Nick Beall who runs the portraiture course showed me this wonderful piece of work a student created and we felt it should be posted on the blog for all of our students to see. The student has created some subtle skin tones, lovely watercolour washes in the background which works very well with the models eyes. Congrats to this student on a wonderful painting.
This is a piece of work that Maggy, our childrens illustration tutor, alerted me to. She was particuarly thrilled with this piece and so I thought it was definitely blogworthy! I love the wet in wet watercolour washes behind and the cut-out tree really stands off the background. The daffodils give us the promise of spring on this cold January morning! Congratulations to this student on a great piece of artwork.
Here is a wonderful piece of work from one of my own students, a tiger in pastels. I have to give top marks to this student for creating wonderful soft fur and rich tones and colours. I hope that you find this inspiring, give pastels a try yourself!
Message from WILDLIFE ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2012………..
Following the fabulous success of the 2011 Wildlife Artist of the Year we are now inviting entries for the 2012 competition. All short-listed work will be exhibited at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London next May.
Commenting on the 2011 show one eminent artist said: “Even if I wasn’t short-listed I would come to the exhibition. It’s so inspirational and so full of creativity. It’s amazing to see so much talent in one place.”
It’s also a magnet for buyers with a fabulous selection of established artists and new talent.
To embrace all artistic styles and mediums there are two new categories for 2012 and the same amazing £10 ,000 top prize.
For more details visit their website here – David Shepherd Wildlife Foundations Annual Art Competition
I asked Louise, one of my own Pet Portraits Students, if she would like to have her work displayed on the college website and blog and she has very kindly written about them below. I think Louise has done a fantastic job with both drawings and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of her work in the coming months. Here’s what Louise had to say abut each image….
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“I had been asked to draw this pot as part of the first exercise for the pet portrait course. I used different ranges of graphite pencil. At first I was totally lost as to where I was going to begin. I have never drawn anything like this before so this was a real challenge for me! So I started drawing and instead of feeling overwhelmed I actually felt excited as the more I drew the more I could see the pot taking shape. I am really pleased with the finished result, I didn’t think I could draw something like this!!!
The Labrador was the second exercise I had been asked to draw. I used graphite pencil to create the different tones and layers. I was really excited about drawing this dog and couldn’t wait to get started. It took me some time to get the eyes and the face looking like the picture of the dog and lots of erasing and re doing areas. Definately worth every minute as I am very pleased with how the portrait has turned out. I can’t wait to move on to the next exercise. Really enjoying this course! ”
Louise (Pet Portraits Diploma D5 )
One of my students completed the ‘modern portraits’ exercise and I though that it was so wonderful it had to be included on our blog. It has such scope for a story, almost an illustration for a children’s book. I asked my student if she would write a little about the piece and here is the text below. I hope you enjoy viewing it!
“…My thoughts on putting this painting together came from the fact that Alex my cat will spend hours just staring at the fish. I often wondered how they felt about him as they would sometimes seem to study him quite closely too. When I looked at the brief for a surreal painting in Assignment 4, I saw the opportunity to consider the situation from the fishes’ point of view and how they would feel if he really got close – like actually in the tank. I had a photo of Alex with a very sneaky look on his face which I thought would be a good reference. I had a lot of fun with this one and really enjoyed painting the fish which I had never tried before.”
Gerri (Pet Portraits Diploma D5)
We asked if Cathy would write about her Polar Bear painting for our college news blog and we were thrilled to receive Cathys text below. I hope that you find it inspiring and also enjoy the Polar Bear painting too, see if you can see the fish!
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By Cathy Heritage (Pet Portraits Diploma D5)
I was delighted to be asked to write this blog for one of my pictures on the Pet Portrait course. The brief was for a “modern and contemporary” picture with a dynamic and interesting composition. It could be looking up or down at the animal or at an unusual angle. The brief also said to experiment with background colours.
I have always wanted to paint a picture of a polar bear, particularly when I see them on TV nature programmes. They are such fascinating animals living in such cold, icy conditions. I also thought it would be challenging to paint a cream coloured animal on a snowy background. I found the photo which I used for the picture in a book on the Arctic. The photo has a copyright and so is only to be used as a practice piece for my course at London Art College.
I initially drew out the polar bear in the same position as it was in the photo but quickly realized that the composition was very vertical down the centre of the page, with very little on either side. So I decided to turn the whole bear slightly to one side with the water hole in the corner of the picture rather than the centre, which gave it a more dynamic feel.
For this particular set of 3 pictures on the course, each one had to be in a different medium. I chose oil paints, which I have never used before, as I felt this would give strong, opaque colour which I would need to bring out the polar bear on the snow. I used Artisan water-mixable oils which I found very easy to use as they are so blendable. The whole picture took several days to complete but I found that each time I came back to it, the paint was still soft and usable in the palette, and also that I could still blend areas on the canvas that needed more work or detail. I have never tried oils in the past as I have been put off by the smell of oils and turps, but the water-mixable oils have no smell at all and my brushes were easily washed with water. It is a medium I will definitely be trying again.
