Jules, always one to admit that we never stop learning, enjoyed a fantastic weekend at the National Art School in a Studio Portrait workshop with Kim Spooner. Staying in Sydney with fellow student Em, bold colours,great conversation, yummy food and the odd cocktail were on the agenda!
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The day typically included comments like “is my bum too big?”, “where does my belly button go?” or “do my nipples look right?” plus plenty of pushing, squishing and modelling followed by a lovely lunch from the House of Jules kitchen.
Some had worked with clay before, some complete beginners, but all had a great time during this step-by-step workshop creating a clay torso – hilarious, inspiring and completely entertaining. All in all this was a fabulous day of exploring the female form, in all it’s amazing shapes!
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The second of two workshops dedicated to learning about colour. Today we had eight eager participants – Sue, Wendy, Michelle, Gerti, Rose, Giovanna, Joyce and Kathleen. Another great range of ideas and discoveries… and a fabulous use of the ‘left-overs’ canvas, where all the paint that is not used in the exercises is piled onto a blank canvas, ready for later use by Jules as an underlayer.
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Today was the first of 2 classes dedicated to the concept of colour.
Sarah, Jac, Mel, Christine, Ann, Alice, Elaine, Jan and Denise – these 9 ladies came to the studio to learn a whole heap about colour in a half-day workshop. We explored a broad range of notions and made plenty of discoveries. Covering everything from warm and cool palettes to complementary colours, achromatic tones, tints, shades, harmonies and so much more. A huge amount to get through, but they did a great job, and no doubt went home via the pub!!!
Working with acrylics, the class explored cool and warm palettes.
Creating the cool colour wheel, followed by the tints and shades.
Alice completes her final swatch.
Rather than waste or wash away the left over paints from the class, the girls applied them to a blank canvas, to create a fun background… to become something special! Elaine and Jac make some of the first marks.
Jac gets into the spirit… loving the freedom of loose painting after all those little boxes!
Christine’s considered additions.
Jan’s arm… and expert touches!
And the masterpiece of left-overs… something for me to play with later 
Mel worked so hard that she busted her thong! Serious stuff!
Having recently celebrated a birthday I was extremely lucky to have some of my wonderful students bring in cakes, flowers, little gifts and good cheer to help me celebrate.
One of the nicest things about what I do is the friendships that emerge. Every week I look forward to my various classes and the lovely people that come along, especially when they bring yummy cake.
Thankyou everyone!
A fabulous weekend in the studio… Extreme Texture Workshop.
Five ladies came with an open mind and a view to experimenting. They glued, clumped, scrunched and stippled their way through a myriad of media – paper, raffia, glue, impasto, shells, twigs, gesso, nuts & bolts… anything for effect!
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9 brave souls signed up for the challenge of working with the new Da Vinci Fluid Acrylics at a one day workshop appropriately named Fluids on the Loose.
These fabulous paints offer extremely rich pigments in a flowing base and their super quick drying time makes layering a pleasure – no waiting!
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The first challenge was to fill the canvas with loose marks and patterns, using contrasting colours and values until an overall balance of shapes and tones was achieved. Each layer was a response to the one underneath, gradually building up a detailed network of lines, shapes and marks.
A well-earned break for a yummy lunch – chicken casserole and potato & leek tart – and then the ‘real’ work began. One of the main aims of the day was to help students ‘get over the hump’ in their paintings; in other words getting past that point of “I don’t know what to do next…”
Everyone did a fabulous job of letting loose and having fun, and the results speak for themselves…
The Da Vinci range of Fluid Acrylics is now available at Splatters of Milton.
