Failure?
A long time ago, when I ran evening classes at the local college, I taught a student who only ever worked on scraps of paper. Bernice could draw well, was blessed with a good sense of composition and colour and had an…
Gesso Stories
As the Christmas season approached, we tried something very different at my watercolour classes. By prepping the paper with gesso and then scratching and scoring texture into it, we were able to create the ideal surface for these faux stained glass panels.…
Where Your Art Really Begins
I was gazing over a student's shoulder at a work that I can most charitably describe as 'experimental.' "I just waved my hand around and there it was!" Jenny said. "And that's exactly what it looks like...," is the response I never…
Painting Between The Words
Jenny Holzer's solo exhibition at Hauser and Wirth, Somerset is predominantly about sex, war and death; a potent and often harrowing combination that the artist seems to treat somewhat at a distance with her trademark text-based work and minimalist aesthetic. Nevertheless, as you walk through the five…
Pencil To Paint
The aim of my Pencil To Paint course is to explore the essential differences between the two disciplines and shed light on why many of us find it so difficult to move between the two. I meet many skilled draughtsmen and women who…
Going Digital At Dillington
For the more jaundiced amongst us, the phrase Adult Education might conjure up images of a cheerless school classroom, repurposed for half-a-dozen lovelorn grown-ups with a feigned interest in lampshade-making. The last place they'd think of would be somewhere like Dillington House; a Somerset County Council-owned Adult…
Pencils At The Pavilion
Last weekend, Frome Sketchers visited Hauser & Wirth Somerset, a brave and bold addition to Iwan Wirth and Manuela Hauser's stable of international art galleries. What's different about this venture, however, is the breadth of the couple's vision. Not only is the…