The bear was relatively easy to paint but I found the snow much more difficult. In the photo the snow background was very white with little tonal contrast or shadows. I had to decide where my light source would be and try to place the shadows accordingly. I gave the snow a much more blue/purple colour to provide interest and tone. I also painted the water a richer blue/green colour than in the photo which was very dark. Finally, I decided to paint a fish deep in the water so that it didn’t take one’s eye away from the bear but so that it gave the bear a focus for why he was looking down – waiting for his lunch!
I enjoyed painting this picture and trying out a new medium, and was even more pleased when I received Melanie’s critique and the fact that she felt it told a real story.
Cathy Heritage – Pet Portraits Diploma (D5)
Sara Wendy Olivia, who is currently studying the portraiture course, came second in our Annual London Art Competition. Sara Wendy has very kindly sent us some wonderful photos, text and a link to a You Tube video of her exhibition to explain a little about her painting, the background behind it and how it all came about. Sara Wendy also has some amazing work in progress videos which are well worth viewing too, showing Sara Wendy painting her set of clown portraits – Sara Wendy Work In Progress >> We hope you enjoy her story, we would like to congratulate Sara Wendy again on her wonderful work and wish her every success for the future.
You are able to view the winners of our 2011 competition on our website – London Art College 2011 Competition Winners >>
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I’ m so happy for this winning! I can tell you something about my “Clowns”: Was a very boring sunday and I didn’t have inspiration for painting, so, I’ve start to paint my face (I attach one of my photo:)) using some carnival make up. I have made many many photos with 2 different make up style and face expressions.
So, after this funny moment (was very very funny), I’ve found the right inspiration for may paint and from this moment I worked on 5 painting that ws the “Clown series”.
I attach on photo of me and the foto of London exhibition that was a very exiting experience for me, I wish to make it again next summer. This was a year of great success for my art career, I’ve made the exhibition in London, one of my painting was published and selected in the finalist of the Tokyo Prize and was exhibited in Bruxelles, I’ve also sold 10 paintings, and I have to thank you all.
I’m working hard for my portrait course, unfortunately I don’t have so many time for drawining and painting, I have a full time job, I wish to be a full time artist in the future, this would be my dream!
Sara Wendy’s website - www.sarawendy.com
Sara Wendy’s artwork with photo of her made up as a clown.
Sara Wendy’s Exhibition at Brick Lane, London
Sara Wendy’s Exhibition at Brick Lane, London
Drawing and Painting Diploma Student Evelyn, chats about two pieces of her work below. We hope that you enjoy reading and viewing Evelyn’s artwork!
The Tile
One of my course assignments was to make a small painting in acrylic, gouache or oil in which I’d experiment with style. The syllabus had traveled through various art styles from pointillist to expressionist, impressionist, decorative, and abstract, so I thought about it and decided I wanted to try painting something decorative. A few years back I’d seen some beautiful Islamic tiles which I’d loved, and my idea was to paint a tile in that general style. I looked at Islamic and other tiles online and found so much inspiration there. I then made my own design and color scheme and painted it in gouache. As it was my first time using the medium, that added to the challenge!
My subject was winter fading into spring, hence the dark-into-light backround, the butterfly, flowers, buds and leaves. It was such a new experience for me and I felt I learned a lot.
The Abstract
This was my first try at painting something semi-abstract. I wanted to paint the feel of autumn leaves blowing in the wind at sunrise. Trying to express a ‘feeling’ without having a photo or specific scene from nature to paint from was completely new for me, and meant a lot of thinking, imagining and experimenting. I first made a few sketches in pencil, then a color sketch in gouache, and at last the final painting in acrylic on canvas board. It was more difficult than I’d expected and I gained a new admiration for abstract artists after seeing how much went into even my simple painting. But I enjoyed it and hope others will as well.
Evelyn (Painting and Drawing Diploma Course D1)
Congratulations to the winner and runner up of the 2011 London Art College Competition. We will be adding more information about the winners over the coming weeks so please check back to our news blog to read about how the students created the artwork and the stories behind the images.
To view all of the entries and the finalists, please visit our competition page >>
Winner
Aisling Kiernan (Illustrating Children’s Books Diploma D6)
Blackberry Days
This watercolour painting was highlighted with raised copper relief.
These blackberries grow in the hedgerows all around where I live, and each year My Children and I have a lovely time picking them to make a crumble for dessert.
Runner Up
Sara Wendy Oliva (Portrait Painting Certificate Course C7)
Clown
Oil on canvas
A self portrait with a “clown make up”. This is one of my first exhibition painting that was at Brick Lane Gallery in London last July.
