Lesson 5 already and everyone is starting to work a bit more independently as you gradually gain confidence in your own abilities, which is fantastic to see.  The Watercolour class painted some leaves and put in to practise everything they have learned so far about colour mixing and gradually building up a painting.  The Drawing class did some timed drawings to explore how to start a drawing with quick and simple shapes before adding more detail.  The Pastel class looked at scale and enlarged small, everyday objects to fill an A4 page using some really vibrant colours.

Don’t forget that there are no classes next week.  The Watercolour class will resume on Monday 11th May and the Drawing and Pastel classes will resume on Wednesday 13th May.

Have a lovely break and I’ll see you all soon.

Wendy

P.S. I must say thank you to Linda for bringing in the homemade cakes this week – the chocolate tiffin was divine!  Go straight to the top of the class.

What glorious weather we’ve had this week and we kicked off the week with a very Summery country cottage scene in the Watercolour class, continuing to explore colour mixing and how to work your way around a painting.  The Drawing class used a grid to enlarge images of Italian statues, practising their accuracy and shading.  The Pastel class had yet another difficult task this week when they tried out a whole new technique – “Trois crayons”.  It was challenging but everyone seemed to grasp the concept and you all did brilliantly, well done everyone!

There are a couple of local events on this weekend that you might be interested in:-

Yorkshire Art Fair at Gomersal Public Hall, Saturday 25th April, www.yorkshireartfair.com

And….

Roundhay Open Studios /Art Trail, Sunday 26th April,  www.roundhayopenartiststudios.co.uk

Have a lovely weekend and see you all next week.

Wendy

It’s good to be back again after our Easter break and great to see how eager you all were to get creative!  In the Watercolour class we used a range of techniques for creating skies and stretched some paper for working on next week.  The Drawing class looked at scale and used charcoal and chalk to create their enlarged drawings.  The Pastel class had the difficult task of drawing white objects on a white background without using any black for the shadows.  Once again, everyone rose to the challenge and produced great results.  Keep practising and keep building your skills and your confidence.  Looking forward to seeing what you can do next week.

Wendy

P.S.  If anyone happens to be in Leeds city centre this Saturday, there is a crafts market at Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane, 10.30am – 4.30pm, free entry.  Go along if you want to support local designer/makers.  This event will be running every month.  Visit their facebook page for more details:  http://www.facebook.com/thestallsleeds

This week the tasks were a little bit trickier for everyone.  The Drawing class looked at manmade forms, the Pastel class drew natural forms and the Watercolour class used both.  It’s really lovely for me to see how much some of you are enjoying your lessons and how you can get engrossed in your work.  I’m also enjoying seeing everyone’s individual styles gradually emerging.  It shows that you are gaining confidence in your own abilities and not trying to emulate what other people are doing.  I’m so pleased with everything you’ve done so far – keep it up!  Don’t forget that there are no classes next week to give us all time to eat our Easter eggs.  The Monday class will resume on April 13th and the Wednesday classes resume on April 15th.

Have a lovely Easter everyone!

Wendy

What a great start to the new term!  So nice to see everyone so enthusiastic and ready to get creative.  The Watercolour and Pastel classes both looked at colour mixing and learned a few basic techniques to get started.  The Drawing class worked on how to gradually build up a picture from basic shapes to precise detail.  You all did some superb work and I hope you enjoyed your first lesson.

See you all next week.

Sadly this week was the last lesson for all three courses but what a finale!  You all made a great job of drawing our life model.  We mainly concentrated on proportion and made a series of sketches/paintings using various techniques to get the proportion just right.  Well done, you all did brilliantly and I hope you’ll join us for future Leeds Art Group Courses (especially Kate who brought in the Lemon Drizzle Cake – delicious!).  Get in touch if you need any information about further courses or visit the  Courses for 2015  page.  The next courses will be starting on 23rd March, so contact me if you’d like to book a place.  Give yourselves a pat on the back for all the progress you’ve made this term.  It’s been an absolute pleasure teaching you all and I’ll look forward to seeing you soon.

Wendy

The Pastel Class and Drawing class  tackled probably the lesson people dread the most this week – self-portraits, but once you’d started with a few guidelines you did really well in adding all the varied details of the face that give us our individual faces. I think some of you produced your best work so far this week, well done!  The Watercolour class did some paintings of the human figure to prepare them for next week when our life model comes in to pose for us.  It’s life drawing for everyone next week and sadly it’s also the last lesson of the course.  The dates have now been confirmed for next terms courses so have a look on the “Courses For 2015” page for further information and get in touch if you’d like to book a place.

See you all next week.

Wendy

P.S.  I almost forgot to say thank you to John and Simon for bringing in the wonderful cakes again. Yum!

You did some really great work this week folks.  The Pastel class looked at scale by taking small everyday objects and enlarging them.  The Watercolour class  painted leaves on a contrasting background to really experiment with their colour mixing and put into practise all the techniques that they have learned so far.  The Drawing class did some timed drawings to work on their speed  but also to help them identify the key elements of a drawing first before adding detail.  Well done, you are all really grasping the key points we’ve covered in the courses so far.  Looking forward to seeing what you produce next week.

See you soon.

Wendy

Over halfway through the course already and look how well you are all doing.  The Pastel class tried a new technique this week, working on a textured surface with only 3 pastels.  The Watercolour class looked at how to work on different parts of a picture and work your way around so that you are never left watching paint dry.  The Drawing class used grids to enlarge a photograph and worked on their proportion and shading skills.  There were some great pictures produced this week.  Whenever I give you a challenge you don’t let me down.  If you get chance this week, take the opportunity to compare the work you did this week with the work from the very first lesson and I think you will see a definite improvement.  Well done everyone!

See you soon.

Wendy

P.S.  Special thanks to Simon’s wife for baking us the delicious carrot cake.  All baked goods will be gratefully received!

Once again the weather did it’s best to keep you away and still you made it to class.  Well done to everyone for making such an effort to get here through the snow this week and what fantastic pictures you produced.  The Pastel class had the difficult task of drawing mostly white objects on a white background and using colour to create shadows.  The Watercolour class tried out some different techniques for paintings skies and the Drawing class worked on some large scale charcoal and chalk drawings.  You all tried something new this week and I’m really pleased with what you produced.  Great work!

Wendy