It is March and we have been through the most horrendous period of rainfall in England this winter, with so many areas flooded. We have been very blessed to have escaped all the floods, but our thoughts are with all those people who have been affected.
It is this time of year in the Northern hemisphere, when we all start to look out for the spring blossoms to encourage us to awake from our state of hibernation. That day when I look up into a blue sky and see this beautiful picture, oh, how I am filled with fresh inspiration and energy for the months to come!
This week I ran a Folkit Workshop teaching my students to paint Oriental Blossoms the Folkit way. Of course we were armed with a pot of tea and a home baked Blueberry & Almond Cake, paint, artist brushes, water pots, kitchen towel, practice paper and a selection of items to paint our final design onto.
We started off by learning how to paint the Pivot stroke and the S-Stroke and progressed to blending two colours together using a flat brush. This is a fabulous technique and produces a lovely two tone effect when painting flowers and leaves. Folk art is simply learning the paint stroke and then practice to build muscle memory.
My students did a fabulous job of putting all their newly learnt skills together to produce some lovely items. I think a few mothers might be getting hand painted cards for Mother's Day this year!
The beauty of joining one of these workshops is not only learning a new skill, but meeting other people and taking time out to unwind from the routine that comes with everyday life. I think everyone left feeling uplifted by conversation and enthused with the confidence in their new skills to create beautiful cards and gifts for their family and friends
Happy Painting xx
I had a bit of a play around with colour and always find it fascinating to see how a simple change in colour produces a totally different look. Here I used Americana DecoArt paints in True Ochre, Razzle Berry, Mulberry and Coral, blended with Titanium White to taint the four blossom pictures. I used Hauser Light Green and Titanium White for all the leaves and Brown for the branches.