drawing Course, created using oil pastels.  In the Beginners Pastel Drawing Course we looked at scale and proportion whilst still practising all our techniques.  We looked at eyes this week in the Beginners Portraiture Course Level 1.  So much to think about when drawing eyes as they are often considered the most important part of a portrait.  Another great week full of wonderful drawings – keep it up!

Don’t forget there are no lessons next week as we have a week off for half term but classes will resume in the week commencing Monday 25th February.

The course dates for next term have now been announced and full course details can be viewed on the Courses for 2019 page by clicking here.  If you have any questions about the courses or would like to book a place or if you would like to be added to my mailing list then please get in touch either by email at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk, telephone 07788 871286 or via the Contact page.

See you all soon and as it’s Valentine’s Day….lots of love!

Wendy xxx

Hi everyone

This week  the Beginners Birds Drawing Course used collage and pen to create these fantastic pictures of Herons.  The Beginners Pastel Drawing Course did a brilliant job of showing shadows on white objects without using black.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 1 also used pastels this week the to show the light and dark tones of noses.  Great work everyone and lots of progress being made already.  Well done.

See you next week.

Wendy