My car boot seemed ridiculously full as I precariously placed the final item on top; a Tupperware containing I have to confess a rather strange salad.
The weird combination of flavours that lurked under the lid were made from a diverse collection of ingredients I had found in my fridge that morning, rather some strange diet I had read about in the dentist waiting room, but I was already having doubts about it and it was only 8.00am.
But despite my misgivings regarding the amount of equipment I was bringing and my dubious lunch I was very excited to be attending my first art workshop, not only had I never been to an workshop before but the artist taking this one was Melissa Wishart who’s paintings I love. I had first seen her work at a local exhibition and I was very impressed by her use of colour and her ability to capture light on water, this is something I too am fascinated by, but approach in a very different way.
Trudoxhill Village Hall was easy to find and a bright, airy and extremely warm space to work in. We each had a large table to ourselves and we soon set about unpacking our various paints, brushes etc.
Before the workshop officially started we were all given a sticky label on which to write our names which I found extremely helpful, as I have the ability to make a Goldfish seem clever when it comes to remembering names, on the downside one does spend a lot of time gazing at peoples chests as you double check you have got their’s right.
Melissa had brought along quite a few of her lovely paintings for us to study, which was very helpful and interesting, she started by giving us a run through of what the day would entail.
First off was a demonstration on how to mix a tonal palette of colours which was fascinating and the range of subtle tones of greys seemed endless.
I normally wouldn’t premix any colours but I have to say that it’s something I will definitely be doing in the future. Each new colour that appeared through the mixing then in part went on to be mixed again so creating yet another subtle shade in the ‘family’.
Prior to the day we had been asked to prime our canvas’ with a thin coat of Burnt Sienna, as I gazed around the other students canvas’ I noticed they seemed to be so much softer and paler than my almost fluorescent and brash orange canvas’, but Hey ho it was too late now to do anything about it.
We were also asked to pull out some inspiring sea/coastal photographs. Once again this was new to me as I wouldn’t normally work from a photograph but I have to admit I found the challenge very interesting and in some ways very helpful.
After the demonstration we headed back to our tables eager to try out this new colour palette. Once the colours were mixed and the images chosen a hush fell as we all painted away.
Before breaking for an early lunch all the morning’s work was laid out on the floor and we all had a chance to see what everyone had been working on as well as each person giving a short feedback from their mornings efforts.
Then followed a break for lunch, most people seemed to know each other so as quite a shy person I opted to eat lunch at my table on my own, don’t worry it also got me out of explaining why I thought mixing corn beef, fresh mint and salad cream in a salad was a good idea, granted the first few mouthfuls were a shock but I soon tucked in with gusto, which was probably due more to a lack of breakfast rather than a culinary masterpiece. While I ate I continue to paint and in the end produced my favourite contribution of the day.
The afternoon started with another demonstration, this time how to capture the effect of light on water using diluted paint and an old toothbrush or small patches of paint which when smeared crate a wonderful effect of light shimmering on the water, and if you know Melissa’s work you will know how effective this can be. We once again eagerly returned to our tables to try out these new techniques.
At the end of the afternoon we came together to show our paintings again and to discuss the various challenges. The range of work was diverse and very exciting.
I thoroughly enjoy my day and left with new skills and challenges that I will continue to use back in the studio.
If you ever read this Melissa, many thanks, you were engaging, funny, knowledgeable and a great tutor.
I so enjoyed my day and couldn’t wait for the second workshop which would be completely different but I’m sure equally enjoyable, however Covid 19 came on to the scene and all were cancelled for the foreseeable future.
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My favourite painting to come out of the workshop.