Week 7: creativity unleashed!

Including tonight's session there are four more weeks left and everyone has their creativity in full swing. Should be a fabulous few weeks based on the work and the ideas being developed.

Anne: good, simple shapes and a good ground colour layer. Very nicely drawn. Look for the darkness of tones in this one as you add the subsequent layers.  

Brian: nicely thoughtful exploration of colour and shape in the Marc painting. Agree the smooth card is making it difficult to achieve density of colour. But you are getting good results. Try the more textured paper.

Christine: great to see you finding your feet again and so quickly. Try having a look at Francis Bacon's portraits and see how he uses form (shape and depth) and colour, it might prove interesting?

David: Excellent thought process with the composite approach - using various sources for the different elements of your painting. Good ground colours already. Try adding the background next to remove the white then develop the colours further.

Janice: this is very strong and the tones are beautifully deep, closely matched and rich. Look for the highlights e.g. around the nostrils and carefully see how the lines become unusual and elegant shapes in their own right. 

John: This is definitely going in a good direction. It feels strong and dynamic with the brown paper and high tonal values (whites, etc.,). Keep all shapes simple without lots of marks. Look for the colour in the horse like we did with the blue shadow and the yellow main. Use stronger colours and see what happens.

Linda: strong start with lovely flow-lines across the surface. This is a long process because of the technique (as you have discovered) but it will produce a stunning painting and will deepen your knowledge and skills in the application of complex colour relationships on the surface.

Margaret: this is going really well. Your shapes are beautifully simple. Good work on the grass too. Try adding a pale lilac layer blended into both the dark and light blue areas. 

Moira: stunning painting. Very well observed colours and shapes. Remember to look at your work from a good distance away and at regular intervals during the process.   

Pat: developing very nice colour and texture. Like the dark tones of all the colours - this will help you towards the end to create some really dramatic highlights. On the horse's flesh, keep the areas of different tones as simple boldly outlined shapes then blur the edges with a closely matched colour to soften them creating an undulating surface. 

Val: super progress and much stronger with the more simplified shapes and blending on the horse. Background colours and textures are an excellent contrast to the horse - the redness of the horse works well with the purples and greens in the background.