Forthcoming portrait workshops

I will be running the  portrait workshops in Grantchester Village hall, near Cambridge,  on Saturday27th July and Saturday 17th August. ( 10 am - 4pm)

The cost is £35 per day or £30 per day if both sessions are booked. ( Models, tea, coffee, and biscuits are provided in the price. Bring your own packed lunch.)

I will be explaining techniques and doing a demonstration as well as offering lots of individual guidance.
For further details or to book a place please e-mail  john@gloverart.co.uk or telephone me on 01284 810 460

Portrait Exhibition at Gallery Highwaymans

From the 6th - 28th July , I will be taking part in an exhibition of portraits at the Gallery Highwaymans at Risby near Bury St. Edmunds.The exhibition is a celebration of the work of Mary Beale, a 17th century artist from Barrow, the village where I now live.
On show will be her self portrait from the St. Edmundsbury  Collection prior to its inclusion in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Masterpieces:" Art and East Anglia".

Alongside her work will be portraits by contemporary East Anglian artists. It promises to be a fascinating exhibition from the traditional to the avant - garde. Well worth a visit.

The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours

I was delighted to learn yesterday that I have had a portrait accepted by the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. Competition was fierce with nearly 900 entries.

"The Institute has come to be recognized as one of the leading national institutions for watercolour painters, spanning figurative, abstract and experimental work."

Founded 181 years ago, it is their 200th London exhibition. It will be held at the Mall Galleries, near Trafalgar Square, between 14th -25th March.

For details of the exhibition and all other societies which exhibit at the Mall Galleries go to www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Facing Hard Times International Open Exhibition

I have just had a portrait accepted for the "Facing Hard Times" International Open Exhibition in King's Lynn.
"The broad concept of the exhibition is the impact of recent global economic crises on all our lives".

A portrait from my "Homeless" series seemed appropriate.





The exhibition will be held at Greyfriars Art Space, 43 St. James St. , King's Lynn, Norfolk and will run from 1st -15th October

Portrait workshop in Grantchester

Yesterday, I ran my first Portrait workshop in Grantchester, near Cambridge. I am pleased to say it was both successful and enjoyable. Ten students attended from various art clubs and societies bringing a whole range of skills and techniques . Some worked in oils, others in acrylic, watercolour or pastel producing a huge variety of work.


I began by talking about the basics. How to draw a head and get a likeness. I explained about proportion and tone before moving on to do two 20 minute practical demonstrations. The idea was to show a couple of different approaches to painting a portrait in oils. The first was a fairly traditional method establishing the drawing first ( on this occasion in paint.) before moving on to add the colour.




Here the canvas has been pre-stained with raw umber. The drawing was done with diluted burnt sienna. As I do this, I am measuring proportions , angles and running verticals and horizontals to fix the features. Only when happy that everything is in the right place would I begin to add colour. It is a safe approach.

My second quick demonstration was the high risk method. No preliminary drawing . Straight in with the palette knife going for colour and large tonal masses. My audience was fairly stunned at the initial, apparently, child-like daubs. I then move on to applying thick paint with brushes. Rich, juicy impasto. Some wonderful accidental effects on which I try to capitalize. Now is the time I start to panic. Will anything emerge from this chaos? Will this be my Waterloo? Time to impose a certain control, to begin to position features and establish a likeness. To my relief, a human face gradually begins to emerge. I have now managed to capture my audience. I am encouraged by their responses and by the excitement that is being engendered by the process.


I should hastily add that neither of my 25 minute demos did justice to the model, poor girl!


At the beginning of this blog, I indicated the range of students attending. Below. I show a few samples of the work they produced.











As is clear from these few paintings, none of them were painting "in the style of" John Glover. Nothing is more depressing than to see a group of students slavishly copying /imitating the tutor and my aim is to encourage everyone to develop their own "vision."



I will be running the following workshops in Grantchester.

Saturday 12 February. Life Drawing/Painting

Saturday 12th March. Portrait

For full details e-mail john@gloverart.co.uk or tel. 01284 810 460

Future Day Workshops.

Plans are well ahead for 2011.

I will be running the following workshops at the beginning of the year.

Saturday, 15th January, Portrait
Sunday, 20th February. Life.
Saturday 19th March Portrait.

All workshops run from 10 a.m. - 4p.m. and are held in Barrow, near Newmarket, Suffolk. The cost is £35 for an individual session or £30 per session if two or more are booked . This will include model fees, tea, coffee, biscuits. Students have to provide their own packed lunch.

I will also be holding workshops in Grantchester, near Cambridge. Details to follow shortly.

If you have any queries,please telephone me on 01284 810 460 or e mail john@gloverart.co.uk

Another successful portrait workshop

Last Sunday, I held another portrait day workshop. I am pleased to say it was a great success with students coming from all around Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.
After an initial warm up session, people set to work in the medium of their own choice, from charcoal or pencil to watercolour, pastel and oils.




