In the final session of our current online, interactive painting season, tutor Mike Willdridge takes you to a charming café in his home town of Poundbury, in the southern county of Dorset in England.
Not only will you enjoy a lovely scene but also learn what to leave out of your painting to make it more compelling. Mike says: “We will be talking about taking an attractive scene and simplifying it to focus on what you think it’s important – and leave out the rest.â€
Mike’s next live, interactive, online session is on Thursday 10 June at 3:30 pm Italian time. (2:30 pm UK time. We know that may be quite early in the morning in the United States and Canada, and in the middle of the night in Australia and New Zealand! But, even if you can’t make the live session, you can still register and receive an edited video of the demonstration to paint along in your own time. See below.) Registration for this exciting online, interactive session is through the Eventbrite platform and you can join up by clicking here.
The details:
Unlike many online painting programmes, Mike’s 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 a couple of hours.
When you register for the session, you will be asked for a donation. Some people ask how much this should be. Our answer? “Like the measure of a Scottish dram: it should offend neither the host nor the guest!” 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.
When you register you will be provided with two links. The first is the Zoom link for you to join the session. The second link is where you will find a copy of the photograph that you will paint, Mike’s sketchbook painting to show you where you are heading, and a list of equipment and colours for your palette. Mike has also included a preliminary drawing for the session and would like you to make your own at home before you begin painting along with him. He says: “It’s quite a complex subject (the aim of the session is to make it simpler). I have moved a couple of things around slightly for compositional reasons (and left much out) and I’ll explain my thinking about that aspect in the session. I’m very happy for people to take similar liberties and end up with a drawing that works for them.â€
After the event, you are invited to email us with your painting to add to the online Gallery. In addition, we will send you a link to an edited video of the session that will enable to you revisit Mike’s step-by-step teaching. That link to register again: just click here.
When you have painted with Mike online, why not join him for real at the Watermill in Tuscany Italy next summer? We would love to welcome you to the Watermill. You can find more details of Mike’s week-long courses, 28 August to 4 September 2021, and 4 to 11 September 2021, here
For more about everything at the Watermill, please click here.
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