New Work and New Workshop Dates

The dates for studio workshops for the remainder of 2014 are now on the website and have been emailed out, sometimes repeatedly, (apologies if this has happened to you).
This luscious amaryllis has flowered in the studio and drawn me back to the drawing board (excuse the pun). I had been suffering from the winter doldrums,all this rain and mud and the light has been so dull.

Inspired to do a slightly cut off composition I transferred my outline in colour onto the Fabriano 5 Classico then masked off the white stripes. As time and decent light are in short supply I plan to do this drawing with under painting using baby oil.

After selecting an assortment of all my brightest mid reds from Faber Castell, Prismacolor, Luminance, and Tom Bow I started by quickly marking in the deep coloured veins and overlaying some brighter reds with a small amount of shade colour. Black Cherry and FC194. I then blend this in with the Copic marker filled with baby oil (this dispenses just the right amount. I work one petal at a time as I can then apply the dry layers into the slightly moist paper and the colours blend more easily and richly with no need for burnishing.

I just managed to get the flower completed before it collapsed.

I’ll keep you posted but as teaching starts in the studio today it may be a while. I have taken photos.