Our model, Flo, the daughter of a friend, was superb. For the whole day, she sat like a rock, barely batting an eyelid. What a relief from those models who constantly twitch, let their eyes or their head wander. Or even fall asleep!





On the day, my function was merely to advise and offer comment, as well as do the odd practical demonstration.

Prior to this, however, I had the pleasure of doing a pastel portrait of Flo.


This portait was done with a combination of hard and soft pastels as well as conte chalk, particularly useful in capturing the delicacy of her hair.

Demonstrations to art societies

This last month has been incredibly busy with portrait commissions, teaching , and also giving portrait demonstrations to art clubs and societies.

The latter can be great fun, particularly if it is a society you have visited before. Rather like meeting up with old friends and continuing an ongoing dialogue. The banter can be energizing. I do encourage the audience to ask questions and make comments. There is nothing worse than standing out there to the sound of silence. At a recent demo, one person commented that it was actually a "performance" as well. To produce the artwork is one thing, but you also have to keep the audience engaged , entertained and amused. More and more do I find myself turning into Billy Connelly!

Above, is an oil portrait demo I did for Clare Art Club. This was done in about one and a half hours with lots of palette knife work and large brushes. No time to fiddle around. The subject was David Gilbert, President of the club. He is a larger than life character and a great subject to paint!

A playful approach to painting a portrait

On occasions it is just fun to cast caution to the wind and just go for it. Such a thing occurred when I came to paint "Robert". Born and raised in this country, his parents came from the West Indies. My normal palette of flesh tones went straight out the window. No more muted, insipid, Caucasian flesh tones. He seemed to be all purples and blues and greens depending on how the light struck him. No careful preparatory drawing. Straight in with bold colour. Very exciting. Below shows how the portrait evolved out of the apparent initial chaos.

Forthcoming Portrait and Life workshops

Over the next few months I will be running the following workshops in Barrow near Bury St. Edmunds.

Saturday, 9th October Portrait Workshop
Sunday, 7th November Life Drawing and Painting Workshop
Sunday, 5th December Portrait Workshop

All workshops will run from 10am-4pm


The charge for each of these workshops will be £35 or £30 per session if two or more are booked. This includes model fees , tea , coffee, biscuits. Bring your own packed lunch.

It is an ideal opportunity to meet and work alongside different artists and to experience the benefits of having a more extended period of time in which to develop your drawing or painting.

Anyone wishing more information on any of these day schools should either e-mail me or call on 01284 810 460

Another successful portrait workshop.

Last Saturday I ran another portrait workshop in Barrow. Ten students attended and we had Lynn as our model. After an an initial talk and demonstration which I gave on the basics, we had a series of relatively quick poses. This was just to loosen people up, to get them to observe more carefully, and for me to assess where their skills lay. Thereafter, Lynn remained in the one pose for the rest of the day, allowing students to either focus on one painting or move around and do a series of them. Lynn was dressed in a lovely Edwardian costume complete with delicate lace top, pale lilac skirt and straw boater. Set against a white background there were echoes of John Singer Sargent and Whistler. I would have loved to have painted her myself!
Some drew, some did watercolours, pastel, or oils. I even had one psychic artist within the group! Lots of interesting and exciting work was produced.

I shall shortly be setting up another series of workshops both in Barrow and Grantchester. Keep watching my website for details or contact me via john@gloverart.co.uk or on 01284 810 460

A child's portrait in pastel

Pastel is a particularly lovely medium for creating children's portraits. It has a delicacy and softness missing in many others.
For this particular portrait I worked on Murano paper with a combination of pastel pencils and soft pastels. My initial drawing was done with willow charcoal and then dusted down.


I work on top of this with pastel pencils, which allows a certain precision. I blend with a combination of cotton buds and torchons.


More detail is added in the hair and mouth , still using the pencils. I begin to work soft pastels into the face and use them for blocking in the dress.



I now consider the background. The aim is to keep it soft and somewhat vague, simply in order not to detract from child.



Portrait and background are worked up in more detail and tied together. Below is the finished drawing.

Bury St Edmunds Art Society

On Thursday evening I gave a portrait demonstration to the Bury St. Edmunds Art Society. Over 60 people turned up for the event and it turned out to be a most enjoyable occasion.
I have done quite a few demonstrations for them over the last few years, usually in oils. This time, however, a watercolour portrait was requested. As I have said in previous blogs this is the most demanding medium and it is rather like walking a tightrope without a safety net.
As is usually the case there were few volunteers to sit as the model so in the end I managed to "persuade" George who has attended a few of my classes and whom I know fairly well.
I began by showing a few samples of my work, some quick watercolour studies and a couple of finished pieces. I then demonstrated how to construct the head , looking at proportions, tone and the various individual features. Thereafter, I set to work on the painting, without any preliminary drawing whatsoever and using a combination of wet into wet and dry brush technique. Below is the portrait of George I produced.




