Exhibition at Brancaster Staithe

Last weekend, along with some students and friends, I took part in an exhibition at Brancaster Staithe on the North Norfolk coast. Having grown up beside the sea, it was good to get back to vast skies and the smell of salt air. The mud flats are very different from the sandy beaches of Scotland where I grew up, but they have a charm of their own and I do love painting them.

My task for the day, however,  was not painting en plein air, but to demonstrate portrait painting. It is much more fun than sitting behind a desk smiling endlessly at customers and potential purchasers! I decided as a challenge to paint two portraits in tandem. That way I don't fiddle around and come back to each painting with a fresh eye.

Both paintings were done in oils on canvas . Size 18" x 14". Stained with raw umber.

Each took around two hours, in between drinking tea and chatting to interested onlookers. All in all, a most enjoyable day

 

 

Pauline

 

 

                                                                            Mary

 

West Norfolk Arts Centre

This week I was invited to teach two courses next year at West Norfolk Arts Centre.

The Centre is situated in the delightful conservation village of Castle Rising , close to the Sandringham estate, nature reserves, woodlands and the north Norfolk Coast.

Established in 1993 by Ros and Richard Cartwright, it enjoys an excellent reputation as a quality Painting Course provider both in the U.K. and abroad. Each year, approximately forty painting courses are held in West Norfolk and four structured painting courses abroad. This year, Egypt, Venice, Tuscany and Skiathos were on the itinerary.

The range of courses on offer is huge, from pen and wash to acrylics, oils, pastels, wildlife , abstraction, botanical painting etc.

In 2011, I will be teaching the following. " The art of Gouache Painting" July 23/24 and "Portraiture" October 28, 29, 30th.

For information on the west Norfolk Arts Centre and all the courses it runs go to www.westnorfolkartscentre.co.uk