Here to Ignite, Encourage and Inspire your Creative Flame
‘Impossible is just an opinion.’
– Paulo Coelho
Please note: some items are repeated for the benefit of new subscribers. Thank you 😊
Hey there my friends I hope you’re all keeping well, and that the sun is shining in your life, be that metaphorically speaking or literally 😉. And before I forget Happy Valentine’s Day to you all xXx
As promised in my last newsletter my new studio is progressing well, finally looking like the beginnings of an actual room instead of a building site lol. The builders have been and the garage door has been replaced with bricks, mortar and yes a lovely big window that will let in lots of natural light. Taking a break away from my easel gave me a few days to get the rest of the floor joists down, the under-floor insulation fitted and the rest of the ‘floor panel boards’ fitted into place. Oh my word those boards weigh a ton lol. Today’s quote ‘Impossible is just an opinion.’ being quite apt I thought lol. Now, slowly but surely, I’m adding the first layer of insulation between the roof rafters while waiting for the electrician to come and work his magic. So hopefully they’ll be more updates soon.
The online response to my ‘garage to studio conversion’ has been great, and for those of you who’ve asked how big my studio will end up being – I’ve just been and measured the dimensions – 13′ 6″ x 8′ 3″ Plus it’ll have a ceiling height of around 92″ (so just under 8′) which will give me plenty of room when manoeuvring larger canvas lol. So lots of plans for new creative adventures 😉 Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to update you all in my next newsletter as things progress.
Wildlife Art Workshops for 2023
£60 per person
| Date | Medium | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| January 21st 2023 | Watercolour | Postponed |
| February 25th 2023 | Pastel | Red Panda |
| March 25th 2023 | Watercolour | Fox in Snow |
| April 22nd 2023 | Pastel | TBC |
| May 20th 2023 | Watercolour | Toucan |
| June 24th 2023 | Pastel | TBC |
| August 26th 2023 | Watercolour | TBC |
| September 23rd 2023 | Pastel | TBC |
| October 21st 2023 | Watercolour | TBC |
| November 25th 2023 | Pastel | TBC |
| December TBC | Watercolour | TBC |
| Preferred Pastel materials: | * Clairefontaine Pastelmat Paper (I rarely use anything else now) * larger sheets are available and can be easily cut to size (this is what I do) * Carbothello Pastel Pencils are a must have in my studio, available individually or in different set sizes * Mungyo Soft Pastels – an affordable way to cover larger areas of a painting, and for adding base coats for your pencils to go on top * Pan Pastels – my ‘go to’ soft pastel choice, available individually or in sets, 92 colours in total |
| Preferred Watercolour materials: | * 140lb (or heavier) Hotpress or Coldpress watercolour paper * 9″ x 12″ minimum size (buying larger sheets is preferable as they can then be cut down to size) * Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours are a great paint to get started with (I still use them for sketches etc) * A variety of brushes, sizes & shapes, made from golden taklon which is a synthetic material. Here’s a link to the affordable W&N Cotman set. * A white mixing palette or a white plate will do |
Nine new dates for 2023 have been confirmed by Martin Mere Wetland Centre One running each month, with the exception of January, July and December. Workshops will alternate between Watercolour and Pastel, but feel free to bring along any art medium you wish if the subject is something you would like to create from. All workshops are suitable for beginners. More information can be found over on our exclusive Art Workshop page on the Martin Mere website as well as on the Workshop page of my website. If participants would like further mediums or subjects added then extra dates can be slotted in to suit. So if your passion is coloured pencil or you love acrylic or oil painting then just let me know.
This Red Panda project will also be the subject for next month’s art workshop over at WWT Martin Mere. Nine new dates have now been confirmed for this year and all workshops will be suitable for complete beginners. I’ve been asked to include my preferred materials for the the pastel & watercolour workshops, so I’ll add that to the ‘workshop’ section below.
Diary Dates
| Art Safari in Uganda | 16th February – 3rd March 2023 TBC |
| Patching’s Art Festival | 13th – 16th July 2023 |
| Exhibition of Wildlife Art | 28th – 30th July 2023 |
| North West Birdwatching Festival | 14th -15th October 2023 |
Patching’s Art Festival – an international four day art event celebrating the best in art & craft. Open to all there’s something for everyone, the chance to meet over 250 artists, a lot of which will be demonstrating (including me demonstrating for Caran d’Ache). Plus ‘hands-on’ workshops and art material offers all set in 60 acres of beautiful Nottinghamshire countryside.
Exhibition of Wildlife Art – ‘an exciting three day show featuring the work of some of the world’s most talented wildlife artists. The biggest and most successful, open selling, exhibition of Wildlife Art outside of London. All exhibited work is for sale and many artist demonstrate whilst there.’ I’ll be demonstrating whilst exhibiting there this year and would love for you to drop by and say hello.
North West Birdwatching Festival – Open at 8am, start your day by watching the spectacle of thousands of wild geese leave the roost before heading for breakfast in the Martin Mere restaurant. Over the two day there will be an array of guest speakers and exhibitors, artists and photographers including photography workshops, guided reserve walks, and more. I’ll be exhibiting and demonstrating throughout the weekend and would love you to drop by and say hello.
Art Safari in Uganda – a two week tour taking in some of Uganda’s best national parks, optional gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, visiting a rhino sanctuary and so much more. With a maximum of 6 participants this art based safari ensures you’ll have all the natural world of Uganda has to offer, plus plenty of 1 to 1 guidance from me when you need it to enable you to capture all that you want on paper or canvas.
Subscriber Question
Q. I like working in watercolour, but sometimes I forget to leave the white of the paper showing. What can I use to put white on top of watercolour?
A. Great question and something that I guess most artists have done from time to time. You’ve many options to choose from here. You could first either mask out the areas you want to keep white with masking fluid or masking film. Or you could gently colour in the white areas with an oil/wax based colouring pencil (note that this will remain on the paper and repel the watercolour in this area). Or, and one of my favourite techniques, is to use white gouache (gouache is opaque watercolour). Whole paintings can be created with gouache on it’s own or with traditional watercolour combined. I’ll pop a gouache video below for you to take a peek at should you be interested.
I may not always have a video on my YouTube channel to go alongside a subscriber’s question, but when I do I’ll be sure to add it.
Okay I really do need to get back to my easel as I’ve a new painting waiting to be worked on.. I’ll be recording the process so stay tuned, it’s also going to be a review of one of Derwents products so lots going on.
Thank you once again, as always my friends, for spending some time with me today, and please feel free to leave a question or suggestion in the contact form below.
Wishing you all the best, until next time, as always, stay safe and stay creative, Kerry xXx
Questions & Suggestions welcomed
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