I am pleased to say the audience was lively and enthusiastic. They asked numerous questions and a good banter took place. At times, however, I did begin to feel I was turning into my fellow compatriot, Billy Connolly!
The Bury Art Society is holding its Annual Exhibition at the Edmund gallery, Angel Hill, Bury St. Edmunds from 24th June -7th July.

Patchings National Art Competition 2010

Today, I delivered a portrait to Patchings Art Centre at Calverton in Nottinghamshire.



It is to host a National Art Competition sponsored by both the Artist magazine and Leisure Painter. 140 works have been accepted for exhibition, 70 in the professional category and 70 in the amateur.



I am pleased to say that my portrait of " Mrs. McLeod" will be on display in the professional section.Another painting I entered, "Makena", has been "Highly Commended" and will appear shortly on the Patchings website.



The exhibition runs from June 10th -July 11th.

The opening runs concurrently with the 17th Patchings Art, Craft and Design Festival (June 10th-13th). Attracting over 15000 visitors, it "comprises over 150 nationally renowned artists and craft designers demonstrating, exhibiting and selling their work. It has become one of the UK's most celebrated art and craft festivals."



For full details of the Exhibition and Festival, check out the Patchings website at www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk

How to create a charcoal portrait of a child

The materials I will be using are thin sticks of willow charcoal, charcoal pencils, black conte crayon, a putty rubber, cotton buds, torchons and a smooth cloth . I am working on pre-soaked and stretched Sanders watercolour paper (140 gms.) As watercolour papers go this is fairly smooth, but it has enough tooth to hold the charcoal powder.


Using the willow charcoal, I quickly rough in the basic shape of the head and position of the various features. Nothing is as yet fixed in stone. Willow charcoal can easily be dusted off and amendments made.


As I am fairly happy with the beginnings of a likeness, I start to strengthen the details and tones of eyes and mouth. This is done with a charcoal pencil ( medium). I also work on building up the shadows. I scrub the willow charcoal over the area and then soften with fingers, torchons or cloth.


I now pay attention to the background , blocking it in with compressed charcoal and charcoal
pencils (dark) The hair is begun.



From here it is a matter of simply refining the detail. To get the precision I want, in the eyes for instance, I use a sharpened conte crayon. But you have to be certain it is in the right place, for conte is a very difficult material to erase! I build layer upon layer to get the depth of shadow I want. On top of the initial willow charcoal, I use the charcoal pencils , stroking them in very gently and then smoothly blending with torchons or cotton buds. A mahl stick is another useful implement as I have often absentmindedly lent my hand upon a drawing and erased or smudged large areas. I also on occasions mask off the areas of the drawing I am not working on.




The finished drawing.




Charcoal is a particularly lovely medium for drawing children. It allows for both delicacy and detail.

Portrait demonstration

Throughout the year, I give portrait demonstrations to many art groups and societies. These can be great fun but also challenging in that you never know who the model is going to be. You hope that the person selected or volunteered will look interesting, striking, distinctive etc. But there is no guarantee. You hope also that they will be engaged in the process, be lively and willing to enter into a dialogue with you so that you become a sort of double act , a form of entertainment for the audience. Occasionally, I am allowed to choose from amidst the "shrinking violets" before me and I am glad to say that usually my instinct is right. But mostly, the victim has been pre-selected.
Over the years, numerous memorable things have happened. There was the time when the model, an elderly gentleman, instantly fell asleep and snoring loudly . No matter how much I cajoled or prodded, could I keep him in a state of consciousness. I cracked all my best jokes and anecdotes but the audience sat in stony silence and all that could be heard was the sound of sweety wrappers being unfurled. It was a "beam me up Scotty" night. I did struggle on manfully and produced a fairly decent portrait by the end of the evening. The group applauded loudly and said it had been extremely enjoyable and informative. Would I come back again? I smiled sweetly, grabbed my cheque and fled , vowing never to return within a 60 mile radius of the place! On another occasion, I was demonstrating to a group of over 80 people. Being such a large audience they decided to wire me up for sound. A very odd experience. Even odder when I forgot my "electronic" state and went off to the toilet and shared it with everybody.
This last Monday, I gave a demonstration to Hartest art group in Suffolk. I am delighted to say that none of the above horrors occurred. It was my third visit and so it was rather like meeting up with old friends. The banter was good with artist and audience winding each other up.


The artist at work.

I spent just under two hours on this oil portrait of Sue. I began by explaining about materials I would be using as well as techniques, proportions, tone, and colour mixing. With a large hog's hair brush and turpentine I roughly drew in the outline of the head and fixed the position of the various features. Then it was time to block in the main flesh tones, mid -tones, and shadows before concentrating on the finer details of the eyes etc. Working in this alla prima way there is only a certain amount one can do on the day, all of which was explained to and discussed with the audience. Below, is the painting at the end of the session.

