Our guests on Randy Hales’s Watermill online interactive session on Thursday had enormous fun painting the ancient Tuscan spa town of Bagno Vignone. It’s an amazing place: the main piazza is full of steaming water from the underground thermal springs. That’s Randy’s painting of the scene above.
As usual, after the session many of our participants submitted their paintings to our online Gallery, where Randy gave each of them encouraging feedback. And, also as usual, I made a small montage of just half a dozen of the entries, selected entirely at random. Our thanks to all who took part.
Our next online interactive session is in a fortnight’s time, when Mike Willdridge takes us to a busy street in Marrakech, Morocco. He says: “The aim of this painting is to simplify a busy scene, especially one with lots of figures. Equally, this will be an exercise in painting strong light and heat and composition.â€
Come and enjoy the sunlight and the heat, vicariously at least, on Thursday 16 February. You can register for Mike’s session by clicking here.
Mike adds: “I’d like you to tackle both the drawing and painting during the session and I will show you two possible compositional suggestions (drawings) as well as my practice painting.”  (You will be able to access these line drawings and Mike’s practice painting once you have registered.) Mike will be using the two Edward Seago paintings as a reference/inspiration for your painting time together.
Unlike many online painting tutors, Mike will not expect you to ‘look over his shoulder’ for a long demonstration, and perhaps be allowed to ask the odd question or two. No, you will be painting along at more or less the same time, trying out the watercolour techniques that Mike has shown you, step-by-step. He will demonstrate some basic techniques for only a few minutes before you start painting the same subject at home. Then, after you have had your turn, Mike will move onto the next part of the process. Lois Breckon from The Watermill at Posara will be on hand during the session to feed your questions. The session will last two to three hours.
When you register for the session, you will be asked for a donation. Some people ask how much this should be and so we suggest a minimum of £20 GBP. Our Zoom painting demonstrations do take quite a bit of time in preparation and administration and your support is very much appreciated. With your generosity we can plan and run further sessions and, more importantly, provide a regular meeting place for creativity, camaraderie and fun. We hope that you enjoy the international, online painting community that we have created.
Once you have registered you will be provided with two links. The first is the Zoom link for you to join the session. Please note that the start time is 4pm UK time (GMT) which equates to 11.00am – East Coast USA; 10.00am – Central Time USA; 9.00am – Mountain Time USA; 8.00am – Pacific Coast Time USA.
The second link is where you can download the source photo that Mike has chosen for you, his practice painting to show you where you are heading, sample line sketches and line/tone treatments (although there will be time to do this together during the session), and a list of materials (including paper, paint and brushes) that he suggests you may need.
After the event, you are invited to add your painting to the gallery. In addition, we will send you a link to a video within 48 hours of the end of the session, that will enable to you revisit Mike’s step-by-step teaching.
To remnind you: You can register for Mike’s session by clicking here.