Join botanical watercolour painter Colin Swinton for a day of exploration. He will awaken your senses to the wonderful potential of botanical subjects. Colin will use his 30 years of experience to guide you through the skills and techniques needed to begin to master the medium, and inspire you to explore the potential of flowers, fruit and vegetables in your painting.
Start the day with some sample images and explore the following themes:
• Texture and Pattern
• Colour Complementary and Wild
• Shape Flat versus three dimensional
• Composition and Space
• Scale Magnifying the miniature and sections
This will be followed by a practical painting session to work on a variety of subjects, developing a number of images in your sketch books and by using photography with your ipad or phone camera if you have one.
In the afternoon you will select one of the images from your earlier explorations and use it to create your final painting.
Please click the title below for a information about what to bring on the day and ideas about subjects you might like to bring…
What to expect
Time at ArtisOn is designed to take you away from it all and provide the environment, the time and the guidance you need to create. You can expect a warm welcome, skilled and friendly tutors plus the chance to meet like-minded people keen to share ideas and experiences. You can even leave us to clear up the mess! There will usually be two workshops going on and we encourage everyone to mingle and be nosey about what the other workshop is up to.
Arrive in time to meet other participants over a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits before beginning your session at the appointed time. There will be a mid-morning break for refreshments and a chance to talk over progress with others. Lunch is usually around 12:45 for about 45 mins – you can expect a homemade 2 course lunch. The main course will be delicious but don’t overdo it as the puds are usually worth waiting for! There will be a further afternoon break with the most wonderful cakes from Roots & Fruits Home Bakery, a North Yorkshire micro-bakery producing handmade bread and cakes. All food and refreshments are included in the price of the workshop.
Finish time is given as a target – there are occasions when the session may overrun so do let us know if you need to be away promptly.
We aim for your day to be a real treat… of course you could always learn a new skill in a shed or a draughty village hall with a curly sandwich, but we want you to have more fun than that! So we make it a day being looked after, with good food, good company and great inspiration!
What you’ll need to bring with you
Ideas for subjects to bring:
Any Autumn flowers, medium to large size, such as Roses, Anemones, Hydrangea Cone Flower, Cyclamen etc. (flowers that are 'going over' make interesting subjects)
Autumn leaves, curled up dead ones provide sculptural subjects
A variety of Nuts
Grasses
Seed Heads and Seed Pods , Beans, Peas, Chilli peppers, Honesty, Maple and Sycamore seeds etc.
Interesting Fruits
Any Veg, Mushrooms
Bulbs and Corms
Any fair sized Buds, from flowers shubs or trees, , make good subjects to section
Equipment to bring
Your usual watercolour paints - Artists Quality recommended
Watercolour paint brushes preferably sizes 8, 6, and 3
Watercolour paper - Not surface or Rough surface
If you wish to work on Tinted Paper Colin will have some to buy or bring your own, it needs to be at least 150 gms or more in weight
Phone or ipad to record photographs if possible
A4 sketch pad and pencils HB and 3B
Craft Knife or Scalpel for dissecting subjects - we have these to borrow if you don't have one
X 3 Magnifying glass
Note book
Suggested watercolour paint colours. Some may be available to borrow....
Cadmium Lemon, New Gamboge, Raw Sienna.
French Ultramarine, Cobalt, Winsor Blue Green Shade.
Winsor Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Permanent Rose.
Burnt Sienna, Winsor Green BlueShade.
Tube of Winsor and Newton, Permanent White Gouache
You may add coloured crayons and if you wish