To learn more of the techniques used see my various other blogs. To see me " in action " watch the video of me painting a portrait in 80 minutes in the "Tuition and Demonstration " section.

Painting workshops

I will be running the following workshops in Barrow Village hall, near Bury St. Edmunds,
Suffolk.

Saturday, 29th May. PORTRAIT WORKSHOP

Saturday, 26th June LIFE CLASS WORKSHOP

Saturday, 17th July PORTRAIT WORKSHOP


The classes will run from 10-4. The charge will be £35 per workshop or £30 if 2 or more are booked. This will include model fees, tea, coffee etc. It will be necessary to provide one's own packed lunch.

If you require any more information , please contact me on 01284 810 460 or e-mail me at john@gloverportraits.co.uk

Should you wish to book a place, please make cheques payable to "John Glover" and send them to me at 3 Ley Road, Barrow, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP29 5DJ

Watercolour Portrait Workshop

Last Sunday, I conducted a watercolour portrait workshop for the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists, of which I am also a member.
The day ran from 10-4 and consisted of me giving a general talk on portraits-- how to construct the head, tone and proportion. Thereafter, I did a painting demonstration. As always it was an exciting challenge. I worked wet into wet without any preliminary drawing. A high risk strategy in watercolour. But as the demonstration was only to last an hour, I did not have the luxury of being able to plan and draw carefully.
It certainly leads to an adrenalin rush and certain practical problems. So that the audience can see what you are doing, the board has to be near vertical. Not ideal , as you watch an eye or a nose run down and off the bottom of the page! Below is the result after an hour.


Leila.

The rest of the day was spent with the group working from the model, and me going around offering, hopefully, useful advice. At the end, students were asked to display their work for me and others to make comments and suggestions. All in all it was a most enjoyable day.



This workshop was held in Barrow village hall, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. I have 3 more planned there over the next few months. Details of these will be posted shortly both on the blog and website.

Painting a Colourful Portrait in oils 3

Today was my third portrait sitting with Judy. Prior to it I had spent a lot of time painting her costume as well as considering what to do with the background.

As can be seen if you compare this with my previous blog, I have begun to paint her headdress and necklace in much greater detail. Each particular section (e.g. orange) I painted in a slightly darker tone . With a fine sable, I then outlined the rows of beads . Then it was time to apply a mid tone , before flicking in little pinpoints of light. My original dark tone acts as the shadow area between the beads. All that remains, when this is dry, is to indicate individual shadows on the beads. The triangular metal piece on her head dress (which indicates she is a married woman) still requires some light, shade and reflection to be added. The white strings are simply blocked in at the moment and also need a bit more definition and shadow.

A close up detail of her necklace illustrating the technique described above.
I have also been working on other areas of the costume, and blocking in the large patterns. It is indeed time consuming but there is no way it can be rushed. With her cloak, I am beginning to suggest the folds and creases. These will have to be completed before I superimpose patterns of little black dots.
I have also added at this stage a very colourful bangle and belt.

During our sitting today, I focused on her face, looking at the cool bluish reflection on the left, trying to correct the modelling in her neck, chin and around her mouth. The hair had to be adjusted also.
The background I have also started. Initially, I thought of a bold bright colour like pale blue. But i have now decided to apply gold instead, with all its connotations. The photograph, however, does not convey the richness of it.

This is how the portrait now looks at the end of the third sitting.

Keep watching my blog to see how the painting develops and how it looks when completed.

Watercolour portraits

To attempt portraits in watercolour is not for the faint hearted! Watercolour is a notoriously difficult medium to work in, and is, in comparison to other media, fairly unforgiving. Whatever technique one is using, whether it be wet into wet or a more considered approach, careful planning is required if your painting is to be a success

The above sketch was done in about one hour using a wet into wet technique. No preliminary drawing was done. Although initially it looked chaotic to the group I was demonstrating to, I was, even at the earliest stage, planning and allowing for my highlights to be preserved. If things go wrong there is still the possibility of lifting out with a sponge or tissue.

The same approach was used in this sketch. Having established the position of the features I started to build up the depth of tone. At various points I dried the painting and went in with a dry brush technique, as in the eyes.

The above was a preliminary sketch I did for a more finished portrait. Again this was completed in less than an hour.

“Mary.” A portrait in watercolours.
This more finished portrait took considerably longer, requiring as it did layer upon layer of transparent glazes to achieve the detail I wanted.
I find watercolour the most amazing medium and one which offers a luminosity and delicacy unrivalled by others.
In a later blog I will demonstrate a watercolour portrait from start to finish and will describe the materials, techniques and colour mixes I use.