May 5th

In the workshop we covered brush control, non-staining colours, texture and paint removal. Here is the recipe (as requested for the Ham and Olive loaf)

Things to remember

• Keep the board at an angle
  
• Don't mix 2 colours in the palette together completely - you will get a very flat 3rd colour - let the colours merge on the paper
  
• Happy accidents are good!
• click for workshop notes
  

April 28th

Great workshop where we covered composition, tonal studies and counterchange. Click for course notes

Things to remember:

• Trees must have "birdholes"
• Use your large brush until the last moment when you're adding the details. Try turning your paper upside down to paint branches
• Aerial perspective - things get lighter the further away they are - paint your darkest darks at the front
• Prussian blue is a staining colour - avoid sharp lines and use with lots of water

April 8th

Although there are many positives, after using Sketchbook pro for some time I have discovered an annoying problem. The delete the current layer button is placed on the left above the brushes and it's very easy to hit by mistake as you are scribbling away blocking in the background. Whoops (or worse words deleted here!). It would be nice to either move the delete button or at least have a box pop up to say "are you sure".

March 11th

Inspired by a visit to the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy (London). I downloaded Sketchbook Pro (costs next to nothing!) to the ipad. You are provided with a standard palette of colours - easy to change (but then your original colour no longer exists) and many brush types (sizes can be changed easily as well as opacity).

Draw with your finger or a stylus. I bought a Wacom Bamboo Stylus which works very well and had good reviews (buy the extra nibs at the same time in case you get really carried away and use it all the time).

Best piece of advice I can give is to use the layers (top right of the screen) This means you can delete things you don't like and can avoid messing up the stuff you do like (easy to do!). There is an undo button but it's a bit cumbersome.

More tips coming later - Have fun

Tour d'Ai - Leysin at the end of Lac Leman on a summer's day

Chroma Atelier Acrylic 60x60 on canvas